English Lessons

DIRECTIONS: Read the following and answer the questions?
 http://www.freeenglishconversation.blogspot.com/
http://www.americanenglishconversation.com
http://freeenglishlessons-denise.blogspot.com

EAGAR, Ariz (Reuters) – Forest fire officials in eastern Arizona said on Monday they have turned the corner in a 16-day battle against a monster blaze that has destroyed dozens of homes and scorched an area more than double the size of Dallas, Texas.
Some 4,300 firefighters have largely halted the fire's advance on populated areas in and around the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, though nearly 2,000 residents remained displaced from a handful of evacuated towns near New Mexico, fire authorities said.
By daybreak, ground crews working with bulldozers and hand tools had carved containment lines around 10 percent of the Wallow Fire perimeter, mostly between its eastern flank and communities on either side of the Arizona-New Mexico line.
Firefighters also carried out extensive controlled burns of tinder-dry brush and trees to remove them as potential fuel for advancing flames.
Winds that have helped fan the fire through thick, parched forests died down again on Monday, allowing more than a dozen water-dropping helicopters to stay aloft, joined by five airplane tankers carrying payloads of fire retardant.
"We're gaining an upper hand, in terms of getting some lines around the fire and making sure those lines are secure," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Suzanne Flory, on the Arizona side of the border, told Reuters.
Betsy Coffee, a fire information officer at a staging area in Reserve, New Mexico, also was upbeat.
"We're definitely turning a corner," she said. "Our fire progression map has hardly changed."
The New Mexico village of Luna, an enclave about 200 people within 10 miles of the Arizona state line and about 15 miles from the eastern edge of the fire, appeared to be out of immediate danger, Coffee said.
However, an evacuation alert was still in effect, and some residents remained anxious, including Rena Cook, 59, who raises sheep on the edge of town. Many of the ewes in her flock are about to give birth.
"I just hope that if we have to go, it would be in a few weeks, to give these sheep the chance to give birth and for the babies to get strong enough to move," she said.
NEAR RECORD
The latest aerial infrared images of the fire showed it has consumed over 452,000 acres, or roughly 700 square miles, making it nearly as big as Arizona's largest blaze on record -- the Rodeo-Chediski of 2002, which burned nearly 469,000 acres.
The Wallow Fire, believed to have started from an unattended campfire, has destroyed a total of 31 homes and damaged five others so far. Some three dozen nonresidential structures also have been lost. But no serious injuries have been reported.
Evacuation orders were lifted Sunday for 7,000 to 8,000 residents forced to flee last week from two eastern Arizona towns, Springerville and Eagar. But returning evacuees were warned that lingering smoke and soot in the air posed risks for children and people with health problems.
Rick Pinckard of Eagar said he and his wife came back to a home that smelled of thick smoke but was otherwise undamaged.
"We'll have to clean our carpets, curtains and clothes, but it'll be OK," said Pinckard, 52. "Now I want to help my neighbors get resettled, especially the ones who are elderly."
An estimated 1,900 additional people were still waiting to return to evacuated homes in a handful of other Arizona towns in the White Mountains area, a region popular as a weekend retreat for families seeking to escape the summer heat.
Fire teams were conducting "mop-up" operations around the emptied towns of Alpine, Nutrioso and Greer, and removing dead standing trees that pose a safety hazard, Flory said. She added that drinking water quality needs to be tested, and utilities turned back on, before residents can be allowed to return.
Much of the firefighting effort on the 16th day of the blaze was focused on keeping flames out of a thickly wooded stretch of ponderosa pine and steep canyons called the Blue River area just inside the Arizona border, Coffee said.
Keeping that area fire-free is seen as key to defending Luna and the New Mexican frontier in general.
More than 300 miles northeast of the edge of the Wallow Fire, a wind-driven blaze on the New Mexico-Colorado border has charred 2,100 acres, forcing the closure of a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 25 and the evacuation of 40 homes.

Did the Forest fire officials in eastern Arizona said on Monday they have turned the corner in a 16-day battle against a monster blaze that has destroyed dozens of homes and scorched an area more than double the size of Dallas, Texas?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE

Did keeping that area fire-free is seen as key to defending Luna and the New Mexican frontier in general. More than 300 miles northeast of the edge of the Wallow Fire, a wind-driven blaze on the New Mexico-Colorado border has charred 2,100 acres, forcing the closure of a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 25 and the evacuation of 40 homes?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE