主题：关于四川地震，做了份东西，准备放到公司 home page 上 -- 煮酒正熟

首先说明，自己的英文也不好。不过，本着“众人拾柴火焰高”的想法，希望老酒的帖子更有效地让其他人了解四川地震的情况，提供一些自己的建议。

在英文修改过程中，自己参考了新浪网http://news.sina.com.cn/z/08earthquake/index.shtml，确认目前的死亡人数；参考了VOA 对四川地震的报道 http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-05-16-voa2.cfm，确认一些英文表达（包括摘录了几个句子）。

The word "ask" is changed to "Hope".

At 2:28 p.m., May 12, a 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan province in southwest China. The massive quake was felt through a large part of China. Around 10 million people in the province were directly affected. Hundreds of thousands of people are without homes. So far the death poll amounts to over 34,073. Officials say the number of dead is expected to rise to more than fifty thousand.

Soon after this formidable tragedy occurred, China undertook an all-out rescue and relief effort, lead by the government and immensely involved by civilian volunteers. In only 90 minutes, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was on the plane to the disaster area to coordinate on-site rescue efforts. Though most of the road to the epicenter was totally destroyed and under constant threat of mudslides and aftershocks, a division of soldiers managed to arrive in mere 15 hours after walking 60 miles. Other rescuing forces from local, provincial and military authorities poured into the disaster areas by planes, trucks and, where roads were damaged, by walking. Victims helped themselves and others where they could. People lined up in many cities to donate blood. In cities nearby, thousands of taxi drivers and car owners voluntarily organized themselves to ship supplies into the disaster area and ship the wounded out, without anybody paying or giving an order…

In this devastating time, ordinary people demonstrated great humanitarianism and altruism. A 21-year-old kindergarten teacher shielded a toddler from tons of falling concrete, saving the kid with her own life. A 25-year-old elementary school teacher rushed in and out of the collapsing classroom Thirteen times to rescue her students, and in the very last second of her life she sheltered a boy with her own body (the boy was finally rescued). CNN reported a touching story about a local authority leader:

In this time of profound anguish, we hope everyone to keep those who lost their beloved ones in the earthquake in your prayers and thoughts.

Below are three charity organizations that will use donations exclusively for China earthquake relief purposes.