It was a very hot afternoon. My friend Leah and I were waiting for the rush hour train. We were tired and couldn’t wait to get back to the place where we were living.
When the train arrived, we got into the second carriage from the front. The air-conditioning wasn’t working at the rear (后部), so the front was particularly crowded that day. I sat by the window admiring the changing landscape.
Suddenly we felt enormous pressure pushing us backwards into our seats. The windows broke into tiny pieces and dust flew around violently. I could barely open my eyes.
The train was suffering from a crash, and it didn’t feel as if it were going to stop. I thought I would be dead. I thought about my husband Guy, who was supposed to receive the news first. I thought of my dear father and other family members, wondering how each would deal with my death.
Voices began to break through my thoughts. People were anxious. Strangely, I was totally calm. I wasn’t panicking; my heart wasn’t even beating fast. When the train finally stopped, we slowly stood up, pushing off the table that had fallen onto us; others stayed in their seats and many were injured and covered in blood. I could hear screaming. A soldier pushed the damaged door open for us to escape.
Our carriage had run out of rails and we were halfway home. We had a lot of blood on us and I searched my body for wounds, but I didn’t find any. My knees felt painful and my hips were black and blue, and Leah had her hand cut when jumping off the train, but that wasn’t serious.
Helicopters landed and we saw soldiers running in and out. All around us were ambulances (救护车) and people lying on the ground. Everyone was shouting for help. I rang Guy, who was very calm and said he would come and get us. Seeing all these brought me great emotional hurt.
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It was almost dark by the time we found Guy and he drove us home.
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In the days that followed, I convinced myself I had internal bleeding.
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The main structure of Notre-Dame cathedral (巴黎圣母院) — including the two bell towers — has been saved after firefighters worked through the night to put out the big fire.
Now that it has been put out, experts have been able to explain the difficulties fire crews faced as they fought to save such a large, historic building.
A complex flammable (易燃的) roof?
It’s not yet known exactly how the Notre-Dame fire began, but it appears to have started near the top, eventually spreading across the rest of the wooden roof.
Gregg Favre, former commander at St Louis Fire Department in the US, pointed out how flammable the building is. He explained on Twitter: “Let’s pause to remember how fires actually burn. It involves key elements like fuel, oxygen, heat and a chemical chain reaction.” Unfortunately, none of these elements are easy to remove in this case.
“To start with, removing the fuel is a no go. Churches have no shortage of things to burn. Although a huge oak beam(梁) is generally difficult to get burning, as smaller timbers (木材) fuel the fire and the temperature rises, the timbers will eventually ignite (点燃) in a phenomenon known as a flashover.”
“The heat that a fire this size is putting off is terrific. Little options for interrupting that. The chemical chain is off to the races.”
“That leaves the oxygen. Unsurprisingly, even if the roof had not burnt off, churches are nearly impossible to control ventilation (通风) in. Their design is to be open and airy. Great for Sunday worship, terrible for managing fire spread.”
Dumping water from above?
As the fire burned, US President Donald Trump suggested that flying water tankers (罐车) could be brought in to fight the flames from above.
Professor Rein, the head of Imperial College London’s fire-studying Hazelab said“ Trump wasn’t the first person to come up with the suggestion, however, it was not a good idea because it would have damaged the structure of the cathedral, collapsing the walls”.
The force of water coming from an air tanker is strong and no-one has been trained to use one in a city. He added that Monday’s fire was “not the time to test this”.
How safe can they make Notre-Dame?
Professor Rein says that “fire engineering” will need to be considered when reconstructing the cathedral. Fire engineering is now in place in modern landmarks such as the Shard in London.
“We keep seeing these buildings go up in flames like this. However, it’s relatively easy to prevent. Notre-Dame should install sprinklers (消防喷淋).” he said.
Much as the Notre-Dame fire is a tragedy, information from studying it will be priceless in protecting other buildings.
| Background | Despite difficulties, firefighters | |
Elements | The roof is made up of flammable wood, so Heat and chemical chain are also hard to get | |
Dumping water from above doesn’t make | The strong force of water would have put the structure of the cathedral at | |
| Conclusion | Fire engineering should be considered in the protection of heritage sites in an effort to avoid | |
3 . Fire fighting is a serious matter. Knowing what to do during a fire can save people's lives. It is important to know the ways you can use and show them to everyone else in the family, such as stairways and emergency exits, but not elevators.
From the lower floors of buildings, escape through windows is possible. Learn the best way to get out from a windows with the least chance of serious injury.
The second floor window is usually not very high from the ground. An average person, hanging by the fingertips, will have a drop of about 6 feet to the ground. It is about the height of an average man. Of course, it is safer to jump a short way down than to stay in a burning building.
Windows are also useful when you are waiting for help. Be sure to keep the door closed before opening the Window. Otherwise, smoke and fire may be drawn into the room. Keep your head low at the window to be sure you get fresh air rather than smoke that may have leaked into the room.
On the second or third floor, the best windows for escape are those which open onto a roof. From the roof a person can drop to the ground more safely. Dropping onto cement might end in injury. Bushes and trees can help you to have a soft landing.
1. Which of the following should be avoided when trying to escape from a fire?| A．Windows. | B．Elevators. | C．Fire exits. | D．Stairways. |
| A．About 12 feet. | B．About 6 feet. |
| C．About the height of an average man. | D．Nearly 10 feet. |
| A．They are the only way. | B．They are the best way. |
| C．They are safer than any other ways. | D．They are one of the possible ways. |
| A．drop directly onto the ground |
| B．first drop onto a roof then onto the cement |
| C．drop from a roof window then onto bushes or trees |
| D．drop onto the cement rather than bushes and grass |
4 . A mixture of deep sorrow and anger has swept Brazilians across the country—particularly in the city of Rio de Janeiro—with the burning of their beloved Museu Nacional, or National Museum.
By Monday morning, when I visited the site, the firemen were busy trying to enter the huge, early 19th century neoclassical building. For all we know, everything may have been burned to ashes. Fortunately, no one, not even the four security guards who witnessed the beginning of the fire, has been injured.
Nobody yet knows the cause of the fire, but it is the officials, irresponsibility and the funding shortages in particular that are to blame for this tragedy.
Some of the museum’s researchers told the press that they had been able to save some things from the exhibition rooms before the fire moved in. However, we Brazilians have lost much of the material memory of our short past. A good part of our 518 years of history, or that which had been transformed into storable objects, disappeared in just a few hours.
The people of Rio de Janeiro were fond of taking their children or grandchildren to the museum to show off their knowledge of the odd-looking mummies brought in from Egypt by the Emperor Dom Pedro Ⅱ, a huge skeleton of a humpback whale, or the brightly coloured feathers of a headdress of the Kayapo tribe.
When I think that I can no longer take my youngest daughter to the Museu Nacional, that is what gets me emotional. It is this feeling that has penetrated （穿透）our souls and may leave Brazilians feeling empty for a long time to come.
1. What can we learn about the National Museum of Brazil?| A．It has a history of 518 years. |
| B．All of its collections have been lost. |
| C．It was built in the early 19th century. |
| D．It is not very popular in the country. |
| A．the inefficient firemen |
| B．the irresponsible officials |
| C．the careless security guards |
| D．something unknown |
| A．Fire Put out in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| B．Our Fond Memories of the Past |
| C．Who Is to Blame for the Accident? |
| D．A Museum Is Lost and Might Never Return |
Mamta
Looking back on the incident, Mamta said, “I asked tons of questions all through that day’s course. Little
Disaster struck in the town of Redbrooke late last night when the Palmer Court apartment block that was built recently
It was just after 2:00 am when many of the residents in the building were woken by
The fire spread rapidly through the building and the rescue
The firemen battled with the fire until 7 o'clock this morning but
Thirteen miners have been rescued after
All the miners were lifted out of the mine
Rescuers were
1. What part of Dave’s body was injured?
| A．His right ankle. | B．His left arm. | C．His left ankle. |
| A．At home. | B．At school. | C．Over the phone. |
| A．A pleasant holiday. | B．a bad accident . |
| C．The man’s luck. | D．The man’s attitude. |
My sister and I boarded a small plane together with 40 other passengers. Unluckily, while flying over the mountains, the plane met with violent airflow. Losing control suddenly, it hit an unknown mountain top. The crash killed a few passengers immediately, leaving many injured including my sister. In order to add a slight chance of being found out, we waited in the open, as opposed to waiting in the plane, even though it was freezing cold. At night, we slept side by side to keep ourselves warm. We melted snow into water to drink. We knew our food could not last us long, sticking to the hope that we would be rescued soon.
We knew from radio that the outside world was trying to look for the missing aircraft. However, the aircraft was white and blended(混合) in with the snow, making it impossible to be seen for helicopters from the sky. Later, our hope was dead when we found out through our radio that the rescue effort ended. Most of us were very depressed though it’s no use.
Now climbing over the mountains ourselves to search for help seemed to be our only chance of survival. Although the crash site was an awful place, with urine(尿)everywhere and smelling of death, I still wished to stay there. But my sister would give in to her injuries soon if we were not rescued. Thus, together with two other people, Canessa and Vizintin, I decided to walk through the icy wilderness for help. Carrying some food and water, the three climbers started our journey.
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The mountain we were to challenge was one with slopes so steep(陡峭) that it would scare away a team of expert climbers.
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Standing on the top, disappointed and regretful, we were about to give up hope when I spotted a village at the bottom of the mountain.
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