4 The Flood

4 THE FLOOD The giant waves slammed over the pier. They completely destroyed the bathhouses. Their broken wooden planks crashed into the sea. The people on the beach screamed. They tried to flee from the incoming waves. Jack and Annie ran with the crowd of people across the Strand to the boardwalk. The surging waves rolled after them. Seawater swept over the beach and across the Strand. It covered the boardwalk and flooded the shops. Jack and Annie began wading with the crowd up 25th Street. The water was knee- deep and rising fast.

巨浪猛击着码头。 他们彻底摧毁了澡堂。 他们的碎木板撞进了海里。 海滩上的人们尖叫起来。 他们试图逃离来袭的海浪。 杰克和安妮跟着人群跑过河岸，来到木板路。 汹涌的海浪在他们后面翻滚。 海水席卷了海滩和斯特兰德。 洪水淹没了木板路，淹没了商店。 杰克和安妮开始和人群一起涉水走上25街。 水没膝深，涨得很快。

People rushed out of flooded stores and houses. They carried pets, children, and suitcases. They joined the others heading toward higher ground. Jack saw a toddler slip from a man's shoulders into the churning seawater. Jack grabbed the boy and pulled him out of the water. "Thank you!" the boy's father cried. "Are you alone? Do you need help?" "No thanks!" shouted Jack. "Buddy! Bailey!" a girl screamed. Her two small dogs had slipped out of a basket.

人们从被洪水淹没的商店和房屋中冲出来。 他们带着宠物、孩子和行李箱。 他们和其他人一起朝高地走去。 杰克看到一个蹒跚学步的孩子从一个男人的肩膀上滑进了翻腾的海水里。 杰克抓住那个男孩，把他从水里拉了出来。 “谢谢你！”男孩的父亲喊道。 “你一个人吗？”你需要帮助吗？”“不，谢谢！”杰克喊道。 “朋友!贝利！”一个女孩尖叫道。 她的两只小狗从篮子里溜了出来。

Jack and Annie scooped up the dogs before the water could sweep them away. They carried them back to the girl. "Thank you!" she cried as they handed her the trembling dogs. "Help!" someone yelled. An old man was clinging to a lamppost, fighting the wind. Jack and Annie each put an arm around him. He pointed to a young woman, and Jack and Annie helped him wade through the water to her. "Thank you!" the woman yelled. "Do you need help?" "We're fine!" said Annie. Jack and Annie forged on through the wind, rain, and rising seawater, helping anyone they could. Roof shingles and tiles flew off houses. Shutters flew off windows. A fierce gust of wind knocked Jack and Annie over. They fell into the floodwater. They struggled to get back on their feet. They fell again. They got up again.

杰克和安妮在水把狗冲走之前把它们捞了起来。 他们把它们带回给女孩。 “谢谢你！”当他们把颤抖的狗递给她时，她喊道。 “救命！”有人喊道。一位老人紧紧抓住灯柱，与风搏斗。 杰克和安妮各自搂着他。 他指了指一个年轻女子，杰克和安妮帮他涉水走到她身边。 “谢谢你！”女人喊道。 “你需要帮助吗？”“我们很好！”安妮说。 杰克和安妮顶着风雨，顶着上升的海水，尽力帮助每一个人。 屋顶的瓦片和瓦片从房屋上飞了下来。 百叶窗从窗户上飞下来。 一阵狂风把杰克和安妮吹翻了。 他们掉进了洪水里。 他们挣扎着重新站起来。 他们又跌倒了。他们又站了起来。

They used all their strength to keep moving. The street was like a river now. The seawater was above their waists—and still rising! "Avenue L!" shouted Jack, pointing at a sign. "That's where the tree house is! It's a safe place to be for now." "Okay!" said Annie. "We can climb up and figure out how to be more helpful." As others kept moving up 25th Street, Jack and Annie turned onto Avenue L. The avenue was flooded now, too. They pushed past barrels, boards, and branches. Wreckage floated everywhere. "There's the fence!" said Annie. The top of the iron fence barely showed above the floodwater. The blue house was still standing. The tree house was still in the oak tree. Jack and Annie hauled themselves over the iron fence and swam toward the oak. They grabbed low branches and clung to

他们用尽全力继续前进。 这条街现在就像一条河。 海水已经超过了他们的腰，而且还在上升！“L大道！”杰克指着一个标志喊道。 “那就是树屋！”现在这里是一个安全的地方。” “好吧！”安妮说。“我们可以爬上去，想办法如何更有帮助。” 当其他人继续沿着25街前进时，杰克和安妮转向了L大道。 这条大街现在也被水淹了。 他们挤过木桶、木板和树枝。 残骸到处漂浮。 “那是栅栏！”安妮说。 铁栅栏的顶部几乎没有露出洪水。 蓝色的房子还在。 树屋还在橡树上。 杰克和安妮奋力越过铁栅栏，向那棵橡树游去。 他们抓住低矮的树枝，紧紧抓住不放

them. Jack looked around. The rope ladder was missing! "It's up there!" said Annie. The wind had blown the ladder over a branch. It was much too high to reach. As Jack and Annie clung to the tree, lightning flashed in the sky. Thunder boomed. More wreckage floated past—shingles, shutters, and fence posts. A big wooden door crashed into the tree trunk, barely missing Jack and Annie. "We've got to get away from here!" yelled Jack. "Before we get hit by lightning! Or something crushes us!" "Look! Someone's waving!" cried Annie. "From the porch of the blue house!" A tall, thin woman was calling to them from her dry porch. The woman held up a coil of rope. She beckoned to Jack and Annie and shouted. Jack couldn't understand her words.

他们。杰克环顾四周。绳梯不见了！“它在上面！”安妮说。 风把梯子吹到树枝上了。 它太高了，够不着。 当杰克和安妮紧紧抓住那棵树时，天空中闪过一道闪电。 雷声蓬勃发展。更多的残骸漂过——瓦片、百叶窗和栅栏柱。 一扇大木门撞在树干上，差点砸中杰克和安妮。 “我们得离开这里！”杰克喊道。 “在我们被闪电击中之前！”或者有什么东西把我们压垮了！”“看!有人在招手！”安妮叫道。 “从蓝房子的门廊上！”一个又高又瘦的女人正从干燥的门廊上招呼他们。 那女人举起一卷绳子。 她向杰克和安妮招手，大声喊道。 杰克听不懂她说的话。

"She wants to help us!" said Annie. She waved back at the woman. The woman threw the rope out to them. The end floated on the water near the oak tree. Annie plunged into the floodwaters. Jack followed. They both grabbed the rope. The water was up to their necks! They held the rope tightly to keep from being swept away by the current. The woman on the porch pulled them toward the house. Hanging on to the rope, Jack and Annie slowly plowed through the water.

“她想帮助我们！”安妮说。 她朝那个女人挥了挥手。 那个女人把绳子扔给他们。 那头浮在橡树附近的水面上。 安妮一头扎进了洪水。 杰克跟着。他们俩都抓住了绳子。 水没过他们的脖子！他们紧紧抓住绳子以免被水流冲走。 门廊上的女人把他们拉向房子。 杰克和安妮紧紧抓住绳子，慢慢地在水里划过去。