Unit04Themaninthewater译文

Lesson Six

Text A

水里那个人

The Man in the Water

和一般灾难相比，这次灾难非常可怕，但并不特殊，肯定也不是美国有记录的最悲惨的堕机事件之一。

As disasters go, this one was terrible, but not unique, certainly not among the worst U. S. air crashes on record.

当然，不同寻常的有那座桥，还有飞机是在交通高峰期撞到桥上。另外，还有这个事件发生的地点。

There was the unusual element of the bridge, of course, and the fact that the plane hit it at a moment of high traffic. Then, too, there was the location of the event.

华盛顿这个布局合理、井然有序的城市，由于寒冬一阵突如其来的强劲气流和金属之间的剧烈碰撞而陷入混乱之中。

Washington, the city of form and rules, turned chaotic by a blast of real winter and a single slap of metal on metal.

从华盛顿国家机场起飞的喷气客机，通常会像

饥饿的海鸥一样绕着总统纪念建筑物飞过。眼下，这架坠落的飞机成了它们的代表。

The jets from Washington National Airport that normally fly around the presidential monuments like hungry gulls are, for the moment represented by the one that fell.

而且还有给人以美感的撞击——蓝绿相间的佛罗里达航空公司（“佛罗里达航空公司”字面意思是“飞翔的花园”）的飞机，沉入了黑色的河流中，被灰色的巨大冰块所包围。

And there was the aesthetic clash as well—blue-and-green Air Florida, the name of a flying garden, sunk down among grey chunks of ice in a black river.

Florida出自词根flo(u)r-，意为“花”。例如：floral花的，floret小花，florid华丽的，florist花匠，florescence花期，floriculture花的培养，flourish繁荣

herb=grass草：herbicide除草剂

佛罗里达州的名称来自西班牙语Florida，其意义是“多花的地方”。

佛罗里达州的名称来自西班牙语，西班牙航海家胡安•庞塞•德莱昂在1513年4月2 日，发现这片地方。时值西班牙人称为Pascua Florida（花的复

活节）的节日，所以此地被德莱昂命名为La Florida。

确实，所有那些事情都值得注意。

All that was worth noticing, to be sure.

然而，除了死亡，事件中没有什么很特别的。死亡虽然总是很特别，但也不是一定会引起成千上万的人哭泣或注意。

Still, there was nothing very special in any of it, except death, which, while always special, does not necessarily bring the nation to tears or to attention.

那么，为什么这次事件中我们受到巨大的震动呢？

Why, then, the shock here?

也许是因为在这场灾难里面，全国人民所看到的不仅仅是机器故障。

Perhaps because the nation saw in this disaster something more than a mechanical failure.

也许是因为在里面人们看到的根本不是失败（故障），而是他们自己的成功。

Perhaps because people saw in it no failure at all, but rather something successful about themselves.

这次事件中，毕竟有两种形式的自然力量相撞了，那就是恶劣的天气和人的品质。

Here, after all, were two forms of nature in collision: the elements and human character.

上周三，与平时一样冷漠的恶劣天气，将90

次班机击落下来。

Last Wednesday, the elements, indifferent as ever, brought down Flight 90.

在同一个下午，人的品质——搜索着，挣扎着——奋起应对这个（艰难）时刻。

On that same afternoon, human nature—groping and struggling—rose to the occasion.

（牛津）rise to the occasion, challenge, task, etc 挺身而出处理危机、迎接挑战、完成任务等的能力

这次事件中公认的四位英雄里，有三位能够为他们的行为做出解释。

Of the four acknowledged heroes of the event, three are able to account for their behavior.

公园巡警直升机机组人员唐纳德·厄舍和尤金·温莎每一次将飞机的起落架贴近水面，拉起幸存者时，都要冒着失去生命的危险。

Donald Usher and Eugene Windsor, a park police helicopter team, risked their lives every time they dipped their skids into the water to pick up survivors.

在电视节目里，他们肩并肩地坐着，把自己的勇气完全描绘成是职责所在。

On television, side by side, they described their courage as all in the line of duty.

勒尼·斯库尼克是一名28岁的国会预算办公