Chapter 1

I SURVIVED THE JAPANESS TSUNAMI, 2011

我在2011年的日本海啸中幸存了下来

CHAPTER 1 MARCH 11, 2011 2:46 P.M. SHOGAHAMA, JAPAN At first, the wave was tiny. It was just a ripple in the huge Pacific Ocean. But it moved quickly, faster than a jet. And as it got closer to Japan's coast, it got bigger. It grew and grew, until it was a monstrous wall of water, dozens of feet high, hundreds of miles long. It destroyed everything in its path. The wave smashed into crowded cities, knocking down buildings, swallowing factories,

第一章2011年3月11日下午2:46 起初，海浪很小。 它只是浩瀚的太平洋上的一个涟漪。 但它移动得很快，比喷气式飞机还快。 随着它越来越靠近日本海岸，它变得越来越大。 它越长越大，最后变成了一堵巨大的水墙，有几十英尺高，几百英里长。 它摧毁了所到之处的一切。 海啸冲进拥挤的城市，摧毁建筑物，吞噬工厂，

chewing up highways and bridges. It washed away beautiful villages, flattening pine forests and turning rice fields into seas of mud and garbage. In quiet fishing towns, boats tumbled like dice into the streets, smashing into shops and homes. Eleven-year-old Ben Kudo saw the wave coming as he stood on a street in the tiny village of Shogahama. At first, it looked to him as if a cloud of smoke was rising up over the ocean. Was it a ship on fire? But then a siren blared. Terrified voices shouted out. Ben didn't speak Japanese. But he understood one word. Tsunami! Seconds later, the huge, foaming black wave crashed into the shore. Ben and his family thought they could race away from the wave in a car. But the water caught them. And suddenly, Ben was all by himself. The wave grabbed Ben and sucked him under. The

吞噬高速公路和桥梁。 它冲走了美丽的村庄，夷平了松林，把稻田变成了泥泞和垃圾的海洋。 在安静的渔村，船只像骰子一样翻滚到街道上，撞毁了商店和房屋。 11岁的工藤本(Ben Kudo)站在小村Shogahama的一条街上，看到了海啸的到来。 起初，在他看来，好像是一团烟雾在海洋上空升起。 是一艘着火的船吗?但这时，警笛响了。 惊恐的声音在喊叫。 本不会说日语。 但他听懂了一个词。 海啸!几秒钟后，巨大的、冒着白沫的黑色波浪冲向岸边。 本和他的家人认为他们可以开车逃离海浪。 但是水抓住了他们。 突然间，本就孤身一人了。 巨浪抓住了本，把他吸了下去。 的

churning water twisted him, tore at him, spun him around like a bird caught in a tornado. Terror screamed through his body. He was drowning! He fought with all his might, but the water wouldn't let him go. It was as though he was in the jaws of a ferocious monster. And there was no escape.

翻腾的水扭曲着他，撕裂着他，像一只被龙卷风困住的鸟一样把他转了一圈。 恐惧在他的身体里尖叫。 他快淹死了!他使出浑身解数，但水不放他走。 就好像他被一个凶猛的怪物咬住了。 这是无法逃避的。