（每日一读）2014年2月高考英语考前突破 阅读理解能力 社会生活 美国东北部遭强风暴袭击.docVIP

美国东北部遭强风暴袭击 A huge winter storm is affecting the densely populated US north-east, after wreaking havoc in the South. 一场强烈的冬季风暴在美国南部造成严重破坏之后，继续肆虐人口稠密的东北部地区。 ? Across the typically mild South, more than half a million homes and businesses lack power, and more than 3,300 US flights have been cancelled. ? The mammoth storm has affected people in 22 states from Texas to Maine and caused at least 10 deaths. ? The most crowded swath of the US - between Washington DC and Boston - is bracing for up to 8in (20cm) of snow. ? A band stretching from North-eastern Pennsylvania through New York States Hudson Valley and into New England could see 10-20in of snow on Thursday, the National Weather Service warned. ? The storm, described by the National Weather Service as an event of historical proportions, leaves in its southern wake a wreckage of snapped tree limbs and power lines coated in as much as 1in (2.54cm) of ice, motorways turned to car parks, road accidents, and residents shivering in darkened homes. ? Forecasters said it was one of the worst storms to strike Atlanta, the largest city in the South, since 1973. ? President Barack Obama offered the might of the US federal government in aid, declaring a disaster in the state of South Carolina and all northern counties in Georgia. ? On Wednesday evening, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) said it was moving supplies, including generators, meals, water, blankets and cots to an emergency centre in Atlanta. ? At least 10 deaths have already been blamed on the storm, including three people killed when an ambulance slid off an icy Texas road and caught fire and a man in Georgia who slipped and fell on a patch of ice. ? Thousands of vehicles are backed up on snow-covered motorways around Raleigh, North Carolina, with some people abandoning their vehicles.? ? Soo Keith, of Raleigh, left her office shortly after mid-day, but after two hours had only driven a few miles. ? Ms Keith told the Associated Press news agency she ev