遗失了故人to know that a company in America has manufactured a hand-held lightning detector which can detect it up to 70 kms away, sound a warning tone and monitor the storm’s approach.
Nancy Wilder was playing golf at a club in Surrey when she was hit by a bolt of lightning. Mrs Wilder’s heart stopped beating, but she was resuscitated and, after a few days in hospital, where she was treated for bums to her head, hands and feet, she was pronounced fit again. Since that time，she has been a strictly fair weather golfer1. ____4____ The best place to be is inside a car!
The largest number of people to be struck by lightning at one time was in September 1995 when 17 players on a football pitch were hit simultaneously. The most extraordinary aspect of the strike was the fact that 11 of the victims—seven adults and four children—had burn patterns of tiny holes at 3 centimetre intervals on each toe and around the soles of their feet.
Harold Deal, a retired electrician from South Carolina, USA, was struck by lightning 26 years ago. He was apparently unhurt, but it later emerged that the strike had damaged the part of the brain which controls the sensation of temperature. ____5____
Animals are victims of lightning too2.Hundreds of cows and sheep are killed every year, largely because they go under trees. In East Anglia in 1918, 504 sheep were killed instantaneously by the same bolt of lightning that hit the ground and travelled through the entire flock. Lightning is also responsible for starting more than 10,000 forest fires each year world-wide.
词汇： bolt n. (闪电)道 sheer adj. 绝对的 esuscitate v. 使复苏 flock n. 群 rubble n. 碎石 spire n. 尖顶，尖塔 instantaneously adv. 即刻，突如其来地
注释： 1.she has been a strictly fair weather golfer：她变成了一个只在晴朗天气才打高尔夫的人。
2.Animals are victims of lightning too：动物也会受到雷击的伤害。
练习：
A No wonder the ancient Greeks thought it was Zeus, father of the gods, throwing thunderbolts around in anger.
B In fact, a golf course is one of the most dangerous places to be during a thunderstorm.
