高考英语外刊时文精读精练 (4)
Floods and fires洪水和火灾
非流主Extreme no more极端天气不再罕见
主题语境：人与自然 主题语境内容：自然灾害与防范
The Wilsons river broke its banks on the night of February 27th while Lismore, a town of around 30,000 in New South Wales, was sleeping. Its residents snoozed（打盹儿） through early-hours emergency warnings that “risk to life was阔太王艳复出内幕imminent（迫在眉睫）”. Within hours the town was submerged（淹没的）. Residents scrambled into their attics（阁楼）. Mothers carried children onto rooftops. An army of locals launched tin boats into the floods to save them. Four people died.
Eastern Australia has been hammered by what politicians call “once-in-1,000-year” floodin
g. It has already had a soggy（浸水的） summer because of La Niña, a phenomenon which triggers downpours there. Then on February 23rd, meteorologists warned that an area of low pressure was forming over southern Queensland. It sucked moisture（水分） from the sea, forming an “atmospheric river（大气层河流）” over the east coast. It has dumped quantities of water ever since.
Brisbane, Queensland’s capital, received almost 80% of its annual rainfall in less than a week in February, flooding 15,000 homes. As the rain edged into northern New South Wales, it ripped up roads and drowned herds of cattle. Storms lashed Sydney on March 8th, causing a dam to spill over. Some 50,000 people in the state have been forced to evacuate（撤离）6种人不能爬泰山.
Scientists are wary（小心的） of blaming floods on global warming because everything from rainfall to urban development contributes to them. They disagree, too, about whether climate change is a factor in this kind of never-ending downpour（倾盆大雨）. No matter the cause, extreme weather is now a regular occurrence in Australia. New So
uth Wales was buffeted（重创） by its last “once-in-100-year” floods, which submerged Western Sydney, just a year ago. In 2019 and 2020 vast lands of the country were torched in bushfires which destroyed more than 3,000 homes and killed 33 people. Unlucky towns such as Lismore have in recent years been hit by both fire and floods.
It does not help that the state and federal governments’ response has been bungled(失败). When disaster strikes, official aid is often slow to come. In 2019 the federal government set aside almost A$4bn ($2.9bn) for a fund that would help it respond to crises(危险) and lessen future ones. But it has spent hardly any of that money. It has now deployed(部署) the army and is dishing out cash to victims, but locals fume（愤怒地说） that they were left for days without power or fuel as supplies of food and water dwindled（减少）. A university is putting up the homeless. “Isn’t somebody meant to write a plan for this?” wonders Ella Buckland, a resident of Lismore.
A debate now rages about how or even whether places like Lismore should rebuild. Analysts think the floods might trigger insurance claims worth more than A$3bn.Some politicians would like the government to pay companies to insure houses that will inevitably be struck by future fires or floods. “If we are going to start thinking every time there’s a natural disaster that we have to give up and leave because it’s too hard, then where are we going to live?” asks Lismore’s mayor, Steve Krieg. That is becoming a question for ever more Australians.
【课标词汇】
1.emergency紧急情况；不测事件；突发事件
How would disabled people escape in an emergency?如果发生紧急情况,伤残人士如何逃离？
Is the emergency exit suitable for wheelchairs?安全出口适合轮椅通行吗？
2.scramble（急速而艰难地）移动；爬；攀登
She scrambled up the steep hillside and over the rocks.她爬上了陡峭的山坡,翻过岩石。
He scrambled into his clothes (= put them on quickly) and raced to fetch a doctor.他匆匆套上衣服,跑去请医生。
3.launch启动,推出,发起
The scheme was launched a year ago.这项计划是一年前开始实施的。
The Canadian police plan to launch an investigation into the deal.加拿大警方计划对这宗交易展开调查。
4.hammer（在比赛或战斗中）彻底击败,击垮;用力敲打；猛踢;严厉批评,指责
I was woken up suddenly by the sound of someone hammering on/at the front door.有人重重地捶打前门,把我惊醒了。
We were hammered in both games.我们两场比赛都被击败了。
5.phenomenon 现象:
淘宝质量问题cultural / natural / social phenomena 文化/自然/社会现象
Language is a social and cultural phenomenon. 语言是一种社会文化现象。
An allergy can be triggered by stress or overwork.紧张或工作过度可能引发过敏症。
Stress may act as a trigger for these illnesses.压力可能会成为引发这些疾病的原因。
7.suck吸；吮吸；咂,啜
She was sitting on the grass sucking lemonade through a straw.她坐在草地上幸福触手可及收演员表,用吸管吸着柠檬汁。
I sucked my thumb until I was seven.我一直到七岁才不再吮大拇指。
Trucks dumped 1,900 tons of refuse here.卡车在这里倾倒了1,900吨废物
Toxic chemicals continue to be dumped in the North Sea.有毒化工品还在继续被倾倒进北海。
Huge quantities of oil were spilling into the sea.大量石油泄漏溢进大海。
The police found quantities of drugs at his home. 警察在他家发现了大量。
10.edge徐徐移动；挤；悄悄移动
She tried to edge away from him.她想从他身边溜走。
Nick edged his way through the crowd.尼克挤过人。
11.rip up把…撕碎
If we wrote I think he would rip up 如果我们写信的话,我想他会把信撕得粉碎。
We have to just rip up the rule book and start again. 我们不得不取消规则手册,重新开始。
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