However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate (磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.
In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.
【外研版高中英语必修一 module5 A lesson in a lab】相关文章:
★ 2017-2017学年高一英语人教版必修三阶段仿真检测:Unit4 Word版含解析
★ 2017-2017学年高一英语人教版必修三阶段仿真检测:Unit5 Word版含解析
★ 2017-2017学年高一英语人教版必修三课时跟踪检测(7)Unit 4 Word版含解析
★ 2017-2017学年高一英语人教版必修三课时跟踪检测(9)Unit 5 Word版含解析
★ 2017-2017学年高一英语人教版必修三阶段仿真检测:Unit3 Word版含解析
★ 广西钦州市钦州港区2016-2017学年高二12月月考英语试卷
★ 2017-2017学年高一英语人教版必修三课时跟踪检测(3)Unit 2 Word版含解析
最新
2019-11-15
2019-11-15
2019-11-14
2019-11-14
2019-11-11
2019-11-11