1 . An earthquake is literally an earth-shattering experience! There you are enjoying an afternoon nap, having a cup of coffee in the morning, or even sleeping on a cold winter night when —WHAM! —the entire crockery (陶器) shelf collapses, and all the plates and cups break into pieces. A painting on the wall nearly knocks you down as it falls.

What should one do in an earthquake? The prime-time (黄金时间的) news gives no warning, nor is there a time of year, like the monsoon (风) season, when an earthquake always occurs. Unlike a tornado or hurricane, there is no known way of predicting an earthquake.

Though about 500, 000 earthquakes occur each year, only 100 of them cause damage! However, an earthquake can strike any time of the day or night, so it needs to be prepared for when you have the misfortune of being caught in the middle of one.

If you’re indoors, stay indoors, unless you’re on the ground floor, where you can easily run outside. The best thing to do if you’re indoors is to hide under a strong piece of furniture like a bed or desk. Do not head for the stairway if you’re living on an upper storey, because stairways can collapse.

If you’re driving, get out of traffic and stop on a wide and open road. Do not stop on a bridge, or in another case, under one. Stay inside your car until the shaking stops. Before you restart driving, look out for fissures (裂缝), breaks in the road, and bumps or cracks. Inside your home, be careful not to turn on the gas until you’re sure the cylinder (气罐) is safe, and there is no leak.

Avoid using your telephone unless there’s an emergency. You could be occupying lines that are needed by other people. Lastly, if you’re not trapped or seriously hurt, do not expect fire fighters, army or police to help you. They may be busy rescuing people in greater need than you!

3 . Earthquakes happen without warning (前兆). They can happen any time of a day, at any point during the year. But don’t worry because most are so weak that they cannot be felt.     1     However, it’s important to know what to do when an earthquake is happening.

    2     You could get injured from falling glass or parts of buildings. If you are outside, stay away from buildings and power lines (输电线).

Stay under a desk, table, or other strong furniture. Hold on to it. Or stay in a corner of the building. Cover your face and head with your arms and cover your mouth with a towel or clothing.     3    

Also keep away from a fire.     4    

If you are driving when an earthquake happens, stop the car if it’s safe. Stay inside your car until the earthquake stops, and don’t drive near bridges. Try not to stop by power lines or trees.

    5    

Yesterday I visit the Hong'en Temple Park with my friends. The park was full of beauty flowers. When I were enjoying the wonderful scenery, something unpleasant caught my eye. A young couple on the grass were eating, talking and laughing loud as if they were the only people in the world. What's worse, they even threw rubbish onto the grass, without see the sign "No littering” nearby. What a shame!

Such behavior left me in thought. If all visitors do as the young couples did, the park will be severely polluting and soon turned into a huge dustbin. I think both of us should mind our behavior in the public places. Only in this way can we live more comfortable and beautiful surroundings.

7 . Pumpkins (南瓜) have all shapes and sizes and have colors of golden orange, white and green. Cooked in a pie, they are symbols of autumn that are grown in every county of Washington.

U.S. farmers grow more than a billion pounds of pumpkins every year, and many famers use sheets (膜) of plastic blocking the grass and preventing water loss to make their plants grow well. In the country, farmers use about a billion pounds of plastic every year. Unfortunately, that plastic is thrown away finally, and in some areas, burned in the fields.

For several years, Carol Miles has studied a new product—the soil-biodegradable (土壤生物降解的) plastic cover that can be left in the ground after harvest, then broken down by things in the soil. “You don't need to pull it out of the field and throw it away every autumn, saving time and money,” Miles said.

Most pumpkins grow along vines (藤蔓) that spread through the grass-blocking cover, and Miles wanted to see how pumpkin fruit performed over the plastic cover. That brought a challenge: the soil-biodegradable cover stuck to the bottom of the fruit.

“We have a lot of dew (露水) in the morning, and we found that if we let the fruit dry after harvest, the cover would stick more strongly to the pumpkins,” Miles said. “Nobody wants plastic stuck to pumpkins, even if it's biodegradable. But if you wipe the fruit before the dew dries, the plastic comes right off.”

Farmers who grow plants that don't set fruit on plastic covers won't meet this challenge. For those who do, it means an extra step that they'll have to weigh against advantages and disadvantages for the development.

“Challenges aside, working with this crop can bring on a happy picture,” the farmer Tymon said. “Pumpkins are great. They have bright colors, and are really fun to work with.”

Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories,    1    (destroy) fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged    2    their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or roofs. One person was killed, several were    3    (serious) hurt and taken to hospital,and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were homeless after the storm.

A farmer,Mr.Tan,said that the storm began early    4    the morning and lasted for over an hour.

“I    5    (eat) with my wife and children,” he said, “when we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us.We tried our best    6    (climb) out but then I saw that one of my children was    7    (miss). I went back inside and found him, safe    8    very frightened.”

Mrs.Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she    9    (feel) that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.

Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded area and the welfare department brought    10    (they) food, clothes and shelter.