14．A Tornado that Makes Red Rain

A tornado can do a lot of damage The wind of a tornado rushes at great speed around a funnel—shaped cloud．It travels in a path a few hundred feet wide and about twenty－five miles long．As the wind circles counterclockwise，the funnel spirals higher and higher．The force of the wind sucks up water，dirt，and objects，and carries them along with it．It may drop them again many miles away．Houses and huge trees have been drawn into tornado funnels．At sea，ships have been nearly sunk by tornadoes dropping water on them．

East of Australia，people talk about a“rain of blood”．This is caused by a tornado picking up red dust and mixing it with water to make red rain．There are even stories abut a rain of fish and frogs caused by a tornado sucking them up and then dropping them．

14．制造红雨的龙卷风

龙卷风能造成很大的破坏，它绕着一团漏斗形的云以极高的速度奔突猛进，风力所及宽可达几百英尺，长可达25英里左右。由于这风沿逆时针方向旋转，漏斗云便呈螺旋状逐渐升高。风力把水、污物和其他物体吸进来，挟持着一起往前。然后可能在好多英里之外再把它们扔下来。房屋和巨树被卷进龙卷风的漏斗之中；在海上，被龙卷风卷得铺天盖地的水几乎使船只沉没。

在澳大利亚的东部，人们谈论着一种“红雨”，这种红雨就是由龙卷风挟持了红色尘土并将其与水相混而造成的。甚至有传说讲龙卷风把鱼和青蛙吸到空中，又把它们扔下来，形成鱼蛙雨。