They were tired, too, and burdened by the heat and the weight of their equipment, and theywere anxious to evacuate the building. But because some of them were not aware of the other building s collapse, and because the towers had always seemed somehow immortal, they did not feel at that moment that there was great urgency.
他们自己也疲惫不堪,闷热与沉重的消防器械更使他们不胜重负,而且他们急于把人们疏散出大楼。但由于他们中有的并不知道另一幢楼已经倒塌,由于这两幢塔楼一向显得牢不可破,此时此刻,他们并不觉得情形相当紧迫。
None of them expected the terrible, otherworldly, thunderous sound; none of them expected the rumble that, in an instant, signaled catastrophe. Time stands still at moments like that. They stretch out long enough to give people pause, to consider what dying would mean. Bill Butler thought, I didn't even get to say good-bye to my wife and kids. Clearly, this was it. They had done their best, and now it was over. They prayed for it to be over quickly;they repented and asked for forgiveness; they thought of loved ones.
他们谁也没料到会传来那可怕的、地狱般的轰隆声;他们谁也没料到,刹那间,那轰隆声就是灾难的信号。在那样的时刻,时间似乎凝固了。凝固的时间长得足以让人们停下来想一想死亡意味着什么。比尔·巴特勒想,我甚至没能跟老婆孩子告别呢。显然此刻就是那样的时刻到来了。他们尽了全力,现在一切都结束了。他们祈祷着快快完结;他们忏悔,祈求宽恕;他们想着挚爱的亲人。
And then everything turned to dust around them. One hundred and five floors above them cametumbling down, each crushing the one under it with greater force. Within seconds the proud,shiny tower had been turned to sand-sized pieces of rubble, taking thousands of lives in itsshattering wake.
随后周围的一切都变为灰尘。他们上面的105层楼统统轰然倒塌下来,每一层都以更大的冲力撞向下一层。短短数秒之间,不可一世的、光芒耀眼的塔楼成为一堆细小的瓦砾,随着其倒塌破碎,上千条生命被夺去。
From all vantage points, there was no way for anyone to survive this disaster, and no obvious reason why the staircase at which Josephine had halted should have been spared. But miracles have their own reasons. And as the dust settled, Captain John (Jay) Jonas, Sal D'Agostino, Bill Butler, Tommy Falco, Mike Meldrum, Matt Komorowski and Josephine, thrown wildly through the debris, were left whole, if not exactly standing, seemingly buried alive.
无论从哪方面来看,没有人能从这场灾难中幸存,然而,不知什么原因,约瑟芬停下来的这段楼梯竟然会幸免于难。但奇迹自有其道理。等到尘埃落定,在瓦砾落下时被抛掷得东倒西歪的约翰(杰伊)·乔纳斯队长、萨尔·达格斯迪诺、比尔·巴特勒、托米·菲尔科、麦克·梅尔姆、迈特·科莫罗斯基和约瑟芬,即便没能完全顶住,看上去像是被活埋了似的,但却完好无损。