【正文】 us, must have strong doors on al l the cupboards. This is the pl ace where m any sm al l things are stored that mi ght fal l down. The water heater shoul d have a case round i t too. Wi ndows are speci al probl em . When they break, gl as can cause m any acci dents,. It is beter to use safety gl ass i f you can, especi al l y for pictures. Al ways remember:” It is better to be safe than sorry. ” TH E STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS By Jack London N ever before in hi story has a city been so pletel y destroyed. San Franci sco is gone. N othi ng i s l eft of i t but m em ori es and som e houses far from the centre of the ci ty. Its buni nes are gone. The factori es, hotelsand pal ace are al l gone too. Wi thi n an hour after the earthquake, the smoke of SanFrancio’s fires coul d been seen 160 kil ometres away. The sun is red in the dark sky. There was no stoppi ng the fi res. There was no way to ani ze or m uni cate. The steel rail way tracks were now useless. And the great pi pes for carrying water under the streets had burst. Al l of the ways m an had m ade to keep the ci ty safe were gone in the thi rty second the earth m oved. O ut at sea i t was cal m. N o wi nd cam e up. Yet from every di recti oneast, weast, north, andsouth, strong wi nds bl ew upon the unl ucky city. Man himsel f had to make ruins of the city’s best buil dings so that they woul d not be a danger to those i n the strets. A l ist of bui l di ngs undesteryed was now onl y a few addreses. A l ist of the brave m en and the wom en woul d fill a li brary. A li st of al those kil l ed wil l never be made. Am azi ng as i t m ay seem , Wednesday ni ght was a qui et ni ght. There were no crowds. The poli cem en sai dnothing。 i t al so had wi de strets wi th trees in rows and ol d French houses. Unl ike Vi enti ane, shi ps coul d travel the Mekong Ri ver here. In the center of the city we visi ted the pal ace and a beauti ful whi te el ephant. It can onl y be seen outsi de the pal ace on speci al days. We ate an earl y supper and went to see a great tem pl e wi th fl ors m ade of sli ver. The next m orni ng our group slept l ate. We were very ti red from the l ong bi ke ri de the day before. Cycl i ng i n the hi l s had been di ffcui l ow our coui ns had the chance to m ake jokes about Wangwei and m e. Perhaps,they sai d, they were the strong ones!We had l unch at a ni ce outdoor cafe, then rode out of the ci ty. Two days l ater we crosed the border into Vietnam. We began to see many more people,but I wasn’t surpri sed . I read i n an atlas before our trip that Vi etnam has alm ost seven ti m es the popul ati on of Cam bodi a. We m et a farm er who gave us directi ons and tol d us that he grows a new ri ce crop four tim es every year so he can feed m ore peopl e al so tol d us that the northern part of hi s country has many m ountai ns and i t i s m uch cool er than here i n the south, where it i s fl at. Al though the fl at delta m ade it easi er for us to cycle. we got warm very qui ckl y. So we drank l ots of water and ate l ots of bananas. Soon the del ta separated i nto ni ne sm al l er ri vers. Two days l ater, after we had passed thousands of ri ce fi el ds, we came to the sea. We were ti red but al so i n hi gh spi ri ts: our dream to cycl e along the Mekong Ri ver had fi nal y e true. Unit 4 A NIGHT THE EARTH DID’T SLEEP Strange thi ngs were happeni ng i n the countri si de of northest H eBei. For there days the water i n the vil lage wel ls rose and fel l, rose and fel . Farm ers noti ced that the wel wal s had deep cracks i n them. A sm el y gas came out of the cracks. In the farm eryards, the chickens and even the pi gs were too nervous to i ce ran out of the fi el ds l ooki ng for pl aces to hi sh j um ped out of their bowl s and ponds. At about 3: 00am on Jul y 28, 1976, som e peopl e saw bri ght li ghts i n the sky. The sound of the pl anes coul d be heard outsi de the ci ty, who thought li ttl e of these events, were asl ep as usual that night. At3: 42 am everythi ng began to shake. It seem ed as i f the worl d was at an end!El even ki lom etres di rectl y bel ow the ci ty the greast earthquake of 20th century had begun. It was fel t in Bei jing, whi ch i s m ore thantwo hundred kil om etres away. O nethird of the nati on felt i t . A huge crack that was ei ght kil om etres l ong and thi rty m etres wi de cut across houses, roads and canal s. Steam burst from hol es in the ground. H ard hil l s of rock becam e ri vers of di rt. In fi fteen terri bl e seconds a l arge lay i n rui ns. The sufferi ng of the peopl e was extrem e. Towthi rds of them di ed or were i njured duri ng the earthquake. Thounds of fam il i es were kil l ed and m any chi dren were left wi thout parents. The num ber of peopl e who were ki l ed or i njured reached m ore than 400, 000. But how coul d the survivors bel ieve it was natural ?Everywhere they l ooked nearl y everything was destroyed. Al l of the city’s hospi tal s, 75% of i ts factori es and buil di ngs and 90% of i ts hom es were gone. Bri cks covered the ground l i ke red autum n l eaves. N o wi nd, however, coul d bel ow they away. Two dams and m ost of the bri dges al so fel or were not safe for travel ing. The rail way tracks were now usel ess pi eces of steel . Tens of thousands of cows woul d never gi ve m il k agai n. H al f a m il li on pi gs and m il li ons of chi ckens were dead. Sand now fil ed the wel s i nstead of water. Peopl e were shocked. Then l ater that afternoon, another bi g quake which was al m ost as strong as the fi rst one shook Tangshan. Some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the rui ns. More buil di ngs fel l down. Water, food, and eletri ci ty were hard to get. Peopl e began to wongder how l ong the di sater woul d l ast. Al hope was not l ost. Soon after the quakes, the arm y sent 150, 000 soli ders to Tangshan to hel p the rescue workers. H