1、away. One-third of the nation felt it .A huge crack that was eight kilometres long and thirty metres wide cut across houses,roads and canals.Steam burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In fifteen terrible seconds a large lay in ruins.The suffering of the people wa
2、s extreme. Tow-thirds of them died or were injured during the earthquake.Thounds of families were killed and many chidren were left without parents. The number of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000. But how could the survivors believe it was natural?Everywhere they looked ne
3、arly everything was destroyed. All of the citys hospitals,75%of its factories and buildings and 90%of its homes were gone. Bricks covered the ground like red autumn leaves. No wind, however,could below they away. Two dams and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for travelling. The railway
4、 tracks were now useless pieces of steel. Tens of thousands of cows would never give milk again. Half a million pigs and millions of chickens were dead. Sand now filled the wells instead of water. People were shocked. Then later that afternoon,another big quake which was almost as strong as the firs
5、t one shook Tangshan. Some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the ruins. More buildings fell down. Water,food, and eletricity were hard to get. People began to wongder how long the disater would last. All hope was not lost. Soon after the quakes, the army sent 150,000 soliders to T
6、angshan to help the rescue workers. Hundreds of thousands of people were helped. The army organized teams to dig out those were trapped and to bury the dead. To the north of the city, most of the 10,000 miners were rescued from the coal mines there. Workers built shelters for survivors whose homes h
7、ad been destroyed. Fresh water was taken to the city by train,truck and plane. Slowly, the city began to breathe again. A SAFE HOME It is sad but that people die in earthquakes from falling furniture and bricks. Earthquake safety is very important and there is more to it than just keeping buildings
8、from falling down. So if your home is in an earthquake area,you should prepare carefully before the earthquake comes. First, make sure you buy a house which is earthquake safe. All pipes should be fixed to the wall and all walls should be especially thick and strong. You also have to make sure that
9、there are bolts underneath your house. They are one of the most important ways of protecting a house. Make sure the building has no breaken windows and is well repaired. Second ,look at the objects in your house. Those in the living room,which are the most likely to hurt us, are computers, televisio
10、ns and lamps. They can be tied to tables or them so they wont easily move around. The kitchen, which is also very dangerous, must have strong doors on all the cupboards. This is the place where many small things are stored that might fall down. The water heater should have a case round it too. Windo
11、ws are special problem. When they break, glass can cause many accidents,. It is better to use safety glass if you can, especially for pictures. Always remember:” It is better to be safe than sorry.” THE STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS By Jack London Never before in history has a city been so completely destr
12、oyed. San Francisco is gone. Nothing is left of it but memories and some houses far from the centre of the city. Its buniness are gone. The factories,hotelsand palace are all gone too. Within an hour after the earthquake, the smoke of SanFrancios fires could been seen 160 kilometres away. The sun is
13、 red in the dark sky. There was no stopping the fires. There was no way to organize or communicate. The steel railway tracks were now useless. And the great pipes for carrying water under the streets had burst. All of the ways man had made to keep the city safe were gone in the thirty second the ear
14、th moved. Out at sea it was calm. No wind came up. Yet from every direction-east,weast,north,andsouth,strong winds blew upon the unlucky city. Man himself had to make ruins of the citys best buildings so that they would not be a danger to those in the streets. A list of buildings undesteryed was now
15、 only a few addresses. A list of the brave men and the women would fill a library. A list of all those killed will never be made. Amazing as it may seem, Wednesday night was a quiet night. There were no crowds. The policemen saidnothing; even their horses were quit. There were no shouts or people do
16、ing crazy things. In all those terrible hours I saw not one woman who cried, not one man who was excited. Before the fires, through the night, thousands and thousands of people who had lost their homes left for safety. Some were covered in blankets. Sometimes whole families put everything they owned
17、 and could save into wagons. They helped one another climb the high hills around the city. Never in all SanFrsncios histroy were her people so kind as on that terrible night. Unit 5 Elias story My name is Elias. I am a poor worker in SouthAfrica. The time when I first met Nelson Mandela was a very d
18、ifficult period of my life. I was twelve years old. It was in 1952 and Mandela was the black lawyer to whom I went for advice. He offered guidance to poor black people on their legal problems. He was generous with his time, for which I was grateful. I needed his help because I had very little educat
19、ion. I began school at six. The school where I studied for only two years was three kilometers away. I had to leave because my family could not continue to pay the school fees and the bus fare. I could not read or write well. After trying hard, I got a job in a gold mine. However, this was a time wh
20、en one had to got to have a passbook to live in Johannesburg. Sadly I did not have it because I was not born there, and I worried about whether I would become out of work. The day when Nelson Mandela helped me was one of my happiest. He told me how to get the correct papers so I could stay in Johann
21、esburg. I became more hopeful about my future. I never forgot how kind Mandela was. When he organized the ANC Youth League, I joined it as soon as I could. He said: “ The last thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws stopping our rights and progress,until today we have reached a stage wher
22、e we have almost no rights at all.” It was the truth. Black people could not vote or choose their leaders. They could not get the jobs they wanted. The parts of town in which they had to live were decided by white people. The places outside the towns where they were sent to live were the poorest par
23、ts of South Africa. No one could grow food there,. In fact as Nelson Mandela said: “ We were put into a position in which we had either to accept we were less important, or fight the government. We chose to attack the laws. We first broke the law in a way which was peaceful; when this was not allowe
24、d only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.” As a matter of fact, I do not like violence but in 1963 I helped him blow up some government buildings. It was very dangerous because if I was caught I could be put in prison. But I was very happy to help because I knew it would help us ac
25、hieve our dream of making black and white people equal. The rest of Elias story You cannot imagine how the name of Robben Island made us afraid. It was a prison from which no one escaped. There I spent the hardest time of my life. But when I got there Nelson Mandela was also there and he helped me.
26、Mr Mandela began a school for those of us who had little learning. We read books under our blankets and used anything we could find to make candles to see the words. I became a good student. I wanted to studyaway. One-third of the nation felt it .A huge crack that was eight kilometres long and thirt
27、y metres wide cut across houses,roads and canals.Steam burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In fifteen terrible seconds a large lay in ruins.The suffering of the people was extreme. Tow-thirds of them died or were injured during the earthquake.Thounds of families
28、 were killed and many chidren were left without parents. The number of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000. But how could the survivors believe it was natural?Everywhere they looked nearly everything was destroyed. All of the citys hospitals,75%of its factories and buildings
29、and 90%of its homes were gone. Bricks covered the ground like red autumn leaves. No wind, however,could below they away. Two dams and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for travelling. The railway tracks were now useless pieces of steel. Tens of thousands of cows would never give milk ag
30、ain. Half a million pigs and millions of chickens were dead. Sand now filled the wells instead of water. People were shocked. Then later that afternoon,another big quake which was almost as strong as the first one shook Tangshan. Some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the ruins. M
31、ore buildings fell down. Water,food, and eletricity were hard to get. People began to wongder how long the disater would last. All hope was not lost. Soon after the quakes, the army sent 150,000 soliders to Tangshan to help the rescue workers. Hundreds of thousands of people were helped. The army or
32、ganized teams to dig out those were trapped and to bury the dead. To the north of the city, most of the 10,000 miners were rescued from the coal mines there. Workers built shelters for survivors whose homes had been destroyed. Fresh water was taken to the city by train,truck and plane. Slowly, the c
33、ity began to breathe again. A SAFE HOME It is sad but that people die in earthquakes from falling furniture and bricks. Earthquake safety is very important and there is more to it than just keeping buildings from falling down. So if your home is in an earthquake area,you should prepare carefully bef
34、ore the earthquake comes. First, make sure you buy a house which is earthquake safe. All pipes should be fixed to the wall and all walls should be especially thick and strong. You also have to make sure that there are bolts underneath your house. They are one of the most important ways of protecting
35、 a house. Make sure the building has no breaken windows and is well repaired. Second ,look at the objects in your house. Those in the living room,which are the most likely to hurt us, are computers, televisions and lamps. They can be tied to tables or them so they wont easily move around. The kitche
36、n, which is also very dangerous, must have strong doors on all the cupboards. This is the place where many small things are stored that might fall down. The water heater should have a case round it too. Windows are special problem. When they break, glass can cause many accidents,. It is better to us
37、e safety glass if you can, especially for pictures. Always remember:” It is better to be safe than sorry.” THE STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS By Jack London Never before in history has a city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone. Nothing is left of it but memories and some houses far from the
38、 centre of the city. Its buniness are gone. The factories,hotelsand palace are all gone too. Within an hour after the earthquake, the smoke of SanFrancios fires could been seen 160 kilometres away. The sun is red in the dark sky. There was no stopping the fires. There was no way to organize or commu
39、nicate. The steel railway tracks were now useless. And the great pipes for carrying water under the streets had burst. All of the ways man had made to keep the city safe were gone in the thirty second the earth moved. Out at sea it was calm. No wind came up. Yet from every direction-east,weast,north
40、,andsouth,strong winds blew upon the unlucky city. Man himself had to make ruins of the citys best buildings so that they would not be a danger to those in the streets. A list of buildings undesteryed was now only a few addresses. A list of the brave men and the women would fill a library. A list of
41、 all those killed will never be made. Amazing as it may seem, Wednesday night was a quiet night. There were no crowds. The policemen saidnothing; even their horses were quit. There were no shouts or people doing crazy things. In all those terrible hours I saw not one woman who cried, not one man who
42、 was excited. Before the fires, through the night, thousands and thousands of people who had lost their homes left for safety. Some were covered in blankets. Sometimes whole families put everything they owned and could save into wagons. They helped one another climb the high hills around the city. N
43、ever in all SanFrsncios histroy were her people so kind as on that terrible night. Unit 5 Elias story My name is Elias. I am a poor worker in SouthAfrica. The time when I first met Nelson Mandela was a very difficult period of my life. I was twelve years old. It was in 1952 and Mandela was the black
44、 lawyer to whom I went for advice. He offered guidance to poor black people on their legal problems. He was generous with his time, for which I was grateful. I needed his help because I had very little education. I began school at six. The school where I studied for only two years was three kilomete
45、rs away. I had to leave because my family could not continue to pay the school fees and the bus fare. I could not read or write well. After trying hard, I got a job in a gold mine. However, this was a time when one had to got to have a passbook to live in Johannesburg. Sadly I did not have it becaus
46、e I was not born there, and I worried about whether I would become out of work. The day when Nelson Mandela helped me was one of my happiest. He told me how to get the correct papers so I could stay in Johannesburg. I became more hopeful about my future. I never forgot how kind Mandela was. When he
47、organized the ANC Youth League, I joined it as soon as I could. He said: “ The last thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws stopping our rights and progress,until today we have reached a stage where we have almost no rights at all.” It was the truth. Black people could not vote or choose
48、their leaders. They could not get the jobs they wanted. The parts of town in which they had to live were decided by white people. The places outside the towns where they were sent to live were the poorest parts of South Africa. No one could grow food there,. In fact as Nelson Mandela said: “ We were
49、 put into a position in which we had either to accept we were less important, or fight the government. We chose to attack the laws. We first broke the law in a way which was peaceful; when this was not allowed only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.” As a matter of fact, I do not like violence but in 1963 I helped him blow up some government buildings. It was very dangerous because if I was caught I could be put in prison. But I was very happy to help because I knew it would help us achieve our dream o
