题目内容
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes marched across the South on Friday, peeling away roofs, overturning cars and killing at least 11 people in Tennessee, officials said.
It was the second wave of violent weather to hit the state in less than a week. Last weekend, tornadoes killed 24 people in the western part of the state and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and buildings.
The storms crossed an area from northern Mississippi to northern Virginia as they moved to the northeast late Friday after developing from a low-pressure system in the central Plains.
The Nashville suburbs were the hardest hit, with at least eight deaths happening northeast of the city. Three more people were killed in a rural area about 65 miles southeast of Nashville.
Tornadoes were also reported in some other places. The storms pulled up trees, knocked down power lines and damaged buildings. What’s worse, phone lines and most businesses were out of service. Hospitals admitted at least 60 people with storm-related injuries and transferred at least nine badly injured patients to Nashville hospitals.
In southern Indiana, the storms damaged some areas with golf ball-sized hail. High winds blew the roof off a country club and overthrew a semitrailer(拖车). As the storms moved farther east, parts of West Virginia were lashed with heavy rain and winds, great damages caused.
The number of tornadoes in the US has jumped through the first part of 2006 compared with the past few years. Through the end of March, an estimated 286 tornadoes had hit the US, compared with an average of 70 for the same three-month period in each of the past three years.
The number of tornado-related deaths was 38 before Friday's storms. The average number of deaths from 2003 to 2005 was 45 a year, the prediction center said.
1. How many deaths have the thunderstorms and tornadoes on Friday caused?
A.Three. |
B.Eight. |
C.Eleven. |
D.Twenty-two. |
2. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A.Tennessee was hit twice by tornadoes within a week. |
B.The latest tornado might start in northern Mississippi. |
C.At least four states were hit by the tornado. |
D.In the tornadoes of the first 3 months 38 people were killed. |
3. In the first 3 months of last 3 years, about ____ tornadoes happened each month in the US.
A.About 23. |
B.About 70. |
C.About 98. |
D.About 210. |
4.We can infer from the report more deaths and injuries were caused because ____.
A.the phone lines were destroyed |
B.there were enough hospitals |
C.the people hid in their houses |
D.there was also a hail in Tennessee |
1.C
2.D
3.A
4.A
【解析】略
It seems that some people go out of their way to get into trouble. That’s more or less what happened the night that Nashville Police Officer Floyd Hyde was on duty.
“I was on the way to a personal-injury accident in West Nashville. As I got onto Highway 40, blue lights and sirens (警笛) going, I fell in behind a gold Pontiac Firebird that suddenly seemed to take off quickly down the highway. The driver somehow panicked at the sight of me. He was going more than a hundred miles an hour and began passing cars on the shoulder. ”
But Hyde couldn’t go after him. Taking care of injured people is always more important than worrying about speeders, so the officer had to stay on his way to the accident. But he did try to keep the Firebird in sight as he drove, hoping another nearby unit would be able to step in and stop the speeding car. As it turned out, keeping the Firebird in sight was not that difficult. Every turn the Pontiac made was the very turn the officer needed to get to the accident scene.
Hyde followed the Pontiac all the way to his destination. At that point he found another unit had already arrived at the accident scene. His help wasn’t needed. Now he was free to try to stop the driver of the Firebird, who by this time had developed something new to panic about.
“Just about that time,” Hyde says, “I saw fire coming out from under that car, with blue smoke and oil going everywhere. He’d blown his engine. Now he had to stop. ”
“After I arrested him, I asked him why he was running. He told me he didn’t have a driver’s license.”
That accident cost the driver of the Firebird plenty — a thousand dollars for the new engine — not to mention the charges for driving without a license, attempting to run away, and dangerous driving.
【小题1】 Why did the driver of the Firebird suddenly speed down the highway?
A.Because he was racing with another driver on the road. |
B.Because he realized he had to hurry to the accident scene. |
C.Because he wanted to overtake other cars on the shoulder. |
D.Because he thought the police officer wanted to stop him. |
A.Someone else was taking care of the injured person. |
B.The Pontiac reached its destination at the accident scene. |
C.Hyde knew where he was going by following the right car. |
D.The policeman was running after a speeder on Highway 40. |
A.took a wrong turn on the way | B.had some trouble with his car |
C.was stopped by the police officer | D.paid for the expenses of the accident |
A.Losing His Way? | B.Fun All the Way? |
C.Going My Way? | D.Help on the Way? |
It was raining as I got off the train in Nashville, Tennessee. I was tired so I went straight to my hotel.
A big, heavy man was walking up and down in the hotel lobby. Something about the way he moved made me think of a hungry dog looking for a bone. He had a big, fat, red face and a sleepy expression in his eyes. He introduced himself as Wentworth Caswell – Major Wentworth Caswell – from “a fine southern family”. Caswell pulled me into the hotel’s barroom and yelled for a waiter. We ordered drinks. While we drank, he talked continually about himself, his family, his wife and her family. He said his wife was rich. He showed me a handful of silver coins that he pulled from his coat pocket.
By this time, I had decided that I wanted no more of him. I said good night.
I was born in the south myself. But I live in New York now. I write for a large magazine. My boss had asked me to go to Nashville. The magazine had received some stories and poems from a writer in Nashville, named Azalea Adair. The editor liked her work very much. The publisher asked me to get her to sign an agreement to write only for his magazine.
I left the hotel at nine o’clock the next morning to find Miss Adair. It was still raining. As soon as I stepped outside I met Uncle Caesar. He was a big, old black man with fuzzy gray hair. Uncle Caesar was wearing the strangest coat I had ever seen. It must have been a military officer’s coat. It was very long and when it was new it had been gray. But now rain, sun and age had made it a rainbow of colors. Only one of the buttons was left. It was yellow and as big as a fifty cent coin.
Uncle Caesar stood near a horse and carriage. He opened the carriage door and said softly, “Step right in, sir. I’ll take you anywhere in the city.”
“I want to go to 861 Jasmine Street,” I said, and I started to climb into the carriage. But the old man stopped me. “Why do you want to go there, sir?”
“What business is it of yours?” I said angrily. Uncle Caesar relaxed and smiled. “Nothing, sir. But it’s a lonely part of town. Just step in and I’ll take you there right away.”
861 Jasmine Street had been a fine house once, but now it was old and dying. I got out of the carriage.
“That will be two dollars, sir,” Uncle Caesar said. I gave him two one-dollar bills. As I handed them to him, I noticed that one had been torn in half and fixed with a piece of blue paper. Also, the upper right hand corner was missing.
【小题1】The narrator (故事的叙述者)got to Nashville probably _______.
A.in the morning | B.at noon | C.in the afternoon | D.in the evening |
A.his appearance | B.his family | C.the way he talked and behaved | D.his wife |
A.to get a writer to sign an agreement for his magazine |
B.to collect some stories and poems from a writer |
C.to look for good writers for his magazine |
D.to visit his old friend Azalea Adair |
A.was worn by a military officer | B.was a new gray coat |
C.was an old yellow raincoat | D.had only one button left |
A.wanted to know why the narrator wanted to go there |
B.knew the place and was concerned about the narrator |
C.would charge two dollars for taking the narrator there |
D.must have lived in the neighbourhood before |