Dangerous sports, such as rock climbing, mountaineering and diving, are very popular these days, especially among

young people. These activities will give people excitement and challenge and make them different from others. I think these are the main reasons why people are so enthusiastic about them.

First of all, dangerous activities are very exciting and fun. Everyday, for most people life is almost the same, commuting between companies and dwellings, working eight hours, doing house work or watching boring TV programs. Taking part in dangerous but not life-threatening games, such as bungee, would surely add fun to their dull routine life. Not only the players but also the spectators would feel excited in these activities. Another reason is that, by participating in dangerous sports, people can develop their skills and stamina. Dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, are very challenging. During explorations in mountain climbing, people will face difficulties and dangerous of the perilous nature. In order to cope with these difficulties, they need careful planning and training in advance. Therefore, these activities are very beneficial in building their skills and strength.

Finally, taking part in such activities is also a good opportunity for some people to differentiate themselves from ordinary people. It is nature that people want to be different from others and dream to become famous. There have been many cases of risk-takers who came to fame overnight by their success in very dangerous activities.

In conclusion, by taking part in various dangerous activities, people will have fun, develop their skills and make them different. I believe this explains why such kinds of activities are becoming more and more prevalent nowadays

earthquakes, floods, avalanche, volcanoes, hurricane, landslide all of them will effect people, people lose their homes their loose their animals pets precious things to them and people get hurt so it really does affect people.
flood can kill people, made people homeless like ruining their house, furnitures and valuable belonging. Flood can also make young children from going to school because all schools would be closed if there is flood at their place.

1. Economy

Economic loss o The flooding in Jiangxi of China in 1998 caused great damage. The economic loss was HK$156 billion, 400 buildings surrounding the lake were inundated, leaving more than 1 million people homeless. Resources used in reconstruction o After flooding, government has to input many resources for aiding or reconstruction, e.g., police force, fire control, aid worker, resources used for resisting flood, etc. This also brings loss to society.

2. Environment

Traffic o Flooding will lead to the damages of roads, collapse of bridges or traffic congestion, which may affect the daily operation. Damaging the farmland o Flooding brings too much water which will cause damage to farmland.

3. Human Beings

People died and lose their homes o Flooding will cause death and injuries. In year 1998, 0.23 billion of people were affected in the flooding of Xian, including 3 thousands people dead, 1 million of people lost their homes. In 1996, the monsoon flood in India affected more than five million people in the northern and eastern part of the country. Severe floods have also killed some 200 people in India and Bangladesh and left millions homeless and starvation.

4. Disease

Flooding usually brings infectious diseases, e.g. military fever, pneumonic plague, dermatopathia, dysentery, common cold (type A), breakbone fever, etc. And for those areas which have no electric supply due to flooding, food poisoning may occur as food may not be properly frozen.

Volcanoes affect people in many ways, some are good, some are not. Some of the bad ways are that houses, buildings, roads, and fields can get covered with ash. As long as you can get the ash off (especially if it is wet), your house may not collapse, but often the people leave because of the ash and are not around to continually clean off their roofs. If the ashfall is really heavy it can make it impossible to breathe. Lava flows are almost always too slow to run over people, but they can certainly run over houses, roads, and any other structures. Pyroclastic flows are mixtures of hot gas and ash, and they travel very quickly down the slopes of volcanoes. They are so hot and choking that if you are caught in one it will kill you. They are also so fast (100-200 km/hour) that you cannot out-run them. If a volcano that is known for producing pyroclastic flows is looking like it may erupt soon, the best thing is for you to leave before it does. Some of the good ways that volcanoes affect people include producing spectacular scenery, and producing very rich soils for farming. .

Topic 43: do you study alone or friends? Use specific examples and reasons to support your choice. Studying alone and studying with friends have some advantages and disadvantages. For instance, if we study alone, we can concentrate doing our homework and spend more time improving weak skills better but we will some difficult problems during remembering a lot of information from our lessons. However, I want to study with my friends. Several reasons will illustrate my point of view. To begin with, when we study with our friends, we can discuss some topics in our lessons together in order to find the best ways to resolve many difficult problems. Furthermore, from this situation, we can remember information in long time. For example, when I learn English alone, I always forget vocabulary and meet difficulties when I talk with my teachers and other students in my class, but when I learn it with my friends, I remember a lot of new words better and become more confident and comfortable during communicating with them. Another important reason is that we can learn and improve some knowledge and experience from our friends because each my friend has different strengths. Moreover, studying with friends will impulse us to research and read more books in order to exchange new knowledge and experience each other. Finally, studying with our friends, we can reduce stress and tired when we spend a lot of time learning by some different ways, such as playing some sports and travelling to someplace on the weekend. For example, I usually feel tired and stressed after days hard work, thus I want to meet my friends in order to share my emotion with them and they will help me reduce stress. I will forget all worries in my study and work. In conclusion, I think that friends will play an important role in our lives and studies. They will help us remember knowledge for a long time, and exchange it with us. Consequently, I prefer to study with my friends. TOEFL listening lectures: A lecture from a history class