Every year, the ancient Town of Fenghuang,【小题1】of China’s most well-known ancient towns, is visited by a large number of people from all over the world.【小题2】(fortunate), it was under water as heavy rain hit the centre of the country,【小题3】tens of thousands of people leaving from the area. Heavy rain and floods lasted for the past few days. Waters in the nearby river called the Tuojiang River rose by almost one meter above warning level,【小题4】 (cause) heavy rainstorms. More than 120,000 local people and tourists have been helped to leave there because of the terrible disaster. And more than 4,000 shops in the town【小题5】(shut). Several bridges on the Tuojiang River have been damaged or destroyed. Water has flowed into many bars, restaurants and hotels in its ancient town, and electricity in the ancient town has been cut off.【小题6】the heavy rains have stopped, the popular tourist spot remains closed for local people’s 【小题7】(safe).

Vesuvius, also called Mount Vesuvius, is on the plain of Campania in southern Italy. 【小题1】 the afternoon of August 24, AD 79 Mount Vesuvius on the island of Sicily erupted, 【小题2】 (send) out a huge cloud of glowing ash and barraging(倾泻) the surrounding country with showers of rock. For 28 hours the volcano continued to pour out rock and ash until the city of Pompeii and 【小题3】 unfortunate inhabitants were buried under seven metres of rock and ash. Two thousand people died in the catastrophe.

The town of Pompeii 【小题4】 (lie) hidden and forgotten until 1631 when Vesuvius erupted again and workers discovered some Roman coins. Over the course of the next 200 years or so various artefacts(收藏品) 【小题5】 (dig) up. The site was cleared and slowly more and more uncovered. The importance of the discoveries was 【小题6】 (eventual) realized and efforts were made 【小题7】 (preserve) the site. 【小题8】 (science) study of the volcano did not begin until late in the 18th century. An observatory was opened in 1845 at 1,995 feet, and in the 20th century people set up numerous stations at various 【小题9】 (high) for making volcanologic measurements. Today it is possible to visit Pompeii and walk down the streets and still see the figures in the same positions 【小题10】 they were when the ash enveloped them over 1,900 years ago.

Earthquakes Around the Pacific

About 400 earthquakes occur worldwide every day, more than a hundred thousand in a year.

China【小题1】(situate) in one of the most active earthquake regions in the world and there have been many terrible earthquakes. The most serious【小题2】these occurred in Hua County in Shaanxi Province in 1556. The earthquake affected eight provinces in Central China. It covered an area of 800 square kilometres. In some communities 60 percent of the population were killed.【小题3】(total), 830,000 people lost their lives.

The California Earthquake of the 18th of April 1906 is the worst earthquake that has ever happened in the United States. It took place at 5:15 am,【小题4】lasted for only a minute. However, it caused the worst【小题5】(nature) disaster in the nation’s history.

Fires caused by the California Earthquake【小题6】(do) the most damage. The fires burned for three days【小题7】(destroy) a total of 25,000 buildings. About 500 people were killed in the city of San Francisco and 250,000 were made homeless. In the whole of California the earthquake and fires caused about 3,000【小题8】(death).

【小题9】1906 earthquake was caused by a movement on the San Andreas Fault. One hundred years later, movements on the San Andreas Fault continue【小题10】(cause) problems for the whole of California.