一瞥救三命

山東 王百全

帕姆開會時朝窗外瞥了一眼，正是這無意的一瞥，讓她注意到海面上正在發生的一幕……

主題語境：救援 篇幅：355詞 建議用時：6分鐘

When a commercial fishing boat made its way into the rough seas off the Massachusetts coast, everything was business as usual. But that quickly changed when the boat started to lean too much on one side. With little time to react, the three fishermen on board suddenly found themselves thrown into the cold water.

“Normally, boats will lean to one side when you're hauling back, and this boat just kept leaning,” Joe Roderick, one of the fishermen, said. Since they didn't have time to send out a Mayday call or even to put on lifejackets, the three men were left using debris(碎片) as floating devices as they waited and hoped to be rescued. In the meantime, they made small talk to keep each other alert.

“I was thinking about my children,” Joe said. “In my imagination, I was never going to make it home. It was ice-cold water around. It was terrifying.”

Meanwhile, in a third-floor home office 30 miles south of Boston, a woman named Pam was on a meeting for work. She just so happened to glance out one of her windows that gives her a surprisingly clear view of the sea that's about a mile away. But instead of returning her attention back to the meeting, a boat that appeared to be taking on water caught her eye. Within seconds, the boat seemingly disappeared.

“I just really started kind of panicking on the inside,” Pam said. “So I just excused myself from my work call and then called 911.”

Pam expected that help was already on its way but decided to call to be safe, something that quite literally saved the fishermen's lives.

Not only was she the first to call first responders, but she was also the only one who ended up doing so, and she did it just in time.

After almost an hour of waiting in the water, the three men were finally rescued, and rushed to the hospital.

Rescuers have since praised Pam for her quick thinking, emphasizing that there's no telling how differently things would have turned out if she hadn't reacted properly at just the right time.

Reading Check

1. What were the three fishermen doing while waiting for help?

A. Sending out calls.

B. Making a conversation.

C. Floating in lifejackets.

D. Swimming in the cold water.

2. How did Joe feel about the accident in the beginning?

A. He was calm.

B. He regretted fishing.

C. He thought it hopeless.

D. He seemed certain about his future.

3. What did Pam do first after seeing the accident?

A. She called 911.

B. She rushed to the boat.

C. She called the hospital.

D. She focused on the meeting.

4. Which of the following words can best describe Pam?

A. Independent. B. Courageous.

C. Generous. D. Quick-minded.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Since they didn't have time to send out a Mayday call or even to put on lifejackets,the three men were left using debris as floating devices as they waited and hoped to be rescued. 由于他們沒有時間發出求救信號，甚至沒有時間穿上救生衣，這三名男子在等待并希望獲救時，只能使用漁船碎片作為漂浮設備。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，since引導原因狀語從句，to send out a Mayday call是不定式短語作定語，修飾前面的名詞time；as引導時間狀語從句。

Ⅱ. Text-centered chunks

as usual 像往常一樣；照例

haul back 拉回

send out 分發；散發；發出

in the meantime 在此期間；與此同時

make it 準時到達；獲得成功

happen to 碰巧

glance out 向外瞥了一眼

instead of 而不是；代替；作為……的替換

end up doing 以做……而告終

turn out （以某種方式）發生；最后是；結果是