[01:54.00]Lesson 42
[02:02.96]2.Reading comprehension
[02:08.00]Read the passage to find the answers to these questions:
[02:13.36]1.Why did the hurricane cause so much damage?
[02:19.23]2.Who helped to get things back to normal after the hurricane?
[02:25.58]THE HURRICANE(1)
[02:30.02]On Friday 16th October,1987,a hurricane struck the southeast of England.
[02:38.35]Between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.
[02:43.11]the hurricane crossed the southeast corner of England
[02:48.46]with winds of up to 160 kph.
[02:53.82]Nineteen people lost their lives.
[02:58.86]If the hurricane had happened during the day-time,
[03:03.72]there would have been many more deaths.
[03:07.79]England usually has plenty of rain every month of the year.
[03:13.96]And Scotland sometimes has very strong winds, especially in winter.
[03:20.44]However,that night was the worst one in history.
[03:26.39]It had been raining heavily for two days and the ground was very wet.
[03:32.64]Besides,it was autumn and therefore the trees still had their leaves on.
[03:38.59]For these reasons,the strong winds pushed over the trees very easily.
[03:45.25]In the morning people woke up
[03:49.69]and found the world outside their houses completely changed.
[03:55.44]Fifteen million trees had been blown down by the high winds,
[04:01.50]blocking roads, paths and railway lines.
[04:06.78]Electricity lines as well as telephone poles
[04:12.13]were brought down by falling trees or branches.
[04:16.78]Many towns and villages had their water supply cut off
[04:21.54]because there was no electricity.
[04:25.09]The people who had water offered baths to their neighbours.
[04:30.24]Many people had to use lamps,as there was no electricity.
[04:35.88]Many people had lucky escapes.
[04:40.24]One woman was lying in bed,awake,listening to the rushing winds.
[04:46.20]A tree fell onto her cottage and onto the other half of her bed.
[04:51.76]One family lived in a house with very tall trees all around.
[04:57.72]When the winds started to get strong,
[05:02.08]the family decided that it was not safe to remain in the house.
[05:07.44]They took plastic sheets and blankets into a field nearby
[05:13.60]and spent the rest of the night there.
[05:17.47]One tree fell onto the house
[05:21.23]and one of its branches broke the bed in which the daughter had been sleeping.
[05:26.69]It took weeks to clear all the roads
[05:31.23]and to mend all the broken electricity lines and telephone lines.
[05:37.01]The army was called in to cut through fallen trees
[05:41.68]and to help clear the roads and paths.
[05:46.12]Electricity and telephone workers from other parts of Britain
[05:50.48]travelled south to help repair the damage.
[05:55.16]They worked long hours for several weeks before everything returned to normal.