Pupils’lives spared during Falmont earthquake
弗尔蒙特地震中师生幸免于难
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FALMONT—On 17 March, 476 students and 36 teachers at Falmont Primary School escaped an earthquake that hit the county at 2:27 p.m. Only 5 students suffered slight injuries, despite the current figures of 7 killed and over 200 injured in the disaster area at large.
法尔蒙特 ——3 月 17 日下午 2 点 27 分，当强震袭击该县时，法尔蒙特小学 476 名学生和 36 名教师全员安全撤离。尽管目前灾区整体伤亡数字显示有 7 人遇难、200 余人受伤，该校仅有 5 名学生受轻伤。
Alice Brown, head teacher at Falmont Primary School, was teaching when the floor began to shake. Her students’ reaction was quick and correct—they moved under their desks, head first, and held on to the legs of the desks. At the same time, Miss Brown quickly opened the classroom door, in case it became damaged during the shaking and could not open. There were loud crashes of glass breaking and things falling to the ground, but the students remained still and waited calmly and quietly.
法尔蒙特小学的校长爱丽丝・布朗正在上课时，地板突然开始摇晃。她的学生们反应迅速且正确 —— 他们立即钻到课桌下方，头部朝内，并紧紧抓住桌腿。与此同时，布朗老师迅速打开了教室门，以防门框在震动中变形导致无法开启。玻璃碎裂的巨响和物品坠地的声音此起彼伏，但全体学生始终保持着镇定，安静而沉着地等待险情过去。
The moment the shaking stopped, Miss Brown sensed it was the best time for the class to make their escape. She signalled to her students to exit the classroom in an orderly line covering their heads with their hands. Within one minute and twenty seconds, the whole class went down the stairs and rushed to the playground. Soon students from other classes arrived too. After a roll call confirmed that all were safe and sound, they relaxed, laughing, crying and hugging each other.
震动刚停，布朗老师便意识到这是全班撤离的最佳时机。她示意学生们用手护住头部，排成有序队伍离开教室。一分二十秒内，整个班级已全部下楼冲向操场。很快其他班级的学生也陆续抵达。点名确认全员平安无事后，大家才放松下来，或笑或泣，相互拥抱。
“We practise earthquake safety procedures twice a year,” said Miss Brown, “so the kids were calm enough to protect themselves during the earthquake.”
“我们每年都会进行两次地震安全演练，” 布朗女士说，“所以孩子们在地震发生时能够保持冷静，保护好自己。”
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Girl saves 100 fromtsunami
女孩拯救百人于海啸中
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NEWDALE—On 20 December, a series of huge waves caused by an undersea earthquake raced across the ocean near Goldshore and left thousands dead. Goldshore Beach was the only local beach to survive the disaster without any loss of life. A 10 – year – old girl, Sabrina Andron, helped around 100 people escape danger with her knowledge of tsunamis.
NEWDALE——12 月 20 日，一场海底地震引发的巨浪席卷了 Goldshore 附近的洋面，导致数千人丧生。Goldshore 海滩是当地唯一在此次灾难中无人伤亡的海滩。一名 10 岁的小女孩萨布丽娜・安德龙（Sabrina Andron）凭借她对海啸的了解，帮助约 100 人逃离险境。
The day began like any other on Goldshore Beach. People were walking, running or simply sitting on the sandy beach, enjoying the warm sea air and the soft wind that brushed their hair. Sabrina was one of the happy tourists until she noticed something odd. “The water was like the bubbles on the top of a beer,” she later explained. “It wasn’t calm and it wasn’t going in and then out. It was just coming in and in and in.” Sabrina had just learnt about tsunamis in a Geography lesson. It immediately occurred to her that these were signs of an approaching tsunami.
黄金海岸沙滩上的一天起初与往常并无二致。人们或漫步、或奔跑，亦或只是坐在细软的沙滩上，享受着温暖的海风和轻拂发丝的柔风。萨布丽娜原本也是这群快乐游客中的一员，直到她察觉到了异样。”海水就像啤酒顶层的泡沫，” 她事后这样描述道，”既不平静，也没有涨落，只是一浪接一浪地涌上来。” 刚在地理课上学过海啸知识的萨布丽娜立刻意识到 —— 这是海啸来袭的前兆。
Sabrina was frightened, but she soon kept her head. She warned her parents of the danger, though at first they just thought she was joking. However, Sabrina was certain that a terrible disaster was on its way and kept asking her parents to talk to a safety officer. To her great relief, the officer immediately realized the coming danger. The beach was rapidly cleared of people, just before the huge waves crashed into the coast.
萨布丽娜起初很害怕，但很快便冷静下来。她向父母警告了危险，尽管起初他们以为她在开玩笑。然而，萨布丽娜确信一场可怕的灾难即将来临，不断恳求父母联系安全官员。令她深感宽慰的是，官员立即意识到了即将到来的危险。就在巨浪冲击海岸前，海滩上的人群被迅速疏散。