备战2023年中考英语阅读话题训练 专题03 自然灾害

Earthquakes usually come without warning. What should you do if this happens to you? An earthquake is dangerous, but there are still things you can do to protect yourself.

Stay calm as the earth begins to shake. Your chances of survival in an earthquake go up if you can keep calm. Staying calm is not easy, but it can save your life.

If you are inside when the earthquake starts, get under a table or a bed. You need to have something strong around you to protect you from falling objects. Do not stand near walls or windows and stay out of the kitchen. The kitchen is dangerous because of many glass objects.

lf you are outside, get to an open area as fast as you can. Stay away from building sand trees. If you are in a car, pull over to a place where there are no trees or tall buildings and stay in the car. If you are close to the sea, try to get as far away from the water as possible. Earthquakes can cause huge waves(浪) that can really harm the people nearby.

When the earthquake is over, there is still plenty of danger. For example, gas fire often comes with an earthquake. If you see a fire, quickly move outdoors to an open area.

Always remember to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

    You may hear about earthquakes, but do you know what to do before, during and after an earthquake? Here is some advice for you.

    Before an earthquake It is necessary to prepare yourself and your family. All family members should know how to turn off gas(煤气), water and electricity and know useful telephone numbers (doctor, hospital police and 119, etc. ) . Never put heavy things over beds.

    During an earthquake It is important for each of you to stay calm. If you are indoors, quickly move to a safe place in the room such as under a strong desk or table. The purpose is to protect yourself from falling objects. Stay away from windows, large mirrors, heavy furniture and so on.

    If you are outdoors, move to an open area like a playground. Move away from buildings, bridges and trees. If you are driving, stop the car as soon as possible. Stay away from bridges and tall buildings. Stay in your car.

    After an earthquake Once the shaking has stopped, don't run out of the building at once. It's better to wait and leave when it is safe.

    Check around you and help the people who are in trouble. If your building is badly broken, you should leave it. If you smell or hear a gas leak, get everyone outside and open windows and doors. If you can do it safely, turn off the gas. Report it to the gas company.

Something unexpected like an earthquake may happen at any time. It's necessary and important for us to learn some basic skills and common sense about how to keep safe and what we shouldn't do during the earthquake. The following poster in the neighborhood will help you.

An earthquake happened in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan Province in China on the evening of August 8th, 2017. What were you doing when you heard the news? We asked some people about it and here are their answers.

Dave

That evening, I came back from the supermarket and then turned on my computer. Suddenly I read the news saying an earthquake happened in Jiuzhaigou half an hour ago. Then I looked through a lot of information on the Internet. A few minutes later, I knew the news was true.

Sally

When my cousin told me that an earthquake happened in Jiuzhaigou, I was doing my homework in the bedroom. I was surprised and turned on my computer quickly to surf the Internet. On the Internet, I knew it was true I was really worried about the local people.

Leo

I was playing the guitar when I got a text message from my classmate Ted. He simply said, "An earthquake happened in Jiuzhaigou just now. "I thought he was just kidding. Then I put my guitar down and began to surf the Internet. The result showed that the news was true. I soon walked into the living room and told my mother the news. She was very surprised.

Alice

I don't usually watch TV on weekdays. That evening I finished my homework earlier than before, so I turned on the TV. I got the news about the earthquake from the reporters on TV.

    When 12-year-old Peyton Robertson sees a problem, he is going to fix it. So when the young scientist noticed that his hometown Fort Lauderdale was always getting into the trouble of flooding, he set to work building a better sandbag.

    Last year, the young boy watched Hurricane Sandy bring death to his hometown. So the sixth grader decided to invent something to help people.

    "Sandbags are great in flood protection, but they are too heavy and hard to take," Peyton explained, "so I want to invent a new kind of sandbag."

    Unlike traditional sandbags, Peyton's sandbag is filled with chemicals and salt. This makes the sandbag easy to carry and much better at keeping water out. This invention earned him the title of "America's 2016 Top Young Scientist". At the age of nine, he was named winner in a competition for his invention of a golf ball warmer!

It was an early evening and Rex Geyer and his family were eating dinner, On the TV, the weatherman was telling everyone to look out for tornadoes（龙卷风）. If a tornado hit Rex's house, it would make it in a mess.

Suddenly, Rex's brother ran in. "Tomado is coming towards us! We have to go now! "he shouted. The family ran to the car. As they were driving away to a safe place, a car went past in the opposite way-it was going straight to the tornado.

Were the people in the car crazy? No, the people in the car were Tim Samaras and Pat Porter. They were tornado scientists. Their job was to get close to tornadoes and put a probe（探测器）into the middle of a tornado. If the tornado passed over the probe, it would record（记录）lots of useful information. It was hard and dangerous, but they never thought it was the reason for giving up. As Tim and Pat drove closer, they put a probe on the ground and, at the last minute, they drove away. The tornado passed right over the probe and gave Tim and Pat some exciting new information. They were happy about their success. The information could help predict where there would be tornadoes and how they would move.

Maybe in the future, Rex and his family won't have to run away from tornadoes in such a hurry.

It was a beautiful day with a clear, blue sky and the cool wind made my morning tea cool. Everything was quiet and the book in my hands was lovely until I felt my chair moving. At that moment, I thought to myself, "It is an earthquake (地震). " I was scared as I ran to tell my parents. But when I reached them, the earthquake stopped.

________ My family and I were not in danger and our house was still standing. We watched the news about the earthquake. The epicenter (震中) was very close to Muzaffarabad. We felt lucky to be in the city of Kashmir. After we watched the situation in Muzaffarabad, I decided to volunteer to help those people right away.

I arrived in the city of Muzaffarabad with a few other volunteers. We tried to help out the people there. After hours of digging, we found a few survivors. We quickly sent for doctors to make sure they were all right. When they met their families, they cried for joy. That made me very happy. However, not everyone had a happy ending. We also found bodies of those not making it through the earthquake. And I felt terrible when I saw the tears of the people crying for those dead people.

A tsunami is a huge ocean wave (浪). An earthquake usually causes a tsunami. The biggest tsunami ever hit land on July 9, 1958. It happened when an earthquake shook the undersea floor. The 8.0 earthquake shook 40 million cubic yards (立方码) of rocks and ice from a mountain. The landslide (滑坡) fell 3,000 feet and hit the water with terrible force. It caused the huge tsunami wave. The wave was more than 1,640 feet (500 meters) high and hit over five square miles of land. It also destroyed millions of trees.

There were no towns in the area, so it is different from the terrible tsunami of 2004. More than 200,000 people lost their lives in 2004.     ▲    . These two unlucky people were on a fishing boat in the bay when the wave arrived. Another boat was carrying Peter and his wife. They jumped into a small boat and some people saved them a few hours later. Jack and his seven-year-old son were on the third boat. Luckily, both of them didn't die.

For many years, scientists discussed about the reasons of tsunami in 1958. Some scientists said lots of rocks fell into the bay, but it was not enough to cause such a huge wave. They thought that the earthquake itself caused the wave. However, as our understanding of earthquakes and tsunamis improved, most scientists now regard the landslide as the true reason for the wave. But no one argues that the wave was the largest in the world and will keep a long time in the future.

    Extreme weather seems to be everywhere these days. It is sometimes related to climate change. Yet it can be hard to see the effect on people's lives. I began documenting that effect in 2007, when I pictured two floods that occurred within weeks of each other, one in the U.K. and the other in India. I was deeply shocked by the different effects of these floods and the damage that their victims seemed to share.

    Since then I have visited flood zones around the world. I travelled to many countries, like Australia, Thailand and Nigeria. In flooded places, life is suddenly turned upside down, and normal life is temporarily gone.

    Photos are the most important in my research. I often follow people as they return home through deep waters, and work with them to take a close look at their flooded homes. Though their poses may be conventional, their environment is changed. The change makes them upset. Often they're       about their circumstances or the improper response from the government. Many want their sufferings to be seen and want the world to know what has happened to them.

I shoot on film with old Rolleiflex cameras. Digital would be easier, but the texture of film has a particular quality for me. The use of an old camera makes the situation more formal and serious.

    In many cultures, the flood is described as a destructive force in old stories. It makes humans feel powerless. As weather becomes more extreme, the story in the Bible(圣经) is becoming literal.

Typhoon is a very big wind. It usually starts in July, August and September

How does a typhoon come? In summer, when the sun heats down on the sea, the water gets hot. Then the hot water evaporates and goes up into the air. When the air gets very warm, it starts to move high up into the sky, and starts to move quickly, making wind. The wind goes in circles, and it keeps moving higher in the sky. And when the wind moves faster than one hundred and twenty kilometers an hour, a typhoon comes.

Typhoons are of great danger. When a typhoon comes, it usually brings strong winds and lots of rain. We should be careful when it comes. Don't go out or play on the beach.