There are many typhoons in Taiwan in summer. They usually
__1__ a lot of damage because many things are destroyed by fierce
wind and heavy rain. Therefore, the government always reminds
people __2___ the importance of prevention. For example, people
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should often clean the gutters __3__ floods. Moreover, houses should
not be built on a mountain slope. They will fall apart very easily
provided it rains too much. When a typhoon __4__ come, people
should prepare some food, water and batteries to stay home for
safety.
For generations, historians and boat lovers have been trying to
learn more about the brave ship that brought the Pilgrims to America.
The task is a difficult one because Mayflower was such a common
name for ships back in early seventeenth-century England that there
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were at least twenty of them when the Pilgrims left for the New World.
An exact duplicate of the Mayflower has been built in England
and given to the people of the US as a symbol of good will and
common ancestry linking Britons and Americans. The Pilgrims’
Mayflower apparently was built originally as a fishing vessel. It seems
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to have been 90 feet long by 22 feet wide, displacing 180 tons of
water. The duplicate measures 90 feet by 26 feet, displaces 183
tons, and has a crew of 21, as did the original vessel. The new
Mayflower has no motor but travels faster than the old boat.
What happened to the historic boat? So far as can be told, the
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Mayflower went back to less colorful jobs and, not too many years
later, was scrapped. What happened to the beams, masts, and
planking is questionable. In the English city of Abingdon, there is a
Congregational church that contains two heavy wooden pillars. Some
say these pillars are masts from the Mayflower. A barn in the English
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town of Jordans seemed to be built with old ship timbers. Marine
experts said these timbers were impregnated with salt and, if put
together, would form a vessel 90 feet by 22 beet. The man who
owned the farm when the peculiar barn was built was a relative of the
man who appraised the Mayflower when it was scrapped.
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So the original Mayflower may still be doing service ashore while
her duplicate sails the seas again.
