阅读理解。
The first people who gave names to hurricanes were those who knew them best-the people of Puerto
Rico. The small island of Puerto Rico is in the West Indies, off the coast of Florida. This is where all the
hurricanes begin that strike the east coast of the United States. Often they pass near Puerto Rico or cross
it on their way north. The people of Puerto Rico expect some of these unwelcome visitors every year. Each
one is named after the Saint's Day on which it arrives. Two of the most destructive storms were the Santo
Ana in 1840 and the San Ciriaco in 1899.
Giving girls' names to hurricanes is a fairly new idea. It all began with a story called"Storm", written by
George Stewart in 1941. In it a weatherman amused himself by naming storms after girls he knew. He
named one Maria. The story describes how Maria grew and developed, and how she changed the lives of
people when she struck the United States.
Weathermen of the U.S. Army and Navy used the same system during World WarⅡ. They were studying
weather conditions over the Pacific Ocean. One of their duties was to warn American ships and planes when
a storm was coming. Whenever they spotted one, they gave it a girl's name. The first one of the year was
given a name beginning with [A]. The second one got a name beginning with [B]. They used all the letters
from A to W, and still the storms kept coming. They had to use three lists from A to W to have enough names
to go around. This was the first list of hurricane names that followed the alphabet. It served as a model for
the system the Weather Bureau (局) introduced in 1942.
Before 1950 the Weather Bureau had no special system for naming hurricanes. When a hurricane was born
down in the West Indies, the Weather Bureau simply collected information about it. It reported how fast the
storm was moving and where it would go next. Weather reports warned people in the path of the hurricane, so
that they could do whatever was necessary to protect themselves.
This system worked out fine as long as weather reports talked about only one hurricane at a time. But one
week in September 1950 there were three hurricanes at the same time. The things began to get confused.
Some people got the hurricanes mixed up and didn't know which was which. This convinced the Weather
Bureau that it needed a code for naming the storms in order to avoid confusion in the future.
1. The practice of giving girls' names to hurricanes was started by ______.
A. a radio operator
B. an author
C. a sailor
D. local people
2. The purpose for which weathermen of the army and navy began using girls' names for
hurricanes was ______.
A. not given in the article
B. to remember a certain girl
C. to keep information from the enemy
D. to follow the standard method of the United States
3. The Weather Bureau began naming hurricanes because it would help them ________.
A. make use of military records
B. remember them
C. collect information more rapidly
D. warn people more efficiently
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