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New York Tragedy Averted 化悲剧为奇迹的纽约故事

 

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A ‘miracle’ in a city not easily impressed  一个不易被感动的都市所发生的感人「奇迹」

 

This is what a miracle looks like. It looks like a 60-foot piece of aluminum and steel sticking out of the frigid Hudson River at an odd angle. One end of the wing is attached to the sunken fuselage of a US Airways jetliner, the other claws toward the sky. The mighty Hudson is so cold that brown slush lines its banks like a bathtub ring.

这奇迹看起来就像这样：它看起来像是六十呎的铝与钢铁块以很怪的角度突出于冰冷的哈德逊河面上，机翼有一端连在「全美航空」沉没的喷射客机机身，另一端则朝向天空。浩瀚的哈德逊河冷到两岸都是棕色泥泞融雪，活像是浴缸里堆积的一圈污垢。

 

“Miracle” is the buzzword of the city, a city not easily impressed.

在纽约这个不易受到感动的都市里，如今的流行语却是「奇迹」。

 

And the residents of this city sometimes look at each other and say: “What happened here in New York – this sudden, improvised, all-hands-on-deck rescue – might not have happened in many other places.” But it happened in New York City, a place that knows calamity and knows the proper response.

纽约市居民有时会看着彼此说，「发生在纽约的这件事──这场突如其来、考验临场反应的全体动员搜救行动──如果换做是在很多别的地方，可能就不会发生了。」但这次事件是发生在纽约，一个了解灾难、也懂得适当因应的地方。

 

“If it had been a movie, people probably wouldn’t have believed it,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It was too good to be true – the perfect landing, the phenomenal response, the rescue of every single person.”

「如果这是电影的剧情，大家可能就不会相信真有这种事情，」纽约市长麦可．彭博表示，「整个事件顺利到不像是真的──飞机完美地降落、绝佳的临场反应、而且每一个人都顺利获救。」

 

Brief adventure  短暂的历险

 

“I was thinking – no, I was positive – we were all going to die,” said Paul Jorgensen, 38, a medical-software salesman who flies weekly and was in seat 1A.

三十八岁的保罗．乔贾森坐在第一排Ａ号座位，他是个医学软件业务员，每周固定会搭飞机，「我当时心想──糟了，我很确信──我们一定都会死掉。」

 

It didn’t happen, because this is how a miracle works.

但结果并非如此，因为奇迹发生了。

 

When your engines go dead, you have a guy at the yoke who happens to be an expert glider pilot. He’s also a guy capable of making an instant, once-in-a-lifetime decision. No room for error. No second chance. No turning back.

因为当飞机引擎熄火时，驾机者正好是老经验的滑翔机驾驶，同时也是当下立即能做出人生难逢的决定的人，而且毫无出错的余地，没有第二次机会可言，一旦决定就再也无法回头了。

 

 

单词发音

 

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impress [ɪmˋprɛs] v. 给……极深的印象；使感动; 使铭记，铭刻

stick out (of something) 突出, 伸出 to protrude from someone or something

stick [stɪk] v. 伸，伸出

fuselage [ˋfjuz!ɪdʒ] n.【空】机身 the main body of an aircraft

slush [slʌʃ] n. 融雪

line [laɪn] v. 沿……排列 to form a bordering line along

ring [rɪŋ] n. 圈；环；环形物 anything which is like a circle in shape

phenomenal [fəˋnɑmən!] adj. 异常的；杰出的；惊人的

positive [ˋpɑzətɪv] adj. 确信的[F][（+of/about）][+（that）]; 确定的

yoke [jok] n. 飞机操纵杆

expert [ˋɛkspɚt] adj. 熟练的，老练的；有经验的[（+at/in/on）]

 

 

 

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The pilot is a guy blessed with talent, years of experience and an innate sense of time and distance, lift and aerodynamics, he’s able to bring the nose up and skim the river with the tail, precisely slowing the plane so it settles flat.

机长饶富才智，经验老道，对于时间、距离、拉抬力和空气动力学有其天赋，他成功把机头拉高，以机尾滑行河面，精确地让飞机减速后，水平停住。

 

Too much, the jetliner will break apart. Too little, it will go in nose first and sink like a stone. Or flip.

太过，喷射客机会解体；不及，则会机鼻朝下栽入水中，像颗石头般沉没，或是翻覆。

 

It comes down at early rush hour when ferries are plying the river. Instantly, captains change course and in minutes are plucking passengers off that wing.

飞机迫降时，属于纽约交通尖峰时间的前段，一些渡轮正往返于哈德逊河上，而船长们立刻改变航道，几分钟内就开始把乘客从机翼上救下来。

 

Was all of that a miracle? No, but it was part of it.

那一切都是奇迹吗？不尽然，但它是奇迹的一部分。

 

Here’s another part.

以下是奇迹的一部分。

 

Mark Hood, 48, grew up in South Carolina. He had a high school buddy, Billy Campbell. They lost touch. Hood went on to the Citadel, then the Marines. He served in Operation Desert Storm and rose to the rank of major. Then he took on a career in medical-equipment sales, one that made him a weekly flier.

四十八岁的马克．胡德在南卡罗莱纳州长大。中学时代有个好友比利．坎普，但是两人已断了联络。胡德去念「南卡罗莱纳军事学院」，然后加入海军陆战队。他在「沙漠风暴行动」中服役（译注：是与第一次波斯湾战争相关的美国军事行动。一九九０年伊拉克入侵科威特，美国于是展开「沙漠盾牌行动」，之后美国再于一九九一年发动「沙漠风暴行动」），而后晋升到少校。他后来从事医疗器材销售，每周都必须搭飞机。

 

He was near the front of the plane and was one of dozens huddled on a raft. Then he saw a familiar face: Billy Campbell’s. He was also on the plane.

胡德的座位在飞机前方，是几十名挤在救生艇上的乘客之一。然后他看到了一张熟识的面孔：比利．坎普，原来坎普也搭了同班飞机。

 

“Billy and I were able to talk a little bit,” Hood says. “I don’t know if you believe in God. But that was a miracle out there.”

「比利和我还说上了几句话，」胡德表示，「我不知道你是否相信上帝，但那的确是个奇迹。」

 

This is what a miracle does. It reminds us we’re not always alone when we face misfortune. It reminds us that even in the darkest of times, compassion and kindnessburn in the human spirit. It reminds us that the fortunes of 155 souls can uplift us all.

奇迹就是这样的吧。当我们遭逢不幸时，奇迹提醒我们，我们并非总是孤独一人；它提醒我们，就算是在最黑暗的时刻，怜悯与仁慈也会在人心中发光发热；它提醒我们，那一百五十五人的命运转折，可以振奋所有人类。

 

 

单词发音

 

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bless [blɛs] v. 使有幸得到[H][（+with）]

innate [ˋɪnˋet] adj. 与生俱来的；天生的；固有的

lift [lɪft] n. 升力，上升力 the force that opposes gravity and is needed to raise something

aerodynamics [͵ɛrodaɪˋnæmɪks] n.（用作单）空气动力学；航空动力学 the science that studies the movement of gases and the way solid bodies, such as an aircraft, move through them

skim [skɪm] v. 使掠过；掠过

come down【美俚】发生 Slang to happen; occur

ply [plaɪ] v. 定期往返 to travel over distances regularly by boat or other form of transportation

marine [məˋrin] n. 海军陆战队队员

major [ˋmedʒɚ] n.（美国）陆军（或空军、海军陆战队）少校

take on 接受(挑战); 接受(尤指艰巨工作或重大责任) to undertake or begin to handle

flier [ˋflaɪɚ] n. 飞机乘客

raft [ræft] n.（救生用）橡皮艇

compassion [kəmˋpæʃən] n. 怜悯；同情

uplift [ʌpˋlɪft] v. 振奋；鼓舞

 

 

 

 

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Saving lives all in a day’s work  救人只是应尽的工作职责（译注：all in a day’s work 往往用在对其他人可能很特别，但对某人却稀松平常的情况，意指习以为常、司空见惯）

 

Less than two hours into her shift, commuter ferry pilot Brittany Catanzaro looked over her shoulder and saw a jet floating in the [Hudson River] as she headed in the opposite direction from New York Pier 79. Immediately, she turned around and steered toward the aircraft.

当班还不到两小时的通勤渡轮船长布兰妮．卡坦莎萝，转头看到一架喷射机浮在哈德逊河面上，她当时正由纽约七十九号码头往反方向行驶。卡坦莎萝立即掉头，航向飞机。

 

“The thought in my head was, ‘The plane’s going down quickly. We have to get over there,’” Catanzaro said.

「我当时脑海里所想的是，飞机很快就会沉没，我们必须赶到那里才行，」卡坦莎萝表示。

 

In many ways, the ferry captain is a typical 20-year-old. She sports a nearly invisible blue stud in her nose. Her cell phone rings often. She lives at home and hangs out with friends in her free time.

从许多方面看起来，这位渡轮船长是个典型的二十岁青年：鼻子上有个几乎看不见的蓝色鼻钉，手机常常响，住在家里，闲暇时就和朋友出去玩。

 

But when she saw the plane in the water, Catanzaro reacted like a seasoned pro that has spent a lifetime around boats. She pulled up close to the plane’s wings, where passengers had taken refuge. With guidance from the crew, she maneuvered the ferry to stay abreast of the plane, which was being pulled down river by a steady current. She deflects praise to her crew, who were hoisting passengers onto the ferry with rescue buckets.

但是当卡坦莎萝看见水中的飞机时，她的反应就像个一生都和船打交道的老练专家。当时机上乘客都逃到机翼上等待救援，卡坦莎萝把船驶近机翼，此时飞机正被稳定的水流往下游拉，她靠着船员的指引操控着渡轮，设法让渡轮与飞机保持并排。不居功的卡坦莎萝把赞誉归功给同船船员，他们用救生篮把乘客拉到渡轮上。

 

“They were the ones who were down there pulling people out of the water,” Catanzaro said.

「他们才是在那里把人们从水中拉上来的人，」卡坦莎萝表示。

 

Albert Maietti, a shop steward working on Catanzaro’s boat, said conditions were perfect for a rescue. “He landed right in the midst of where all the boats were moving,” Maietti said. “I called my pastor up and said, ‘Please have the church pray we get everyone out.’”

艾伯特．马提是在卡坦莎萝船上工作的商店服务员，他说当时的形势对救援非常有利。「他把飞机就降落在所有船只行进的河道上，」马提表示，「我打电话告诉我的牧师说，『请教会为我们祈祷，让我们能救出所有人。』」

 

Catanzaro seemed embarrassed by all the attention she attracted.

卡坦莎萝对于自己受到的瞩目显得很不好意思。

 

“Hey, superhero, what are you doing here?” a man nicknamed “Bucket” asked on the ferry’s radio. “Can I get your autograph?”

「嘿。超级英雄，你在这里做什么？」一个绰号叫「水桶」的男子透过渡轮的无线电说，「我可以跟你要签名吗？」

 

“No autograph,” Catanzaro replied with a laugh. “But I’ll come see you, though.”

「没有签名啦，」卡坦莎萝笑着回答，「但我会过去找你。」

 

−by Ashley Kindergan

 

单词发音

 

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all in a day’s work 每日常规的一部分, 日常工作 if something difficult or strange is all in a day's work for someone, it is a usual part of their job

shift [ʃɪft] n. 轮班；轮班工作时间 the period of time worked by such a group

look over one’s shoulder 转过头来看 keeping watch for danger or threats to oneself

pier [pɪr] n.（凸式）码头，直码头

stud [stʌd] n. 饰钉；饰钮; 大头钉

hang out（呆在某处，或与某人呆在一起）闲逛

seasoned pro 经验丰富的专业人员 someone with a lot of experience at doing something and who therefore knows to do it well

pull up (使)停下来 to move to a position or place ahead, as in a race

take refuge 避难; 躲避

maneuver [məˋnuvɚ] v. 巧妙地操纵（或处理）

abreast [əˋbrɛst] adv.（朝同一方向）并列，并排

call someone or something up 给某人打电话 to call someone, a group, or a company on the telephone

pastor [ˋpæstɚ] n.（基督教的）本堂牧师

autograph [ˋɔtə͵græf] n. 亲笔；（尤指名人的）亲笔签名

 

 

 

单词发音

 

Vocabulary Focus

avert [əˋvɝt] v. 避开，移开[（+from）] to prevent something bad from happening; avoid

buzzword [ˋbʌzwɝd] n.（媒体上的）时髦术语，流行行话 a word or expression that has become fashionable by being used a lot, especially in the media

improvised [ˋɪmprəvaɪzd] adj. 临时做的；临时凑成的 doing something at the time when it is needed without having planned it

all hands on deck 各就各位; 所有人手就位; 全体动员的 something that you say when everyone’s help is needed, especially to do a lot of work in a short amount of time

calamity [kəˋlæmətɪ] n. 灾难；大祸；大灾害 a serious accident or bad event causing damage or suffering

pluck [plʌk] v. 扯，拉;  猛拉 to remove someone quickly from a dangerous or difficult situation

huddle [ˋhʌd!] v. 紧挤在一起 to come close together in a group, especially when cold or fearful

sport [sport] v. 得意地戴着; 引人注目地穿戴; 炫耀 to wear or be decorated with something

refuge [ˋrɛfjudʒ] n. 躲避；避难; 避难所 a place which gives protection or shelter from danger or trouble

deflect [dɪˋflɛkt] v. 偏斜；转向 to direct attention away from one thing to something else

hoist [hɔɪst] v.（用绳索，起重机等）吊起 to lift something heavy, often with special equipment

 

 

Hudson River Plane Landing (US Airways 1549) Animation with Audio

 

 

US Airways 1549 audio with transcript and Closed Captions [CC]

 

 

US Airways plane crash on the Hudson River

 

 

Hero Captain (Brittany Catanzaro) - NJN News