Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 9:00 A.M. Dad once told Lucas that what he liked most about fighting fires was that everyone had a job to do. "If you don't work together, you don't put out the fire." Now, Lucas looked around the firehouse. He needed a job, he realized. Something he could do to help. He went into the kitchen. The table was covered with plates of half-eaten bacon and eggs. The sink was overflowing with dirty pots.

第八章上午9点爸爸曾经告诉卢卡斯，他最喜欢灭火的一点是每个人都有工作可做。 “如果你们不齐心协力，就无法扑灭这场大火。” 卢卡斯环顾了一下消防站。 他意识到自己需要一份工作。 他能帮上忙的事。 他走进厨房。桌上摆满了一盘盘吃了一半的熏肉和鸡蛋。 水池里满是脏罐子。

He got to work, clearing the dishes and glasses from the table. Every few minutes the alarm box squawked, and the dispatcher came on with a new alarm. "All units meet at Vesey and West streets…." The TV was on the counter, the sound turned down. The picture on the screen showed the burning tower. Lucas reached out and turned the volume up so he could hear it over the voice of the dispatcher. "If you're just joining us, ladies and gentlemen," the TV man's voice said, "you're looking at an extraordinary sight. Just a few minutes ago, a plane crashed into Tower One at New York's famed World Trade Center. We have no official information about what kind of plane it was, but witnesses report it was a commercial jet." Lucas picked up Georgie's huge cast-iron skillet and started scrubbing. "The towers were built in 1970," the man continued. "At 110 floors each, they were once the tallest buildings in the world. There are hundreds of firefighters on the scene. We have reports that firefighters have been entering the building and

他开始工作，把桌上的盘子和玻璃杯清理干净。 每隔几分钟，警报箱就会发出嘎嘎声，调度员就会发出新的警报。 所有单位在维西街和韦斯特街集合.... 电视放在柜台上，声音关小了。 屏幕上的图片显示了燃烧的塔。 卢卡斯伸出手，把音量调大，这样他就能在调度员的声音中听到了。 “女士们，先生们，如果你刚刚加入我们，”电视主持人的声音说，“你正在看到一个非凡的景象。 就在几分钟前，一架飞机撞上了纽约著名的世贸中心一号塔。 我们没有关于飞机类型的官方信息，但目击者称这是一架商用飞机。” 卢卡斯拿起乔治的大铸铁煎锅，开始擦洗。 “这些塔建于1970年，”那人继续说。 它们都有110层，曾经是世界上最高的建筑。 现场有数百名消防员。 我们接到报告说消防员已经进入了大楼

heading up the stairs to reach people who might need assistance. It's an amazing sight." The smoke was thicker now, painting the blue sky a dirty brown. There were white dots floating in the smoke — almost like confetti. Paper, Lucas realized. Millions of pieces of paper, swept out through the hole in the building. The man kept talking about the towers — that they took four years to build, that they could withstand winds of 140 miles per hour, that 50,000 people worked there. His voice was calm, almost like a teacher giving a history lesson. Lucas was reaching up to hang the heavy skillet on the hook over the sink. Suddenly the man on the TV gasped. "Oh, my God! What was that? Another explosion! Ladies and gentlemen — it looks like a second plane… yes, another jet. It has just crashed into the second tower." The heavy skillet slipped out of Lucas's hand and into the sink, shattering plates and glasses. Lucas barely noticed. His eyes did not move from the TV screen.

上楼去找可能需要帮助的人。 这是一个令人惊叹的景象。”烟雾更浓了，把蓝色的天空染成了肮脏的棕色。 烟雾中漂浮着白点——几乎像五彩纸屑。 是纸，卢卡斯意识到。数以百万计的纸，从大楼的洞里卷了出来。 那人一直在谈论双子塔——他们花了四年时间建造，他们可以承受每小时140英里的大风，有5万人在那里工作。 他的声音很平静，几乎像老师在上历史课。 卢卡斯伸手把那只沉重的煎锅挂在水槽上方的钩子上。 突然，电视上的那个人倒吸了一口气。 “哦，我的上帝!”那是什么? 另一个爆炸!女士们先生们——看起来像是第二架飞机……是的，另一架飞机。 它刚刚撞上了第二座塔楼。” 沉重的平底锅从卢卡斯手中滑到水池里，把盘子和玻璃杯都打碎了。 卢卡斯几乎没有注意到。他的眼睛没有离开电视屏幕。

"Ladies and gentlemen," the man said again, his voice shaking. "We're going to replay the video of what we just saw…." The screen flipped. It showed the North Tower burning. And then suddenly, on the left side of the screen, another plane appeared. Just like the first, it was a big jet. And quick as a blink, it slammed into the other tower, exploding into a fireball. Fire erupted out of all sides of the building, a ring of flaming blackness. Now there were two clouds of churning black smoke. Lucas's heart pounded. It was hard to breathe. There were more people talking on the TV now, not just the man. "Oh my… oh my… that looked…" one woman said. "What did we just see?" said another. "Ladies and gentlemen," the man said. "We have just witnessed the horrific sight of a second plane hitting the other tower — the South Tower…. There was a massive explosion." "There must be a computer problem, a complete failure of the air traffic control system," said the first woman.

“女士们，先生们，”那人又说了一遍，声音颤抖着。 “我们将重新播放我们刚刚看到的视频....” 屏幕翻转了。视频显示北塔在燃烧。 突然，在屏幕的左侧，另一架飞机出现了。 就像第一次一样，它是一架大喷气式飞机。 转眼间，它猛地撞向另一座塔，爆炸成一个火球。 火焰从大楼四周喷出，形成一圈燃烧的黑暗。 现在有两团翻腾的黑烟。 卢卡斯的心怦怦直跳。呼吸都很困难。 现在有更多的人在电视上说话，而不仅仅是那个人。 “哦，天哪……哦，天哪……那看起来……”一位女士说。 “我们刚才看到了什么?”另一个说。 “女士们，先生们，”那人说。 “我们刚刚目睹了第二架飞机撞上另一座塔——南塔....的可怕景象 发生了巨大的爆炸。” “一定是电脑出了问题，空中交通管制系统完全失灵了，”第一位女士说。

What the man said next made Lucas's entire body start to shake. "That did not look like an accident," he said. "It looks like that plane flew into that tower on purpose. I think this is some kind of attack."

那人接下来说的话让卢卡斯整个身体开始颤抖。 “那看起来不像是意外，”他说。 “看起来那架飞机是故意飞进那座塔的。 我认为这是某种攻击。”