“San Francisco, May 5,1906.The earthquake that hit San Francisco on April 18 shook down hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of walls and chimneys.But the fire that followed burned up hundreds of millions of dollarsworth of buildings and homes.Never before in history has a city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone.The factories, the great stores and newspaper buildings,the hotels, and the great houses of the rich are all gone.On Wednesday morning at a quarter past five came the earthquake. (翻译:旧金山,1906年5月5日。4月18日,旧金山发生地震,震倒了价值数十万美元的墙壁和烟囱。但是随之而来的大火烧毁了数以亿计的建筑物和房屋。历史上从来没有一个城市被如此彻底地摧毁过。旧金山没了。工厂、大商店、报社大楼、旅馆和富人的豪宅全都消失了。星期三早晨五点一刻,地震来了。)”
“Perfect.12号翻倍,24号接着背。”
“A moment later, the disaster was a fact.South of Market Street in the working-class neighbourhoods and in the factoriesfires started.Within an hour of the first quake the smoke could be seen 100 miles away.The sun was red in the dark sky. There was no stopping the fires.The firefighters to whom the task was given did their best but there was no way to organise or communicate.The railway tracks were now useless and there was no water in water pipes.All of the ways man had made to keep the city safe were gone in the 30 seconds the earth moved.By Wednesday afternoon, half the heart of the city was gone. (翻译:过了一会儿,这场灾难变成了事实。在市场街以南的工人聚居区和工厂里,大火开干始燃烧。在第一次地震发生后的一个小时内,100英里外都能看到烟雾。太阳在黑暗的天空中是红色的。火势无法停止。被分配任务的消防队员尽了最大努力,但没有办法组织或沟通。铁轨现在已经没用了,水管里也没有水了。人类为保证城市安全所做的一切努力都在地球移动的30秒内消失了。到周三下午,这座城市的中心地带消失了一半。)”
“还可以。有个别单词,就比如说neighbourhoods、communicate的发音要注意。”她语气迅速地说道,“At that time后面那段10号、20号、30号下课到我办公室背。”