大學(xué)英語綜合教程第一冊 Unit 7a

[00:00.00] At first it seemed as if it might just be an old box or rags ahead of the train. [00:06.79]But then they realized just what it was. [00:10.92]"KIDS ON THE TRACK!" by Jack Murphu [00:15.86]Monday,May1,1989 was a pleasant morning in Ramsey [00:23.69]N.L Kate Pritchard bent over her car trunk [00:27.40]and struggled with the bags of groceries she'd just brought home [00:32.44]She heard the distant cry of a locomotive horn. [00:36.70]The trans of Conrail passed less than 300 feet from the Pritchards' house [00:44.09]No fence separated their backyard from the track only a thick row of trees [00:50.94]But,her sons,31/2-year-old Todd and 18-month-old Scott, [00:57.68]were nearby,playing on the driveway. [01:02.12]"Stay right there,"Kate said,"while Mommy puts the groceries away. [01:07.89]Then we'll go inside and have lunch,okay?" [01:12.65]"Okay!"said Todd,giving a thumbs-up gesture he'd seen his father make. [01:19.70]"kay!"echoed Scott,trying to copy his older brother. [01:25.66]They watched their mother enter the house with several bags. [01:30.10]Kate shut the refrigerator and hurried outside. [01:34.30]Good.The boys were plaing right where she'd left them. [01:39.74]As she lifted more bags from the trunk, [01:43.58]Kate heard a train race past a passenger express,she judged from its speed [01:50.63]She carried more bags into the house. [01:54.23]The sounds of the train apparently drew the boys' attention to the track. [02:00.24]After making their way through the trees [02:04.79]they climbed to the top of the steep roadbed, [02:09.15]knelt down along the railroad and began to play. [02:14.11]A few thousand feet west,a freight train rolled slowly toward the children [02:22.05]Overhead lights signaled to enginaeer Rich Campana [02:27.20]that the passenger train ahead was out of the way. [02:32.16]and they could resume their normal speed of 40 miles per hour. [02:38.54]The engineer adjusted the accelerator [02:43.08]then turned to conductor Anthony Falzo [02:47.84]a man medium in height and strongly built, [02:52.80]who had worked for Conrail for almost half of his 35 years. [02:58.86]"So what'd you do over the weekend,Anthony?" [03:04.22]"Oh,not much.Mostly messing around a little TV,then bed. What else?" [03:13.88]Campana smiled. [03:16.44]Hey,you'd better cool down,Anthony you're getting to be a real party animal [03:23.52]The two men laughed. [03:25.98]They were still laughing as the train began gathering speed, [03:31.54]moving at 21 miles per hour. [03:35.69]Rich and Anthony spotted something ahead at the same instant. [03:42.15]"What's that up there?"asked the engineer.Anthony didn't answer. [03:48.91]Staring intently,he was trying to identify the curious shape on the track ahead [03:56.36]A box ? Old rags ? [04:01.03]Suddenly both men realized what it was [04:05.97]Rich threw on the emergency brake [04:09.52]and pulled on the air-horn handle with all his strength. [04:14.20]The horn's blast and Anthony's words exploded at the same time: [04:20.44]"Kids'on the Track!" [04:22.90]Anthony sprang through the cab door onto a narrow running board [04:28.25]six feet above the wheels and raced [04:33.01]to the front of the swaying train. [04:36.45]Climbing quickly down a steel ladder,he paused at the bottom [04:41.73]two feet above the roadbed flashing by. [04:46.46]Now he could clearly see the two little children. [04:51.11]They were sitting alongside the raih [04:54.95]Anthony waved wildly and shouted,"Get away! Get away!" [05:01.30]He mentally calculated the train's deceleration rate and groaned. [05:07.07]We'1l never stop in time. [05:10.62]Absorbed in play,Todd and Scott did not hear the train. [05:16.55]Finally,as the sound became thunderous,Scott looked up and froze. [05:23.60]Though the train was slowing, [05:26.56]Anthony knew it was still going faster than he could run [05:31.31]So he forced himself to wait [05:34.76]until he would be close enough to leap off and grab the boys [05:40.79]With perhaps ten feet left between them [05:45.03]and the sharp-edged snowplow blade at the front of the train [05:50.77]Anthony sprang forward frogm the ladder. [05:54.43]Landing on the loose,fist-size stones along side the track [06:00.49]he had to struggle to keep his balance. [06:03.81]In two giant steps he almost reached the children [06:09.66]They stared up at him in wide-eyed shock. [06:13.32]Anthony,throwing his body into space,flew toward them. [06:19.59]The unending blast of the train horn struck Kate Pritchard like a hammer blow [06:26.01]"The boys!"she cried,and raced out the door.They were gone! [06:31.86]The track, she thought. I must get to the track! [06:37.71]As his body crashed downward [06:41.66]Anthony covered Todd while reaching out with one arm to grab Scott [06:47.12]and pull him clear of the track [06:50.67]But the train had caught up to them. [06:54.01]Anthony saw the black steel edge of the snow plow blad [06:59.76]hit the young child under the chin, [07:02.87]driving his head back and scraping over his face [07:08.33]Instantly, blood flashed across the boy's forehead. [07:13.68]Part of the train then punched into the back of Anthony's work jacket, [07:19.04]tearing the nylon fabric.Still [07:23.69]Anthony managed to pull Scott completely under him. [07:29.62]He's dead,Anthony thought. [07:32.78]He felt sick with horror.Burying his face in the stones [07:38.71]he pushed downward on the two boys with all his strength [07:43.54]as the train passed inches above them. [07:48.30]The first person Kate saw when she reached the halted train was Tod [07:54.46]Her older boy was jumping up and down and crying uncontrollably. [08:00.81]But Kate could see he wasn't injured [08:05.46]She grabbed and hugged him. [08:08.02]Then she saw the still figure of a man lying under the third car [08:14.24]Sott's head,a mask of darkening blood,was visible under him. [08:21.05]Kate ran to them. "Scott!" she screamed. [08:26.12]Anthony twisted to face her. [08:29.44]"Lady,"he said, his voice calm,"go to your house. [08:36.10]Call the police and ambulance. [08:39.97]Kate,only half hearing him,extended her arms to take her baby. [08:45.30]Anthony spoke again [08:48.46]more sharply,"Ma'am, listen! [08:52.40]Go to your house and call the police-call an ambulance. Go!" [09:00.34]Kate tore back to the house, [09:03.11]made the calls,then reached her husband, Gary,via his beeper. [09:09.07]When the first police car arrived,Anthony was still holding little Scott. [09:15.60]The conductor knew from the child's cries [09:19.83]that he was alive, [09:22.16]but Scott might have intermal injuries that any movement could worsen [09:28.82]So Anthony insisted the emergency personnel [09:34.17]check the boy before he would release his grip [09:38.93]Miraculously,Scott's injuries were not serious,requiring just 13 stitches. [09:48.17]There had only been 14 inches between the plow blade and the ground [09:55.83]Reporters later asked Anthony if he had hesitated before risking his life. [10:02.98]"No,"he replied. [10:05.41]"All I could think was that those two little kids [10:10.06]have their whole lives still ahead of them [10:13.69]and if I do nothing,they're dead. [10:17.51]There was no way I could let that happen." [10:21.77]Soon after the incident,Anthony visited the Pritchards'home [10:27.02]He recalls putting his arms around Todd and Scott and lifting them. [10:33.03]"It made me remember the moment [10:36.37]when I first sheltered them under the train. [10:40.31]It was a strange feeling,holding them again and wonderful too." [10:47.26]Since that first visit, [10:49.90]the Pritchards say that Anthony has almost become a member of the family [10:55.18]They also report [10:57.92]that a fence now separates their neighborhood from the railroad track. [11:04.76]trunk\ struggle with\ grocery\ locomotive [11:12.71]horn\ nearby\ thumbs-up\ gesture [11:18.58]echo\ draw sb's attention to\ steep\ kneel [11:25.53]freight\ overhead\ signal\ out of the way [11:31.59]resume\ per\ accelerator\ conductor [11:37.76]medium\ mess\ mess around\ hey [11:43.01]cool down\ spot\ instant\ intently [11:48.96]rag\ brake\ pull out\ with all one's strength [11:54.92]blast\ explode\ sway\ flash [12:00.82]calculate\ deceleration\ groan\ thunderous [12:07.77]leap\ grab\ blade\ loose [12:13.34]hammer\ crash\ reach out\ clear of [12:19.11]scrape\ instantly\ forehead\ punch [12:24.75]nylon\ fabric\ horror\ up and down [12:30.71]injure\ hug\ mask\ visible [12:36.45]twist\ ambulance\ ma'am\ via [12:42.49]beeper\ internal\ miraculously\ stitch [12:48.42]risk no way incident\ shelter

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