第二節(jié)（共5小題；每小題2分，共10分）
根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，從短文后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。選項中有兩項為多余選項。
We had been living our valley for sixteen months when we first realized the dangers that could exist. It was the year when the storms came early, before the calendar even hinted at winter, even before November was out.
71 Soon snow began to fall. Within a day it lay some 15 centimeters deep. It almost completely blocked our lane and made the streamside path slippery and dangerous. But on the neighboring heights the snow was much deeper and stayed for longer. Up there the wind blasted fiercely. Deeply in our valley we felt only sudden gusts of wind: trees swayed but the branches held firm.
And yet we knew that there was reason for us to worry. The snow and wind were certainly inconvenient but they did not really trouble us greatly.
72 It reminded us of what could have occurred if circumstances had been different, if the flow of water from the hills had not, many years before, been controlled, held back by a series of dams.
73 Day after day, we watched furious clouds pile up high over the hills to the west. Sinister grey clouds extended over the valleys. They twisted and turned, rising eastwards and upwards, warning of what was to come. We had seen enough of the sky; now we began to watch the river, which every day was becoming fuller and wilder.
The river seemed maddened as the waters poured almost horizontally down to its lower stretches.
74 It was far deeper than we’d ever seen it so near our home, lunging furiously at its banks. For three days we prayed that it would stay below its wall.
75 | A．It was the river, the Ryburn, which normally flowed so gently, that threatened us most. |
| B．The great power of all this water prevents us from believing ourselves to be completely safe in our home. |
| C．In a short time the snow started to melt. |
| D．Just a couple of meters from our cottage, the stream seemed wild beneath the bridge. |
E．Our prayer were answered as the dam held and the waters began to subside.
F．They grew so strong that we couldn’t control it.
G．Until then, we had felt safe and sheltered in our valley.
