NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A line of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes marched across the South on Friday, peeling away roofs, overturning cars and killing at least 11 people in Tennessee, officials said.
It was the second wave of violent weather to hit the state in less than a week. Last weekend, tornadoes killed 24 people in the western part of the state and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and buildings.
The storms crossed an area from northern Mississippi to northern Virginia as they moved to the northeast late Friday after developing from a low-pressure system in the central Plains.
The Nashville suburbs were the hardest hit, with at least eight deaths happening northeast of the city. Three more people were killed in a rural area about 65 miles southeast of Nashville.
Tornadoes were also reported in some other places. The storms pulled up trees, knocked down power lines and damaged buildings. What’s worse, phone lines and most businesses were out of service. Hospitals admitted at least 60 people with storm-related injuries and transferred at least nine badly injured patients to Nashville hospitals.
In southern Indiana, the storms damaged some areas with golf ball-sized hail. High winds blew the roof off a country club and overthrew a semitrailer（拖车）. As the storms moved farther east, parts of West Virginia were lashed with heavy rain and winds, great damages caused.
The number of tornadoes in the US has jumped through the first part of 2006 compared with the past few years. Through the end of March, an estimated 286 tornadoes had hit the US, compared with an average of 70 for the same three-month period in each of the past three years.
The number of tornado-related deaths was 38 before Friday's storms. The average number of deaths from 2003 to 2005 was 45 a year, the prediction center said.
小题1: How many deaths have the thunderstorms and tornadoes on Friday caused?
A．Three.
B．Eight.
C．Eleven.
D．Twenty-two.小题2: Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．Tennessee was hit twice by tornadoes within a week.
B．The latest tornado might start in northern Mississippi.
C．At least four states were hit by the tornado.
D．In the tornadoes of the first 3 months 38 people were killed.小题3: In the first 3 months of last 3 years, about ____ tornadoes happened each month in the US.
A．About 23.
B．About 70.
C．About 98.
D．About 210.小题4:We can infer from the report more deaths and injuries were caused because ____.
A．the phone lines were destroyed
B．there were enough hospitals
C．the people hid in their houses
D．there was also a hail in Tennessee
