CALIFORNIA BUSH FIRES

Roberta Nisbet z Los Angeles: Underneath the layer of thick smoke now covering all of southern California, thousands of fire fighters are still struggling to contain ten separate blazes. Over a quarter of a million acres and six hundred and fifty homes have been destroyed in what the outgoing governor, Gray Davis, is calling the worst fires in California for a decade. He's asked President Bush to declare the area a disaster zone to free up federal funds. The fires have taken hold because of drought and an infestation of bark beetle, which has left millions of dead trees. VOCABULARYblaze - ničivý požár firefighter - hasič contain - zkrotit, zvládnout, dostat pod kontrolu a quarter of a million acres - 1000 km čtverečních drought - velké sucho to declare the area a disaster zone - vyhlásit v oblasti stav ohrožení