Unit 4 Calamities and Rescues
Passage A Death of a Dream
They boarded the plane in New York City with high hopes. The 18 members of the United States figure skating team would fly to Brussels, Belgium. Then they were to go on to Prague, Czechoslovakia, for the world ice skating championships. A photo was taken of the team members as they stood on the steps of the Sabena Airlines 707 jet. The best of America's skaters beamed for the camera. Mostly young, they laughed and giggled, their eyes dancing with excitement. This was going to be the time of their lives. There were three ice skating pairs on the plane. Two were brother-and-sister teams: Laurie and William Hickox and Ida and Ray Hadley. There was also the husband-and-wife team of Patricia and Robert Dineen. But the brightest star of all was a singles skater. Her name was Laurence "Laurie" Owen. Only 16 years old, she had won the North American title for women just two days earlier. Laurie had great skill, dazzling grace, and a winning smile.
Laurie came from a skating family. Her mother, Maribel, had won the U.S figure skating championship nine times. Laurie had an older sister who shared her mother's name. Maribel Owen, age 20, was not quite as strong a skater as Laurie. Still, she had just won the U.S. senior pairs championship. All three of the Owen women were on the plane bound for Brussels.
Sabena Flight 548 took off at 7:30 P.M. on February 14, 1961. The flight across the Atlantic was pleasant. Early the next day, the plane neared the airport at Brussels. There seemed to be no cause for concern. There was no distress signal of any kind from the pilot, Captain Louis Lambrechts. There were no storms or high winds in the region. In fact, the weather was perfect. It was warm and sunny.
But something must have gone wrong in the cockpit. During the last few minutes before the scheduled landing, Captain Lambrechts did not contact the Brussels airport. Just before 10:00 A.M., he lowered the wheels of the jet and began his approach to land. But, at the last moment, he pulled the plane up. Perhaps he saw another jet taking off and feared a collision. Or perhaps he already knew that something was wrong with his plane. In any case, he circled the airport and prepared to try again.
Lambrechts came in a second time, flying about 500 feet over a farm near the village of Berg, northeast of Brussels. Then he suddenly increased his speed and pulled the plane into a steep climb. By this time, officials in the Brussels control tower could tell that something was very wrong. "We saw the crash coming," said one official. "They couldn't have been faster," the official said. "But there was nothing they could do."
A man riding on a train saw that the plane was in trouble. "The plane appeared to be making a normal approach to land when it suddenly reared up into the sky," he said. "Then it fell back like a great stone and we heard the explosion."
It was 10:05 A.M. when the Sabena jet hit the ground and exploded in a ball of flames. It just missed hitting a row of houses. All 72 people on board were killed, including 49 Americans and 11 members of the crew. There was nothing anyone could do. The crash site was a scene of total destruction. Debris was scattered over 200 yards. Charred remains and body parts were strewn all over the area. Several couples on the plane were found locked in a final embrace.
The crash stunned skaters and figure skating fans around the globe. Never before had anything so tragic happened in their sport. To honor the dead, the Prague competition was canceled. The crash was particularly devastating for some families. In addition to the Owen family, with its loss of three women, nine other skating families suffered more than one death. The hopes and dreams of these athletes had ended in a flash. All that remained as rescuers combed through the wreckage were three pairs of melted skates dangling from one of the wings.
PA 梦断魂萦
在纽约，美国花样滑冰队的18名成员踌躇满志地登上飞机。他们将飞往比利时的布鲁塞尔，在那儿转机，到（前）捷克斯洛伐克去参加在布拉格举办的世界花样滑冰锦标赛。站在比利时沙比那航空公司的707喷气机的舷梯上，全体成员合影留念。这批全美顶尖的滑冰运动员在照相机前笑脸盈盈，开心地笑着，眼睛里舞动着激动与兴奋。这将成为他们生命中珍贵的一刻。
机上有三对双人组合，其中两对是兄妹组合：希科克斯兄妹和哈德利兄妹，另一对是夫妻搭档，迪宁夫妇。但众星之中最耀眼的是一名单人滑选手。她叫劳伦斯·欧文，人称“劳利”。年仅16岁的她，两天前刚夺得北美花样滑冰女子冠军。劳利技巧娴熟，优雅无比，笑靥如花。
劳利出生于滑冰世家。母亲玛丽贝尔曾九次将美国花样滑冰冠军收入囊中。劳利还有一个姐姐，与母亲同名。玛丽贝尔·欧文20岁，实力不如劳利，但也刚刚获得美国双人滑大龄组的冠军。欧文家的三员女将都在飞往布鲁塞尔的航班上。
1961年2月14日下午7点30分，沙比那548号航班起飞了。飞越大西洋的航程是很惬意的。第二天一早，飞机飞临布鲁塞尔的机场，没有任何异常。驾驶飞机的路易斯·兰布莱奇机长，没有发出任何遇难信号。该地区没有暴风雨，也没有大风。事实上，天气很好，暖和而晴朗。
但驾驶员座舱肯定出了什么差错。在预定着陆的最后几分钟内，兰布莱奇机长没有与布鲁塞尔机场联系。快到上午十点时，他放下了起落架，开始着陆。但在最后一刻，他又把飞机机头拉起往上攀升。也许他看见另一架飞机正在起飞，害怕撞机。也许他已经知道他的飞机出了故障。不管怎么样，他绕着机场飞了一圈，再次尝试着陆。
兰布莱奇第二次出现了，飞过布鲁塞尔东北部的一个叫博格的村庄附近的农场，飞行了大约500英尺。突然他猛地提速，飞机急遽攀升。这时候，布鲁塞尔控制塔的官员们知道大事不妙了。“我们眼睁睁地看着惨剧发生，”有个官员说。“他们的反应够快的了，可是无能为力，”他说。
有个坐火车的人看见飞机出问题了。“飞机好像准备正常着陆，突然又攀升到天空，”他说。“然后掉了下来，像块大石头一样，接着我们就听见了爆炸声。”
10点05分，飞机撞到地面爆炸了，燃成了一团火球。还险些就撞上一排房子。机上72人全部遇难，其中包括49名美国人和11名机组人员。人们无能为力。失事现场一片狼藉。碎片散落到200码开外。烧焦的残骸以及肢体满地都是。机上的几对夫妇最后一次紧紧抱在一起。
这场空难震惊了全球滑冰界以及热爱花样滑冰的人们。滑冰界以前从来没有发生过类似的惨剧。为了纪念遇难者，布拉格的冠军赛取消了。
这次坠机对某些家庭尤其令人悲痛欲绝。欧文家三名女性全部丧生。除此之外，还有九个家庭至少痛失两名亲人。
明星们的希望和梦想在一瞬间破灭了。救援人员仔细搜寻了遇难现场，只找到三双已经烧焦的冰鞋，在残留的机翼上摇曳。
Passage B In the Nick of Time
As Katie Pritchard unloaded bags of groceries from the trunk of her car on May 1, 1989, her sons Todd and Scott played happily in the driveway. The family lived at the end of a dead-end street in Ramsey, New Jersey. So Katie was not worried about her kids wandering out to the street and getting hit by a car. But she often warned three-year-old Todd not to go near the railroad tracks. The tracks were less than 300 feet from the house, just beyond a cluster of trees.
After putting away her first load of groceries, Katie returned to her car to get more bags. She saw the boys still at play. Katie also heard the roar of a passenger express train as it rolled by. Then she went back into the house with another load of grocery bags.
Despite their mother's warnings, Todd and his 18-month-old brother were attracted by the sound of the speeding train. They walked through the trees and knelt down on the tracks. What the little boys didn't know was that a second train was heading straight for them.
Just over a slight rise to the west, a 19-car freight train slowly made its way up the incline. Rich Campana, the engineer, saw the overhead lights give the "all-clear." The passenger express train was far down the tracks. So Campana pulled the throttle to resume full speed. Standing next to him in the cab was conductor Anthony Falzo. Falzo, a 17-year veteran of the railroad, was sharing some small talk with Campana. But, as the train reached the top of the rise, the two men noticed something on the tracks about 800 yards ahead. What was it? It appeared to be two bundles or boxes--one yellow and one red. " Then the yellow one moved," said Falzo, "and we realized it was two kids."
Campana slammed on the train's brake and blasted his air horn. Falzo knew right away that the train was going too fast to stop in time. Immediately he rushed out the engine's cab door and out onto its narrow running board. He quickly made his way to the front of the engine, and then climbed down a steel ladder to the last rung. There he hung, at the front of the train, about two feet above the roadbed. Frantically he waved and shouted at the kids, telling them to get off the tracks. They didn't move. Falzo later said that they just looked up, " as if we could steer around them."
Meanwhile Katie heard the air horn and the screech of the train's brakes. Her heart pounded as she raced outside. Just one look around told her the truth. Todd and Scott were gone! She knew that they must be on the tracks.
Falzo thought about jumping off the train and trying to run ahead of it to save the little boys. But even as the train slowed down, Falzo knew he couldn't outrun it. So this 35-year-old former gymnast formed another plan. He decided to leap off the train just as it neared the children. That way he might be able to scoop up the boys and get them off the track in time. Falzo would have to time his jump exactly. If he leaped too soon, the train would beat him to the kids. If he jumped too late, the train would crush the boys beneath its wheels.
Luckily, Falzo had a very good sense of timing. At the last possible instant, he leaped from the train. He took two giant strides and grabbed the children. With one child tucked under each arm, he pressed Todd and Scott down into the roadbed gravel. The outer edge of the train passed just inches over their heads.
When the train finally stopped, the third car was perched just a couple of inches over their heads. But the boys were safe. Luckily, Scott's cut wasn't serious. After 13 stitches, he was as good as new. "There's no word in Webster's," said Katie Pritchard, "that can express our deepest, everlasting appreciation to Tony [Falzo] for what he did."
PB 刹那之间
1989年5月1日，凯蒂·普里查德正在把商店里买来的一包包东西从汽车的行李箱里卸下来，她的两个儿子托德和斯科特在车道上玩得很开心。他们住在新泽西州的拉姆齐城的一个死胡同里，所以凯蒂不用担心孩子们会跑到街上被汽车撞倒。但她经常警告三岁的托德，不要靠近铁路。铁路离房子不足300英尺，只隔着一片树丛。
凯蒂把第一批东西放好，又返回汽车旁去取剩下的袋子，她看到两个孩子还在玩。凯蒂也听到了一列客车飞驰而过的轰隆声。然后她又抱着另外一批购物袋走进屋子里。
虽然母亲事先警告过，托德和1岁半的弟弟还是被飞速行进的火车的汽笛声所吸引。他们走过树丛，跪在铁轨上玩。另一列火车正朝他们驶过来，两个小男孩却浑然不知。
西面一个小坡上，一列19节车厢的货车正在慢慢地爬上斜坡。司机里奇·坎帕纳看见正前方的信号灯显示“无障碍”。特快客车已经开出很远了。因此坎帕拉拉动调速手柄重新全速行驶。同在驾驶室里的还有老乘务员安东尼·福尔佐，他在铁路上已经干了17年了，这时在与坎帕拉闲聊。当火车到达坡顶的时候，两人注意到在前方约800码前方的铁轨上有东西。是什么呢？好像是两个包袱或是两个箱子——一个黄的一个红的。“然后黄的动了一下，”福尔佐说，“于是我们意识到这是两个孩子。”
坎帕纳猛地扳动火车刹车，拉响了警报器。福尔佐马上意识到火车速度太快，不可能适时停下来。他立刻冲出驾驶室，冲到窄窄的踏板上。他很快地朝机车的前部跑去，然后顺着钢梯爬到最后一格。他悬在火车的前面，离路基大约两英尺。他发狂般朝孩子们挥手大喊，要他们离开路轨。他们没有动。福尔佐后来说，他们只是抬头看了看，“好像我们能绕过他们似的。”
与此同时，凯蒂听到了警报声，也听到火车紧急刹车的刺耳声音。她往外跑去，心咚咚直跳。她一眼就看到出了什么事儿了。托德和斯科特不见了。她知道他们俩肯定在铁路上。
福尔佐想过跳下火车，跑到前面去救两个小男孩。但他知道，就算火车减速了，自己也肯定跑不过火车。所以这位35岁的前体操运动员想出了另外一个方案。他决定在火车靠近孩子们的时候跳下火车。这样他就可能把两个孩子抓起来，及时把他们拖下轨道。但福尔佐得把跳车的时间计算得很精确。跳得太早，火车就会把他掀倒到孩子们身上。跳得太晚，火车就会把孩子们碾到车轮底下。
所幸福尔佐的时间可算是相当精确。在千钧一发之际，他跳下火车，跨了两大步，一把抓住孩子们。他把托德和斯科特分别夹在腋下，又迅速将他们摁倒在路基的砂石里。火车经过时，其边缘离他们的头顶仅几英寸。
火车终于停下来了，第三节车厢就停在他们头顶上几英寸的地方。孩子们安然无恙。幸运的是，斯科特的擦伤并不严重。缝了13针之后，他就完全没事了。凯蒂·普里查德说，“对托尼（福尔佐）的救命之恩，我们将永远感激不尽。韦氏大字典里也找不到一个词能表达这种感情。”
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