1 . Rescuers in Jersey said Sunday after an all-night search that there was no hope of survivors from an explosion that flattened a three-story apartment block. At least three people were confirmed killed in the accident early Saturday in the Channel island’s port capital St Helier, following a suspected gas leak. “We have three confirmed deaths and it’s fair to say we expect to find more,” police chief Robin Smith told a news conference, saying that around 12 residents remained unaccounted for. “It is with sadness that I am confirming that the search-and-rescue operation has been moved to a recovery operation,” he said.
The phase involved a “painstaking search of the debris” which could take weeks, Smith said, adding that a gas leak was the ‘likely” cause. Aided by sniffer dogs and experts from southern England, Jersey emergency workers had searched the rubble (瓦砾)overnight.
Fire chief Paul Brown confirmed that firefighters were called out to investigate the smell of gas on Friday evening, more than seven hours before the explosion. But in vain. He admitted that something had gone “horribly wrong”, considering the subsequent disaster, but insisted that Jersey islanders could still have confidence in his service. Jersey’s gas supplier, Island Energy, said it was working with the fire service to understand what happened.
Like many others in St Helier, Jersey’s Chief Minister Kristina Moore said she was awoken by the explosion. “Across the island you could hear this extraordinary sound,” she told the BBC. “It’s unthinkable news, so we’re all absolutely shocked and really worried about the people who are involved and about those whose lives have been lost.”
The incident caps a tragic week for Jersey, a British Crown dependency not part of the United Kingdom, whose economy relies on banking, tourism and fishing. “We must call on the collective strength of the island community,” Moore said.
1. What’s the possible cause of the accident?| A．The gas leak. | B．The gas supplier. |
| C．The recovery operation. | D．The unexpected explosion. |
| A．Rescuing the dead. | B．Searching the rubble. |
| C．Searching for the debris. | D．Working with fire service. |
| A．He had predicted the explosion hours before it. |
| B．The fire service was investigating the explosion. |
| C．People lost confidence in the island’s fire service. |
| D．The fire service was partly responsible for the accident. |
| A．Panicked and frightened. | B．Relieved and hopeful. |
| C．Astonished and concerned. | D．Fearful and sorrowful. |
2 . On June 23,2018,twelve young Thai boys and their assistant football coach wandered into a karst cave in northern Thailand, near the border with Myanmar. What happened next would grab the world’s attention and lead to a complex and daring international rescue operation. The 10.3-kilometer-long Tham Luang cave flooded, trapping the boys in total blackness nearly 2.5 kilometers from the cave entrance.
Thousands of people from around the globe participated in the rescue effort, including military personnel, medical experts and the rock stars of the operation — cave divers. The divers, who safely removed all of the Thai children and their coach after 18 days underground, dealt with tight spaces and low visibility in muddy water- conditions that would prove deadly: Saman Gunan, a former Thai Navy Seal, died while transporting air tanks into the cave.
While the sport of cave diving had received attention in the pop culture area prior to the rescue mission in North Thailand, there is little doubt that the brave divers at Tham Luang cave helped push the activity and its varieties of risks into global society’s minds.
The sport-often referred to as among the world’s most dangerous recreational activities-has its roots in pre-WWII England. Since then, the recreational practice of cave diving, described by Australian cave explorer Richard Harris (a participant in the Tham Luang cave rescue) as an “unusual hobby” for “the ordinary,” has spread around the world-China included.
Over 1,000 kilometers northeast of Tham Luang cave, in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, lies karst-peak-covered Du’an county-China’s little-known cave diving Mecca.
Home to thousands of kilometers of underground rivers, Du’an county offers divers spellbinding geological formations, perhaps the world’s largest collection of blind fish species and a rare variety of freshwater jellyfish.
1. What do we know about the Tham Luang cave rescue operation?| A．There was no loss of life in the process. | B．Rock stars took part in the rescue efforts. |
| C．Rescue team came from more than Thailand. | D．Few people cared about it outside Thailand. |
| A．Its dangerous recreations. | B．Its long history. |
| C．An expert’s description. | D．The divers’ heroic deeds. |
| A．It is northeast of Tham Luang cave. | B．There are lots of underground rivers. |
| C．It is hardly known to the outside world. | D．It has the world’s largest geological formations. |
| A．Spectacular cave diving experiences in Du’an. |
| B．Diving instructions shared by Richard Harris. |
| C．Lessons learned from this rescue operation. |
| D．Foods offered to tourists in Du’an. |
3 . A Jacksonville family was grateful to be alive this weekend, and the dad, Steven Poust said it’s all because of his 7-year-old son, Chase. The young boy beat a current that separated him from his father and 4-year-old sister, Abigail, in the St. Johns River near Mandarin Point on Friday.
Steven Poust anchored (抛锚) his boat in the water while he fished and his kids played around it. While Chase and Abigail were in the water, Abigail let go of the boat because of a current and they were both stuck.
Chase felt really scared, because he didn’t have a life jacket on. Luckily Abigail had one but she floated along with the current. Poust jumped in the water trying to grab Abigail while Chase tried to swim to the shore. Poust tried to grasp both of them, but he wore himself out. Abigail floated away from him.
Chase kept swimming to the shore. He first doggie paddled, then floated on his back to make sure he wouldn’t tire himself out. The current went the opposite way of going to the boat and the shore, so it was very hard to swim that way. He made it to the shore while his dad and sister were stuck in the water before being rescued by the firefighters.
Once Chase reached the shore, he ran to the nearest home to knock for help and the hostess called the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
“I screamed for help at the top of my lungs and waved my arms and sure enough someone heard me,” Poust said. “Abigail also made it to the shore and got help and our lives were saved.”
1. Why did Poust stop his boat in the water?| A．He went fishing. | B．He wanted to learn swimming. |
| C．His boat broke down. | D．There was a strong current. |
| A．She was loved more by her father. |
| B．She failed to resist the current. |
| C．She didn’t feel scared at all. |
| D．She was saved by her father. |
| A．Swam like a dog. | B．Rowed the boat. |
| C．Sank in the water. | D．Screamed for help. |
| A．Gifted. | B．Generous. | C．Ambitious. | D．Brave. |
4 . The girl on the pink flamingo-shaped raft was floating away quickly, screaming as her father yelled for a lifeguard who didn’t appear. Two brothers who were nearby had expected to spend a relaxing afternoon. Before they could think about it, they were jumping into the sea and swimming toward the girl as fast as they could during a rescue that took almost an hour.
In the cold, sometimes choppy(波涛汹涌的) water, they raced toward the girl in the distance. They had a moment of panic when the girl who was still far away fell off the raft and briefly dipped under the water, then popped back up. They swam for about 25 minutes until they were close enough to yell at her that she would be okay and that they would take her back to the shore.
When they finally reached her, they helped keep her head above water and took turns swimming on their backs with the girl on their chests as they made their way against the current back to shore. Then the brothers took the girl into a beach tent to protect her from the elements(恶劣的天气). Tourists rushed to cover her in layers of towels. As the brothers recovered on the beach after the rescue, they felt the pressure that had built up in their chests slowly fade away. A rescue service crew and paramedics (医护人员) arrived a few minutes later and took the girl to a hospital. She later made a full recovery.
The girl’s family visited the brothers at the house where they were staying to thank them. “It was emotional. It was extremely rewarding once we got to her,” the brothers said. “Seeing her jump around and kiss her mom, that was actually amazing.”
1. According to paragraph l, what happened to the girl?| A．She lost her pink raft. | B．She floated far on the sea. |
| C．She swam in the deep ocean. | D．She asked the lifeguard for help. |
| A．The girl was in great danger. | B．They dipped under the water. |
| C．The raft was damaged by a big wave. | D．The water was too choppy to swim in. |
| A．They lay on the beach to recover. | B．They brought the girl to a hospital. |
| C．They moved the girl into a beach tent. | D．They covered the girl in layers of towels. |
| A．Sad stories | B．Survival stories | C．Love stories | D．Adventure stories |
