Perfect Disaster
All around us buildings shook. We decided to leave the town. We stopped once we had left the buildings behind us. The carts were moving in opposite directions, though the ground was perfectly flat, and they wouldn't stay in place even with their wheels blocked by stones.
In addition, it seemed as though the sea was being sucked(吸) backwards, as if it were being pushed back by the shaking of the land. Certainly the shoreline moved outwards, and many sea animals were left on dry sand.
Behind us were frightening dark clouds that opened up to show fire—like lightning, but bigger. Not long after that the clouds reached down to the ground and covered the sea. Now came the dust, though still thin. I looked back. A dense cloud appeared behind us, following us like a flood pouring across the land. Then a darkness came that was not like a moonless or cloudy night, but more like being in a closed and unlighted room. You could hear women and children crying, men shouting. Some were calling for parents, others for children; they could only recognize them by their voices.
Darkness and ashes came again, a great weight of them. We stood up and shook the ash off again and again; otherwise we would have been covered with it and crushed by the weight.
At last the cloud became thinner and thinner until it was no more than smoke or fog. Soon there was real daylight. The sight that met our still terrified eyes was a changed world, buried in ash like snow.
―from Pliny's letter to a friend
小题1:Pliny left the town after _____.
A．the eruption
B．the sky became dark
C．the buildings began shaking
D．the sea went back小题2:The carts wouldn't stay still because _____.
A．the earth was shaking
B．the sea sucked them backwards
C．the wheels had stones under them
D．the lightening frightened the horses小题3:The reason why it was dark is that _____.
A．it was very late at night
B．clouds of ash covered the sun
C．there was a very bad storm
D．there was no moon that night小题4:People tried to find their relations by calling out their names and .
A．listening to their voices
B．running about looking for them
C．shaking the ash off people
D．watching people as they ran past
小题1:C
小题2:A
小题3:B
小题4:A
题目分析：文章是Pliny写给朋友的信，介绍地震后地动山摇，天昏地暗的情景，和人们惊慌失措的样子。
小题1:细节题：从文章第一段的句子：All around us buildings shook. We decided to leave the town.可知Pliny离开城镇是在房屋开始摇晃以后，选C
小题2:推理题：文章在说明"The carts were...flat。and they wouldn't stay in place.., by stones. " 之前已有交待，说明:是大地抖动，这正是说明了产生此种结果的原因。选A
小题3:细节题：根据第三段的句子：Now came the dust, though still thin. I looked back. A dense cloud appeared behind us, following us like a flood pouring across the land. Then a darkness came that was not like a moonless or cloudy night, but more like being in a closed and unlighted room.可知天黑是因为灰尘掩盖了太阳，选B
小题4:细节题：根据第三段最后一句可以推断出。You could hear women and children crying, men shouting. Some were calling for parents, others for children; they could only recognize them by their voices.
人们想通过叫他们的名字和听他们的声音找到他们的亲戚。选A