Chapter 1

I SURVIVED THE DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII, AD 79

我在公元79年的庞贝大毁灭中幸存下来

CHAPTER 1 AUGUST 24, AD 79 1:00 P.M. THE CITY OF POMPEII THE ROMAN EMPIRE Within hours, thousands of people would be dead. The entire city of Pompeii would vanish under more than thirty feet of fiery ash and stone. But first, it was a bright, sunny summer day. Shops bustled. Kids played ball in a grassy field. Gladiators readied for a bloody match. Nobody yet knew that the mountain Vesuvius, which loomed over the city, was actually a deadly volcano. The mountain had been silent for

第一章公元79年8月24日下午1时 罗马帝国庞贝城数小时内，成千上万的人将会死亡。 整个庞贝城将消失在三十多英尺的炽热灰烬和石头之下。 但首先，这是一个阳光明媚的夏日。 商店热热闹闹。孩子们在草地上打球。 角斗士们准备进行一场血腥的比赛。 当时还没有人知道笼罩在城市上空的维苏威火山实际上是一座致命的火山。 这座山已经沉寂了很久

centuries, a giant green triangle covered with farms and meadows and forests. It was impossible to imagine what lurked under the ground — rivers of boiling magma, swirls of poisonous gases. Any moment, the mountain would erupt with devastating fury. Eleven-year-old Marcus was with his father, Tata. They shouldn't have been anywhere near Pompeii. They were escaped slaves, running for their lives from evil men. But then: BOOM! BOOM! With two shattering explosions, Vesuvius erupted. Thousands of pairs of eyes turned toward the mountain, staring in shock and terror. Black, billowing smoke and ash gushed out of the mountain's gaping mouth. Vesuvius roared like a furious beast, breathing smoke and flames into the sky. And then came an even bigger cloud, shooting out billions of hot, jagged rocks that rained down on Pompeii, filling fountains,

几个世纪以来，一个巨大的绿色三角形覆盖着农场，草地和森林。 无法想象地下潜藏着什么——沸腾的岩浆河流，有毒气体的漩涡。 这座山随时都可能爆发出毁灭性的怒火。 11岁的马库斯和他的父亲塔塔在一起。 他们不应该出现在庞贝附近。 他们是逃出来的奴隶，从坏人那里逃命。 但是接着:砰!繁荣!随着两次剧烈的爆炸，维苏威火山爆发了。 成千双眼睛转向大山，惊恐地凝视着。 滚滚的黑烟和灰烬从山口喷涌而出。 维苏威火山像一头狂怒的野兽一样咆哮着，向天空喷出烟雾和火焰。 然后是更大的云，喷射出数十亿热的，锯齿状的岩石像雨点一样落在庞贝，填满了喷泉，

crushing roofs, and pounding down on people as they tried to flee, screaming in panic. "The gods are punishing us!" "The world is ending!" Marcus and Tata knew they had to escape. Any minute a flaming wave of ash and gases would rush down the mountain, burning everything in its path. But there were too many people in the streets, too many rocks falling from the sky. It was hard to breathe, almost impossible to see. And then there was the strange whooshing sound that came from above. "Look out!" Tata shouted. Marcus looked up just in time to see a massive flaming boulder falling from the sky, a chunk of fiery rock from deep inside the mountain. It was heading right for them.

压垮屋顶，砸向试图逃跑的人们，人们惊恐地尖叫。 “诸神在惩罚我们!”“世界末日了!”马库斯和塔塔知道他们必须逃跑。 一股燃烧的火山灰和气体随时会从山上冲下来，烧毁沿途的一切。 但是街上的人太多了，天上掉下来的石头太多了。 呼吸困难，几乎看不见东西。 然后从上面传来了奇怪的嗖嗖声。 “当心!”塔塔喊道。马库斯抬头一看，正好看到一块巨大的火石从天上掉下来，那是一块从山的深处掉下来的火石。 它正朝他们飞来。