“Most of the sandstorms that swept China last year came from foreign lands”，a Chinese official in charge of desertification control said on Monday.And the invasion could partly explain the frequent sandstorms in the country in recent years despite its achievements in desertification control.
Since the start of last spring，the northern and northwestern Chinese regions had been hit by 17 sandstorms: of which a dozen came from foreign lands.
Situated in the central Asia sandstorm region，one of the world's four largest sandstorm sources，China alsosuffers from sandstorms from the outside country while it is also blamed as a sand source to northeast Asia.The other three major sources are in Africa，North America and Australia.
The land suffering from desertification has been decreasing by 7，585 square kilometres annually in China，and the area of sandy land has also been falling by 1，284 square kilometres a year.
The shrinkage forms a clear contrast to the fact that the land suffering from desertification and the sandy feature was added by 10，400 square kilometers and 3，436 square kilometers late last century.
At present，the desertification land in China makes up 2.64 million square kilometers，accounting for 27.46 percent of the nation's land，and its sandy land totals 1.74 million square kilometers，accounting for 18.1 percent of the country's total.
[阅读障碍词]
1．invasion n．入侵
2．despite prep.尽管
3．blame v．谴责
4．annually adv.一年一度地
5．shrinkage n．收缩
6．contrast n．对比
[诱思导读]
阅读短文，回答下列问题。
1．What are the world's four largest sandstorm sources?
They are the central Asia，Africa，North America and Australia.
2．What does the sandy land in China add up to at present?
It adds up to 1.74 million square kilometres.
SectionⅠ Warming Up，Pre-reading & Reading
