29 A2+ the city experiment

CHAPTER 1 What a Tornado Can Do ON MAY 4, 2007, THE PEOPLE OF GREENSBURG, KANSAS, LEARNED THAT A TORNADO WAS GOING TO HIT THEIR TOWN. That evening, the first thing that the people of Greensburg saw was a thunderstorm coming closer. Then they began to hear the loud noise a tornado makes. The noise became louder, and the wind was very strong. People were afraid. Some of them lay down on the floor of their houses. Others ran quickly to their tornado shelters, special rooms below their houses. At 9:45 p.m. the tornado hit the town. It was the strongest kind of tornado. It had winds of 330 kilometers per hour. It was 2.7 kilometers wide, wider than the town of Greensburg.

第一章龙卷风的威力2007年5月4日，堪萨斯州格林斯堡的居民得知龙卷风即将袭击他们的小镇。 那天晚上，格林斯堡的人们首先看到的是一场雷雨越来越近。 然后他们开始听到龙卷风发出的巨大声音。 声音越来越大，风也刮得很大。 人们很害怕。他们中的一些人躺在他们房子的地板上。 其他人迅速跑到他们的龙卷风避难所，他们房子下面的特殊房间。 晚上9点45分，龙卷风袭击了小镇。 这是最强的龙卷风。 它的风速为每小时330公里。 它宽2.7公里，比格林斯堡镇还宽。

The town was hit very hard, and 95 percent of the buildings were destroyed. Houses, stores, and offices were broken up into small pieces called rubble. Some buildings and cars were carried away by the wind. The tornado caused many other problems. Electricity and telephone wires were broken. People could not talk to the rest of the world outside the town. The hospital was partly destroyed, and two schools were completely destroyed. What about the people? Of the 1,400 people who lived in Greensburg, 11 were killed by the tornado. Many people were hurt by falling rubble. Other people were caught inside destroyed houses and stores. They could not get out until others came to dig them out.

这个城镇遭受了严重的打击，95%的建筑物被毁。 房屋、商店和办公室被炸成碎片，被称为瓦砾。 一些建筑物和汽车被风刮走了。 龙卷风还造成了许多其他问题。 电线和电话线都断了。 人们无法与城外的世界联系。 医院部分被毁，两所学校完全被毁。 那人呢？在格林斯堡的1400名居民中，有11人死于龙卷风。 许多人被倒塌的瓦砾砸伤。 其他人被困在被毁的房屋和商店里。 直到别人来把他们挖出来，他们才出来。

No one could live in the town after that. Almost all of the houses and businesses were destroyed. For a week, everyone in Greensburg went to live somewhere else. The town was empty. Then some people began to return to Greensburg to rebuild their town. But they had nothing. They needed food, clean water, and clothes. A few days after the tornado, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, came to visit to try to help cheer up the people of Greensburg. People from other areas of the United States and from other countries began to send food and other things that the town needed. These volunteers, people from many different places, came to Greensburg to work and to help rebuild the town.

从那以后，没有人能住在镇上了。 几乎所有的房屋和企业都被摧毁。 有一个星期，格林斯堡的每个人都去别的地方住了。 镇上空无一人。然后，一些人开始回到格林斯堡重建他们的城镇。 但他们一无所有。他们需要食物、干净的水和衣服。 龙卷风过后几天，美国总统乔治？ 布什总统来到这里，试图帮助格林斯堡的人们振作起来。 来自美国其他地区和其他国家的人们开始给小镇送来食物和其他必需品。 这些志愿者来自许多不同的地方，他们来到格林斯堡工作，帮助重建这个城镇。

The tornado destroyed Greensburg and changed the lives of everyone who lived there. Some people never returned to their town because they were afraid to come back. These people thought that another tornado might come and destroy the town again. After all, Kansas is a place where there are tornadoes almost every year. But most of the people of Greensburg did return to rebuild their town. When these people arrived home, they did not have a place to live. Their homes were completely destroyed. Where could they live? This is the story of how the people of Greensburg rebuilt their town.

龙卷风摧毁了格林斯堡，改变了住在那里的每个人的生活。 有些人再也没有回到他们的城镇，因为他们害怕回来。 这些人认为另一场龙卷风可能会再来摧毁这个城镇。 毕竟，堪萨斯州是一个几乎每年都有龙卷风的地方。 但格林斯堡的大多数人确实回来重建了他们的城镇。 当这些人回到家时，他们没有地方住。 他们的家园被彻底摧毁。 他们能住在哪里？这是格林斯堡人民如何重建他们城镇的故事。

CHAPTER 2 Thinking in New Ways AFTER THE TORNADO, MANY PEOPLE IN GREENSBURG DECIDED TO REBUILD THEIR TOWN IN A DIFFERENT WAY. A week after the destruction of Greensburg, many people returned to the area. They had meetings to talk about their city. Some people had an exciting idea. They wanted to rebuild Greensburg to make it better than it was before the tornado. They wanted to rebuild the town to make it "green." They wanted to save energy and protect the environment. Most of the people of Greensburg agreed to rebuild their town "green." A law was made that many buildings had to be "green." But "green building" is not cheap or easy, so the people of Greensburg needed a lot of money and help.

龙卷风过后，格林斯堡的许多人决定用一种不同的方式重建他们的城镇。 格林斯堡被毁一周后，许多人回到了这个地区。 他们开会讨论他们的城市。 有些人有一个令人兴奋的想法。 他们想重建格林斯堡，让它比龙卷风之前更好。 他们想要重建这个城镇，使它变得“绿色”。 他们想要节约能源和保护环境。 格林斯堡的大多数人同意重建他们的“绿色”城镇。 制定了一项法律，规定许多建筑物必须是“绿色的”。 但是“绿色建筑”既不便宜也不容易，所以格林斯堡的人们需要大量的资金和帮助。

Many people everywhere heard about the destruction of Greensburg. Television, radio, the Internet, newspapers, and magazines told the story in words, pictures, and videos. A group of people called GreensburgGreenTown set up a Web site to show what was happening in their town. People from all round the world now knew that Greensburg needed help to rebuild. The Web site was a way for the people of Greensburg to tell the world about their plan; the plan to make their new town an example of the best "green" architecture and ecological thinking. People sent money and other things to help. Greensburg was going to become a very new and different place to live!

到处都有许多人听说过格林斯堡的毁灭。 电视、广播、互联网、报纸和杂志用文字、图片和视频讲述了这个故事。 一群叫做GreensburgGreenTown的人建立了一个网站来展示他们镇上发生的事情。 世界各地的人们现在都知道格林斯堡需要帮助重建。 这个网站是格林斯堡人向全世界宣布他们的计划的一种方式；该计划将使他们的新镇成为最好的“绿色”建筑和生态思维的典范。 人们寄钱和其他东西来帮助他们。 格林斯堡将成为一个全新的、与众不同的居住地！