Chapter 1

I SURVIVED THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT ST. HELENS, 1980

我在圣火山喷发中幸存了下来。 海伦斯火山,1980

CHAPTER 1 SUNDAY, MAY 18, 1980 8:32 A.M. MOUNT ST. HELENS, WASHINGTON STATE For more than 100 years, Mount St. Helens had been quiet, a beautiful mountain surrounded by forests. Hikers climbed its winding trails. Skiers raced down its snowy slopes. Children splashed in its crystal clear lakes.

第一章1980年5月18日星期日上午8:32 圣海伦斯山，华盛顿州100多年来，圣海伦斯山 海伦山一直很安静，是一座被森林环绕的美丽的山。 徒步旅行者爬上蜿蜒的小径。 滑雪者从雪坡上滑下。 孩子们在清澈的湖中戏水。

Except this peaceful mountain was not a mountain. It was a dangerous volcano, a deadly cone filled with molten rock and poisonous gases. And soon it would explode with the power of ten million tons of dynamite. In the minutes before the eruption, eleven-year-old Jessie Marlowe and her best friends Eddie and Sam were in a forest near St. Helens. The day was warm and bright, the sky brilliant blue. St. Helens rose up over them, its perfect triangle peak sparkling with snow. And then, Kaboom! Suddenly, Jess was in the middle of the deadliest volcanic eruption in American history. She watched in horror as the sky turned pitch-black. A blizzard of ash poured down, swirling up her nose and making it almost impossible to breathe. Hot rocks pelted her like bullets shooting down from the sky.

只是这座宁静的山并不是一座山。 这是一座危险的火山，一个充满熔岩和有毒气体的致命火山锥。 很快它就会爆炸，威力相当于一千万吨炸药。 在火山喷发前的几分钟，11岁的杰西·马洛和她最好的朋友埃迪和萨姆在圣克鲁斯附近的森林里。 海伦斯火山。天气温暖而明亮，天空湛蓝。 圣海伦山耸立在他们的头顶上，完美的三角形山峰被雪映得闪闪发光。 然后，砰!突然间，杰西置身于美国历史上最致命的火山爆发之中。 她惊恐地看着天空一片漆黑。 暴风雪般的火山灰倾泻而下，在她的鼻子上盘旋，使她几乎无法呼吸。 滚烫的石头像从天上射下来的子弹一样砸向她。

Then, whoosh, a blast of wind exploded out of the mountain, a white-hot mix of ash and gas and shards of rock. It raced down the mountain at jet speeds, burning everything in its path. The heat hit Jess and the boys, knocking them down. Jess felt as though she would burst into flames. Every breath was like inhaling fire. But the terror was just beginning. The eruption had shattered the mountain, and now a fifty-mile-wide avalanche of rock and mud and melted ice was taking aim at the valley below. It grew larger by the second. It snatched up trees and boulders. It tore away bridges and swept away houses. It would destroy everything — and everyone — in its path.

然后，嗖的一声，一股风从山上吹了出来，一股白热的火山灰、气体和岩石碎片的混合物。 它以喷气机的速度从山上冲下来，烧毁了沿途的一切。 热浪袭击了杰西和男孩们，把他们打倒在地。 杰西觉得自己好像要燃烧起来了。 每一次呼吸都像吸入了火。 但恐怖才刚刚开始。 火山爆发震碎了这座山，现在一场由岩石、泥浆和融化的冰组成的50英里宽的雪崩正瞄准下面的山谷。 它一秒钟就变大了。 它抓住了树木和巨石。 它摧毁了桥梁，冲走了房屋。 它会摧毁所到之处的一切——以及所有人。