All across northern Japan, they felt it—a violent, magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011. It was centered about 80 miles offshore, and tsunami warnings went up immediately. In coastal cities, people knew what to do next: run to higher ground.
整個北日本地區，他們感受到它－－2011 年 3 月 11 日一陣劇烈、規模 9.0 的地震。震央在近海約 80 哩 (約 129 公里) 處，海嘯警報立刻發布。在沿海城市，人們知道接下來要做什麼：逃到高處。
It's from these vantage points on hills and in tall buildings that incredible footage was captured. In Kesennuma, people retreated to a high-rise rooftop and could only watch in horror as tsunami waves inundated their city, knocking buildings into rubble and mixing into a kind of tsunami soup filled with vehicles, building parts, and contents. Seawater cascaded over seawalls and into cities.
正是從小山上和高聳建物中的這些有利位置，驚人的影片被拍下。在氣仙沼市，人們退到高樓屋頂上，但在海嘯浪潮淹沒他們的城市時只能驚恐地看著，海嘯將房屋擊碎成瓦礫堆，攪拌成一種混著汽車、房屋零件和內容物的海嘯湯。海水滾滾越過防波堤然後進入城市。
This video shows the water rushing over an 18-foot seawall in the Kamaishi city. The seawall here was the world's deepest and largest, but not enough for the magnitude of the March 11 disaster. It was the largest quake ever known in Japan, and one of the five largest recorded in the world. More than 28,000 people are confirmed dead or missing.
這個影片播放出海水衝過一面在釜石市 18 英呎高 (約 5.5 公尺) 的防波堤。這裡的防波堤是世界上最深最大的，但不足以應付 3 月 11 號那災難的強度。這是日本有史以來所知最大的地震，也是全世界記錄五個最大的地震之一。超過兩萬八千人被確認死亡或失蹤。
When two tectonic plates push together under the sea, the resulting earthquake sends an enormous burst of energy up through the ocean, displacing enormous quantities of water. With the upward motion, a series of waves expands in all directions.
當兩個板塊在海底推擠在一起時，產生的地震將一個巨大的能量爆發向上穿透海洋傳送出去，排出大量的水。隨著那向上的移動，一連串的海浪向四面八方擴散。
In deep water, these waves travel fast—up to 500 miles an hour—but only reach a height of a few feet. A passing ship might not even notice. But as the waves enter shallow waters, friction with the ocean floor lowers the waves' speed, but raises their height.
在深海域，這些海浪移動得很快－－高達時速 500 英哩 ( 約 805 公里)－－但只達到幾英呎的高度。一艘經過的船可能甚至不會注意到。但當海浪進入淺海域，和海床的摩擦減慢海浪速度，但提升了海浪的高度。
This video is from a Japan coast guard ship confronting a tsunami wave in shallow water on March 11. And a rare view from the air—video of a tsunami wave approaching the shoreline. In Japan, some tsunami waves reached as far as three miles inland. Japan may be the most seismologically-studied country in the world, and with more than 1,200 high-precision GPS stations, a geophysicist at the University of Alaska used the data to create a visualization of the March 11 quake. The waves of displacement that you see were moving as fast as five miles per second. In this photo, the ripples of tsunami waves are seen moving upstream in the Naka River at Hitachinaka City.
這個影片是來自一艘 3 月 11 日在淺海域遇到一波海嘯浪潮的日本海巡船。還有一個空拍的罕見景象－－一波海嘯浪潮漸漸接近海岸線的影片。在日本，一些海嘯浪潮到達內陸三英哩 (約 5 公里)的距離。日本可能是全世界地震學上最被研究的國家，有著超過 1,200 個高度精確的 GPS 站點，阿拉斯加大學的一位地球物理學家利用那數據來建立出 3 月 11 日地震的想像圖。你所見板塊位移產生的波動正達到每秒五英哩 (約 8 公里) 的速度在移動。這張相片裡，海嘯波浪的漣漪在常陸那珂市的那珂川中被觀察到正向上游移動。
New technology left an enormous amount of visual evidence for study in years to come, and can, perhaps, help us better understand the power of earthquakes and tsunamis, and prevent loss of life in the future.
新科技留下大量可見證據供未來的研究，且或許可以幫助我們更了解地震和海嘯的力量，並在未來避免生命損失。
- 「恐懼地」- In Horror
In Kesennuma, people retreated to a high-rise rooftop and could only watch in horror as tsunami waves inundated their city...
在氣仙沼市，人們退到高樓屋頂上，但在海嘯浪潮淹沒他們的城市時只能驚恐地看著... - 「達到...的程度」- As Far As
In Japan, some tsunami waves reached as far as three miles inland.
在日本，一些海嘯浪潮到達內陸三英哩(約 5 公里)的距離。
