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Views #175 | Low Intermediate 4

Hurricane Andrew

Alexandra talks about a bad hurricane that hit her city of Miami.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Alex	Todd

Todd: So, Alexandra you were talking about a hurricane. What hurricane were you talking about?

Alex: I was talking about Hurricane Andrew, and as I said before, it was a category 5 hurricane. I was not in the city when it came through, however I did come back about 24 hours later and the difference in the city was amazing.

I was driving down in the morning and it was before sunrise. There was no lights south of maybe Brower county, which is the next county north of Miami. It was dark. Normally when you travel on a highway, there's lights on either side. There's lights of the city,the buildings, the waterways. Everythings lit. It's very strange to drive down a city with the only lights being from your car and as I was getting closer to where I lived, there was no lights.

You had to be careful. There were things in the street. We even had friends who kept driving past the street where they lived but didn't recognize it because everything had changed. There was ... all the markers, the trees, buildings, had completely either been demolished, or just weren't there anymore. So I had one friend pass his street 3 times before he realized it was his street, so yeah, a lot of destruction, a lot of people were in shock.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

came through

I was not in the city when the hurricane came through.

In this example "came through" can be replaced with "passed through" or "passed from one side of the town to the other." Notice the following:

She came through the office this morning on her way to a meeting.
I have never come through the city from this direction before.

recognize

Didn't recognize the street because everything had changed.

To 'recognize' a place or a person it is to identify it from memory or an image that you have seen. Notice the following:

Do you recognize where we are?
Wow! You look great! I didn't even recognize you with your new haircut.

marker

All the markers, the trees, buildings had been demolished.

An announcement or a sign is a 'marker' or an indicator of a place to go. Notice the following:

There is a marker next to the building.
They put up markers to lead people to the new location.

realize

Before he realized it was his street.

To 'realize' something is to comprehend or recognize it. Notice the following:

Do you realize what you are doing?
I didn't realize that I had gone the wrong way until I had driven for thirty minutes.

in shock

A lot of people were in shock.

If you are 'in shock' about something you are really surprised and sometimes unable to act because you are surprised. You can be in shock over good or bad events. Notice the following: