“Keep an eye on Esther. I’ll be back in a second,” Joy Warren said to her three-year-old son Stephen, who was sitting in the back of the Buick. She didn’t like leaving the children alone in the car, but the baby was sleeping soundly. And it would only be a moment.
She had hardly walked 40 yards when she saw the car moving. It headed straight towards the river. Unable to swim, Joy shouted, “My babies are in that car!”
Daniel Whitehead, a 17-year-old student, was walking by the river when the Buick crashed into the water just yards ahead .Without thinking, Daniel jumped in. Though a competitive swimmer, he was shocked by the icy chill.  
Two minutes earlier, Skip Womack had pulled to a halt as the Buick ran in front of him. Now seeing it hit the water and hearing Joy’s cries, Skip got out of his truck and jumped into the water. He had only one thought: If I don’t get them out, they’ll drown.
Daniel reached the car and grabbed a door handle. But the water was only four inches beneath the window, and the door wouldn’t open. With one powerful punch, Daniel and Skip broke a window. Daniel reached inside and lifted Stephen out. He placed him on his back and set out for shore. At the same time, Skip squeezed himself through the window .He managed to free Esther from beneath her seat belt. After he got out of the car with the baby, he held her over the water and swam toward the shore. All this took place just seconds before the Buick disappeared beneath the water.
Later, driving home, Skip thought of his wife and children—how close he’d come to leaving them behind. He thought of the miracle he’d lived through, and how two children were still alive because he and Daniel happened to be in the right place at the right time

1. 1.

   Why did Joy leave her children in the car?

   1. A.
      He did not like shopping with a child in hand
   2. B.
      She didn’t like waking up her baby
   3. C.
      Stephen was big enough to take care of his sister
   4. D.
      It was icy cold outside
2. 2.

   Daniel and Skip, who saved the lives of the two kids, _____

   1. A.
      had been good friends
   2. B.
      were two close friends of Joy Warren’s
   3. C.
      were Joy Warren’s neighbors
   4. D.
      were strangers before the accident
3. 3.

   How did Daniel get Stephen out of danger?

   1. A.
      He squeezed into the car and carried him out
   2. B.
      He pulled him out through the broken window
   3. C.
      He freed him from his seatbelt before he got him out
   4. D.
      He held him over the water and swam back to shore
4. 4.

   What happened to Joy Warren’s Buick?

   1. A.
      It had four inches of water in it
   2. B.
      One of its windows could not be opened
   3. C.
      It was pulled out of water and set on the shore
   4. D.
      It sank to the bottom of the river
5. 5.

   How did Skip feel in his way home?

   1. A.
      He felt lucky to be still alive after having saved the lives of two kids
   2. B.
      He missed his wife and children, whom he left behind in the morning
   3. C.
      He felt very thankful to Daniel, without whom he would not have made it
   4. D.
      He wondered how he and Daniel could be in the right place at the right time

Violent winds swept the ocean, and waves thundered to shore, shaking the lookout tower at Pea Island Rescue Station. Surfman Theodore Meekins was on watch that evening of 11 October 1896. A hurricane had struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the tide was so strong that beach patrols(巡逻)had been canceled. Still, Meekins paid close attention to the horizon. This was the type of weather that could blow ships hundreds of miles off course.
Offshore, the ship E.S. Newman was caught in the storm. The captain, whose wife and child were on the ship, feared the Newman would soon break up. He made the decision to beach his ship, then fired a signal, praying that someone onshore would see it.
Meekins, whose eyes were trained to cut through rain and surf mists, thought he saw the signal, but so much spray (水雾) covered the lookout windows that he could hardly make sure. Still, he took no chances. After summoning (召集) the station keeper, Captain Richard Etheridge, Meekins set off a coston signal, a signal made by using lamps of different colors. Together, the two men searched the darkness for a reply. A few moments later, they saw a flash of light to the south and knew a shop was in distress (遇险). Even before the return signal burned out, Etheridge had summoned his men and begun rescue operations.
For the lifesavers, the rescue of the Newman was nothing unusual. Over the years, so many ships had foundered off the Outer Banks that sailors called the region the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Noting the dangerous surf and wind conditions, Captain Etheridge quickly decided the surf boats would be impossible to control. Instead, he decided to use another way to help the survivors.
The crew set off on the long journey down the beach to the scene of the wreck (海滩). Captain Etheridge hoped to fire a line from a gun to the ship’s mast (船桅). After the ship’s crew dragged the line onboard, the surfmen would fire a second line and carry survivors safely to shore.
The surfmen crossed three miles of sand to reach the ship Newman. The water was freezing, and the men often sank up to their knees in sand. Captain Etheridge noted in his diary that “the voice of gladdened hearts greeted the arrival of the station crew,” but that “it seemed impossible for them to do anything under such circumstances. The work was often stopped by the sweeping current.”
Even when the rescue equipment proved useless, Etheridge refused to give up. Choosing two of his strongest surfmen, he tied rope lines around their waists and sent them into the water. The two men, holding a line from shore, walked with huge effort as far as they could before diving through the waves. Nearly worn out while swimming against the tide, they finally made it to the shore.
The first to be rescued were the captain’s wife and child. With the two passengers tied to their backs, the surfmen fought their way back to shore. Taking turns, Etheridge and his crew made ten trips to the Newman, saving every person onboard. It was 1:00 a.m. when the crew and survivors finally made it back to the station.
That night, as the exhausted survivors lay sleeping and his lifesaving crew rested, Captain Etheridge picked up his pen, and in the light of an oil lantern, wrote with satisfaction that all the people onboard had been saved and were “sheltered in this station”—words he would remember for many years to come.
【小题1】The beach patrols were canceled because ________.

Violent winds swept the ocean, and waves thundered to shore, shaking the lookout tower at Pea Island Rescue Station. Surfman Theodore Meekins was on watch that evening of 11 October 1896. A hurricane had struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the tide was so strong that beach patrols(巡逻)had been canceled. Still, Meekins paid close attention to the horizon. This was the type of weather that could blow ships hundreds of miles off course.

Offshore, the ship E.S. Newman was caught in the storm. The captain, whose wife and child were on the ship, feared the Newman would soon break up. He made the decision to beach his ship, then fired a signal, praying that someone onshore would see it.

Meekins, whose eyes were trained to cut through rain and surf mists, thought he saw the signal, but so much spray (水雾) covered the lookout windows that he could hardly make sure. Still, he took no chances. After summoning (召集) the station keeper, Captain Richard Etheridge, Meekins set off a coston signal, a signal made by using lamps of different colors. Together, the two men searched the darkness for a reply. A few moments later, they saw a flash of light to the south and knew a shop was in distress (遇险). Even before the return signal burned out, Etheridge had summoned his men and begun rescue operations.

For the lifesavers, the rescue of the Newman was nothing unusual. Over the years, so many ships had foundered off the Outer Banks that sailors called the region the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Noting the dangerous surf and wind conditions, Captain Etheridge quickly decided the surf boats would be impossible to control. Instead, he decided to use another way to help the survivors.

The crew set off on the long journey down the beach to the scene of the wreck (海滩). Captain Etheridge hoped to fire a line from a gun to the ship’s mast (船桅). After the ship’s crew dragged the line onboard, the surfmen would fire a second line and carry survivors safely to shore.

The surfmen crossed three miles of sand to reach the ship Newman. The water was freezing, and the men often sank up to their knees in sand. Captain Etheridge noted in his diary that “the voice of gladdened hearts greeted the arrival of the station crew,” but that “it seemed impossible for them to do anything under such circumstances. The work was often stopped by the sweeping current.”

Even when the rescue equipment proved useless, Etheridge refused to give up. Choosing two of his strongest surfmen, he tied rope lines around their waists and sent them into the water. The two men, holding a line from shore, walked with huge effort as far as they could before diving through the waves. Nearly worn out while swimming against the tide, they finally made it to the shore.

The first to be rescued were the captain’s wife and child. With the two passengers tied to their backs, the surfmen fought their way back to shore. Taking turns, Etheridge and his crew made ten trips to the Newman, saving every person onboard. It was 1:00 a.m. when the crew and survivors finally made it back to the station.

That night, as the exhausted survivors lay sleeping and his lifesaving crew rested, Captain Etheridge picked up his pen, and in the light of an oil lantern, wrote with satisfaction that all the people onboard had been saved and were “sheltered in this station”—words he would remember for many years to come.

1.The beach patrols were canceled because ________.

  A. Meekins paid enough attention to the horizon

B. there was too much spray on the windows

C. the winds and tide were too strong

D. there was no ship near the station

2.The underlined word “foundered” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “___________”.

  A. stopped          B. sank          C. sailed          D. arrived

3.What was the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?

  A. To warn sailors of the dangers of hurricanes.

B. To create a story describing a rescue at sea.

C. To inform people about Richard Etheridge.

D. To record the details about the Newman.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

  A. The newman was very dangerous before Richard Etheridge and his team members saw the signal.

B. A terrible hurricane took place off the coast of North Carolina and threatened the lives of many sailors.

C. At no other time in American history have so many shipwrecked passengers survived such a violent storm.

D. All the passengers of a shipwreck were rescued because of heroic the efforts of a special leader and his crew.