通过阅读学词汇CET-6（12）
UNIT TWELVE
Glories of the Storm
The rain now becomes a torrent, flung by a rising wind. Together they batter the trees and level the grasses. Water streams off roofs. It pounds against the windows in such a steady wash that I am sightless. There is only water. How can so much fall so fast? How could the clouds have supported this vast weight? How can the earth endure beneath it?
Pacing through the house from window to window, I am moved to open-mouthed wonder. Look how the lilac bends under the assault, how the day lilies are flattened, how the hillside steps are new-made waterfall! Now hailstones thump upon the roof. They bounce white against the grass and splash into the puddles. Think of the vegetable garden, the fruit trees, the crops in the fields; but, thankfully, the hailstones are not enough in numbers or size to do real damage. Not this time.
For this storm is already beginning to pass. The tension is released from the atmosphere, the curtains of rain let in more light. The storm has spent most of its energy, and what is left will be expended on the countryside to the east.
I am drawn outside while the rain still falls. All around, there is a cool and welcome feeling. I breathe deeply and watch the sun's rays streak through breaking clouds. One ray catches the drops that form on the edge of the roof, and I am treated to a row of tiny, quivering colors -- my private rainbow.
I pick my way through the wet grass, my feet sinking into the saturated soil. The creek in the gully runs bank full of brown water.but the small lakes and