新发展大学英语阅读与写作3unit1的课文翻译

Heroes: Roadside Inferno

英雄：路边噩梦

The big rig was about to explode and the driver's legs were engulfed in flames. The Coopers came to the rescue.

大卡车即将爆炸，司机双腿又被火所伤，千钧一发之时，库帕夫妇挺身相救。

By Jason Kersten

作者：约翰.克斯滕

Looks like a brush fire, Kim Cooper thought as she spotted an orange glow ahead on Interstate 75. It was near dusk, and she and her husband, Steve, were trucking through northern Kentucky hauling auto parts from Louisville to Detroit for a freight company. Steve, 59, was fast asleep in the truck's living quarters as Kim, 52, drove up to the scene. That's when she saw it was much worse than a brush fire.

金.库珀（Kim Cooper）回忆说，当时已近黄昏，她和她的丈夫史蒂夫（Steve）开着一辆牵引货车，从肯塔基州北部的一家货运公司运送汽车零部件到路易斯维尔底特律，正行驶在75号州际公路上，前面有一个橙色发光体，看起来就像是发生了丛林火灾。59岁的史蒂夫那时正躺在卡车的生活层熟睡着，52岁的金开着车。她所见到的可是一场比丛林大火更为严重的事件。

"Steve, wake up!" she shouted. "There's a truck on fire!" A big rig had tumbled down an embankment, and flames were crawling across its cab. Kim yanked their truck to the side of the road, and Steve pulled on his clothes. Then he scrambled down the slope.

“史蒂夫，快醒醒！”她尖叫道，“有一辆大卡车着火了！”。一辆大卡车已经冲出了路堤，火焰正在向驾驶室蔓延。金猛踩刹车，将他们的卡车停到公路旁，史蒂夫披上衣服就向斜坡飞奔过去。

Inside the burning truck, Ronnie Sanders, 38, was fighting for his life. He'd been running a heavy load of tractors and forklifts from Georgia to Indianapolis when a Grand Caravan in front of him stopped suddenly in traffic on the icy road. As Ronnie bore down, he could see children in the

backseat. The truck's bulk would probably protect him from the worst of the impact, but the momentum of 23 tons would likely crush everyone inside the van.

燃烧的卡车内，38岁的罗尼.桑德斯（Ronnie Sanders）正在奋力挣扎。他正将一车的拖拉机和铲车从格鲁吉亚运送到印第安纳波利斯，他面前的一辆道奇（Grand Caravan）车在结冰的道路上突然熄火停了下来。罗尼紧急刹车，他几乎可以看到前车后座的儿童。若追尾撞上，前车的货舱应该可以使他免受最严重的伤害，但以他这辆23吨大块头的惯性，可能会压碎前面面包车内的每一个人。

"In Kentucky, the hills are steep, but at that moment, I didn't think about it," he says of that evening last November. "I figured instead of killing other people, I'd just put the truck in the ditch." He jerked the wheel to the right, somehow keeping the truck upright as it plowed 60 feet down the embankment. At the bottom, rocks pierced a fuel tank, which ignited. A tree branch smashed through the windshield and knocked Ronnie unconscious. He came to a couple of minutes later to find the cab in flames and his legs on fire.

“在肯塔基州，山路很是陡峭的，但在那一刻，我没想那么多了，”会想起去年11月的那天晚上，他说，“我不能伤害其他人，于是我就想把车转向路边的沟里。”他向右猛打方向盘，尽量拉直车身，车子滑行了60英尺左右，冲出了路堤。岩石划破了车底部的一个油箱，并引起了大火。树枝击穿了挡风玻璃，将罗尼撞昏过去。几分钟后他醒来，发现驾驶舱已经着火，并且已烧到了他的腿。

Ronnie yelled for help as he struggled to escape. But the cab was smashed in, and try as he might, he couldn't untangle himself from his seat belt.

罗尼大声呼助，挣扎着想逃离现场。但是，驾驶舱已被撞变形，他努力挣扎，但依然无法解开安全带。

As Steve bolted down the slope, he could hear Ronnie's cries ahead. Then a thundering sound erupted behind him.

史蒂夫向坡下急奔，他听得见前面罗尼的呼救声。这时，他身后传来一阵震耳欲聋的撞击声。

A Ford Taurus, which had lost control in the melee above, had skidded off the highway and was now barreling down the slope directly at him. With no time to dive out of the way, he leaped upward and sailed over the car's hood.

一辆福特金牛座（Ford Taurus）轿车在事故现场失去控制，滑出了公路，顺着斜坡直直地向他冲了过来。想倒地躲过去已没有时间了，他一跃而起，扑到了汽车的引擎盖上。

The Taurus came to a halt close to the truck. Kim was already scrambling toward the car. Its passengers appeared shaken but

unharmed as she helped maneuver the car away from the burning truck. Meanwhile, Steve dashed to Ronnie, who was dangling headfirst from the passenger door. Ronnie had used his pocketknife to cut himself free from the driver's-side seat belt only to get his boot ensnared in another one. Steve climbed into the burning cab to free him.

金牛座车在卡车旁边停了下来。金已经向汽车跑来了。车上的乘客惊慌失措，还好没有受到伤害，她指挥该车开离了燃烧的卡车。与此同时，史蒂夫冲向罗尼，他的头垂挂在副驾驶舱门前。罗尼已用他的折叠刀割开了驾驶员座位的安全带，但仅只摆脱一只脚。史蒂夫爬上驾驶舱来救他。

"All that was going through my mind was, My God, I do not want to be here," Steve recalls. "It was so hot, I could hardly stand it."

“我只记得当时我想：上帝，我真不想呆在这里，”史蒂夫回忆说。“真是太烫了，我几乎受不了了。”

He tried three times to pull Ronnie out before finally freeing him. But Ronnie's legs were still burning, so Steve laid him on the ground, ripped off his own shirt, and beat the flames with it. He'd managed to drag him about 20 yards when one of the truck's 150-gallon fuel tanks exploded.

他试了三次，终于将罗尼救了出来。但罗尼的腿仍在燃烧，于是史蒂夫将他躺在地上，撕下自己的衬衫，扑灭了火焰。他设法拖着他走了20码左右时，卡车的一个150加仑的油箱爆炸了。

"It was like a cannon blast," says Steve. "The percussive force hurt my chest. It just picked me up and blew me back." Fortunately, the explosion was aimed skyward.

“这就像一门大炮爆炸，”史蒂夫说，“爆炸的冲击力伤害到了我的胸部。它把我掀了起来，又把我拉了回来。”幸运的是，爆炸的冲击力主要是向着天空了。

Steve got up and peeled off what was left of Ronnie's smoldering jeans and held his hand while they waited for the ambulance, as Kim raced up and down the slope, grabbing wet towels and a blanket.

史蒂夫爬了起来，脱去罗尼冒烟的牛仔裤，握着他的手，等待救护车的到来，金则在斜坡上下来回跑，拿来了湿毛巾和毯子。

Both Steve and Ronnie paid a price for risking their lives for strangers. Ronnie spent two months in the hospital and received skin grafts on both of his legs. He now wears compression garments for his scars and gets physical therapy twice a week. "If Steve hadn't done what he did, I probably would have been toast," he says. Steve suffered smoke inhalation and minor burns, and shrapnel from the explosion broke a tooth.

罗尼和史蒂夫都因为救他人的生命而付出了代价。罗尼住院住了两个月，双

腿都接受了植皮。现在，因为伤疤，他穿着具压缩作用的衣服，每周得理疗两次。他说：“如果没有史蒂夫来救我，我可能会被烤成面包了”。史蒂夫也遭受吸入浓烟和轻微烧伤，并且，爆炸产生的碎片打破了他的一颗牙齿。

In February, the Coopers received a Hero of the Highway award from the Open Road Foundation for rescuing an injured driver. Steve insists Ronnie is the real hero: "If he hadn't gone into the ditch, he would have hit that van. It was his decision to drive off the road."

2月份，库帕夫妇因为抢救受伤司机，被“开放公路基金会”授予“高速公路英雄”奖章一枚。史蒂夫认为罗尼才是真正的英雄：“如果他没有将车开到沟里去，他就会撞上皮卡车。是他决定开离公路的。”

"I feel pretty good about it," says Ronnie. "A lot of people could have been hurt."

“我对此感觉非常棒，”罗尼说，“否则，可能会有更多的人受到伤害。”几天前的早上，在佛罗里达的克利尔沃特,玛雅·卡扎迪克凝视着73000加仑大的水族池。两

年了，她都在观察着一条叫“冬天”的受过伤的宽吻海豚如何在水槽里游动。从远处看，这条海豚似乎很容易接近。但是，当卡扎迪克准备跳入水的时候，兴奋之余又稍显恐惧。

这个年轻女子放松下来进入池子。尽管她有点害怕，但装着新假肢的她感觉自己很强健。她做好了去履行很久以前的诺言的准备。

在跳进去和“冬天”在一起前，“我起了鸡皮疙瘩，”卡扎迪克说。“这让人提心吊胆，因为即便海豚们看上去很可爱，它们毕竟是野生动物。”

卡迪扎克在南斯拉夫的莫斯塔尔（现在是波黑的一部分）读二年级时，白血病夺走了她5岁的表妹，加斯米娜。加斯米娜死后，卡扎迪克誓言一定要与一条海豚游泳，以此来纪念这个小女孩，因为这是两个小女孩都很喜欢的动物。“加斯米娜从未有过机会（去做这个) ，”32岁的卡扎迪克说，“所以我决定将来一定替她完成夙愿。”

在中学，体育运动——足球，篮球，网球是卡扎迪克所酷爱的。她希望成为一个职业运动员。接着，1993年，在波斯尼亚内战期间，克罗地亚分离主义者发射的一枚迫击炮弹在她的建筑物的院子内爆炸。6个和她正聊天的朋友丧身；16岁的卡扎迪克重伤。榴弹片击穿她的左臂和双腿。

在一个临时医院，她的左腿无法修复而不得不膝盖以下全部截去。“那儿没有麻药，”她回忆。“他们将我捆住，嘴里塞一块橡胶用来紧咬着。我痛不欲生。”她的腿伤感染了；没有抗生素，她意识有时清醒有时模糊。她父母在她的床边守夜守了好几个星期。在战争中转移了很多孩子的英国活动家，萨利·贝壳，安排将卡扎迪克带至美国进行治疗。

卡扎迪克在马里兰州坎伯兰的一个医院住了近两年，受到来自“和平老兵”的志愿者的悉心呵护。（她父亲在另外一次炮击中受伤，她母亲待在波斯尼亚照料他和卡扎迪克10

岁的弟弟。）在几个月内，卡扎迪克收到了她的第一个假肢。因为那儿几乎没有骨头了，义肢很难装上去，而且她的右腿也有伤残，走路时疼痛无比。尽管如此，她还是支撑着从当地一所中学毕业。18岁时，她离开医院，搬进一所公寓，和一个难民同伴住一起。

她父母最后搬到马里兰州和她在一起，但是卡扎迪克已经完全自食其力。在宾夕法尼亚州的圣弗朗西斯大学获得一个心理学文学士学位后，她搬到佛罗里达的墨西哥湾，在一个保险公司找到一份工作而且最后开了她自己的网站发展公司。在十数次手术后，她偶尔可以打一场高尔夫球或者一局网球了。但她还是要借着有缺陷的义肢蹒跚而行，每次活动都会让她剧烈疼痛好多天。

她家在坦帕棕榈港，离她家不远处有个克利尔沃特海洋水族馆，她会放松地看着海豚们在那儿玩耍。一只小海豚，叫“冬天”，以前因困于捕蟹笼而失去了尾巴，吸引了卡扎迪克的目光：“她游泳时更像是一只虾，而不是海豚。我和她发生了共鸣。”

看医生回来后，卡扎迪克出现在水族馆，心情很郁闷。训练师在给“冬天”安装一个高科技的尾巴——一个灵活的钢关节，外面包着有机硅塑料，并用一个特别设计的凝胶衬里来保护海豚脆弱的皮肤。当弄好以后，“冬天”在水里飞快地畅游。

卡扎迪克被迷住了。如果她可以做到，那我也不会做不到，她这么想。她找到了训练师，从他们那儿她得以联系上发明者，马里兰州贝塞斯达的“支架的修复和矫正”公司。不到10天，她就得到了一个新的义肢。用了这个软衬材料和内置的微处理器来调节不同活动和地形的舒适度后，“差不多16年了，使我第一次摆脱了痛苦。”

8个月后，卡扎迪克准备履行她要纪念加斯米娜的承诺。母亲阿兹拉和父亲木格蒂姆陪伴着她来到水族馆。“相比战区的经历，这显得非常轻松，”卡扎迪克慢慢进入水槽时说。她向“冬天”伸出一只手，而“冬天”谨慎地靠近后轻柔地游走了。几分钟后，这条海豚可以让卡扎迪克拍打她的背部。最后，“冬天”用鼻子掘她的肩膀。然后她们在池子里游

了长达一个小时。

她母亲开始哭了。“当玛雅说她要去做一些事时，她总是能做到，”她说。当卡扎迪克爬出池子时，她父母拥住了她。

要不是意识到海豚对噪音敏感的话，她会当即就在池边欢呼雀跃。取而代之的是，她静静地说，“我感到我欠着别人一些东西，而我现在偿还了。” 在外边的停车场，她爬进她的车，大声欢呼着，直到声嘶力竭为止。