1-plague 灾害

2-locust 蝗虫

3-descend 降临

4-sb/sth is to blame 某人/某事对（某事）负有责任

A plague of locusts has descended on East Africa. Climate change may be to blame.

5-in the midst of 在……中，当……发生

6-exodus （大批人同时）离开，外出 ，《出埃及记》

East Africa is in the midst of a crisis that sounds like something out of the book Exodus: a plague of locusts is spreading across the region, threatening the food supply of tens of millions.

7-pest 害虫

8-wreaking havoc on sth 危害，损害

9-devour 吞噬

City-sized swarms of the dreaded pests are wreaking havoc as they descend on crops and pasturelands, devouring everything in a matter of hours.

10-mayhem 骚乱，混乱

11-thrive 盛行，兴盛

12-vegetation 植物

13-arid 干旱的

14-habitat 栖息地

The insects behind the mayhem are desert locusts, which, despite their name, thrive following periods of heavy rainfall that triggers blooms of vegetation across their normally arid habitats in Africa and Middle East.

15-a bout of 一阵，一回，一番

16-culprit 罪魁祸首

17-cyclone 气旋

18-peninsula 半岛

Experts say and prolonged bout of exceptionally wet weather, including several rare cyclones that struck eastern Africa and the Arabian peninsula over the last 18 months, are the primary culprit.

19-devastation 破坏，毁坏

20-pasture 牧场

21-fold 倍

22-famine 饥荒

By June, he fears the desert locusts will have increased their numbers 400-fold compared with today, triggering widespread devastation to crops and pastures in a region that's already extremely vulnerable to famine.