2006年VOA标准英语-Cockpit Recording from Hijacked Plane Play

By Jim Malone
Washington
12 April 2006

Jurors in the death penalty trial of convicted terror conspirator¹ Zacarias Moussaoui heard chilling tapes from the cockpit of United Airlines Flight 93, one of four planes hijacked² as part of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 

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A police officer stands behind  media area outside US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, during Moussaoui sentencing trial     
  

A federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, must decide whether Moussaoui should be executed or sent to prison for life.

As part of the prosecution's arguments in favor of the death penalty, cockpit tapes from Flight 93 were played in court for the first time.

Flight 93 is the plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to retake control of the aircraft from four hijackers on September 11th, 2001.

The cockpit tape begins with the voice of one of the hijackers warning passengers that there is a bomb on board and telling them to sit down and shut up.

Later, another voice from cockpit, possibly a crewmember, is heard to say, "Please do not hurt me, oh God."  Seconds later, another person is heard to say, "I do not want to die."

Passengers on board already knew of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington and decided⁴ to storm the cockpit in an effort to retake control of the plane.

Artist's rendering⁵ shows NTSB Chief of Recorder Division James Cash, second from left, testifying about cockpit recording⁶ from UA Flight 93, as Zacarias Moussaoui, left, listens, April 12, 2006  
  
Later on the tape, as a struggle apparently⁷ ensues in or near the cockpit between the hijackers and passengers, one of the passengers urges on the others, saying, "If we don't, we die."  One of the hijackers is heard to say, "They want to get in.  Hold from within."

At this point, signs of an apparent struggle are heard on the tape, with one of the hijackers saying, "Give it to me, give it to me," likely referring to the plane's controls.

The hijacker³ in control of the plane began to rock it from side to side in hopes of preventing the passengers from crashing into the cockpit with a food cart.  One of hijackers yelled, "Allah is the greatest," right before the plane crashed into a field in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The dramatic airing of the audiotapes from Flight 93 helped to wrap up the prosecution's arguments in the Moussaoui case.  They maintain Moussaoui lied about his knowledge of the 9/11 plot when he was arrested in Minnesota three weeks before the attacks.

Hamilton Peterson favors the death penalty for Moussaoui.  He lost his father and stepmother in the crash of Flight 93 and has heard the tapes before.

"I think it captures the American spirit," he said.  "It is truly remarkable⁸ that when one appreciates the brutality⁹ and the complexity¹⁰ of the conspiracy¹¹, that in a matter of moments, these brave Americans overcame a horrific challenge."

When the trial resumes, Moussaoui's defense¹² attorneys will have their turn to try and convince the jury to spare their client's life and send him to prison for life without chance of parole.

George Washington University legal expert Jonathan Turley predicts that Moussaoui's defense team will have an uphill struggle.

"This is going to be a very difficult role for the defense because there is virtually nothing that they can present," he explained.  "They will very likely try to chip away, as best they can, at Moussaoui's instability and the fact that he seems to relish¹³ the idea of dying in connection with 9/11."

Moussaoui's lawyers maintain their client knew little of the 9/11 plot and that the U.S. government bungled¹⁴ other clues that might have helped unravel¹⁵ the conspiracy before the attacks.

But Jonathan Turley and other legal analysts¹⁶ say the defense will have a hard time countering the emotional testimony¹⁷ from relatives of victims in court this week who spoke¹⁸ about the impact of the deaths of loved ones on their lives.

1 conspirator   

n.阴谋者，谋叛者

参考例句：

• We started abusing him,one conspirator after another adding his bitter words.我们这几个预谋者一个接一个地咒骂他，恶狠狠地骂个不停。
• A conspirator is not of the stuff to bear surprises.谋反者是经不起惊吓的。

2 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。

3 hijacker   

n.拦路抢劫者

参考例句：

• We needed a credibIe hijacker who knew the pIane. 也需要一个懂飞机的让人相信的劫机犯。
• I've never heard of a hijacker Ietting passengers deboard before. 以前也从没听说过有劫机犯让乘客离开。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

6 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。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

9 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

10 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

11 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

14 bungled   

v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成

参考例句：

• They bungled the job. 他们把活儿搞糟了。
• John bungled the job. 约翰把事情搞糟了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

16 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

17 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。