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1.Face to Face with Hurricane Camille
第一課 迎戰卡米爾號颶風
Joseph P. Blank
約瑟夫·布蘭克
John Koshak, Jr., knew that Hurricane Camille would be bad. Radio and television warnings had sounded throughout that Sunday, last August 17, as Camille lashed northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico. It was certain to pummel Gulfport, Miss., where the Koshers lived. Along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, nearly 150,000 people fled inland to safer ground. But, like thousands of others in the coastal communities, john was reluctant to abandon his home unless the family-his wife, Janis, and their seven children, abed 3 to 11-was clearly endangered.
小約翰。柯夏克已料到，卡米爾號颶風來勢定然兇猛。就在去年8月17日那個星期天，當卡米爾號颶風越過墨西哥灣向西北進襲之時，收音機和電視里整天不斷地播放著颶風警報。柯夏克一家居住的地方一-密西西比州的高爾夫港--肯定會遭到這場颶風的猛烈襲擊。路易斯安那、密西西比和亞拉巴馬三州沿海一帶的居民已有將近15萬人逃往內陸安全地帶。但約翰就像沿海村落中其他成千上萬的人一樣，不愿舍棄家園，要他下決心棄家外逃，除非等到他的一家人一-妻子詹妮絲以及他們那七個年齡從三歲到十一歲的孩子一一眼看著就要災禍臨頭。
Trying to reason out the best course of action, he talked with his father and mother, who had moved into the ten-room house with the Koshaks a month earlier from California. He also consulted Charles Hill, a long time friend, who had driven from Las Vegas for a visit.
為了找出應付這場風災的最佳對策，他與父母商量過。兩位老人是早在一個月前就從加利福尼亞遷到這里來，住進柯夏克一家所住的那幢十個房間的屋子里。他還就此征求過從拉斯韋加斯開車來訪的老朋友查理·希爾的意見。
John, 37-whose business was right there in his home ( he designed and developed educational toys and supplies, and all of Magna Products'correspondence, engineering drawings and art work were there on the first floor)-was familiar with the power of a hurricane. Four years earlier, Hurricane Betsy had demolished undefined his former home a few miles west of Gulfport (Koshak had moved his family to a motel for the night). But that house had stood only a few feet above sea level. "We're elevated 23 feet," he told his father, "and we're a good 250 yards from the sea.
約翰的全部產業就在自己家里(他開辦的瑪格納制造公司是設計、研制各種教育玩具和教育用品的。公司的一切往來函件、設計圖紙和工藝模具全都放在一樓)。37歲的他對颶風的威力是深有體會的。四年前，他原先擁有的位于高爾夫港以西幾英里外的那個家就曾毀于貝翠號颶風(那場風災前夕柯夏克已將全家搬到一家汽車旅館過夜)。不過，當時那幢房子所處的地勢偏低，高出海平面僅幾英尺。"我們現在住的這幢房子高了23英尺，'他對父親說，"而且距離海邊足有250碼遠。
