Take Away English-The Great Storm 20 years on 大风暴20周年
时间：2018-12-07 作者：英语课 分类：Take Away English
A fallen tree crushes a car in London
On 16th October 1987, southern Britain was hit by hurricane force winds, the worst storm to occur in Britain since 1703.
Twenty years on, Britain is remembering the devastation 1 caused by what came to be known as 'The Great Storm.' 15 million trees across the region were uprooted 2 due to the wind, as well as the fact that a wet autumn in general had made the ground very muddy.
The falling trees caused destruction to buildings and vehicles and blocked roads and railway lines, causing everyone from commuters to school-children to stay at home.
There were also black-outs across the area, as power lines were damaged by falling trees and flying debris 3. People resorted to candles and torches for light, and gas stoves and open fires to cook food.
The storm raged for 4 hours before dawn, and claimed 18 lives. The effects of the bad weather were heightened by the fact that most people were completely unprepared, because the weather forecasters were caught out.
Earlier that week, weather forecasts had predicted severe weather. But forecasters thought it would miss Britain, and only affect the English Channel. A weatherman, Michael Fish is infamous 4 for saying the storm wouldn’t happen, though in fact he was talking about a hurricane in Florida at the time.
The freak storm caused damage of more than £1billion pounds (15 billion RMB), and hundreds of people sustained injuries.
But could the same thing happen today in Britain? Well, as a result of climate change many people think that sudden and severe weather changes are more likely. However, meteorological technology has improved, and now uses satellites to get a much more accurate picture of future weather. So if another Great Storm comes along, the British public should be better warned and prepared!
GLOSSARY 词汇表
hit by
遭受打击
devastation
灾难性破坏
destruction
破坏
black-out
停电；断电
resorted to
诉诸于; …
raged
肆虐;持续
heightened
加重
weatherman
天气预报员
freak storm
破天荒的/不寻常的风暴
meteorological
气象学的
hurricane force winds
飓风般的大风
uprooted
（大树）连根拔
commuters
乘公交车上下班的人
debris
废墟；瓦砾
open fires
明火
claimed
报道称
caught out
纰漏被发现
infamous
声名狼藉的
climate change
天气变化
the British public
英国公众
- The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
- There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》