五月十二日的演练
What to do in an earthquake in China
Name: ________________ Date: ________
五月十二日上午，很多中国学校的铃声会突然响起来。老师大声说：“地震了！”学生们马上躲到桌子下面，一只手抓住桌子腿，另一只手保护头。这不是真的地震，是演练。
为什么是这一天？二零零八年五月十二日，四川汶川发生了八级大地震。差不多七万人在地震中失去了生命，还有近两万人失踪。第二年开始，五月十二日成了中国的“防灾减灾日”。每年这一天，学校、公司和小区都会练习，遇到地震应该怎么做。
练习的第一件事，是记住三个动作：伏地、遮挡、抓住。意思是：马上蹲下，不要站着，也不要乱跑；躲到结实的桌子下面，保护好头和脖子；抓住桌子，跟着它一起动，直到地不动了。
地不动了以后呢？这时候才可以离开。走楼梯，不坐电梯，不要推，也不要挤，一直走到人少、四周没有楼的地方，比如操场。
很多人觉得，演练只是做做样子。可是真的地震来的时候，人往往只有几秒可以反应，练过和没练过，差别很大。
如果现在发生地震，你身边哪里最安全？
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 另 | lìng | other; another |
| 保护 | bǎohù | to protect; to safeguard; protection |
| 失去 | shīqù | to lose |
| 生命 | shēngmìng | life |
| 动作 | dòngzuò | movement; action; move; motion |
| 推 | tuī | to recommend (as in 推荐) |
| 操场 | cāochǎng | playground; sports field |
| 样子 | yàngzi | appearance; look |
| 往往 | wángwǎng | often; frequently; usually |
| 秒 | miǎo | second (unit of time or angle) |
| 地震 | dìzhèn | earthquake |
| 躲 | duǒ | to hide |
English (for the teacher)
On the morning of May 12, the bell suddenly rings at many Chinese schools. A teacher shouts, “Earthquake!” The students immediately dive under their desks, one hand gripping a desk leg and the other protecting their head. It isn’t a real earthquake; it’s a drill.
Why this day? On 12 May 2008, a magnitude 8 earthquake struck Wenchuan in Sichuan. Nearly seventy thousand people lost their lives, and nearly twenty thousand went missing. From the next year, May 12 became China’s “Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day”. Every year on this day, schools, companies and residential compounds practise what to do in an earthquake.
The first thing they practise is remembering three moves: drop, cover, hold on. It means: crouch down at once, don’t stay standing and don’t run around; get under a solid desk and protect your head and neck; grip the desk and move with it until the ground stops moving.
And once the ground is still? Only then can you leave. Take the stairs, not the lift, don’t push or shove, and keep walking until you reach an open place with no buildings around, such as the sports ground.
Many people think a drill is just for show. But when a real earthquake comes, people often have only a few seconds to react, and having practised makes a big difference.
If an earthquake happened now, where near you would be safest?