On Friday January 14, 2022, blast was heard 2,000km away in New Zealand and 3,300km away in Australia. Boats crashed into a quiet harbor in Southern California, a remote island was battered in Japan by 4 foot waves and two women were swept to their deaths on a beach in Peru some 6,000 miles from an undersea volcanic eruption so powerful that the tsunami which it set off stirred ocean waters halfway across the globe.
But on Sunday, as reports of the volcano’s effect crowded in from far-flung countries, there was little word from Tonga, the island nation just 40 miles from the site of the extraordinary explosion. As concerns from all over the world grew, the nation of about 100,000 people remained largely cut off from the rest of the world, its undersea internet cables knocked out of commission by the volcano.
In Tonga on Sunday, many residents lost not only communication channels but electric power. Up to 80,000 people there could be affected, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told the BBC.
New Zealand and other nations in the region pledged to give Tonga aid to recover. But with heavy concentrations of airborne ash making flights impossible, just like the Iceland volcano eruption in 2021, it was difficult even to know what was needed. Ardern, the New Zealand prime minister, said flights over Tonga were planned for Monday or Tuesday, depending on ash conditions.
Tonga has experienced a succession of natural disasters in recent years. In 2018, more than 170 homes were destroyed and two people killed by Cyclone Gita, a Category 5 tropical storm. In 2020, Cyclone Harold caused about $111 million in damage.
【小题1】Which country wasn’t affected by Tonga undersea volcanic eruptions according to Paragraph 1?| A．Japan. | B．America. | C．Peru. | D．Iceland. |
| A．30% | B．20% | C．50% | D．70% |
| A．New Zealand as well as other nations in the region gave Tonga aid timely. |
| B．The Iceland volcano eruption in 2021 made nearby flights delayed. |
| C．Flights could reach Tonga two days after the eruption. |
| D．The undersea volcanic eruption caused severer damage to Peru than ever before. |
| A．the newspaper | B．a travel guide |
| C．a biography | D．a chemical paper |
