Landslide Injures at least 10 in Norwegian Town of Ask

A landslide (山体滑坡) has smashed into a residential area near the Norwegian capital at midnight on Dec. 30. injuring at least 10 people, leaving 21 unaccounted for and     1    (destroy) several homes, authorities said.

About 700 people have been brought to safety for fear of further landslides.

The landslide cut across a road, leaving a deep gap that cars     2    not pass. Video footage showed dramatic scenes including one house falling into the gap. Photographs showed at least eight destroyed homes.

Rescue workers continued to search the area for children and adults     3    (believe) to have been caught in mud and debris (废墟), police said. "We're still looking for survivors? police spokesman Roger Pettersen told a news conference.

Pettersen said there were no reports of missing people, but officials could not rule out the possibility     4     there might be survivors in collapsed buildings. He said 21 people registered as living in the area are unaccounted for.

One of the injured was seriously hurt, while nine had     5    (light) injuries. Weather at the time was reported to be challenging, with snowstorm sweeping the village of Ask,     6    about 5,000 people inhabited.

Norway's King Harald said the landslide had made a deep impression on him. "My thoughts are with all those who are affected, injured or have lost their homes and those who now live in fear and uncertainty of     7     damage the disaster has caused,” he said in a statement released by the royal palace.

The area in which Ask     8    (locate) is known to have a lot of quick clay, which can change from solid to liquid from. Previous landslides have been reported in the region.

Helicopters continued to circle over the area as night fell     9     (lower) rescuers towards the debris of collapsed houses.

"There could be people trapped ... but at the same time we can't be sure       10     it is the new year’s holiday, which means people could be elsewhere,” Ema Solberg, the Norwegian Prime Minister, told reporters after visiting the site.

A professor of public health at UCLA says that pet ownership might provide a new form of health care. As far back as the 1790s, the elderly at a senior citizens’ home in England     1    (encourage) to spend time with farm animals. This helped patients’ mental state more than the cruel therapies     2     (use) on the mentally ill at the time. In recent years, scientist have finally begun to find proof     3     contact with animals can increase a sick person’s chance of survival and has been shown     4     (lower) heart rate, calm upset children, and get people to start a conversation.

Scientists think that animal companionship is beneficial     5     animals are accepting and attentive, and they don’t criticize or give orders. Animals have the unique ability to be more social. For example, visitors to nursing homes get more social responses from patients when they come with animal companions.

Not only do people seem     6    (anxious) when animals are nearby, but they may also live longer. Studies show that a year after heart surgery, survival rates for heart patients were higher for those with pets in their homes than those without pets. Elderly people with pets make fewer trips     7     doctors than those without animal companions, possibly because animals relieve loneliness. Staying with animals is believed to create a peaceful state of mind,     8    (result) in a favourable environment for everyone.

Research confirms that the findings concerning senior citizens can be applied to restless children. They are more easy-going when there are animals around with, with     9     company they tend to calm down more easily. They involve     10     in playing with animals and the presence of animals comforts them greatly.

Plants Scream in the Face of Stress

For the first time, researchers appear to have evidence that like animals, those plants deprived of water or     1     (force) to endure bodily harm can let out their pain. The study,     2     has yet to be published in a scientific Journal, adds another dimension to scientists     3     (grow) understanding of how plants detect and interact with their surroundings.

In recent years, it has become very clear that plants are more sensitive than researchers     4     (think). They respond when touched by insects and turn toward sources of light. "Plants are not just robotic stimulus-response devices," said Frantisek Baluska of the University of Bonn in Germany. "They're living organisms which have their own problems/'

Actually making their suffering hearable, however, is another matter entirely.     5     (test) that possibility, a team led by Itzhak Khait, a plant scientist at Tel Aviv University in Israel, placed microphones capable of detecting ultrasonic frequencies (超声波频率)four inches from tomato and tobacco plants. The researcher then either stopped watering them or cut their stems.

Measuring in the range of 20 to 150 kilohertz (千赫).the researchers found that even happy, healthy plants made the occasional noise. But when cut, tobacco plants emitted     6     average of 15 sounds within an hour of being cut     7     tomato plants produced 25 sounds.

    8     researchers aren't yet sure how plants produce these sounds, Khait and his colleagues proposed one possibility in their paper     9     as water travels through the plants' tubes, air bubbles will form and explode, producing small vibrations.

All this "screaming” caused by stress wasn't in a range detectable by human ears. But organisms that can hear ultrasonic frequencies—like mice, bats or perhaps other plants—    10     possibly hear the plants cries from as far away as 15 feet.

Sneakers (运动鞋) Made from Old Chewing Gum

Dutch fashion and shoe label Explicit Wear is hoping to solve one of life’s sticky situations—the annoyance of stepping in waste chewing gum on the pavement—while helping to keep Amsterdam’s city streets clean. The brand has partnered with local marketing organization Iamsterdam and sustainability firm Gumdrop     1    (create) a   limited edition sneaker for adults made from recycled gum collected from   the city’s pavements.

Chewing gum causes an incredibly serious ecological problem,    2    it is made from plastics that do not biodegrade ( 生物降解). It’s also the second     3    (common) form of roadside litter, after cigarette ends. An incredible 3.3 million pounds of gum are incorrectly thrown away on the sidewalks each year,    4    (cost) the city millions of dollars to clean up. Gumdrop plans to collect waste gum from the streets of Amsterdam, clean them, and turn them into Gum-Tec, the material that forms the base of the shoe.

The waste gum will be put to good use to make stylish kicks,    5    will also raise awareness for the anti-littering cause.    6    (price) at around $332, the shoes will come into the market sometime next month.

Available for preorder now, the new Gumshoe sneakers—offered in both a bubblegum pink and a black/red colorway—     7     (feature) long-lasting rubber outsoles (鞋子外底)   shaped   from   recyclable   compounds produced by Gumdrop, 20 percent of which are made from gum.

Nearly 2.2 pounds of gum     8    (use) in every four pairs of shoes. A map of Amsterdam is made into the bottom of the soles to remind people of the littering problem. Even better, the sneakers actually still smell like bubblegum,    9    the annoying stickiness. Just as good as any sneaker with a rubber sole, the Gumshoes help   get chewing gum off our streets and keep the dangerously non-biodegradable substance out of our eco-system.

To help spread their sustainability message,    10    Gumshoe’s creators are hoping to do is to expand their project to other major cities around the world.