周艳霞
一张被龙卷风刮到200千米外的老照片,无意间扣动了不少人的心弦。
1When Posten walked outside to her car, she saw something that looked like a note or receipt stuck to the windshield.
2She grabbed it and saw it was a black and white photo of a woman holding a little boy. On the back, it said, “Gertie Swatzell & J.D. Swatzell 1942.” A few hours later, Posten discovered that the photo had made quite a journey—almost 130 miles (209 kilometers) on the back of terrible winds.
3Posten had been tracking the tornadoes (龍卷风) that hit the middle of the US, killing dozens of people. They came close to where she lives in New Albany, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. So she figured it must be from someone's damaged home.
4“Seeing the date, I realized that was likely from a home hit by a tornado. How else is it going to be there?” Posten said. “It's a well⁃kept photo.”
5So she posted an image of the photo on Facebook and Twitter and asked for help. She said she was hoping someone on social media would have a connection with the photo or share it with someone who had a connection.
6“A lot of people shared it on Facebook. Someone came across it who is friends with a man with the same last name, and they tagged him,” said Posten.
7That man was Cole Swatzell, who commented that the photo belonged to his family members in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, almost 209 kilometers away from New Albany. Swatzell on Sunday didn't respond to a Facebook message seeking comment.
8Posten planned to return the photo to the Swatzell family sometime.
9“It's really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, which makes you consider how valuable things are—memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things,” Posten said. “It shows you the power of social media for good. It was encouraging that immediately there were tons of replies from people, looking up ancestor records, and saying ‘I know someone who knows someone and I'd like to help.’”
Reading Check
Choose the best answers according to the text
Detail 1. How did Posten know the photo had made quite a long journey?
A. By looking at the information about the photo.
B. By tracking the route of the tornadoes.
C. By asking others for help on social media.
D. By learning about a home hit by a tornado.
Detail 2. What do we know about the photo?
A. It's a damaged photo.
B. It belongs to Cole Swatzell.
C. Its owners live in New Albany, Indiana.
D. It had traveled about 130 miles away from Kentucky.
Detail 3. Where did Posten get the information about the photo's owners?
A. From Twitter. B. From Facebook.
C. From her friend. D. From ancestor records.
Inference 4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. Posten thought highly of the function of social media.
B. A common item sometimes is also very valuable.
C. We should encourage each other on social media.
D. Valuable things should be kept well for good.
Language Study
Ⅰ. Analyze the difficult sentence in the text
“It's really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, which makes you consider how valuable things are—memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things,” Posten said. 波斯顿说:“考虑到所发生的一切,这真的绝对是一件了不起的事情,这让你思考回忆、传家宝这些东西是多么宝贵。”
【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句,引号内为直接引语,作动词said 的宾语;which引导的是一個非限制性定语从句;given all that has happened 是过去分词短语作条件状语;that has happened是定语从句,修饰先行词all。
Ⅱ. Memorize some text⁃centered chunks
stick to 粘在……上;坚持
dozens of 很多
share... with 和……分享……
come across 偶然发现;偶然遇见
belong to 属于
look up 查找