Four American allies in the Persian Gulf are among the countries criticized for not doing enough to combat human trafficking in a U.S.StateDepartment report released Friday（.CNN）
the Indian Ocean 印度洋An unexploded rocket-propelled grenade remained on a U.S.-owned cruise ship after the vessel escaped an attack by pirates in the Indian Oceanover the weekend，Australia’s foreign minister said on Monday（.AP）
karst [kB：st]岩溶karst formation [f[5meiF[n]喀斯特地貌（岩溶地貌）On the way to Tiger Cave，Pop stops in a Maya village to pick up Pablo Ack，a local guide who reports that he commonly sees fresh jaguar tracks hereabouts.After a short hike through a broadleaf forest，we come to a gashin the face of a karst wall and duck in（.NBC）
Although the various karstic processes can take place relatively rapidly，karst formation is a long-continued operation，the destructive effects of which have been by no means halted by sporadic programs of reforestationand landscape protection（.IstriaNet）
lava [5lB：v[]熔岩，火山岩
Nicolas Muhamiriza remembers sitting atop a small hill，as red rivers ofmolten lava crept over the city and swallowed his sprawling villa（.AP）
Mediterranean [9medIt[5reini[n]地中海
Mediterranean and mountain regions of Europe will be hardest hit byclimate changes this century，a study says（.BBC）
the Pacific（Ocean ）[p[5sIfIk]太平洋Scientists say they have discovered the intact fossilized skull of a marine crocodile with a dinosaur-like head and a fish-like tail that likely terrorizedthe Pacific Ocean 135million years ago（.CNN）
peninsula [p[5nIns[l[]半岛“Let all know that we have struck only after becoming confident that they are centers for launching war on Islam and supporting the Crusaders‘presence in Iraq and the Arab peninsula and the presence of the Jews on theland of Palestine，”al-Qaida in Iraq said in an Internet statement，theauthenticity of which could not be immediately verified（.NBC）
plateau [5plAt[U]高原On a remote plateau thousands of feet above sea level，there still exis ts a place whose chief attraction is the traditional virtues embodied by itsculture：warmth，humility，devotion（.NBC）
sea [sI：]海the Bering Sea [5berIN]白令海the Arabian Sea [[5reibi[n]阿拉伯海the Baltic Sea [5bC：ltIk]波罗的海Rising sea levels caused by global warming could shrink New Jersey by up to 3percent in the next 100years，U.S.scientists warned on Wednesday.（ABC）
California gray whales migrate 6，000miles from the Bering Sea to the lagoon，located along Baja California’s Pacific Coast about 450miles southof San Diego，to mate and bear their young（.NBC）
About 60people died today when their overloaded ferry capsized in theArabian Sea off southern Pakistan，a navy spokesman said（.AP）
The field may hold as much as 3.2trillion cubic meters of gas，enough to fuel North America for almost four years.Japanese companies may provide pipes for a pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany，Miller said.（Bloomberg）
Sinai Peninsula [5sainai]西奈半岛Some 2，100members of Egypt‘s security forces swept through the rugged desert of the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday，arresting 300people as they searched for terrorists involved in a series of recent bombings，securityofficials said（.NBC）
Strait [streit]海峡Straits of Dover 多佛海峡the straits of Gibraltar [dVI5brC：lt[]直布罗陀海峡the Strait of Malacco [m[5lAk[]马六甲海峡Bering Strait 白令海峡Meanwhile，Fortitude South feigned an invasion of France at Calais，through the Straits of Dover.Strategically，this seemed like the best placefor an Allied invasion（.NBC）
Atlantic bluefin，with ancient instincts，follow their internal radar through the Straits of Gibraltar each year for springtime spawning in theMediterranean（.AP）
Though no longer Washington’s Cold War rival，Russia has major navalinstallations along its Pacific coast.Also，piracy in the Malacca Straits between Indonesia and the Southeast Asian mainland is a constant threat tocommercial shipping（.AP）
Some scientists say it could only be a matter of time before the killer virus comes to American soil.One theoretical possibility is that infected migratory birds could travel to Siberia，and then cross the Bering Strait toAlaska and Canada and then the lower 48states（.NBC）
the Suez Canal [5sU：Iz]苏伊士运河
The biggest risk is in ports and maritime choke points such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal，where ships concentrate in large numbersas they sail through narrow waterways，West said（.CNN）
valley [5vAlI]山谷The U.S.military also said Sunday that 24people -including another Marine and 15civilians -were killed the day before in an ambush on a jointU.S.Iraqi patrol in Haditha，140miles northwest of Baghdad in the volatileEuphrates River valley（.FOX NEWS）
volcano [vCl5kein[U]火山volcanic 火山的An explosion shook a volcano in western Mexico Monday，sending a plume of ash and smoke 3miles into the air and scattering hot rocks on itsslopes（.NBC）
The planet rotates counterclockwise，opposite Earth and most other planets，and does so exceedingly slow -one day on Venus equals 243Earth days.Scientists have speculated that a massive collision with anasteroid long ago may have reversed and slowed down Venus‘s spin.Thisevent may have also set off a global volcanic reaction that led to the planet’s resurfacing（.CNN）