Michael Chugani 褚简宁 - fright of your life｜又中又英

Something happened in the middle of the night last week that gave me the fright of my life. I was in my bedroom on the upper level of my elder sister’s two-level house. My brother-in-law woke me up and told me to go to the ground level of the house right away. I was groggy and asked why. He said there was a tornado warning. He and my elder sister had both heard the tornado warning siren in the middle of the night but I was fast asleep and didn’t hear it. I quickly got out of bed and climbed groggily down the stairs to the ground level. My elder sister was already there watching the tornado warning on TV.
The safest place in a house during a tornado warning is a basement but my sister’s house does not have a basement. The next safest place is the ground level away from windows. If you have the fright of your life it means you have a sudden feeling of extreme shock and fear. I had the fright of my life when my brother-in-law told me a tornado could hit Indianapolis where he and my sister live. If you are fast asleep it means you are so completely asleep it is difficult to wake you. A tornado is a strong, fast and dangerous wind that looks like a rotating upside down cone.

Tornadoes can lift up cars and entire houses. They are sometimes called twisters. If you are groggy it means you feel unsteady or a bit weak. Many people feel groggy when they wake up in the morning. We watched the tornado’s path on TV for about an hour. It came close to Indianapolis but luckily spun away. The state of Iowa was not that lucky. It hit the capital city of Iowa, killing seven people. We went back to bed after the tornado warning in Indianapolis ended but none of us could fall asleep again. We were all groggy in the morning.
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上星期有一晚半夜发生了一件事，把我吓了一大跳（fright of my life）。当时我在我胞姐双层房屋的上层睡房中睡得正酣（fast asleep），我姐夫突然弄醒了我，着我立即下到房屋的地面楼层。我睡眼惺忪、昏昏沉沉（groggy），问他何故，他说有龙卷风（tornado）警报。他和我姐二人半夜都听到龙卷风（tornado）警报鸣响，我却睡得熟（fast asleep），完全听不见声响。我急促下床，摇摇晃晃地（groggily）爬下楼梯到地面的楼层。我姐已在那儿收看着电视的龙卷风（tornado）警报消息。

在龙卷风（tornado）警报期间，一间屋内最安全的地方是地下室，但我姐的房屋并没有地下室，那第二安全的地方就是地面楼层，且要远离窗户。若你有 fright of your life，意即你受到突如其来很大的惊吓和恐惧。当我姐夫告诉我，一个龙卷风（tornado）或会吹袭他和我姐所住的印第安纳坡里斯时，实在把我吓坏（fright of your life）了。若你是 fast asleep，意即你非常熟睡，很难唤醒你。A tornado就是强烈、高速而又危险的龙卷风，它看起来像个旋转的倒立圆锥体。

龙卷风（tornadoes）可以卷起车辆与整幢房屋，它们有时会被称为twisters。若你是 groggy，即是说你站立不稳、晕眩无力的。许多人早上起床时也会感到昏昏沉沉的（groggy）。我们看电视报道龙卷风（tornado）的路径，看了差不多一个小时，它来得很靠近印第安纳坡里斯，幸好它转着转着又转走了。但爱荷华州就没有那么幸运了，那龙卷风吹袭爱荷华州的首府，造成七人死亡。印第安纳坡里斯的龙卷风（tornado）警报结束后，我们各自回房睡觉，但我们三个都未能再好好入睡，人人早上起床时都是昏昏沉沉的（groggy）。
Michael Chugani 褚简宁