SYDNEY 2005-01-01 08:33—Mother of two, Jillian Searle, had to choose between her children when she made a life-or-death decision.
Swept up by mountainous tsunami (海啸) waves at a Thai resort ( 旅游胜地), she could not hold on to both her young sons and survive . Fighting to stay above the waters , she had to choose which one would have to take his chances in the swirling torrent (漩流).
“I knew I had to let go of one of them and I just thought I’d better let go of the one that’s the older,” she told Sky News television in a report broadcast on Thursday. She said she was accompanied by the two boys, Lachie, 5, and two-year-old Blake, and their father, Brad, who had watched the drama helplessly from their first-floor hotel room, when the waves struck. “And I was screaming, trying to find him, and we thought he was dead,” she told reporters on arrival back in Australia. Lachie was found alive about 2 hours later clinging to a door and, looked uninjured as his mother spoke to reporters.
British surfer (冲浪运动员) Martin Markwell is also a lucky man. He had always dreamed of catching that perfect wave –but when it finally came along, it was a nightmare. He was on his surfboard when he was swept up by a tsunami wave.
“It was really terrible because I was surfing, I was really surfing on a wave I wasn’t supposed to be on,” he said. “As an experienced surfer, when I saw the wave come I realized something was wrong, but I couldn’t escape because my surfboard was tied to my ankle.”
His wife Vicki and son Jake looked on in horror from a hotel balcony as he crashed towards the shore. Luckily , he stayed on top of his board until he reached the hotel , jumped off and got to safety as the ocean rolled back to feed a much larger tsunami wave on its way . The family regrouped and ran to safety just minutes before a giant tsunami wave 10 meters high.
When the waves struck, the father Brad .
A.reported the disaster to Sky News television |
B.was watching a drama play on TV in the hotel |
C.tried to find his son lost in the waters |
D.watched things going on , unable to do anything |
The underlined word “him” refers to .
A.an old man | B.Lachie | C.Brad | D.Blake |
Which of the following is wrong ?
A.Lachie and Martin were both with their family members when the disaster happened. |
B.Lachie and Martin both survived from the high waves when tsunami struck. |
C.Lachie and Martin were both travelers from Europe on holiday in Thailand. |
D.Lachie and Martin were both alive owing to their good luck. |
The best title of this news story would be .
A.Narrow Escape | B.Disaster Caused by Tsunami |
C.Exciting Surfing Experience | D.Struggle Against Tsunami |