The Dragon Rock 1

　　Nothing happened.

　　A dry wind lazily picked up some flower heads and swirled1 them around. The air was thick with pollen2 and perfume. A stony3 grey nostril4（鼻孔） twitched5.

　　"I saw something," cried the youngest boy. They stared intently. An ear swiveled like a periscope6. The ground began to rumble7. "Look out! Run!Run!"

　　The children scampered8 in all directions, shrieking9 and squealing10, arms pumping with excitement.

　　The rumbling11 grew and grew.

　　The Dragon raised its sleepy head. It got onto its front feet and sat like a dog. It stood up and stretched, arching its long scaly12 back like a sleek13 tabby cat. It blinked and looked around with big kind, long lashed14 eyes.

　　And then its nostrils15 twitched and quivered again.

　　The older folk were alerted by the screams and shrieks16. The ladies held up their long skirts to run and the men rolled their sleeves up and soon the whole town stood together in a tight huddle17 at the foot of the hill, staring up at the large beast with mouths held open.

　　"AHHHHH AAHHHHHHHHH!!" The noise erupted from the Dragon. "AHHHHH AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

　　The families gripped each other tighter and shut their eyes.

　　"AHHHHH CHOOOOOOOOO!!" The sneeze blasted from the Dragon like a rocket, throwing it back fifty paces, causing a whirlwind of dust and dirt. "AHHHHH CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

　　The second blast split open the dry earth, sending explosions of soil and tree roots high into the sky like missiles, and something else too ...

　　The people heard the sound but couldn't recognize it at first for it had been such a long time since their ears had heard such tinkling18 melody. As their eyes widened in wonder, their smiles turned into grins and then yahoos and hoorahs.

　　Water, cold, clear spring water, oozed19, then trickled20, then roared out of the hole, down the hillside and along the valley floor.

　　The torrent21 knocked over a farmer's haystack, but he didn't care. The river carried away the schoolteacher's bike shed but she cared not a jot22. It even demolished23 the Ladies Bowling24 Club changing rooms but they howled with laughter and slapped their thighs25. When the flood sent pools of water out towards the golf course, filling up sixteen of the nineteen holes, the men just hooted26 and whistled and threw their caps up in the air.