原版英语小短文 136. A Tornado

　　It was a warm spring day. It was sunny, but a storm was coming. The sky turned dark gray. Then a black funnel¹ descended² from the sky. The black funnel touched the ground. It was a tornado³. A tornado is strong. A tornado picks up cars and trucks. They fly through the air like pieces of paper. The tornado siren⁴ blasted⁵. It warned everyone in town to take cover. Everyone gathered their kids and pets. They went downstairs into their basements. A tornado can destroy a house, but the basement is safe. Sometimes a tornado hits a town without warning. A year ago, a man was sitting in his bathtub. He was enjoying his bath. He heard a loud sound. He thought a train was crashing into his house. But he did not live near the railroad tracks. It wasn't a train. A tornado struck his house without warning. The tornado destroyed the man's whole house. Suddenly he was taking his bath outside. The roof and walls of his house were gone. His wife came home. At first she cried because her house was gone. Then she laughed. Her husband looked so funny sitting in the tub. He couldn't leave the tub because he had no clothes. He didn't want his neighbors to see him without clothes. His wife had a towel in the trunk of her car. She gave him a towel, and he climbed out of the tub. They were both happy that he was alive.

1 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

4 siren   

n.汽笛，警报器，迷人的女人，妖妇

参考例句：

• The cars had stopped at the sound of the approaching siren.这些汽车听到愈来愈近的警笛声便停了下来。
• That woman is a real siren.那女人真是条美女蛇.。

5 blasted   

adj.枯萎的，被害的，被诅咒的v.（用炸药）炸毁( blast的过去式和过去分词 )；狠打；发出刺耳的高音；向…猛吹，（用水）向…喷射

参考例句：

• Make your own blasted coffee! 煮你自己那该死的咖啡吧！
• They blasted her into a black room. 他们把她送进一间黑屋子。 来自《简明英汉词典》