VOA慢速英语 Americans Driven by 'Gut Instinct' to Act in Train Attack

AS IT IS 2015-08-25 Americans Driven by 'Gut¹ Instinct' to Act in Train Attack

Three Americans, a Briton and a French citizen stopped a heavily-armed gunman on a high-speed train in France last week. The Americans said later that gut instinct -- a feeling they had -- made them jump into action to stop the gunman.

Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler told their story on Sunday to reporters at the United States Embassy² in Paris. They described how they overpowered Ayoub El-Khazzani on the train. Spencer Stone wore a thick bandage on his thumb that was almost cut off during their struggle.

Both Mr. Stone and Alek Skarlatos have military training. But Mr. Skarlatos says the training did not influence their actions. Instead, he says it was a survival³ instinct -- wanting to stay alive -- that drove them to act.

“I feel our training mostly kicked in after the assailant was already subdued⁴, frankly⁵. When it came to medical care and things like that, and providing security and making sure there wasn’t another shooter.  But in the beginning, it was mostly gut instinct.”

The Americans, the Briton and the French citizen have been praised for stopping what could have been a bloodbath. On Monday, French President Francois Hollande presented France’s highest honor – the Legion of Honor – to the four foreigners. The president also honored the Frenchman, who first discovered the gunman near a restroom on a train car.

The train was carrying 554 people to Paris when the man started his attack, firing his weapons. Ayoub El-Khazzani was heavily armed.  But no one died in the attack. Mr. Skarlatos says he thinks the gunman had little experience using weapons.

“He clearly had no firearms training whatsoever⁶, and yes, if he knew what he was doing—or even just got lucky and the did right thing—he would have been able to operate through all eight of those magazines and we would have been in trouble and probably wouldn’t be here today, along with a lot of other people.”

French officials are still questioning the Moroccan-born gunman. He is believed to have links to Islamic extremists and may have travelled to Syria. On Sunday, his lawyer told French TV that Mr. Khazzani is shocked to be linked to terrorism. She says he said he found the weapons, and wanted to rob passengers on the train.

Words in This Story

gut instinct – n. a way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is not learned

bandage – n. a piece of cloth protecting a part of the body that is injured

bloodbath – n. the killing⁷ of many people

magazine - n. a part of a gun that hold bullets

1 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

2 embassy   

n.大使馆，大使及其随员

参考例句：

• Large crowd demonstrated outside the British Embassy.很多群众在英国大使馆外面示威。
• He's a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in London.他是美国驻伦敦大使馆的一名外交官。

3 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

4 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

7 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。