365个英语简短小故事-66. “We Could Have All Died!”

Two bombing attempts in London failed last night. A Mercedes was parked in front of a popular nightclub before closing time. There were at least 500 patrons inside the club. The Mercedes contained 11 full gasoline cans and 7 containers of nails. Apparently¹, the car was to be exploded by a call from a cell phone, but someone, or something, goofed². The cell phone call didn’t trigger the explosion. Instead, some smoke started spewing out of the car.

An ambulance happened to drive by. The driver, seeing the smoke, called the police. The police arrived quickly, and a bomb expert immediately entered the car and started disarming³ the vehicle. A few minutes later, the police were notified about another car, also full of explosive material, parked behind the nightclub. That vehicle was also disarmed⁴. Twice in one night, deadly explosions had failed to occur. The bad guys had lost--this time.

A new prime minister had just taken over in England. He said that God was watching over London. Scotland Yard believed that terrorists were behind the bombing attempts. When one patron at the nightclub found out how close he had been to death, he said, “I’m so happy to be alive! Last night I was dancing all night near the windows next to the street, and I would have been one of the first to die. It’s scary to think about. I won’t be coming to this club for another week or so.”
 

1 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。

2 goofed   

v.弄糟( goof的过去式和过去分词 )；混；打发时间；出大错

参考例句：

• Sorry, guys. I goofed. 对不起，各位。我搞砸了。
• We just goofed around till the train time. 在火车开车前我们只是闲荡了一阵。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 disarming   

adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下，让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句

4 disarmed   

v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。
• The swordsman disarmed his opponent and ran him through. 剑客缴了对手的械，并对其乱刺一气。 来自《简明英汉词典》