California is burning.In recent weeks, hundreds of fires【小题1】(destroy) structures, torched thousands of acres and blackened the sky with smoke.Fear of the blazes has also led to strategic blackouts that have left millions【小题2】power.

Fire has always been a part of life California. 【小题3】a series of【小题4】(factor) have combined to make recent blazes more damaging.Ten of the most destructive fires in the state’s history have happened in the past decade.Things hit new extremes last year with the Camp Fire, 【小题5】caused 85 deaths and burned more than 150,000 acres.

The forces working in concert to spark and spread wildfires pose【小题6】incredible challenge for California.Climate change is bringing【小题7】 (high) temperatures and more powerful winds that spread the flames.The state’s electrical system is【小题8】 (age), and equipment has been【小题9】 (link) to causing some of the wildfires.There are more than 100 million dead trees in the state’s forests that act【小题10】material for the blazes.Meanwhile, a statewide housing crisis has pushed more residents to build homes in dangerous fire zones.

BEIJING — A strong earthquake hit a remote part of western China overnight killing at least 118 people and injuring more than 200, the state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

The tremblor hit Jishishan County, in the southwestern part of Gansu province near the border with Qinghai province — 【小题1】mountainous region populated, in part, by members of the Tibetan, Hui, Dongxiang and Salar ethnic groups.

Xinhua said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2. 【小题2】the dead, 100 were in Gansu and another 11 in Qinghai. The quake damaged water, electricity, transport, communications and other infrastructure (基础设施) in the area, it said. Chinese leader Xi Jinping quickly called for all-out efforts in search and rescue and【小题3】 (treat) the injured. He also urged the hasty deployment of relief materials and infrastructure【小题4】(repair) , because the area is at high altitude and the winter weather is cold.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.9, 【小题5】 reported several aftershocks. Rescue teams told Chinese media that frozen roads made driving into the towns and villages in Jishishan county, the area most【小题6】(affect) difficult. It’s a area inhabited by numerous ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans and Salars. Rescuers are now working in average temperatures of about 14 degrees Fahrenheit, well below【小题7】 (freeze).

About 10 hours later, 【小题8】 (far) west, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in the Xinjiang region 【小题9】(strike) near China’s border with Kygyzstan. The earthquake happened in a remote area. So far, no casualties or building damage【小题10】(report).

French disaster epic Notre-Dame on Fire hits Chinese big screen

This April marks the 【小题1】 (four) anniversary of Notre-Dame in Paris being engulfed by the biggest blaze in its history.

NotreDame on Fire, now in Chinese cinemas, is a disaster epic 【小题2】 veteran French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also helmed Wolf Totem(2015), a drama film 【小题3】 (adapt) from Chinese writer Jiang Rong’s eponymous novel. The film made its China premiere on April 6 in Beijing in the presence of France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak and the director.

Presenting a blow-by-blow recreation of the gripping events that 【小题4】 (happen) on April 15, 2019 when the fire at the French medieval catholic cathedral rocked France and shocked the whole world, Annaud’s new film hails the heroic people who put their lives on 【小题5】 line to accomplish the awe-inspiring rescue. Annaud unveiled the filming details of the film to the audience 【小题6】 (attend) the China premiere.

“It was a 【小题7】 (danger) movie. The actors were actually very close to the extremely violent fire, 1,200-degree Fahrenheit fire. There are very few digital special effects. Almost all of what you have seen are 【小题8】 (identical) reconstructed sets that I set on fire,” he said.

“When I saw this movie in Paris last year, it took me a few hours 【小题9】 I could breathe and walk normally on the street,” said Malak at the film’s China premiere.

The French minister announced that 2024 will be the France-China Year of Culture and Tourism and she invited Chinese tourists to travel to France for the occasion, especially to see the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, 【小题10】 , after almost six years of extensive renovations, is scheduled to reopen to the public in December of the same year.