2011.12四六级强化阅读讲义.docVIP

四六级强化班系列讲义——阅读 第一部分：阅读总论 （一）培养阅读兴趣掌握阅读技能 （二）如何读文章 阅读目标： 阅读两“忌”： （三）如何做题 解题原则： 第二部分：实战训练 Section A Extensive Reading Its Raining Cats and Dogs, and Frogs! The earth is a very weird and wonderful place. Many mysterious phenomena occur that cannot be explained by logic or science. These inexplicable events attract believers in the supernatural, as well as skeptics. You are probably familiar with the English saying, “Its raining cats and dogs”. Over the last 150 years, instances of various animals literally raining down onto the earth have been reported. In 1861, people in Singapore reported a rain of fish following an earthquake. In 1877, several alligators fell from the sky onto a farm in the U. S. state of South Carolina. Despite falling from a great height, the alligators landed on the ground unharmed. During one downpour in 1966, an Australian priest was hit on the shoulder by a large fish that had fallen from the sky. The priest attempted to catch the slippery creature, but it fell into the rainwater that had flooded the ground and swam away. The residents of the city of Naphlion in southern Greece awoke in amazement one May morning in 1981 to find small green frogs raining from the sky. The Greek Meteorological Institute concluded that the frogs had been picked up by strong winds and transported in storm clouds. When the clouds broke and the rain came down, so did the frogs. What is most interesting about this story is that the frogs were discovered to be a species native to North Africa! A more recent example of natures amazing feats took place in the summer of 2000 in Ethiopia when millions of fish, some dead and some alive, reportedly rained down from the sky. While both scientists and skeptics seek rational explanations for these bizarre instances, some events have left them baffled. One such incident happened in France in 1814. In September of that year, on a clear day, a small, spherical cloud was spotted floating in the