Foundations Reading 10B

Chap 20

第20章

Reading 10B WHEN WEIRD WEATHER STRIKES Most of us know about hurricanes, droughts, and floods. But from time to time, nature delivers a weather event that is really unusual. One day in 2005, people in a small town in Serbia saw an unusual sight. It was raining frogs! Without any warning, they found their streets filling with the little jumping creatures. "There were thousands of them," one person told a local newspaper. "I thought perhaps a plane carrying frogs had exploded," said another. Scientists believe a tornado passed over a lake and sucked up the frogs. It then dropped them on the town, far away. As if tornadoes aren't dangerous enough, some can actually be made of fire. When a wildfire reaches very high temperatures, it causes the air to heat up and then rise. Cooler air moves quickly to replace the hot air. This creates strong winds, which suck up the fire. When this happens—like it did in 2014, in Denver, United States—a fire tornado is created. A tornado like this can become 15 meters wide and grow as tall as a 40-story building. In 1942, hundreds of thousand-year-old skeletons were found under the ice of Lake Roopkund in the Himalayas. Many had holes in their skulls—but they weren't hurt in any other way. For years, the cause of their deaths was a mystery. Today, scientists think they were killed by giant hailstones. Hailstones are balls of ice that form when raindrops turn into ice. The ice pieces increase in size until the wind cannot hold them up. This results in hailstones falling to the ground, often at speeds of over 160 kilometers an hour. For the unlucky people at Lake Roopkund, there was nowhere to run.

阅读10B 当奇怪的天气来袭时 我们大多数人都知道飓风、干旱和洪水。 但大自然偶尔会带来一种非常不寻常的天气事件。 2005年的一天，塞尔维亚一个小镇的人们看到了一个不同寻常的景象。 青蛙在下雨！ 没有任何警告，他们发现街道上到处都是跳跃的小动物。 “有成千上万的人，”一个人告诉当地一家报纸。 另一位网友说：“我想可能是一架载有青蛙的飞机爆炸了。”。 科学家们认为，一场龙卷风掠过一个湖泊，把青蛙卷走了。 然后，它把它们扔到了很远的小镇上。 好像龙卷风还不够危险，有些实际上是由火引起的。 当野火达到非常高的温度时，它会导致空气升温然后上升。 较冷的空气迅速流动以取代热空气。 这会产生强风，把火吸起来。 当这种情况发生时——就像2014年在美国丹佛发生的那样——就会产生火龙卷。 像这样的龙卷风可以变成15米宽，高达40层楼。 1942年，在喜马拉雅山脉Roopkund湖的冰层下发现了数十万年前的骨骼。 许多人的头骨上有洞，但他们没有受到任何其他伤害。 多年来，他们的死因一直是个谜。 今天，科学家们认为它们是被巨大的冰雹杀死的。 冰雹是雨滴变成冰时形成的冰球。 冰块的体积逐渐增大，直至风无法将其托起。 这导致冰雹以每小时160公里以上的速度落到地面。 对于Roopkund湖上不幸的人来说，他们无处可逃。

♪