Chinese mourn bus driver folk hero who saved 24

 HANGZHOU, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese are mourning the death of a bus driver who maintained control of his vehicle, which was carrying 24 passengers, after a piece of heavy sheet steel struck him after passing through the bus' windscreen last Tuesday.

People swarmed¹ to mourn and pay their respects to Wu Bin², the 48-year-old bus driver, at a mourning hall erected³ at his home.

"He saved 24 lives and left no regrets," said Wang Lizhen, Wu's wife of 18 years, to the mourners while holding her husband's portrait.

"It was forever our dream to take a trip to Yunnan for our wedding anniversary, but now we can only fulfill⁴ our dream someday in heaven," said Wang.

Wu died on Friday due to injuries sustained from the accident, when he was driving on the highway from Wuxi to Hangzhou in east China.

A surveillance video shows that after Wu was struck and while in immense pain, he managed to pull over, brake, turn on the flash lamp and ask the passengers not to wander on the highway.

"I use to be a solider on the battle field. From the video, Wu Bin was enduring a piercing and strong pain which was like he'd be hit by a bomb blast," said 78-year-old Zhang Mingkang, a citizen in Hangzhou.

The old man brought his calligraphy⁵ work which read "A folk hero, a moral model."

Numerous wreathes with elegiac couplets stretched for dozens of meters nearby Wu's home in Hangzhou.

"If it was not you, we 24 were doomed⁶ to suffer a disaster. But we lost the chance to pay our gratitude⁷ to him," said Zhu Laiqun, who was one of the 24 bus passengers.

To Zhu and other passengers, it seemed nearly impossible for Wu to control the bus after he was struck by such a heavy piece of steel.

China's Ministry⁸ of Transport named Wu "a model dedicated⁹ driver" on Monday.

Before that, he was was awarded posthumously¹⁰ by his hometown Hangzhou as a "moral model."

As a native of Hangzhou, Wu's father was once an army man and his mother a bank clerk.

In fact, it was a surprising deed for Wu as a good driver who had no accident and received no passengers' complaints in 10 years with 1 million kilometers driving experience.

"It is the best proof for Wu as good driver as well as a warm hearted man. He was always ready to offer a hand whenever we needed someone to fill in for a change shifts," said Chen Bo, a colleague of Wu.

"Wu's act tells us that there are really heros who care only for others in the life-or-death moment," said Zhang Quanming, a Shanghai citizen who drove three hours to Hangzhou.

"We should let our kids know this spirit," said Zhang in tears with his family of seven he'd taken to pay homage¹¹ to Wu.

1 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

4 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

5 calligraphy   

n.书法

参考例句：

• At the calligraphy competition,people asked him to write a few characters.书法比赛会上，人们请他留字。
• His calligraphy is vigorous and forceful.他的书法苍劲有力。

6 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

7 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

10 posthumously   

adv.于死后，于身后；于著作者死后出版地

参考例句：

• He was confirmed posthumously as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. 他被追认为中国共产党党员。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her last book was published posthumously in 1948. 她最后的一本书在她死后于1948 年出版了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。