VOA慢速英语2022--被海啸卷走的汤加男子漂流27小时生还

A 57-year-old Tonga man survived a night in the ocean after a tsunami¹ wave swept him out to sea last Saturday.

The incident happened after the huge burst of a volcano in the island kingdom of Tonga.

Lisala Folau told Tonga's BroadCom Broadcasting that he was painting his house last Saturday when his brother told him a tsunami was moving toward the small island of Atata. The island has a population of about 60.

Folau is disabled and has difficulty walking. He said he climbed a tree to escape the first wave but when he got down, another big wave swept him away.

"I could hear my son calling from land, but I didn't want to answer my son because I didn't want him to swim out to find me," said Folau.

Folau was swept out to sea at about 7 p.m. local time. Then, he said he drifted or swam another eight hours to a second island with no one living on it before finally swimming again to the main island of Tongatapu. The experience lasted more than 27 hours and covered 7.5 kilometers.

Folau said that he went underwater nine times. "On the eighth time I thought, the next time I go underwater that's it, because my arms were the only things that were keeping me above water," said Lisala Folau.

He told Reuters, "So the ninth time I went under and came up and grabbed a log. And that's what kept me going."

In an interview with Britain's Sky News, Folau said he was frightened when the waves took him from land into the sea. "What came into my mind when I was helpless at sea were two things," he said. He added, "One, that I still had faith in God. Two, is my family. And I only remember how my family will think, at that moment, ‘Maybe he died.'"

New Zealand's Acting² High Commissioner³ Peter Lund said Tongan officials told him last Sunday that a man was missing from Atata island. "And they weren't very optimistic about it," Lund said.

There was even a video recorded by Folau's son Koli Folau, who went searching for his father. The video shows that almost nothing was left standing⁴ on the island other than a church, where many of the villagers took shelter.

"It's one of these miracles that happens," Lund told the Associated Press.

The story of Folau's survival went viral among Tongan groups on Facebook and other social media. "Real life Aquaman," said one post on Facebook, referring to the comic book and movie character.

When asked if he knew who Aquaman was, Folau said he did not.

Words in This Story

sweep –v. to remove someone or something from an area

drift –v. to slowly move from one place to another, especially on water, with little direction

log –n. the main part of a tree

interview –n. a meeting in which one person asks questions and another answers them, especially for news reporting

optimistic –adj. showing hope for the future

miracle –n. an unusual or wonderful event believed to be caused by the power of God

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。