A terrible rainstorm earlier this week hit the city. Some people were inside a ________ during the terrible storm. A 21-year-old worker was regarded as their ________. He was a college student who worked part-time there.

Satchel Smith was supposed to work at the front desk in the hotel. After his father drove him for work on Wednesday, he ________ to work for eight hours before going home later that evening.

The terrible storm ________ through the area and flooded many of the roads and highways. Satchel was now the only worker who was serving the hotel   ________ 90 guests trapped（陷入困境） inside—and he faced the challenge bravely.

Angela Chandler was one of the guests staying at the hotel under Satchel's care. She took a photo of Satchel and posted it on Facebook to ________ him for his hard work.

Satchel was the hotel manager and ________ for 36 hours. Luckily, he was not ________ alone in his work. The guests pulled together to help ________ serve the meals and wash the dishes. Other guests even ________ to help and bring clean water and food to the truck drivers trapped nearby. "The guests were very ________," he told CNN. "We're like a big family." ________ his co-workers arrived on Friday, Satchel was able to take a quick rest before he went back to work and waited for his family to pick him up.

A typhoon is a very strong storm. The wind can ________ at 250 kilometres every hour or more. Sometimes there is a lot of rain, too.                                                            

A typhoon starts over a warm sea. The winds become ________.   A typhoon can be about 400 kilometres wide. In ________ the typhoon there is an “eye”. The winds are fastest and strongest around this eye.

After a typhoon there is a lot of damage. The winds can pull up trees or lift up cars and boats and throw them a long way. The winds can also destroy houses.

There is also usually a lot of rain ________ a typhoon. Sometimes the following rain covers the ________, and people cannot go outside. A lot of rain can be very dangerous ________ there may also be floods.

Early on the morning of December 26th, my friend Eric and I went down to the beach in Sri Lanka for the first time. We noticed that the sea had gone a long way out, ________ this did not mean anything to us. We had been to Mombassa several times and at times the sea had gone right out to the reef（礁）. We also knew that it was a _______   moon and thought it may influence（影响）the sea. We didn’t realize how many more Sri Lankan families would be killed because it was a holiday and they were on the beach.

I ________ Eric on the beach and went for a walk down by the sea. I must have gone about a quarter of a mile when I met a ________ . He warned me that there was something wrong with the sea. I told him that I knew the waves were strong and I didn’t want to go swimming. He said, “No, madam, no-there is something wrong with the sea.” He walked with me until we reached his village. As we reached it a huge surge（波涛汹涌）of water almost knocked me over. He held me fast with one arm and held on to a tree with the other. The villagers were all crying loudly as furniture and other things floated（漂浮）from their houses. They all started running back ________ the railway lines directly behind.

The fisherman took me back to the railway lines and we sturnbled（蹒跚而行）along there until we came up behind Eric. I shouted that there was something wrong but Eric just did not believe me and thought I was out of my mind.

At that point, from my higher point I could see the sea rising in its bed. It just continued to rise and came towards us. Eric moved quickly with great difficulty and we escaped the third and final wave. We heard later that not one tourist at Yale Safari Lodge（小屋）remained alive to tell the story.

Although we were anxious（焦急的）to make our families know that we were OK, leaving Sri Lanka was one of the       _____ things we had ever done.