An unusual vacation

Lombok island scenery

I’m sure when most of us envision [envision] v.想象，展望 our vacation, it should be an experience that’s full of fun. The day should be packed with meaningful activities or simply nothing to do, because you can stroll [stroll] n.&v.闲逛，漫步，巡回演出 around the city to enjoy your free time or it could be something like sunshine and beach and you can just enjoy your time under the sun with a fresh coconut [ˈkoʊkənʌt] n.椰子 beside you.

But my vacation last summer to Lombok, FYI Lombok is a small island next to Bali. It is famous for its pristine [pristine] adj.原始的，未受损的，清新的 beaches and uncontaminated [contaminate] v.污染 natural scenery and such. It was a very unusual vacation. I went there with my boyfriend. What made it so unusual was that it was the first time that both of us had ever experienced an earthquake. As soon as we arrived in Lombok, the island was struck by a magnitude [magnitude] n.巨大，重要性 7.6 earthquake. What made it so horrifying was that, you know Lombok is a very tiny [ˈtaɪni] adj 极小的;微小的 island, the authority [ɔːˈθɒrəti] n.权威机构 actually issued a tsunami [tsuːˈnɑːmi] n.海啸;海震 warning. Not to mentioned [更不用说] there was actually an active volcano on Lombok. So you could imagine, if the earthquake deteriorated [deteriorate]v.恶化;变坏 eg:soil deterioration 土壤退化, if it became more serious, then the whole island will be devoured [devour] v.毁灭，吞噬, not to mention by lava [ˈlɑːvə] n.(火山喷出的) 熔岩;岩浆;火山岩,but at least by sea water, because the tsunami would come and no one could survive it. So it was actually really horrifying [horrifying] adj.令人恐惧的;使人惊骇的. You know we were really lucky because the earthquake didn’t turn out to be that bad. In some areas it was indeed magnitude 7 or above but in our area is was ok, because we were pretty close to the airport which is in the middle of the island so it’s for away from [远离] any seafront areas.

I still recall that night, as we got into the car we hired, the driver was trying to take us to the resort [rɪˈzɔːt] n.旅游胜地;度假胜地 v.求助 we booked ahead. We saw people running in the opposite direction and the driver tried to ask why. And then he realized and he told us that there was actually earthquake happening and the tsunami warning had been issued. He drove us to the area where people gathered in case of any emergencies or natural disasters. We waited there for several hours and then he drove us back next to the airport and it took us hours to finally settle down [ˈsetl daʊn] （尤指结婚或买房后） 定居，安顿下来; （历经磨难或变化后）平定下来，平静下来 in a hotel but we didn’t have a room so we had to spend the night in the lobby [ˈlɒbi] n.(公共建筑物进口处的) 门厅，前厅，大厅; (英国议会的) 民众接待厅. But luckily we got a room the next day, and very luckily we got two air tickets, so we could fly back on the third day of our “vacation”. It was such an experience and it was definitely [ˈdefɪnətli] adv.肯定,明确的 an event once in a life time.