新西兰英语 429 Tornado hits north of Auckland

 　　A tornado¹ hit parts of Auckland’s North Shore this afternoon (Tuesday). It killed one man and injured 14 other people. It caused a lot of damage to houses, shops, trees and cars. The Albany shopping mall lost its roof. Sheets of steel from the roof and glass from windows flew in the air making it very dangerous for people outside. The tornado lifted some cars many metres into the air, or rolled cars onto their side or turned cars upside down. It broke some trees in half and lifted other trees out of the ground.

　　A tornado is also called a twister because it twists round and round very fast as it moves. It happens during thunder storms when warm, moist² air near the ground hits cold air above. New Zealand does not have many tornados³ because our country is an island country not a continent like North America. Usually the path of a tornado is quite short. The tornado drops down for a few kilometers, causing major damage, then it disappears.

　　People in Albany said the noise was like a large plane above them. It was a very frightening experience.

　　Grammar

　　Note: it was frightening; people were frightened. What other adjectives⁴ are like this?

　　Vocabulary

　　A sheet of steel is a large rectangle⁵ of steel. We also say a sheet of paper and a sheet of ice.

　　Glass from windows is an uncountable noun⁶. Be careful not to say “glasses” because these are what people wear to help their eyesight.

1 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

2 moist   

adj.潮湿的，湿润的；(果物)多汁的；[医]有分泌物的，湿性的；n.潮湿

参考例句：

• There were no windows to admit moist atmosphere to enter.没有窗户使潮湿的空气进入室内。
• Winds from the sea are usually moist.海风通常是潮湿的。

3 tornados   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And the national weather service reports several tornados touch down. 国家气象中心报告预测龙卷风将来袭。 来自互联网
• They had stock footage of lightning, tornados, and hurricanes. 他们存有关于闪电、龙卷风和飓风的电影胶片。 来自互联网

4 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 rectangle   

n.长方形，矩形

参考例句：

• Suppose the width of a rectangle is x metres.设长方形的宽是x米。
• He handed me a little rectangle of white paper.他递给我一张小小的长方形白纸片。

6 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。