Mr. Chen lives in a town near a mountain. On July 2nd last year, an earthquake 【小题1】 in the town.

It started at 1:05 a. m. When people were in a deep sleep, Mr. Chen 【小题2】 a slight (轻微的) movement of his bed at first. He woke up and thought it might be a 【小题3】. When he was ready to go on 【小题4】, the bed moved harder than before. He knew that there was an earthquake. He told 【小题5】 to calm down. Then, he began to shout “Earthquake!” His family all 【小题6】 quickly and left the house as fast as they could. On their 【小题7】 out, they heard their neighbours screaming (尖叫).

Soon, the walls began to fall down. They could hear a big noise from 【小题8】, but they were afraid to look back. 【小题9】 a few minutes, all the noise ended.

Mr. Chen and his family were 【小题10】 enough to survive (幸存) the earthquake.

An earthquake usually comes without 【小题1】. It is dangerous, but you can do something to 【小题2】 yourself when it happens.

If you are 【小题3】 when the earthquake starts, what should you do? You should hide   【小题4】 a table or a bed. You need to have something strong around you to protect you from falling things. Don't stand near walls or 【小题5】. 

If you are outside, get to an open area as fast as you can. 【小题6】 away from buildings and trees. If you are in a car, stay in the car. If you are 【小题7】 to the sea, try to get as far away from the water as possible. 【小题8】 can cause huge waves (海浪). The waves can really hurt the people around.

When the earthquake is 【小题9】, there is still plenty of danger. For example, fire often comes with an earthquake. If you see a fire, move 【小题10】 to an open area.

Remember these, and then you can save yourself and also help others.

The news said that a heavy storm would come. Melanie had just got home from school when the sky began to get darker and the wind began to blow more 【小题1】. She hurried around the house closing the 【小题2】 so that rain wouldn’t pour in. Luckily, Melanie’s mom and dad got home from work before the sky was 【小题3】 dark.

Suddenly, the rain poured down. It was raining 【小题4】 heavily that Melanie could hardly see anything clearly, but she could certainly hear the wind. It whipped (鞭打) the tree around and hit 【小题5】 the windows and doors. The wind 【小题6】 hard. Then, everything went dark. The lights were off. For a moment, everybody sat 【小题7】, and then Melanie made her way to the kitchen for some flashlights. Melanie’s dad went to get candles and her mom found some clothes to keep warm in the living room as they waited for the storm to 【小题8】.

By the next morning, the storm had gone away. The 【小题9】 neighborhood was in a mess, and everything was wet from the heavy rain. But everyone was safe, and there had been no real damage (损害). Melanie and her family felt 【小题10】 about that. It had actually been kind of fun, and it had certainly been an adventure!