Okay, and hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of practicing English and today I'm going to talk about something which is in the news. I'm going to talk about the volcano that has erupted in the Canary Islands.
Now, I'm going to be using a lot of passive use - passive voice. Now, why? That's because we're talking about what the volcano has done in the area. And so, if I say something like,
many houses have been destroyed.
Well, why are we using the passive? Because we know that it's the volcano which is causing the destruction. So, we often use the passive then, when we do not need to mention the subject. We do not need to mention what or who is doing the action. So you'll notice a lot of passive use in this episode about the volcano. So if you go to the audio script at Practicing English.com, I have highlighted the passive usages.
So here goes. There has been a volcanic eruption in the island of La Palma, which is an island in the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, and they are off the coast of Africa. And the Island of La Palma, is one of the smaller islands of this group of islands, called an archipelago. It is a beautiful place. I was reading about it the other day. There were some comments about people who had spent a holiday there, and they compared it to Jurassic Park. Do you remember the Jurassic Park film by Steven Spielberg and the beautiful scenery? In the film - mountainous and wooded and really quite primitive. And of course, it is very primitive because there's... there are volcanoes there, which are dormant, but they are not extinct, we say, so they're volcanoes which erupt from time to time.
And this volcano, which has erupted is called Cumbre Vieja. It last erupted in 1971 and then before that in 1949. And so it does erupt from time to time, this eruption seems to have been quite devastating though. Since the eruption took place - at the present time - because it's still continuing. Many houses and property have been destroyed and about 5500 residents have been forced to evacuate. And lava... so this is the material that comes out of the volcano - very, very hot. Over 1000 degrees centigrade. And it is pouring down the hillside, and it is destroying everything. Everything is destroyed in its path.
Local officials have said that some 100 houses have been destroyed, so far. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, he flew out to Palma on Sunday, and he went to see what was happening about the rescue efforts. And he said that everything was under control, and that the authorities are closely monitoring the fires that may start from the burning lava. And also the military have been deployed to help in the situation. So, the military have been deployed - to deploy, is to use the services of somebody in the area, so that they can carry out rescue activities and help in other ways - deployed, we often use when we're talking about the military or the police. And the local mayor, Sergio Rodriguez has told [a] Spanish broadcaster, that lava has left nothing in its path. But fortunately, there have been no casualties so far. So 'casualties' refer to the people who have been killed, or who have been hurt, and there are no casualties at the moment. However, four villages were evacuated. And these people were told they had to go. They could not stay. And if you look at some of the footage footage, the film footage, that means the film that you can see on television, on the news, for example. You will see the very sad, pictures of beautiful houses being destroyed by fire. As the lava flow hits the houses and burns them almost instantaneously.
And about 500 tourists who were there on holiday, have been evacuated from the islands. And there has been a controversy, that the Spanish tourist Minister, Reyes Maroto, said to a radio station that the eruption was an opportunity to attract visitors to the island. The island is open, she said. So if your hotel is affected. We will find you another one. We can make this an opportunity for many tourists who want to come and enjoy what nature has brought to La Palma. This can be going on for weeks or months. And a lot of people didn't like that because - that's fine. Yes, it is interesting to watch as a tourist, maybe, a volcano erupting. But also, at the moment, there is a lot of concern about the people whose lives have been destroyed. Okay, they haven't died but they've lost their houses, and they've lost their land - they've lost their livelihood. That means that they've lost the way that they earned money because they had land, they had crops, or they had livestock and all that land has been completely destroyed and covered by the lava. So it's not really a time for celebrating as the tourist minister believes - it's at the moment, a time of great concern, we say concern which means we worry about what's happening.
Now this eruption started at about three o'clock on Sunday, and local people there, talked about what happened. A local tour guide for example, said it was the most amazing thing that he had ever experienced. There was this noise coming from the volcano that sounded like 20 fighter jets. So, a fighter jet, are those military aircraft, which make a lot of noise, as they go past, and he said that the volcano sounded like 20 fighter jets taking off. It was an extremely loud noise, it's amazing, he said,
Other residents of the area also commented. One person said that when the volcano erupted today I was scared. For journalists, it's something spectacular, but for us it's a tragedy. I think the lava has reached some relatives' houses.
And then another person said, oh, it's exciting. It's very exciting but at the same time it's worrying, because many houses have been threatened by lava.
And then another person in the area, said that he had been hiking in the area on La Palma, when the volcano started to erupt. And he's really worried he said I am, I fear further big eruptions from the volcano, he said. It's like 200 meters altitude of fire, and there's a big river of lava that is getting closer and closer to the coast. We didn't expect this to happen now. I was walking near the volcano when it exploded. I was walking near the volcano, when it exploded. I didn't expect it. This is amazing.
So that's the end of that news item. Let's see what happens to this volcano, and hope that no more properties or houses are destroyed, and that the volcano, eventually stops erupting and goes back to sleep, or goes back to being dormant, as we say, Okay, so that's all from me for now. Until next time, bye bye.
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