Hiroshima Bomb Survivor Learned English to Tell Her Story

Teruko Yahata is 85 years old. But she could have died as a girl.

She was in Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city.

Tens of thousands of people died immediately, and thousands more suffered long-lasting injuries and sickness.

Yahata is known as a hibakusha, or a survivor¹ of the atomic bomb. People such as Yahata visit the city's memorial sites to tell people about what happened nearly 80 years ago.

She speaks with those who come to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Museum, which was built to remember the people who died in the bombing.

She remembers the day of the bombing. The sky turned "bluish white," she said, "I immediately fell to the ground and lost consciousness²."

Starting in 2013, Yahata traveled the world to tell her story. However, she only spoke³ Japanese. An interpreter, or a person who speaks English and Japanese, would tell her story for her.

But in the following years, she started taking English lessons so she could tell the story with her own voice.

In 2021 she was able to give her presentation in English.

She said it was a dream to learn English so she could "communicate in my own words, my own voice" about what happened that day. Speaking in Japanese, she called what she saw "miserable⁴" and "tragic⁵."

During her presentation, Yahata reads from a script. The words are hers, translated from Japanese. She practices using a voice recording⁶ made by a native English speaker. She has small notes on the paper to help her with the correct pronunciation.

She is not fluent in English, but she speaks well enough so she can read the words and tell her story to people who come from all over the world.

Denise Hickson recently visited Hiroshima and heard Yahata speak.

"It feels very real still," she said. "When she speaks, she brings it like it's happening today."

More than foreign visitors are coming to Hiroshima. It is the home area of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He is bringing world leaders there for the G7 meeting. Kishida is expected to bring the leaders to the Peace Memorial Museum where they will hear from survivors⁷ like Yahata.

Yahata said she wants the leaders to work to ban nuclear weapons. "I don't want them to just talk about ideals or release a written resolution," she said. "I want them to take the first concrete step."

Words in This Story

consciousness –n. a state of knowing and understanding what is happening around you; being awake

script –n. the written form of words said for a play, television show or other recorded presentation

pronunciation –n. the way to say words in a language

fluent –adj. able to speak a language easily

ideals –n. (pl.) an idea that is thought to be perfect

1 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

2 consciousness   

n.意识，觉悟，知觉

参考例句：

• The experience helped to change her social consciousness.这种经验有助于改变她的社会意识。
• He lost consciousness at the first whiff of ether.他一嗅到乙醚便失去了知觉。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

5 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者