美国国家公共电台 NPR On Sept. 11, He Checked Hijackers Onto Flight 77. It's Haunted Him Ever Since

On Sept. 11, He Checked Hijackers Onto Flight 77. It's Haunted¹ Him Ever Since 

play pause stop mute² unmute max volume 00:0003:23repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser³ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

Fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is this weekend. StoryCorps and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum are recording⁴ a story for each life lost. On September 11, 2001, Vaughn Allex was working the ticket counter for American Airlines at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. Two men arrived at his counter late for Flight 77. Airport security was very different then. And Allex followed all the procedures in place at the time and checked them through. Turned out the two men were among the hijackers who crashed Flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing⁵ 189 people, including themselves.

VAUGHN ALLEX: I didn't know what I had done. It wasn't until the next day, September 12, that I started finding out what happened. I came to work, and people wouldn't look at me in the eye. And they handed me the manifest⁶ for the flight. I just stared at it for a second. And then I looked up. I go, I did, didn't I? I checked in a family. It was a retiree and his wife. I had time to talk to them. There was a student group, and I checked in a lot of those kids and parents, teachers. And they were gone. They were just all gone.

Once it became known, people didn't talk to me. And I had this wild kind of thing in my mind that everything that happened on Sept. 11 was my fault personally - that I could have changed it. I felt there was no place for me in the world. There were all these support groups. And I didn't belong there because how do I sit in a room with people that are mourning and crying? And they're, like, you know, what's your role in this whole thing? Well, I checked in a couple of the hijackers and made sure they got on the flight.

I might go weeks or months, and everything will be just going along fine. And then there'd be something that would trigger⁷ it. I was checking in somebody, and what she said was my husband got killed on Sept. 11. And what I heard was, you killed my husband on Sept. 11. You know, you don't really move past it. It's still always there in some form. But now, you know, I'm able to talk about it. I mean, I feel like, in some ways, I really have come out of a shadow over the last 15 years. And I'm back in the light now.

INSKEEP: Former ticket agent Vaughn Allex at StoryCorps in Potomac Falls, Va. Vaughn Allex retired⁸ from the airline now works for the Department of Homeland Security. And his interview will be housed at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and featured on the StoryCorps podcast.

1 haunted   

adj.闹鬼的；受到折磨的；令人烦恼的v.“haunt”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• There was a haunted look in his eyes. 他眼中透露出忧虑的神色。
• The country is haunted by the spectre of civil war. 内战仿佛一触即发，举国上下一片恐慌。

2 mute   

n.哑子，默音字母，弱音器；adj.哑的，无声的，沉默的；vt.减音，减弱；vi.（鸟）排泄

参考例句：

• He is mute on the subject of social system.他对社会制度的问题保持沉默。
• Her daughter was mute after a serious illness.她的女儿在一场重病之后失去了说话能力。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 manifest   

n.载货单，运货单，旅客名单；adj.显然的，明白的；vt.显示，证实，出示

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• That is manifest to all of us.那对我们大家来说是显而易见的。

7 trigger   

n.触发器，板机，制滑机；v.触发（事件）

参考例句：

• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again.他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。
• He pulled the trigger but the gun didn't go off.他打了一枪，没有发火。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。