Grassland Fire in Mongolia Burns Huge Area; KDDI Responds
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A large fire has burned grassland in Mongolia, destroying an area more than twice the size of Tokyo.
The fire has drawn attention to KDDI, a major Japanese telecommunications company. KDDI works in Mongolia with a local company called Movicom.
An executive from KDDI said the company is taking the situation very seriously and apologized for the damage.
During a press interview, a reporter asked whether the fire may have started because someone wanted to catch an Amur taimen, a large river fish found in the region.
The KDDI executive did not give a clear answer about the exact cause of the fire. The company said it is still looking into what happened.
KDDI stated that it plans to work together with Movicom to prevent similar fires from happening in the future.
The story has raised concerns in Japan about the environmental impact of Japanese companies' operations overseas.
No further details about injuries or financial damage from the fire have been reported yet.
Journalists are continuing to investigate the exact cause and the extent of KDDI's connection to the incident.
Vocabulary10 words
- grassland
- wide open land with grass and few trees
- telecommunications
- the business of phones, internet, and sending information
- executive
- an important person who manages a company
- apologize
- to say sorry
- press interview
- a meeting where reporters ask questions
- Amur taimen
- a very large fish that lives in rivers in Asia
- cause
- the reason something happens
- prevent
- to stop something from happening
- environmental impact
- effect on nature and the earth
- incident
- an event, often unexpected or bad
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Quiz
Answer key
1. More than twice the size of Tokyo 2. Whether someone wanted to catch a large fish called Amur taimen 3. Work with Movicom to prevent similar fires
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Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
A large fire has burned _____ in Mongolia, destroying an area more than twice the size of Tokyo.
The fire has drawn attention to _____, a major Japanese telecommunications company.
KDDI works in Mongolia with a local company called _____.
An executive from KDDI said the company is taking the situation very _____ and apologized for the damage.
A reporter asked whether the fire may have started because someone wanted to catch an _____, a large river fish.
The KDDI executive did not give a clear answer about the exact _____ of the fire.
KDDI stated that it plans to work together with Movicom to _____ similar fires in the future.
The story has raised concerns in Japan about the _____ impact of Japanese companies' operations overseas.
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