1 . Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up. “There’s a cyclone coming, Emily,” he called to his wife. “I’ ll go to look after the stock.” Then he ran towards the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.

Aunt Emily dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her about the danger close at hand. “Quick, Dorothy!” she screamed. ”Run for the cellar(地窖)!“ Toto jumped out of Dorothy’s arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Emily, badly frightened, threw open the door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt.

Then a strange thing happened. The house circled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon. It was very dark, and the wind blew horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few twists and turns, and one other time when the house tipped(倾斜)badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle(摇篮).

At last she crawled over the swinging floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her. In spite of the swinging of the house and the crying of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

4 . Have you ever wondered what wild animals do when no one is watching? Scientists have been able to record the “private” moments of wildlife with leading-edge technology. Low-cost, dependable and small modern cameras are of big help.

Cameras placed in hard-to-reach places have taken videos of everything from small desert cats to later snow-loving felines (猫科动物) in the northern Rocky Mountains. These cameras are important tools to learn new information on wildlife.

Some videos help scientists see the effects of climate change. For example, the desert animal javelina (矛牙野猪) and the tree-loving coatimundi (南美浣熊) have been caught on cameras north of their normal home. This could mean global warming is enlarging their living area northward.

Researchers use cameras, along with Global Positioning Systems or GPS. They attach GPS devices to animals living in or around Yellowstone National Park. Then they can record their movements, or migrations (迁移). These cameras can be left in the wild for days, weeks or even months. They can provide information on how many animals are moving over a given period of time.

Putting those cameras in place requires careful planning. Videos recorded by those cameras can show details about animal behavior. However, they have their problems too. Animals such as wolverines (狼獾) and bears sometimes attack them. Scientists do not know if the attacks are the result of anger or interest. Also, the devices have become popular tools to help hunters look for animals. Some people argue that it is unfair to use the cameras that way. Even with such problems, wild cameras are clearly important scientific tools in researching wild animals.

Strange things appeared before the Tangshan earthquake     1     (happen). For three days the water in the village wells became higher and then lower. The well walls had deep cracks     2     them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. Some animals including fish,     3           (mouse) behaved strangely. Other strange things also happened in the city,     4     people thought little of these events and they slept as usual.

    5     (final) a terrible earthquake hit the city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, in which more than 240,000 people died arid many     6     (injure). Many houses fell down and sand filled the wells instead of water. People were greatly shocked. Ail the electricity in the city was cut off and people began     7     (wonder) how long the disaster would last. The whole city was completely destroyed and the world seemed to be at an end. It was the     8     (big) earthquake of the 20th century, which even Beijing could feel.

However, the people of Tangshan didn’t lose hope, because 150,000 soldiers were sent to help the rescue workers. The soldiers tried their best to dig out those    9     were trapped. They also I mill shelters for the     10     (survive). Fresh water was taken to the city by every means. Slowly, the city began to come back to life.

9 . Mrs. Timms listened as the radio announcer gave a hurricane (飓风) warning for her town. Then she woke up her sons, Eddie and Jasper, and quickly explained, "We’ve got a lot to do, boys. There is no school today, and my office is closed. The hurricane is coming!

Just then, the boys grandfather arrived from his seaside home. Grandpa explained that the local government had told people to evacuate their homes by the sea. It just wasn’t safe for anyone to stay near the ocean during the hurricane.

Soon afterwards, Mrs. Timms left to buy supplies that the family would need during the storm. Batteries, bottled water and canned food were a few of the items on her list.

Grandpa stayed with the boys, and the three of them made preparations for the storm. First, they filled the bathtub and all the empty water bottles they could find. Next, they unplugged(拔掉插头)almost everything in the house. Then, Eddie helped Grandpa strengthen the windows. Meanwhile, Jasper put the outdoor chairs inside.

Later, as the storm approached, the family stayed in protected areas away from the windows and outside walls. Mrs. Timms and Grandpa moved chairs to a protected space near the staircase. Eddie and Jasper sat under a strong table next to them, reading and playing games. They waited for the radio announcer to declare that the hurricane had passed.

10 . Do you know why different animals or pests（害虫） have their special colors? Colors in them seem to be used mainly to protect themselves.

Some birds like eating locusts (蝗虫), but birds cannot easily catch them. Why? It is because locusts change their colors together with the change of the colors of crops. When crops are green, locusts look green. But as the harvest time comes, locusts change to the same brown color as crops have. Some other pests with different colors from plants are easily found and eaten by others. So they have to hide themselves for lives and appear only at night.

If you study the animal life, you'll find the main use of coloring is to protect themselves. Bears, lions and other animals move quietly through forests. They cannot be easily seen by hunters. This is because they have the colors much like the trees. They can often hide in the trees and catch some other little animals.

Have you ever noticed an even stranger act? A kind of fish in the sea can send out a kind of very black liquid when it faces danger. While the liquid spreads over, its enemies cannot find it, and it immediately swims away. So it has lived up to now though it is not strong at all.