填空题
In the summer of 2010, record-high temperatures hit Moscow. At first it was just another
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but the scorching heat that started in
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continued through mid-August. Western Russia was
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in early August that 300 or 400 new fires were starting every day. Millions of acres of forest
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. So did thousands of homes. Crops withered. Day after day Moscow was bathed in
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.
The elderly and those with impaired respiratory systems
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. The death rate climbed as heat stress and smoke
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. The average July temperature in Moscow was a scarcely believable 14 degrees Fahrenheit
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. Twice during the heat wave, the Moscow temperature
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Fahrenheit, a level Muscovites had never before
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. Watching the heat wave play out over a seven-week period on the TV
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, with the thousands of fires and the smoke everywhere, was like watching
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that had no end. Russia"s 140 million people were
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, traumatized by what was happening to them and their country.
The most
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in Russia"s 130 years of record keeping was taking a heavy economic toll. The loss of
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and the projected cost of their restoration
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some $300 billion. Thousands of farmers faced bankruptcy. Russia"s
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shrank from nearly 100 million tons to scarcely 60 million tons as crops withered. Recently the world"s number three wheat exporter, Russia banned grain exports
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to rein in soaring domestic food prices. Between mid-June and mid-August, the world price of wheat
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. Prolonged drought and the worst heat wave in Russian history
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worldwide.