15篇文章贯通六级词汇Unit12-Part2

[00:00.00]As a bewildered public endeavored to assimilate
[00:03.71]this overwhelming event,
[00:05.78]at 9∶03 a.m., a second hijacked¹ jet
[00:09.94]crashed into Two W.T.C.
[00:13.01]Millions of people around the world,
[00:16.08]having been alerted to the incident
[00:18.92]and now watching the terror
[00:20.56]unfold on their televisions,
[00:21.87]watched in shock as the second plane,
[00:24.94]in the blink of an eye,
[00:26.58]entered the south tower
[00:28.43]at approximately the seventy-second floor
[00:31.50]and partially² exited the opposite wall.
[00:34.89]Fire and police departments
[00:38.06]were mobilized immediately.
[00:39.48]Rapid evacuation of the buildings was crucial.
[00:44.13]Many workers on upper floors,
[00:46.86]knowing there was no escape,
[00:49.49]committed suicide by hurling⁴ themselves
[00:52.88]out of windows to their deaths.
[00:55.39]Then, 62 minutes after it had been crashed into,
[01:00.43]the south tower crumbled⁵ into the streets
[01:03.27]in a gigantic cloud of dust and debris⁶.
[01:06.44]Hundreds of police and firefighters
[01:10.06]intent on their rescue mission
[01:12.03]lost their lives as Two W.T.C. collapsed⁸.
[01:15.85]Drivers and attendants of emergency vehicles,
[01:19.14]unable to abandon their posts,
[01:21.55]died where they had stopped
[01:23.30]to give aid and assistance.
[01:25.81]Employees from the two towers,
[01:28.99]rushing to escape the raging fires,
[01:31.94]were caught in the wreckage⁹.
[01:33.91]Pedestrians, uncertain of which way to turn,
[01:37.30]and not convinced of the need for urgency,
[01:40.04]found themselves trapped
[01:42.01]in an avalanche¹⁰ of concrete.
[01:44.08]Members of the media,
[01:46.27]on their way to
[01:47.58]cover the breaking news of the disaster,
[01:49.77]became victims of it.
[01:51.96]Hundreds of commuters,
[01:54.47]on their way to work via subway,
[01:57.10]were trapped below ground with no escape possible.
[02:01.15]Hospital emergency departments,
[02:05.08]having been notified of the explosions,
[02:08.04]quickly prepared for the arrival of casualties.
[02:11.65]When the expected influx¹¹ failed to materialize,
[02:16.14]it could only mean that there were few survivors¹².
[02:19.53]One W.T.C. collapsed at 10∶30 a.m.,
[02:25.11]105 minutes after being hit,
[02:28.50]adding to the mass confusion in the streets.
[02:31.67]Seven W.T.C.,
[02:34.25]a later addition to the complex,
[02:36.66]was damaged,caught fire,
[02:38.85]and collapsed later that afternoon.
[02:41.14]Not one of the adjoining structures was left intact.
[02:45.85]In the aftermath of this incredible misfortune,
[02:50.45]the pieces of the puzzle
[02:52.31]began to be put in place.
[02:54.27]Shortly before 8∶00 a.m. on September 11, 2001,
[02:59.67]three commercial airliners¹³ were hijacked
[03:02.62]from Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.
[03:06.45]All were transcontinental flights
[03:09.18]with passengers destined¹⁴ for California
[03:12.02]and their full fuel tanks
[03:14.11]provided the ammunition¹⁵ critical
[03:16.08]to the mission of the hijackers.
[03:18.59] Authorities speculate that
[03:21.43]the pilots were assassinated¹⁶
[03:23.19]and their places taken by the terrorists
[03:26.03]who had had flight training.
[03:28.22]In all, there were 157 passengers
[03:32.70]and crew on the two planes.
[03:35.00]The third plane crashed in Pennsylvania
[03:38.28]killing 45 passengers and crew.
[03:41.13]A number of the hostages managed to
[03:44.96]use their cellular¹⁷ telephones to
[03:47.25]call their families to say goodbye.
[03:49.44]Everything occurred
[03:51.52]in such a short period of time that,
[03:53.49]other than alerting a handful of people
[03:56.12]that there were some hijackings,
[03:58.30]no one had any idea why.
[04:00.60]The dilemma¹⁸ was that there were no warnings,
[04:03.89]no demands for ransom¹⁹,
[04:05.63]and no hints that this bright,
[04:07.93]sunny September morning was about
[04:10.66]to become a day that will live forever
[04:12.85]in the minds of those
[04:14.16]who witnessed the tragedy.
[04:15.70]It will be years
[04:18.54]before the final toll²⁰ of damage
[04:20.41]will be known.
[04:21.61]To consolidate²¹ information,
[04:23.57]compute the financial losses,
[04:26.20]designate a monetary²² value for loss of life,
[04:29.59]fill the void left on the terrain²³,
[04:32.11]to make sense of this misfortune
[04:34.51]intended to undermine the foundation of America
[04:37.69]is a formidable assignment.
[04:40.21]We do know that
[04:42.17]destruction of the World Trade Center
[04:44.36]cost the lives of more than
[04:45.90]three thousand innocent people
[04:47.64]in the buildings, in the hijacked airplanes,
[04:50.81] and in the surrounding streets.
[04:52.78]Who can erase²⁴ the mental images of those planes
[04:57.49]smashing into the twin towers?
[04:59.57]Who is unable to visualize²⁵ the spectacle
[05:02.85]of terrified men and women
[05:04.93]jumping to their doom²⁶?
[05:06.68]How can those of us
[05:08.76]who observed the collapse⁷
[05:10.30]of the buildings fail to dwell
[05:12.04]on the loss of life caused by men,cowards,
[05:15.65]who lacked the fortitud
[05:17.73]to proclaim war on their alleged²⁷ enemy?
[05:20.25]Today, October 22, 2001,
[05:25.61]nine more corpses²⁸ were
[05:27.68]discovered in the rubbl,
[05:28.89]the first such discovery in several weeks.
[05:32.06]This may seem trivial when one considers
[05:35.45]the multitude of people who died.
[05:37.86]However, the fatalities²⁹
[05:40.71]aren't the only victims
[05:42.23]of this tragic³⁰ event.
[05:44.32]Their families, friends,
[05:46.72]and colleagues need closure.
[05:48.80]They need to know with certainty
[05:51.76]that their loved ones are dead
[05:54.16]and they need to bury the remains³¹.
[05:56.68]Unfortunately,most of the casualties
[06:00.83]will probably never be found
[06:02.81]because the heat produced
[06:04.66]by the ignition of jet fuel
[06:06.74]and the damage incurred³² by the impact
[06:09.37]would have instantaneously vaporized everything
[06:13.20]and everyone in the immediate³ vicinity.
[06:16.37]Others, in the buildings
[06:18.67]or on the streets as the towers collapsed
[06:21.51]are under so much debris
[06:23.70]that their bodies may
[06:25.13]not be found for months.
[06:26.87]The list of buildings collapsed
[06:29.61]and damaged includes all seven buildings
[06:32.45]of the W.T.C.complex comprising W.T.C.6,
[06:37.48]the U.S. Customs House to the north;
[06:40.77] W.T.C.3, the 22 story Marriott World Trade Center Hotel
[06:47.01]just west of Tower Two;
[06:49.20]W.T.C.4 and 5, the Plaza³³ Buildings,
[06:54.33]and One Liberty Plaza, a 54 story,
[06:58.38]743 foot high building to the east.
[07:03.09] Firefighters and recovery workers
[07:06.48]remain on the scene.
[07:07.90]The fires still smolder³⁴ beneath the ruins.
[07:11.08]The American spirit has been bruised³⁵
[07:15.12]and the land has been scarred.
[07:17.09]The citizens of this powerful nation
[07:19.94]now realize just how fragile
[07:22.67]and vulnerable their country is.
[07:24.86]Nevertheless,they are defiant³⁶.
[07:28.36]They do not consider themselves
[07:31.20]easy prey³⁷ for terrorists.
[07:33.28]They are still optimistic
[07:35.47]about their place in today's world.
[07:37.85]They assert that the nightmare
[07:40.69]visited upon them will be visited
[07:43.32]upon the perpetrators of this cowardly act.
[07:46.60]The World Trade Center is no more.
[07:49.88]The dream of an international axis³⁸ of business,
[07:54.15]once a reality,will be revised.
[07:57.76]Maybe having one place
[08:00.13]that is so prominent will also be rethought.
[08:03.63]Whatever the outcome,
[08:06.80]this massacre³⁹ has served
[08:08.44]to strengthen the resolve of a mighty⁴⁰ nation.
[08:11.62]The dream and dreamers will survive.
 

1 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

2 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 hurling   

n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• The boat rocked wildly, hurling him into the water. 这艘船剧烈地晃动，把他甩到水中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Fancy hurling away a good chance like that, the silly girl! 想想她竟然把这样一个好机会白白丢掉了，真是个傻姑娘！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

6 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

9 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

10 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

11 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

12 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

13 airliners   

n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fog grounded the airliners. 大雾迫使班机停飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They placed very stable and accurate atomic clocks on regularly scheduled jet airliners. 他们将非常稳定、准确的原子钟装在定期飞行的喷气式班机上。 来自辞典例句

14 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

15 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

16 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

17 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

18 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

19 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

20 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

21 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

22 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

23 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

24 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

25 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

26 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

27 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

28 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

29 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

30 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

31 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

32 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

33 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

34 smolder   

v.无火焰地闷烧；n.焖烧，文火

参考例句：

• The smolder will soon be a flame.闷火很快变为烈焰。
• It can smolder undetected for hours,then suddenly explode in fiery destruction.也有可能好几小时内不被发觉，突然激烈的爆炸。

35 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

36 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

37 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

38 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

39 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

40 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。