和老外聊天的地道口语第132期:见证汶川大地震

M: so far, the quake in Sichuan has killed about 69,172 people and has left 374,159 people injured, 17,420 missing.

L: I feel so sorry for those victims. It's the scariest thing that I have ever seen.

M: did you feel the quake?

L: yes. Actually, I was traveling in Sichuan then.

M: oh,really? I didn't know that. Tell me what it was like.

L: well, it was on a Monday afternoon, a little after two o'clock, and I was reading some magazines when there was horrible grinding sound and the floor started bouncing and shaking.

M: oh, my dear! What did you do?

L: well, it took me a second or two to figure out what was going on. Then I called my colleague. It's unbelievable that she was still asleep and didn't feel a thing.

M: incredible.

L: as she realized what was happening, she panicked.

M: that must have been horrifying.

L: oh, it was. Then I managed to open the door and we finally made our way to safety.

M: oh, thank God. Was anyone hurt?

L: three people were killed and about fifty people were injured.

M: what a tragedy!

L: it was terrible. I hope it will never happen again!

到目前为止,四川汶川地震已造成69172人遇难,374159人受伤,17420人失踪.
真为那些遇难者感到惋惜.这是我所见过的最恐怖的事情.
你当时感受到地震了吗?
感受到了,事实上,我当时就在四川省内.
是吗?我之前没听你说过啊.跟我说说当时怎么回事?
那天是周一,下午两点多一点,我正在看杂志,那时忽然听见剧烈的挤压声,地板开始晃动.
哦,天哪,你当时怎么办的?

我过了一会儿才明白是怎么回事,之后我赶快打电话给我的同事.不可思议的是,她当时还在睡觉,什么都没感觉到.
太不可思议了!
后来明白了怎么回事后,她慌得不知所措.
一定很恐怖吧!
是啊.随后我用力打开门,我们拼命跑到了一个安全的地方.
哦,谢天谢地!有人受伤吗?
死了三个人,受伤的大约有50个人.
太惨了! 是很可怕,真希望不要再发生这种事了!

Then I managed to open the door and we finally made our way to safety. 随后我用力打开门,我们拼命跑到了一个安全的地方.

在英语中,'make your way to/towards sth'就是去,前往,前进的意思.

Would passengers please make their way to gate 15 for the flight to Paris. 乘坐去巴黎航班的乘客请前往15号登机口.

Don't worry, we can make our own way to the airport. 别担心,我们可以自己去机场.

对话中"made our way to safety"就是跑到安全地方的意思.

y: frightening 恐怖的;吓人的 adjective informal

It was a really scary moment. 那一刻真是吓人.
a scary movie 恐怖电影

c: to suddenly feel frightened so that you cannot think clearly and you say or do something stupid, dangerous, etc.; to make somebody do this (使)惊慌,惊慌失措

I panicked when I saw smoke coming out of the engine. 我看见发动机冒烟时,吓得手足无措.
The gunfire panicked the horses. 枪声惊吓到马匹.

ifying: making you feel extremely shocked, disgusted or frightened 令人极其震惊的(或厌恶的、恐惧的)

a horrifying sight/experience/story 恐怖的景象╱经历╱故事
It's horrifying to see such poverty. 看到这种贫困状况令人震惊.