普通高中课程标准实验教科书 英语选修6 Unit 5 The power of nat

 Look at the title of the story and the picture below. Can you predict¹ what the story is about? Then read the story quickly and see if you were right.
                                              TRAPPED² BY THE FLOOD
      "It's not looking too good, darling. I think you'd better pack a few things and go to your mother's place. And you'd better take Rosie and Monty with you."
      Putting down the phone, Sara sighed. Tomorrow was her husband Tony's birthday. She had planned to cook him a nice meal and then surprise him with the new mountain bike she'd bought for him. If she went to her mother's house, Tony wouldn't get his present for days.
      However, her mother's house was the best place to be right now. Being on higher land, it would be safe from the floods. It had been raining heavily for almost two weeks and the river near Sara and Tony's house was rising higher and higher all the time. Tony and others from the
village had spent the last two days putting sandbags along the side of the river to stop it overflowing³. Now they feared that their hard work had been useless and soon the whole valley would be flooded.
      Sara dressed baby James in warm clothes and collected the things she would need for him over the next few days. She put the lead on the dog and went in search of Monty, the cat. It took her a long time, but eventually she found him safe and warm under the covers on her bed. She
placed him in his cat basket and took him into the kitchen where James and the dog, Rosie, waited.
       Just as she was reaching for the car keys, Sara heard a sound like the noise bath water makes when you pull out the plug⁴. She looked at the back door. Water was flowing in underneath⁵. Turning around she saw dirty brown water fountaining out of the drain⁶ and filling the sink. Quickly she put James into her backpack and pulled it onto her back. Calling to Rosie, she picked up the cat basket and ran to the front of the house and out into the front garden.
     The water was already up to her knees. Rosie was swimming beside her. Knowing the water would soon be much deeper, Sara ran to the car and opened the doors. She threw the cat basket onto the roof of the car and pushed Rosie up beside it. Using the car seat as a step she climbed first onto the front of the car and then onto the roof. James, sately attached⁷ to her back, made no sound at all. Sara stared down at the water which was rushing past the car. It was already half way up the doors, and still rising.

1 predict   

v.预知，预言，预报

参考例句：

• It's hard to predict how things will turn out.很难预测事情会变成怎么样。
• I cannot predict when to meet her again.我无法预测什么时候会再见到她。

2 trapped   

adj. 捕获的，被困的，截留的 动词trap的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• Two passengers are still trapped in the wreck. 有两名乘客仍被困在失事的车辆里。
• The thief was trapped by the police in an old house. 小偷被警察困在一所旧房子里。

3 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

4 plug   

n.塞子，消防栓，电插头；vt.插入，塞住，接插头；vi.被塞住

参考例句：

• The girl let her mother plug in the TV set.女孩叫母亲插上电视机的插头。
• They used electricity from a plug in the garage.他们通过车库插座取电。

5 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

6 drain   

n.排水沟，阴沟；消耗，负担；v.排去，放干

参考例句：

• Drain off the rest of the wine from this barrel.把桶里剩余的酒排出去。
• First,you have to drain the container of all the old oil.首先，你得从油箱中把所有的陈油都抽去。

7 attached   

附加的

参考例句：

• The lease entitles the holder to use the buildings and any land attached thereto.本租约持有人有权使用此建筑物以及所附属的土地。