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brother and sister means there is always someone to talk to who understands what it’s
like to be a kid. We help each other with all kinds of things from homework to putting a
united front on to the parents when we want something. Finally, and best of all, there
are three of us to do the chores around the house, and we can even trade if we want to.
Questions:
1. What do Pauline and Dale share in common?
2. Each person exalts the advantages of their situation and ignores the disadvantages.
One disadvantage Dale could point out to Pauline about being an only child is that it
can be lonely. Name another.
One disadvantage Pauline could point out to Dale about having siblings is that there
is little or no privacy. Name another
3. Pauline and Dale have opposing views. Is one right and one wrong? Why or why not?
4. If you had to trade places with Pauline or Dale, which would you choose?
5. Describe your own situation: Are you an only child or do you have siblings? If you
do, how many and where do you fall in the age range?
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UNIT 7
READING COMPREHENSION 3
Storm chasers
Scientists, nature freaks, or daredevils?
Reading text
1
We have all seen the pictures on the news: crumpled trailers, flattened houses,
uprooted trees, overturned cars, shattered glass, twisted metal, downed power lines,
toppled telephone poles, collapsed bridges, flooded fields and neighborhoods, debris
and wreckage scattered for miles in the wake of a raging tornado or hurricane. Losing a
loved one, or everything one owns, to a natural disaster is everyone’s worst nightmare.
So, why would anyone in his right mind want to risk his life chasing after the kind of
weather most people pray will never come their way?
2
There have always been people who like to observe and track the weather, but
the pastime or passion of storm chasing got its start in the mid-1950s, when researchers
and government employees went out into the field to gather scientific information
about severe weather events. In order to improve weather forecasting and safety, the
National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) was set up in 1964 in Oklahoma, part of
Tornado Alley, where 90 percent of all tornadoes in the United States touch down. In
1972, the University of Oklahoma developed the Tornado Intercept Project and engaged
meteorology students to intercept, film, and photograph tornadoes. By the 1990s,
Doppler radar and advanced weather tracking technology had enabled researchers to
collect data, and government sponsored programs like VORTEX (Verification of Origins
of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment) improved understanding of how tornadoes
develop, as well as the ability to forecast when and where they would strike.
3
Although tornadoes in the United States begin with a gentle southern breeze
coming off the Gulf of Mexico, the forces of nature can turn them into devils. As warm
moist air flows toward the Great Plains, it mixes with hot dry air from the American
South and cold air moving down from the Canadian Arctic. Together, the hot air and
cold air force the tropical air to rise rapidly, creating an updraft that sucks
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