This part embodies the climax of the event.

Paras. 26

These paragraphs give a detailed description of the logical movement of the happenings.

26. The larger children sprawled on the floor, with the smaller ones in a layer on top of them, and the adults bent over all nine. The floor tilted. The box containing the litter of kittens slid off a shelf and vanished in the wind. Spooky flew off the top of a sliding bookcase and also disappeared. The dog cowered with eyes closed. A third wall gave away. Water lapped across the slanting floor. John grabbed a door which was still hinged to one closet wall. “If te floor goes,” he yelled at his father, “let’s get the kids on this.”

Q1: What does this paragraph mainly tell?

A1: This paragraph reveals the final strike of the hurricane.

Q2: How do you paraphrase the following knowledge points?

1. Spooky flew off the top of a sliding bookcase and also disappeared. (para 26) The cat on the top of the bookcase was also carried away by the wind.

A sliding bookcase: The bookcase was sliding because the floor tilted.

2. “If te floor goes,”… “let’s get the kids on this.” (para 26)

If the floor disintegrates, let’s put the children on this wooden door. (The wooden door will help to keep the children afloat in the water.)

27. In that moment, the wind slightly diminished, and the water stopped rising. Then the water began receding. The main thrust of Camille had passed. The Koshaks and their friends had survived.

Q1: What is the gist of this paragraph?

A1: The Koshaks eventually managed to survived the devastating hurricane.

Q2: How do you paraphrase the following sentence?

The main thrust of Camille had passed (para 27)

The direct and forceful attack of the hurricane had passed.

Paras. 28-39

These paragraphs unveil the ending of the story.

28. With the dawn, Gulfport people started coming back to their homes. They saw human bodies－more than 130 men, women and children died along the Mississippi coast－and parts of the beach and highway were strewn with dead dogs, cats, and cattle. Strips of clothing festooned the standing trees, and blown-down power lines coiled like black spaghetti over the roads.

29. None of the returnees moved quickly or spoke loudly; they stood shocked, trying to absorb the shattering scenes before their eyes. “What do we do?” they asked. “Where do we go?”

30. By this time, organizations within the area and, in effect, the entire population of the United States had come to the aid of the devastated coast. Before dawn, the Mississippi National Guard and civil-defense units were moving in to handle traffic, guard property, set up communications centers, help clear the debris and take the homeless by truck and bus to refugee centers. By 10 a.m., the Salvation Army’s canteen trucks and Red Cross volunteers and staffers were going wherever possible to distribute hot drinks, food, clothing and bedding.

31. From hundreds of towns and cities across the country came several million dollars in donations; household and medical supplies streamed in by plane, train, truck and car. The federal government shipped 4,400,000 pounds of food, moved in mobile homes, set up portable classroom, and opened offices to provide low-interest, long-term business loans.

32. Camille, meanwhile, had raked its way northward across Mississippi, dropping more than 28 inches of rain into West Virginia and southern Virginia, causing rampaging floods, huge mountain slides and 111 additional deaths before breaking up over the Atlantic Ocean.

33. Like many other Gulfport families, the Koshaks quickly began reorganizing their lives. John divided his family in the homes of two friends. The neighbor with her two children went to a refugee center. Charlies hill found a room for rent. By Tuesday, Charlies’s back had improved, and he pitched in with Seabees in the worst volunteer work of all－searching for bodies. Three days after the storm, he decided not to return to Las Vegas, but to “remain in Gulfport and help rebuild the community.”

34. Near the end of the first week, a friend offered the Koshaks his apartment, and the family was reunited. The children appeared to suffer no psychological damage from their experience; they were still awed by the incomprehensible power of the hurricane, but enjoyed describing what they had seen and heard on that frightful night. Janis had just one delayed reaction. A few nights after the hurricane, she awoke suddenly at 2 a.m. she quietly got up and went outside. Looking up at the sky and, without knowing she was going to do it, she began to cry softly.

35. Meanwhile, John, Pop and Charlie were picking through the wreckage of the home. It could have been depressing, but it wasn’t: each salvaged item represented a little victory over the wrath of the storm. The dog and cat suddenly appeared at the scene, alive and hungry.

36. But the blues did occasionally afflict all the adults. Once, in a low mood, John said to his parents, “I wanted you here so that we would all be together, so you could enjoy the children, and look what happened.”

37. His father, who had made up his mind to start a welding shop when living was normal again, said, “Let’s not cry about what’s gone. We’ll just start all over.”

38. “You’re great,” John said. “And this town has a lot of great people in it. It’s going to be better here than it ever was before.”

39. Later, Grandmother Koshak reflected: “We lost practically all our possessions, but the family came through it. When I think of that, I realize we lost nothing important.

Q1: What is the gist of paragraph 28?

A1: It offers a scene of the aftermath of the attack by the hurricane.

Q2: What is the gist of paragraph 29?

A2: It gives an account of the emotional responses of the returnees to the shattering scenes.

Q3: What do paragraphs 30-31 mainly tell?

A3: They concentrate on the efforts made by different sectors of the society to deter the aftermath of the disaster.

Q4: What is the gist of paragraph 32?

A4: It made a mention of the hazardous effects of Camille in other areas.

Q5: What do paragraphs 33-38 mainly tell?

A5: It can be seen in these paragraphs that the Koshaks were trying to reorganize their lives.

Q6: What can be inferred from Grandmother Koshak’s words in paragraph 39?

A6: The significance of human lives always far outweighs that of possessions.

Q7: How do you paraphrase the following knowledge points?

1. ... trying to absorb the shattering scenes before their eyes. (para. 29)

Trying to fully understand the extensive damage and destruction which they saw all round them.

2. Camille, meanwhile, had raked its way northward across Mississippi. (para. 32)

Trying to fully understand the extensive damage and destruction which they saw all round them.

3. It could have been depressing, but it wasn’t: each salvaged item represented a little victory over the wrath of the storm. (para. 35)

Going through the wrecked home and picking up things could have had a depressing effect, but it didn’t. When they picked up some useful things they felt as if they had won some kind of a victory over the storm.

4. “…We’ll just start all over.” (para. 37)

We’ll just start doing everything again from the beginning.

5. “We lost practically all our possessions, but the family came through it. When I think of that, I realize we lost nothing important.” (para. 39)

These two sentences are important, for they express one of the themes of this essay－human lives are far more important than material possessions. The family came through it: The family survived the storm.