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Nick
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Cheryl
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Island Dangers
Cheryl talks with Nick about a few dangerous things people should be aware of on her island.
Nick: Is there any natural disasters which happen?
Cheryl: Yeah, there’s plenty of natural disasters. Guam is actually right on the coast of a reef formation called the Mariana’s trench and underneath, in this trench is the lowest part of the world, the deepest part of the world.
Nick: Wow!
Cheryl: Yeah, so we joke about it. We joke that Guam’s highest mountain, Mt. Lan Lan is actually the highest mountain in the world if you count off from its base which is in the Marianas trench, the lowest part of the world.
Nick: Wow, that’s amazing! So there must be good diving if you talk about barrier reefs.
Cheryl: Yeah, there’s plenty of good diving. It’s got really great diving like you would find in Hawaii or in the Great Barrier Reef. And many, many tourists from all over Asia come to Guam to scuba dive because of their great spots. It’s the closest US soil they can get to.
Nick: Ah, I see. But in Australia in the Great Barrier Reefs, there’s lots of dangerous animals. Is that the case in Guam as well?
Cheryl: Well, actually that’s funny you should ask, there has been a recent article about a guy in Guam, a very young guy who was scuba diving, and he got stung by a lion fish, but that is the extent of the dangerous animals of Guam. You’d have to go out into the deep sea to find more dangerous animals. But I think the most dangerous ones we have are quite small -- things like the lion fish which I just mentioned, he just got stung, but it wasn’t anything terrible. We do have reef sharks, but they are not great white sharks so they are quite small and smaller poisonous things like trigger fish, those you just have to be careful about whenever you are scuba diving, but other than that there’s not much dangers in the sea.
Nick: Great.
natural disasters
Are there any natural disasters which happen?
Natural disasters are floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, tsunamis, etc. A disaster is a very bad event. See the following examples:
- In the state of Kansas, the most common natural disaster is tornados.
- The birthday party was a total disaster because the food made everyone sick!
reef
Guam is actually right on the coast of a reef formation.
A reef is a place where the bottom of the sea rises up and is close to the surface of the water. The most famous reefs are made of coral and attract many fish. Some are also made of sand or rock. Notice the 2 examples below:
- The coral reef was a perfect spot for scuba diving.
- The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the most famous in the world.
base
Mt. Lan Lan is actually the highest mountain in the world if you count off from its base.
A base is the bottom part of a structure. In the example above, the base is the bottom of the mountain. Study the examples below:
- I found her sleeping in the park at the base of a tree.
- They finished building the base of the house after just 3 days.
that’s funny you should ask
Well, actually that’s funny you should ask, there was a recent article about that.
The phrase, “that’s funny you should ask” does not really refer to anything being funny. A better way to think of it is, “that is lucky you asked me that...” See the following dialogue:
A: I’m sorry, but I forgot your name. Could you tell me again?
B: That’s funny you should ask because I forgot your name too!
stung
He got stung by a lion fish.
Stung is the past tense form of sting. A sting is like a bite but from an animal that has a stinger, like a bee for example. See additional examples below:
- I have never been stung by a bee, have you?
- I’m terrified of getting stung by a jellyfish so I don’t swim when I go to the beach.
Vocabulary Quiz
funny • stung
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