Unit 1 “We’ve Been Hit”课文翻译综合教程二

Unit 1 “We’ve Been Hit!”

With the building in flames, one man needed help. Another man refused to leave him. Adam Mayblum used to enjoy watching as storms lashed the windows of his office: You think that’s power? Mayblum would scoff. I’m on the 87th floor of the World Trade Center. That’s power. The drawstrings on his window shades would appear to sway slightly, but it was an illusion. Although they were 1,040 feet in the sky, The WTC was quite steady.

When Mayblum felt a devastating rumble on that September morning, he glanced at the drawstrings. They were careening wildly, three feet in either direction.

Mayblum would be one of thousands cast into an extraordinary purgatory that morning1. While as many as 25,000 would find their way to safety, 5,000 would not. For some, it was a matter of geography2 — not just which tower they worked in or on which floor, but in which corner of the building.

For some, the choices were as basic as which staircase to use. Others faced the ultimate moral dilemma: Save yourself, or save another.

The confusion inside Adam Mayblum’s office at May Davis, a financial services firm, lasted just seconds. He knew he needed to get out.

He ripped his T-shirt into pieces, soaked the pieces in water and gave them to colleagues to cover their faces. Among them: Harry Ramos, head trader at May Davis. Mayblum had worked with Ramos off and on for 14 years.3

Sparks bit at Mayblum’s ankles as he raced for the stairs. He bolted down two flights before realizing that his trading partner, Hong Zhu, had been left behind. He went back upstairs, the whole area now filled with smoke and burning jet fuel.

There was no sign of Hong. Mayblum hurried down again and made it to the 78th floor, a transfer lobby where one set of elevators and stairs ended and another began. He saw a reassuring sight; Ramos had waded into the pandemonium to help panicked workers into a stairwell.

Mayblum continued his descent, the muscles in his calves contracting in spasms. On the 53rd floor, he came across a heavyset man whose legs just wouldn’t move anymore.4 “Do you want to come, or do you want us to send help?” Mayblum shouted. The man asked him to send help. Adam said he would.

In the noise, smoke and sparks, Mayblum didn’t realize that his friend Hong Zhu was behind him in the stairwell the whole time. When Hong got to the 53rd floor, he came across Harry Ramos. Ramos had stooped to help the heavyset man Mayblum had seen earlier. “I’ll give you a hand,” Hong said.

Together, Ramos and Hong helped the man down one more flight to an elevator. “Don’t take it,” a Port Authority official screamed.

Hong and Ramos tried to send a magazine down in the elevator to test its safety. But when they pressed the “down” button, the doors wouldn’t close. So Hong decided that he would be the guinea pig instead.5

He stepped inside, and the doors shut behind him.

Hong took the elevator down to the 44th floor, the next transfer lobby. So far, so good. He pressed “52,” went back up and collected Ramos and the heavyset man.

On 44 Hong and Ramos helped the man toward the last bank of elevators that would take them all the way down.

Hong pressed the “down” button again. Nothing. They would have to take the stairs. Ramos and Hong tried to support the man. “One step at a time,” Hong said.

They had been trying to get out for an hour and five minutes. They were on 36 when they felt the South Tower collapse.

“We really have to move,” Hong said.

The rumbles of the collapsing tower next door seemed to sap the heavyset man of his last gasps of energy. “I can’t do it anymore,” he said, sitting down.

Hong and Ramos tried to persuade him to continue. “You don’t have to move your legs!” Hong shouted. “Just move your butt. Let’s go!” But the man couldn’t go on.

A fireman ran up to them. Hong expected that he would join in to get the heavy man to move. Instead, the fireman turned to Hong.

“Who are you, screaming at him to get out?” the fireman shouted. “You get out!” Hong looked at Ramos, who was still standing with the heavyset man.

“I’m coming down with you,” Ramos told the man. “I’m not going to leave.” “I left,” Hong says sorrowfully. “Alone.”

The next day, Adam Mayblum sent an e-mail describing his experience to friends and relatives, who sent it to still others. The e-mail was read by someone in San Francisco who knew a woman in New York named Rebecca. Her husband, Victor, a heavyset man, was missing.

On Saturday, September 15, May Davis’s chairman had a gathering at his New Jersey home. Adam Mayblum was there. So was Hong Zhu. Rebecca was also there, learning how her husband, Victor, had been comforted in his last moments, how Harry Ramos had refused to leave him behind.

Ramos’s wife, Micky, was there too. She kept asking Mayblum and Hong where her husband was, convinced that somehow, Harry — the only May Davis employee still

missing — was alive.

Piece by piece, she developed a picture of his escape: Harry was on 87 when the plane hit. He stopped to help on 78. He met up with Hong on 53. But as hard as she tried, as many questions as she asked, the picture began to fade on the 36th floor.6

“我们被撞了”

亚当·梅布拉姆过去很享受看着暴风雨敲打他办公室窗户的场景：你认为这就是力量吗？梅布拉姆可能会讥笑。我在世界贸易中心的87楼。这就是力量。百叶窗上的拉绳看起来像在轻轻地摇晃，但它只是一种假象。虽然它是在距离地面1,040 英尺的高空中，但是世贸中心还是相当稳固的。

在9 月的那个早上，当梅布拉姆感觉到毁灭性的隆隆声时，他瞥了一眼拉绳。他们被疯狂坠入 3 英尺的任一方向。

那天早上，有数千人将被卷入一场惊心动魄的灾难，梅布拉姆也是其中的一员。尽管多达 25,000人找到了他们安全逃生的方式，但另外的5,000 人却没有逃脱得了这场灾难。 对于有些人来说，生死攸关的是此时此刻他们所在的地理位置---不仅是哪幢楼，哪一层，更重要的是在大楼的哪个角落。

对于有些人来说，选择使用哪一个楼梯是最基本的。其他人所面对的则是终极的道德困境：拯救自己，还是拯救他人。

在名为戴维斯的金融服务公司里，亚当·梅布拉姆办公室内的混乱持续了几秒钟。他知道他需要逃离那里。

他把T恤撕成碎片，浸泡在水中，并分发给同事，用来捂住他们的脸。其中：有一个是戴维斯的首席交易员---哈里·拉莫斯。梅布拉姆曾与拉莫斯断断续续一起工作了14年之久。

当他在楼梯上急速奔跑时，火花溅在了他的脚踝上。当他冲下一段楼梯之后，他才意识到他的贸易伙伴，朱红还落在后面。他又跑上楼，此时这个地方充满了烟和燃烧的喷气燃料。看不到朱红的影子。梅布拉姆又冲下楼梯，成功到达了78 楼，这里恰好是有一部电梯和一个楼梯的中转大厅。他看到了一个令人放心的景象，拉莫斯已经淌进混乱的场面中，协助恐慌的工人转到安全的楼梯间。

梅布拉姆继续往下跑，他小腿的肌肉因抽筋而收缩。在53层。他碰见了一个身材粗壮的男人，他的腿无法移动了。

“你想自己过来，还是你想要我们来帮助你？” 梅布拉姆大声喊道。

这个男的说自己需要帮助，亚当·梅布拉姆答应了。

在噪声、烟气和火花中，梅布拉姆没有意识到他的朋友朱红一直紧跟在他后面的那个楼梯间里。当朱红到53楼的时候，他碰见了哈里 · 拉莫斯。此时拉莫斯停下来去帮助之前梅布拉姆碰见的那个身材粗壮的男人。“让我帮你吧。”朱红说道。

随后，拉莫斯和朱红一起帮助这个男人下了台阶去到了有电梯的地方。

“不要乘电梯，”一个港务局官员尖叫到。

朱红和拉莫斯尝试着将一份杂志用电梯送下去以测试它的安全性。但是当他们按了“向下”的按钮时，电梯门却无法关闭。所以朱红决定亲身试验。

他走进电梯，电梯门随后关上了。

朱红乘着电梯到了44楼---另一个中转大厅。到目前为止，一切皆好。他按下了“52”，回到了上面，准备带着他们一起乘电梯下去。

在44楼，朱红和拉莫斯一起帮助那个男人到了那个会带他们一起下去的电梯口。 朱红再次按下了“向下”的按钮。没有反应。他们不得不走楼梯了。

拉莫斯和朱红尽力地去帮助那个男人。“一步一个台阶，”朱红说道。

他们已经逃生了一个小时5分钟了。当他们感觉到南塔倒塌的时候，他们还在36楼。“我们不得不离开这里，”朱红说。

隔壁倒塌的南塔发出的隆隆声似乎耗尽了这个体形粗壮男人的最后一口气。“我动不了了，”他边说边坐了下去。

朱红和拉莫斯尝试着去说服他继续逃生。“你不用去移动你的脚”朱红大喊道。“你只需要移动你的屁股跟我们走就好了。”但是那个男人不能继续。

一个消防员跑向了他们。朱红期待着他会加入，来帮助他们一起移动这个粗壮的男人。 相反的，消防员却跑向了朱红。

“你是谁，叫他快点出去？”消防员大叫道，“你应该快点出去。”

朱红看着拉莫斯，他仍然和那个身材粗壮的男人站在一起。

“我和你一起下去，”拉莫斯告诉这个男人，“我不会一个人离开的。”

“我离开，”朱红伤感的说道，“一个人。”

第二天，亚当·梅布拉姆发送了一封电子邮件向朋友和亲戚描述他的经历，让他们安心。电子邮件是由在旧金山认识的一个名叫丽贝卡的纽约女人读取的。她的丈夫，维克多，那个身材粗壮的男人，已经遇难了。

在9月15号星期六那天，梅·戴维斯的主席在他新泽西岛的家里举行了一场聚会。亚当·梅布拉姆，朱红和丽贝卡也在那里。丽贝卡在那时知道了他的丈夫，维克多，在他的最后时刻是怎样被安抚的，哈里·拉莫斯又是怎样拒绝丢下他一个人的。

拉莫斯的妻子，米奇，当时也在那儿。她一直追问梅布拉姆和朱红她的丈夫在哪里，想使自己确信，哈里这个唯一失踪的梅·戴维斯 的员工，还在以某种方式活着。

渐渐地，她在脑海中形成了一副他逃生的画面：当飞机撞击大楼的时候，哈里在87楼。到了78楼，他停下来去帮助那个男人，到了53楼的时候，他碰见了朱红。但是无论她多辛苦地尝试，无论她问多少问题，对36层以下的记忆都模糊了。

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