A hurricane (飓风) is a big storm that forms (形成) over warm ocean water. Hurricanes have winds that move in a circle. Hurricane winds     1     (be) very powerful, and can move at speeds from 120 kph to over 300 kph.

The center of hurricane winds is called the eye. Winds in     2     eye are not very strong. Around the eye is an area called the eye wall. The wall is where winds are the     3     (strong) and rain is the heaviest.

Strong winds and heavy rain can do a lot of damage (破坏) when a hurricane moves over land.

Hurricane winds can be strong enough     4     (break) windows into pieces. The winds can even knock over (撞倒) tall trees, which might fall on     5     (building) or cars. Strong winds can pick up things and send     6     (they) into the air.

Heavy rain     7     a hurricane can cause floods (洪水) in areas that are not close to a coast (海岸). The floodwater can be very deep. It sometimes     8     (reach) almost up to the top of houses. Water goes into the houses     9     (quick).

    10     there is no way to stop a hurricane, you can get prepared for it.

We lived in a rocky area and it seldom rained in our town. There was a stream (溪)     1     ran through our town. Far away in the mountains where the stream came from, it rained a lot.

One summer, it rained so     2     (heavy) that our little stream turned into a river. What was worse, the water was quickly     3     (rise). Unluckily, our whole town had only ten sandbags to hold back the water! We needed hundreds of handbags     4     (protect) our town from a food (洪水).     5    , there was almost no sand in our town there were only rocks.

“We have to leave the town and look     6     somewhere safe to stay,” someone said. Then, everyone started packing and getting prepared to leave. when we were about to drive away, an old man     7     (stand) in the middle of the road and asked, “Where are you going?” We explained that we were going to safety and that he should leave too. He said, “There’s     8     (ton) of sand near my place.” He lived about a mile away up in some hills.

Within minutes, we were all heading for his place. In the following ten hours, some of     9     (we) filled sandbags and others placed them along the edges (边缘) of the river. There was a flood that night, but our town was safe.

The old man was     10     hero and from then on, we celebrated “Sandbag Day” every year.

Ben would hear strong winds outside his home in Alabama. Black clouds were making the s    1     very dark. With no l    2     outside, it felt like midnight. The news on TV r    3     that a heavy rainstorm was in the area.

Everyone in the neighborhood was b    4    . Dad was putting pieces of wood over the windows while his mom was making sure the flashlights and radio were w    5    . She also put some candles and matches on the table.

Ben was helping his mom make dinner when the rain began to beat heavily against the windows. After dinner, they tried to play a card game, b    6     it was hard to have fun with a serious storm happening outside.

Ben could not s    7     at first. He finally fell asleep when the wind was dying down at around 3:00 a.m. When he w    8     up, the sun was rising. He went outside with his family and found the neighborhood in a m    9    . Fallen trees, broken windows and rubbish were everywhere. They joined the neighbors to help clean up the neighborhood together. Although the storm broke many things apart, it brought families and neighbors c    10     together.

My grandfather was born in 1932 and grew up in a poor village in Yueqing, China. At the age of 14, he went to     1     (德国) to make a living. He was the first person in his village to go abroad. When he     2     (到达) Berlin, he realized it was     3     (不可能的) for a foreigner to find a good job because he could speak little German. He wanted to go to a language school but he couldn’t a    4     it. Later, he worked in a small restaurant, cleaning up the tables, washing the dishes and sweeping the floors. At first, he felt n    5     when he spoke German, slowly, he improved his German by     6     (交流) with others. He was so hard-working that his boss was pleased with him. So he     7     (送) my grandfather to a local school and he entered a big company at the age of 24.

My grandfather kept working hard and finally made his d    8     come true. There was a 1    9     I have learned from my grandfather. Things do not come easily in life, no pain no gain.     10     (也许) I’m going to be a person like my grandfather one day.

Two months ago, I wanted to run for class monitor. I needed to speak in front of the class. But I     1     afraid that my classmates would not like me if I lost. I wrote for the talk, and checked carefully to make sure there weren’t any mistakes. Every day I asked myself     2     practise hard. I felt that I had a great chance of beating others.

When the final day came, the situation wasn’t     3     I had pictured. I spoke as much as I could. However, few people really listened. Saylor spoke after me, quickly but clearly. We could see her nice plan to build     4     better class. My words were much more boring than hers. At last, I lost. I felt     5     bad that I stayed outside the classroom after every class. But later, I found that everyone forgot about it. Nothing changed.

I was a happy plastic bottle on a supermarket shelf. A week ago, a woman picked me up and drank the water inside me. Then she just dropped me onto the     1     (地面). I was hurt and I have never felt so sad and     2     (孤独) in my life.

Early the next morning, a man picked me up. He     3     (扔) me and the other rubbish into the back of a truck. Then I was pushed together with the     4     (剩余) of the rubbish. Soon I was in a bad shape. It was     5     (难以置信) how thin and dirty I became.

I slept for a while. When I woke up, I found     6     (我自己) lying in a strange place. I was     7     (彻底) shocked that everything around me was ugly and had a terrible smell. I felt afraid. I kept hoping that someone could     8     (拿) me somewhere clean. Then huge trucks came and covered us with a lot of soil.

I met several bottles and asked one of them what would     9     (发生) to us. He said that we would never leave here, and would have to stay here for     10     (千) of years.

“Why can’t they recycle (回收)us?” I cried.