End-of -term test

I often hear or read about “natural disasters”(đi sa tờ) – the eruption (ơ ráp sừn) of Mount St. Helen, a volcano (vô cây nâu) in the state of Washington; Hurricane (hu ri cen) Andrew in Florida; the floods (phờ lớt) in the American Midwest; terrible all over the world; huge fires (hiu phai ờ); and so on and so on. But I’ll never forget my first personal experience (ích spia ri ừn) with the strangeness ( sờ trên j nít) of nature – “the London Killer Fog (kiu lờ phóc)” of 1952. It began on Thursday, December 4, when a high – pressure (pre sờ) system (warm air) covered southern (sơ thừn) England. With the freezing – cold air below, heavy fog formed. Pollution from factories (phách to ry), cars, and coal stoves (stâu) mixed with the fog. The humidity (hiu mơ đơ ti) was terrible high, there was no breeze (briz) at all. Traffic stopped. People couldn’t see, and some walked onto the railroad (rây rốt) tracks or into the river. It was hard to breathe ( bờ rít th), and many people got sick. Finally, on Tuesday, December 9, the wind came and the fog went away. But after that, even more people got sick. Many of them died.