I. Comprehension of the text
1.discuss the following questions with your partners and then fill in the blanks with the information from the text.
1). Thanks to Stephen’s heorism, his wife and three children managed to survive the Asian tsunami disaster.
2). He suddenly remembered the black and white movie he had seen as a kid. There had been a tidal wave and people tied themselves to the trees on the shore.
3). Because Stephen had lost his job and had a stomach operation, they needed a break.
4). Yes. It was for three reasons: a) It was Christmas Day; b) Three kids got their presents; c) It was Stepehn’s birthday.
5). There had been a tremor that morening but they hardly noticed it except Ray.
6). He saw a white wave rising and rolling in.
7). He grabbed his family’s wet beach towels and straped each of them into the branches of the trees. They were sitting in a tree until the wave swept out.
8). He tried to help surviors find supplies in case no help came for a few days.
9). She said that he was their hero and that she and the kids would have died if it weren’t for Stephen.
2.1) Stephen was regarded as a hero by his family for his bravery in the tsunami.
2) When they arrived on the island of Kandooma they were so tired because of the long flight that they went straight to bed.
3) When Stephen knew these were no ordinary waves, he told Ashley to head back to the beach and move their bags to higher ground.
4) As soon as Stephen worked out it was a tsunami, he managed to get his family to higher ground and strap them into the branches of trees.
5). The Boultons catch the first available flight back to Britain the following day after it became clear that the giant wave wasn’t coming back.
3. Work in a group of four and complete the following table.
| Natural Hazards Disasters | Cause for Natural Hazards/Disasters | Impact | Prevention and preparedness |
| Earthquake | Changes in the atmosphere, the earth’s surface or the sea or other body of water | Floods, man-made pollution, and other environmental problems have major effects on the planet’s ecosystem and increase the risk of natural hazards around the world. For example, atmospheric pollution from cars and factories causes the global warming of the planet. As a result, the ocean’s levels rise, increasing the risk of disasters. | Economic development |
| Flood | Minimize man-made changes to the environment | ||
| Drought | |||
| Blizzard | Man-made changes to the environment:deforestation-tree trap water in the soil which slows down or even stops floods, but when whey are cut down severe flooding happens more easily. Or, lots of people living together in small areas, e.g. in cities and/ or shanty towns, where houses and roads are built so cheaply that even a small earthquake can cause a disaster. | Forecasting and warning systems | |
| Avalanche | |||
| Tropical cyclone | Community education | ||
| Hurricane | Organization and management of disaster situations including the preparation of operational plans, training of relief groups, the stockpiling of wupplies, and the provision of necessary funds. | ||
| Tornado | |||
| Tsunami | Economic effects(destroying crops, buildings), social ones (e.g. families being separated), or both. | ||
| Landslide | |||
| Volcano | |||
| wildfire |
1. 1) religious d. 2) tsunami e. 3) heroism a. 4) surround b.
5) mode c. 6) dash i. 7) recede k. 8) freezing l.
9) tense f. 10) hysterical j. 11) coordinate h. 12) panic g.
2. 1) rather than clear (并非那么清澈)
2）either of them had fallen(两个人中有一个跌倒)
3）did he realize the scale of the disaster(他才意识到这场灾难的程度)
4）they were giving up hope(他们快要绝望之时)
5）should have seen Euran’s face(真该看看尤安的表情)
6）It was only after we’d flown back to Glasgow(只有飞回到格拉斯哥以后)
7）would have died(可能就没命了)
3.Replace the underlined words or expressions in the following sentences with words or expressions from the box that best keep the original meanings. Change the form where necessary. There are two extra words or expressions which you do not need to use.
1)Thanks to
2)work out
3)stricken
4)survived
5)Before we knew it
6)did a head count
7)slept through
8)let go of
9)available
10)thrilled
IV. Translation
1.Translate the following sentences into english, using the phrases and expressions from Reading 1.
1)我大声喊着让阿什利到更高的地方去，同时我和瑞挽着手，背上背着爱奥纳和尤安，在惊涛骇浪里艰难地向岸上的树的方向走去。（link arms with）
I shouted to Ashley to get to higher ground and I linked arms with Ray. We started wading through horrendous currents to the trees, clambeing up with Iona and Euan on our backs.
2) 随后我意识到海水越涨越高，巨浪正翻滚而来。（roll in）
Then I realized the water was rising and big waves were rolling in.
3）在猛烈的巨浪撞击中，史蒂文.布顿在漩涡翻滚的海水里艰难跋涉，试图接近他正在尖叫的妻子和孩子。（wade, swirling water）
Ferocious waves crashed around Stephen Boulton as he waded through swirling water toward his screaming wife and kids.
4) 史蒂文帮旅馆经理弄到了供给品，以防几天之内得不到救援。( in case)
Stephen helped the hotel manager find supplies in case no help came for a few days.
5) 瑞痛哭流涕地求我和她一起上船，但我不能这么做，因为这不公平。（cry one’s eyes out）
Ray was crying her eyes out and begging me to get on with her. But I couldn’t do that because it wasn’t fair.
2.Translate the following sentences into Chinese, and pay attention to the underlined parts.
1)there, they would be safe---above the wave sweeping so many other people to their deaths.
这样他们才会安全---海浪已经卷走了很多人的生命，但他们的位置比海浪高些。
2）there was no sign that anything was less than perfect, so Stephen, Ray, and the children started splashing about on the shore, then headed for a pier.
一切都显得那么完美，史蒂文，瑞和孩子们开始在岸边泼水玩，然后又向一个码头走去。
3）Not realizing just how big, Stephen told Ashley to head back to the beach and move their bags. But when water started crashing over a six-foot harbor wall, he knew there were no ordinary waves.
当时史蒂文还没有意识到浪究竟有多大，他让阿什利回到海滩上去拿包。 但当海水哗啦啦地冲过6英尺高的港湾围墙时，他明白这不是普通的海浪。
4) Stephen was amazing. He just clicked into firefighter mode, calmed us all down, and then set about saving our lives.
史蒂文太了不起了。 他立即进入了消防员的状态，先让我们平静下来，然后开始想办法救我们。
5）They were whisked away by speedboat to another island that had suffered only minimal damage and, the following day, caught the first available flight back to Britain.
他们迅速被快艇送到一个受灾很轻的岛上，第二天赶最早的航班回到了英国。
Reading 2
I.Comprehension of the Text
1. N 2. Y 3. N 4. N 5. NG 6. N
2. 碰撞发生于当晚11时40分。 这次碰撞或许本来是可以避免的。默多克命令轮船转向，没想到此举却使泰坦尼克号大难临头。 泰坦尼克号像所有轮船一样，转弯的速度越快，向前冲的速度也就越快。假如泰坦尼克号直接向前行驶，然后再转向，就很可能避免与冰山撞个正着。
II． Vocabulary & Structure
1.1）luxury 2） doomed 3） steady 4） remainder 5） flash
6） grim 7） pondering 8） jeopardized 9） rhythmic 10） anchor
2.1) deck k. 2) bow i. 3) stern l. 4) bridge j.
5) anchor a. 6) crew f. 7) captain b. 8) starboard c.
9) port e. 10) lookout h. 11) first officer d. 12) quartermaster g.
Textual Reading
Apply the knowledge
Banked Cloze
(1)B. 第（1）句中的waves与上一句中wave形成词汇重复衔接关系，并且此句是对上一句的进一步阐述。
(2)A. 第（2）句中人称指称词them回指上一句中warning systems，并且此句中warn与上一句中warning形成词汇重复衔接关系。
(3)E. 第（3）句中人称指称词it回指上一句中earthquake， 并且此句中人称指称词it下指下一句中disaster。
(4)C. 第（4） 句中指示指称词this回指上一句Tsunamis are often called tidal waves.下载本文
