“We’ve seen a big storm heading up to my community and we thought it was just rain,” said Japanangka, a local from Lajamanu, a town in the outback (内陆地区) of Australia. “ But when the rain started falling, we saw fish falling down. We saw some free-falling down to the ground and some falling onto the roof. It was the most amazing thing we‘ve ever seen,” Japanangka added.
Such unusual natural phenomena have been reported in the past, but Michael Hammer, an expert of fishes who have investigated such things in the past, stated that many times people just came out after the rain and saw the fish scattered (散布) everywhere. They didn’t actually see it falling out of the sky, but preferred to believe it rained from the clouds, rather than a more sensible explanation -like the fish being flooded out of a waterhole.
However, in the case of Lajamanu, there are plenty of reasons to believe that the fish did rain down during a storm. There are no watering holes near the town, and the fish picked up from the streets were recognized as spangled perch, a common freshwater fish that has no business being in Lajamanu.” “Normally, the fish is quite large and it’s not able to be drawn up out of the water and held up in the sky for very long,” Jeff Johnson said. “But clearly that’s what has happened.”
Another confusing thing about this most recent case of raining fish is that the people of Lajamanu say that at least some of the fish were alive. Dr Hammer said, “As long as they were not lifted too high and frozen mid-air, it would not be impossible for fish to keep alive as they were carried by the storm, even over long distances.”
While uncommon, raining fish isn’t unheard of. In places like Honduras, for example, it happens yearly. However, in dry places like the Australian outback, it’s surely something you don‘t expect to see, ever.
27. How does the author start the text?
A.By raising a question. | B.By quoting a local’s words. |
C.By listing some numbers. | D.By making comparisons. |
28. What is one of the reasons why people believed the fish in Lajamanu was brought by the storm?
A.The fish’s size. | B.The fish’s weight. |
C.The species of the fish. | D.The number of the fish. |
29. What is the purpose of Dr Hammer’s words?
A.To express his doubt about the fish rain. | B.To explain why some fish were alive. |
C.To share his experience of fish rain. | D.To show his research on fish rain. |
30. What can be the best title for the text?
A.A big storm happened in Australia | B.Why is fish rain in Australia special? |
C.Fish rain happened in an Australian town | D.Why are there strange weather phenomena? |