 | ■ International
A parent's choice
父母的抉擇
Parents face tough decisions when tornadoes bear down
龍捲風來襲，父母難作決定 |
| With an ominous storm approaching, the Moore Public School District in the U.S. state of Oklahoma flashed a text alert to parents: "We are currently holding all students until the current storm danger is over. Students are being released to parents only at this time." Parents had a gut-wrenching choice, and only a few minutes to make it. Trust the safety of the seemingly solid school buildings. Or drive ahead of a massive tornado and attempt to take their children safely home | 猛烈的暴風雨來臨前，美國奧克拉荷馬州摩爾公立學校校區匆忙傳了簡訊給家長，上面寫說：「我們目前把所有學生留在學校裡，直至危險過去為止。而那是唯一可以放學生回家的時候。」父母要作成讓肝腸打結的痛苦決定，而且只有幾分鐘時間考慮。要嘛信任看來還頗牢靠的學校大樓，要嘛就趕在強烈的龍捲風前頭，試著看看能否把兒女安全接回家。 |
| "Something clicked in my head and said that my children would be safer with me," said Amy Sharp, who jumped in her pickup, peeled off through pounding rain and hail, and pulled her 10- and 12-year-old daughters out Plaza Towers Elementary School. Sharp survived with her children, but seven of the many remaining students died when the twister ripped down the school's roof and walls. | 艾美夏普說：「那時我腦海裡有一種奇怪的感覺，好像告訴我兒女和我在一起會比較安全。」夏普馬上跳上她的小貨卡，冒著滂沱的大雨和雹趕往廣場塔小學接回她兩個分別是十歲和十二歲的女兒。夏普和她的兒女都幸運生還。但在龍捲風衝破學校屋頂和外牆的時候，當時仍然留在學校的許多學生中，卻有七人不幸喪生。 |
| Exactly how do desperate parents like those in the path of the powerful Oklahoma tornado know when it's best to leave their children in a presumably safe place or race into the face of danger? | 急得如熱鍋上的螞蟻的父母，像那些在奧克拉荷馬州強烈龍捲風來襲時處在龍捲風行經方向的家長，哪裡會知道什麼時候最好把兒女留在一個想當然安全的地方，或者什麼時候最好朝著危險直奔？ |
| "The options aren't very good in a tornado if you're thinking about going to rescue your children," said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the U.S. National School Safety Center. "Which way is the wind going to twist? What's it going to pick up? Until someone becomes all-knowing and all-perceiving, it is tough to expect 100-percent perfection from schools and parents," he said. | 美國國家學校安全中心主任朗納德史提芬斯說：「在龍捲風來襲時，假如你一心想著要救你兒女出險，選項都不會太好。風會朝哪一個方向捲呢？它會捲起什麼？在有人成為全知全覺的人之前，很難要求學校和家長做到盡善盡美。」 |
| The Oklahoma tornado provides a good example of the unpredictable death toll that disasters can inflict. Before it flattened Plaza Towers Elementary, the tornado also tore through Briarwood Elementary and — though the roof collapsed — everyone at Briarwood survived. Both schools lacked tornado safe rooms. | 這次奧克拉荷馬州遭到龍捲風重創，是災難的殺傷力難以預知的一個例子。龍捲風夷平廣場塔小學之前，也重創了布里亞伍特小學，這家學校屋頂也塌下來了，但是每一個人都安然生還。兩家學校都沒有供躲避 龍捲風之用的安全室。 |
| Stephens, a former school administrator, said the biggest challenge for parents who are racing the clock in a disaster is holding their emotions in check. "You're not going to be any good to your child if you take such great risk that you lose your life while attempting to save them when there are others who are onsite who hopefully will also use good judgment," Stephens said. Simply showing up isn't enough. "You need to have an entrance plan, but also an exit plan. Can you make it out safety?" he asked rhetorically. | 當過學校行政主管的史芬斯說，對為人父母的人來說，最大的挑戰就是發生災難，跟時間賽跑時，要把自己的情緒控制住。他說：「假如有人在場，有望能夠作適當判斷，而你冒險去救他們的結果是自己死掉，那你對孩子一點好處都沒有。」光是現身是不夠的。他略帶咬文嚼字的意味問：「你需要有一個進場方案，也得有個退場方案。你能安然逃出生天嗎？」 |
| Moore School District officials choose not to dismiss students early. But that, too, is a tough call. How could officials have predicted whether students were safer inside or outside the school's walls? When it comes to unpredictable and exceptionally powerful forces of nature, there are no easy answers, for officials or parents. | 摩爾公立學校校區寧可不提早放學，但那是一個艱難的決定。他們如何能夠預知學校牆裡牆外那個地方比較安全呢？假如問題是大自然非常強大而且無法預測的力量時，不論是對官員或父母來說，根本沒有容易的答案可言。 |
沒有留言:
張貼留言