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Curtis Whitson knew the water fall was coming. He'd rafted down the Arroyo Seco, a river in central California, before. He figured he would hop out of his raft into the shallow water, rappel (绕绳下降) down the rocks on either side of the falls, and continue on his way, as he had on a previous trip.

But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually manageable falls into something fierce. And this year, instead of his friends, Whitson’s companions were his wife, Krystal Ramirez, and his 13-year-old son, Hunter. As the three of them approached the falls late in the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Whitson could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrow canyon (峡谷) that they were in serious trouble. There was no way they’d be able to rappel down the rocks as planned.

As he considered what to do, Whitson hit on a bit of luck — he heard voices coming from the other side of the falls. He yelled, but the sound of the rushing water drowned him out.

We have to get these people a message, Whitson thought.

He grabbed a stick and pulled out his pocketknife to carve “Help” in it. Then he tied a rope to it so the people would know it wasn’t just any stick. He tried throwing it over the falls, but it floated away in the wrong direction.

Then he spotted his green Nalgene water bottle. Whitson grabbed it and carved “Help!” on it. Ramirez also reminded him that he had a pen and paper, which she’d brought to play games with, in his backpack.

Whitson knew it was a long shot. But he scrawled (草草地写) “We are stuck here at the waterfall. Get help please!” and pushed the note into the bottle.

This time, his throw over the waterfall was perfect.

“All right, that’s all we can do,” Whitson told Hunter.

It took 30 minutes to navigate back upstream to the beach where they’d had lunch. They made a fire and laid out a tarp (油布). As the evening wore on, they placed a headlamp with a flashing light on a ledge (岩石突出部). By about 10:30 p.m.,they decided they probably weren’t going to get rescued that night, so they pulled out their sleeping bags. Before turning in, Ramirez added more wood to the fire to keep the mountain lions away.

Then, just after midnight, they heard a helicopter hovering above them. Whitson turned to his son and started shaking him.

“They’re here!” he said.

Whitson ran over to the headlamp and started flashing it at the helicopter. He, Ramirez, and Hunter were waving and hollering when they heard the magic words: “This is Search and Rescue. You have been found.”

The helicopter circled as the pilot looked for a good place to land. Finding none, the crew announced to the campers over the PA system that they would not be rescued until morning and told them to conserve their firewood.

The next morning, the helicopter returned and it was a moment of pure happiness as the three chatted with the officers who had rescued them. Together, they marveled (惊叹) at the unlikelihood of it all.

When the officers dropped them back at the Arroyo Seco Campground, the family learned more about the long shot events that had saved them: Two men had seen the water bottle in the water. When they picked it up, they noticed the writing on it — “Help!”. Then they realized there was a note inside. After they read it, they hightailed it to the campground, turned the bottle in, and took off without leaving their names.

A few days after news of the rescue broke, one of the hikers contacted Whitson. That’s when he learned the rest of the story. There were actually two little girls hiking with the men that day. It was the girls who first spotted the bottle and swam to get it. Whitson is planning on having a big barbecue to meet the hikers — and thank them.

“I imagine it’s going to be one of the greatest moments of my life.” he says.

1.How was Whitson’s this-year trip different from his previous trip?

A.It involved more people.

B.It presented more threats.

C.It included more activities.

D.It progressed more steadily.

2.Which of Whitson’s attempted approaches worked?

A.Throwing a stick tied with a rope.

B.Yelling to the people across the fall.

C.Using an SOS bottle to send messages.

D.Bringing a pen and paper to play games.

3.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 7 mean?

A.It was a wild attempt.

B.It was a great danger.

C.It was a fantastic idea.

D.It was a real inspiration.

4.Why did Whitson place a headlamp with a flashing light on a ledge?

A.To enable his family to fall fast asleep.

B.To frighten the mountain animals away.

C.To increase the chance of being rescued.

D.To keep warm at night in the deep mountain.

5.Why did the crew delay rescuing till the next morning?

A.They were running out of oil.

B.They conserved little firewood.

C.They found no place to land safe.

D.They were caught in a snowstorm.

6.Who picked up the bottle from the water?

A.Two little girls.

B.Two men hikers.

C.A helicopter pilot.

D.The officers on duty.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题

少年,再来一题如何?
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