In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened America, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. A father rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, only to discover that the building was as flat as a pancake.

After the shock, he remembered the promise he had made to his son: “No matter what happened, I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to fill his eyes. As he looked at the pile of ruins that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his promise to his son.

Remembering his son’s classroom would be in the back right corner of the building, he rushed there and started digging.

Other parents tried to pull him off the ruins, saying: “It’s too late! They’re all dead! You can’t help!” He replied, “Are you going to help me now?” The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off the school’s ruins saying, “Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere. You’re in danger. We’ll take care of it. Go home. ” This loving, caring American father asked, “Are you going to help me now?”

The police came and said, “You’re anxious and it’s over. Go home. We’ll handle it!” He replied, “Are you going to help me now?” No one helped.

Courageously he went on alone. He dug for eight hours...12 hours...24 hours...36 hours...then, in the 38th hour, he heard his son’s voice. He screamed his son’s name, “ARMAND!” He heard back, “Dad! It’s me, Dad! You promised no matter what happened, you would always be there for me! You did it, Dad!” “What’s going on in there? How is it?” the father asked.

“There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad.”

“Come out, boy!”

“No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you’ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be there for me!”

Locusts are grasshoppers（蚂蚱）. Normally grasshoppers do little harm. But when there are lots of them, their bodies and behaviors will change. As locusts, they travel in huge groups, eating all the plants in an area and moving on. In a single day, a small swarm of locusts can eat as much food as 35, 000 people. Along the way, they lay more eggs, producing greater swarms（一大群）of locusts. Billions of locusts arrived in Pakistan last June from Iran, which has resulted in Pakistan’s worst locust problem in many years. In early February, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, called a state of emergency（紧急）.

One unusual solution was suggested to deal with the locusts: it was reported that China had plans to send 100, 000 ducks to Pakistan. In China, ducks have helped fight locusts in the past. A single duck can eat over 200 locusts a day.

But soon after the idea was reported, it was canceled. A team of experts pointed out that most of Pakistan does not provide a good environment for ducks, which require lots of water, like rivers and lakes. China has sent a team of experts to Pakistan to help find out how to deal with the emergency so that the locusts don’t wind up becoming a problem for China, too.

Pakistan is now planning to buy more pesticides（杀虫剂）from India so that they can do more spraying from airplanes to control the locusts. But no one knows whether this will work or not.

Dust storms (沙尘暴) appear when strong wind blows sand and dirt from a dry surface. Strong dust storms may cause deaths, so you should know how to protect yourself from dust storms when you meet them.