1.   The bleak steppe that stretches from Krasnoyarsk to Tyukhtet is dotted with the smoke billowing from aluminum smelters.

2.   Animal carcasses now litter the bleak Mongolian steppe.

3.   NASA astronaut Norman Thagard blasted off Tuesday from the bleak dusty steppes of Asia -- the first American to ride a Russian rocket into space.

4.   NASA astronaut Norman Thagard blasted off Tuesday from the bleak steppes of central Asia -- the first American to ride a Russian rocket into space.