World News for Students of English

22-09-2021 07:00

Authorities closed Sequoia National Park in California, US, because there were two wildfires close to the park.

There are around 2,400 sequoias in the park, and among them is the tallest tree in the world named General Sherman. General Sherman is 83.82 meters high, and a scientist said that the tree could be between 2,300 to 2,700 years old. Firefighters wrapped the bases of many sequoias in aluminum blankets to keep them safe from the fire.

Sequoias are the tallest trees in the world, and they are thousands of years old. Fires are also good for them. It is interesting that fire helps them grow because then they start making seeds. Fires also burn other trees which is good for sequoias because then they have more space to grow.

Difficult words: base (the bottom of an object or a plant), aluminum blanket (a light silver-grey metal turned into a large piece of material which people usually put on a bed to keep warm), seed (a small oval part of a plant from which a new plant grows).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.