C Every year landslides (滑坡) cause 25 t0 50 deaths and $1. 5 billion in damage in the UnitedStates. They account for 15 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in Europe. And in Decem-ber, a single killed more than 200 people in the Philippines. Sending workers to stabilize mountainsides using steel bars and cement (水泥) can help pr disaster, but it introduces new difficulties. Shaking drills produce harmful dust and loosen heavy, erous debris (岩屑 ). 'It ' s quite a risky job , ' says Giorgio Pezzuto of D ' Appolonia, an engineering company in Italy. D' Appolonia, working with eight other companies, may have an answer: a three-ton robot called Roboclimber. 'The idea is to operate a machine far away that can drill without a human be- ing on board,' says Pezzuto, the manager for the project, which is supported by the European Commission. Engineers claim that the machine will be faster and cheaper than manual labor. The robot, a large radio-controlled four-legged mechanical spider, has cost at least $2 million so far. The final product should be able to climb unstable mountainsides, drill holes, insert bars and ce- ment, and collect data on the stability. Testing should begin in May. 65. The underlined word ' ' ( Paragraph l) refers to [