2015職稱英語新增文章理工類（二）

第九篇 Lightening Strikes

Three years ago a bolt of lightning all but destroyed Lyn Miller’s house in Aberdeen—with her two children inside. “There was a huge rainstorm,” she says, recalling the terrifying experience. “My brother and I were outside desperately working to stop floodwater from coming in the house. Suddenly I was thrown to the ground by an enormous bang. ____1____ The door was blocked by rubble, but we forced our way in and found the children, thankfully unharmed. Later I was told to be struck by lightning is a chance in a million.” In fact, it’s calculated at one chance in 600,000. Even so, Dr Mark Keys of AER Technology, an organisation that monitors the effects of lightning, thinks you should be sensible. “I wouldn’t go out in a storm—but then I’m quite a careful person.” He advises anyone who is unlucky enough to be caught in a storm to get down on the ground and curl up into a ball, making yourself as small as possible.

Lightning is one of nature’s most awesome displays of sheer power. ____2____ 250 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, the American scientist and statesman，proved that lightning is a form of electricity, but scientists still lack a complete understanding of how it works.

____3____ Positive electrical charges streaming upwards from trees or church spires may glow and make a buzzing noise, and people’s hair can stand on end. And if you fear lightning, you’ll be glad to know that a company in America has manufactured a hand-held lightning detector which can detect it up to 70 kms away, sound a warning tone and monitor the storm’s approach.

Nancy Wilder was playing golf at a club in Surrey when she was hit by a bolt of lightning. Mrs Wilder’s heart stopped beating, but she was resuscitated and, after a few days in hospital, where she was treated for bums to her head, hands and feet, she was pronounced fit again. Since that time，she has been a strictly fair weather golfer1. ____4____ The best place to be is inside a car!

The largest number of people to be struck by lightning at one time was in September 1995 when 17 players on a football pitch were hit simultaneously. The most extraordinary aspect of the strike was the fact that 11 of the victims—seven adults and four children—had burn patterns of tiny holes at 3 centimetre intervals on each toe and around the soles of their feet.

Harold Deal, a retired electrician from South Carolina, USA, was struck by lightning 26 years ago. He was apparently unhurt, but it later emerged that the strike had damaged the part of the brain which controls the sensation of temperature. ____5____

Animals are victims of lightning reds of cows and sheep are killed every year, largely because they go under trees. In East Anglia in 1918, 504 sheep were killed instantaneously by the same bolt of lightning that hit the ground and travelled through the entire flock. Lightning is also responsible for starting more than 10,000 forest fires each year world-wide.

詞彙：

bolt n. (閃電)道

sheer adj. 絕對的

resuscitate v. 使復甦

flock n. 羣

rubble n. 碎石

spire n. 尖頂，尖塔

instantaneously adv. 即刻，突如其來地

註釋：

has been a strictly fair weather golfer：她變成了一個只在晴朗天氣才打高爾夫的人。

als are victims of lightning too：動物也會受到雷擊的傷害。

練習：

A　No wonder the ancient Greeks thought it was Zeus, father of the gods, throwing thunderbolts around in anger.

B　In fact, a golf course is one of the most dangerous places to be during a thunderstorm.

C　Lightning has long been hailed as one of the most impressive displays of nature’s power.

D　When I picked myself up, the roof and the entire upper storey of the house had been demolished.

E　Occasionally there are warning signs.

F　Since then the freezing South Carolina winters haven’t bothered Harold, since he is completely unable to feel the cold.

　答案與題解：

1.D　前文講到“我”被爆炸擊中，因此後文要講被擊昏然後醒來之後的事，D項符合。

2.A　前文講閃電是大自然絕對力量最可怕的展現方式之一，而宙斯在古希臘是力量的`化身，古希臘人認為雷電產生的原因是宙斯發怒並投擲閃電。

3.E　後文講到閃電來臨之前的一些徵兆，還講到有一種產品可以預告閃電。此處要填的是該段的主題句，即閃電到來之前會有一些徵兆。

4.B　前面講到在高爾夫球場上被雷擊的一個事例，後文講閃電來臨之時最安全的地方是汽車裏，因此要填的句子應該是講在高爾夫球場不安全。

5.F　前文講Harold因為雷擊喪失了感受温度的能力，F選項中關於他再也不怕冬天的寒冷的描述符合要求。