Ihadlookedforwardtothisdayforalongtime．FinallyIKirstySturartwouldstandonthetopofMontBlancthehighestmountaininEurope．AlthoughIclimbedofteninmynativeScotlandthiswasmyfirsttriptotheAlps．Mycompanions—JeanPierreBartonMauriceGautierandMarySargent—andIleftourcampearlyandplannedtoreachthetopbylatemorning．
Aswenearedthetoplargecloudsgatheredanditbegantosnow．Wefoundshelteranddecidedtowaitforthesnowtostop．Afterthreehourshoweverwedecidedtogobackandtryagainthenextday．Westarteddownthemountaininthethicksnow．Jean-Pierreforgothissunglassesandwentbacktolookforthem．Ashewasreturningtoushestartedtofall．
Hisfallstartedanavalanche（雪崩）anditwasfallingtowardsus!Iwassweptawaybytheheavysnow.Jean-Pierrehurrieddowntome．“AreyouOK?”heasked．
“IthinkIbrokemyleg”Ianswered．
“I’dbetterradioforhelp!”hesaid．“Wherearetheothers?”Wecouldn’tseeMauriceorMaryanywhere．
Jean-Pierrecalledtheemergencyradionumberandthepolicesaidtheywouldsendhelprightaway．Itseemedlikehoursbutonlyminuteslaterweheardthewelcomesoundofahelicopter．Thehelicoptercouldn’tlandonthemountainsidesotheyloweredtwomentwodogsandastretcher（担架）．OnemanrantomebutItoldhimtosearchfortheothers．Thedogsweretrainedforavalancherescueandsoonbegantodigcrazilyinthesnow．
BernardotheleaddogfoundMary’sscarfandledtherescuerstoher．Mauricewasnearby．Themengaveushotdrinksandwarmblanketsandthenpreparedtoliftusintothehelicopter．Twomeninsidethehelicopterpulledusupwiththeropes．Iwentfirstonthestretcher．
OnceweweresafelyinsidethehelicopterflewtothehospitalinChamonix．Ourpoorrescuersandtheirdogshadtoclimballthewaybackdownthemountain．Laterwewouldfindthesebravemenandthankthemforsavingourlives．
1.Whatpreventedtheclimbersfromreachingthetop?
A．Theterribleweather．
B．Thelossofthesunglasses．
C．Theinjuryoftheteammembers．
D．Theunexpectedheightofthemountain．
2.Howdidthewriterbreakhisleg?
A．Theroadwascoveredwithsnow．
B．Hiscompanionknockedintohim．
