VOA慢速英语2012--THE MAKING OF A NATION - Terrorists Attack America

 THE MAKING OF A NATION - Terrorists Attack America

 

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we begin the story of the presidency¹ of George W. Bush. His first term came to be defined by the worst terrorist attack against the United States in the nation's history.

(MUSIC)

George W. Bush had been in office for less than eight months when the events of September eleventh, two thousand one, took place.

(AUDIO)

“A lot of smoke in lower Manhattan.”

“A plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center”

“Good lord, this is just a horrific moment.”

The day is remembered as 9-11.

(MUSIC)

On that morning, nineteen al-Qaida terrorists hijacked² four large passenger airplanes on the East Coast. The planes were flying to California so they were heavy with fuel. Each group of hijackers included a trained pilot.

American Airlines Flight 11 had just left Boston, Massachusetts, when five hijackers seized control of the plane.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: “Is that American 11 trying to call?”

HIJACKER³ PILOT MOHAMMED ATTA: We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport.”

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: “American 11, are you trying to call?”

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: “Number three in the back. The cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in Business Class, and I think there’s mace⁴ that we can’t breathe. I don’t know – I think we’re getting hijacked.”

MOHAMMED ATTA: “Nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you’ll endanger yourself and the airplane. Let’s stay quiet.”

Shortly before nine o'clock, the hijackers crashed the Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

KATIE COURIC: “A plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center. It happened just a few moments ago.”

NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT DISPATCHER: “The World Trade Center Tower Number One is on fire. The whole outside of the building – there was just a huge explosion.”

(MUSIC)

Five other hijackers seized United Airlines Flight 175, another Boeing 767 also on a flight from Boston.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER #1: “Hey, can you look out your window right now? Can you see a guy at about four thousand feet, about five [miles] east of the airport right now, looks like he’s…”

CONTROLLER #2: “Yeah, I see him.”

CONTROLLER #1: “Is he descending⁵ toward the building also?

CONTROLLER #2: “He’s descending really quick, too. Yeah. He’s at twenty-five hundred feet. He just dropped eight hundred feet in one sweep [of the radar].”

CONTROLLER #1: “That’s another situation.”

VOICE: “Another one just hit the building – hit it hard. The whole building just came apart.”

They crashed the jet into the South Tower of the World Trade Center a short time after the first plane hit the North Tower.

REPORTER DON DAHLER: “Oh, my God.”

DIANE SAWYER: “My God.”

CHARLES GIBSON: “That looks like a second plane. We just saw another plane coming in from the side…”

DON DAHLER: “You did…”

CHARLES GIBSON: “Yes, and that’s the second explosion. You could see the plane come in. So this looks like some sort of a concerted effort to attack the World Trade Center that is underway in downtown New York.”

(MUSIC)

The twin towers each had one hundred ten floors. They were the tallest buildings in New York and among the tallest in the world. They stood a few streets away from the New York Stock Exchange in the heart of the Wall Street financial district in Lower Manhattan.

(NATURAL SOUND)

REPORTER: “Oh, my goodness, there’s another one.”

The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke pouring from the skyscrapers⁶. Thousands of people were in the buildings. Many workers on the floors below where the planes hit were able to escape. Others on the floors above were trapped. Some apparently⁷ felt their only choice was between burning to death and jumping. News cameras showed disturbing images of bodies falling from the towers.

The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed¹⁰ just before ten o'clock, after burning for almost an hour. The North Tower came down about thirty minutes later. It had been hit first and had burned for one hour and forty-two minutes.

DON DAHLER: “The second building that was hit by the plane has completely collapsed. The entire building has just collapsed, as if a demolition¹¹ team set off--when you see the old demolitions¹² of these old buildings—down on itself. And it’s not there anymore.”

(MUSIC)

Investigators¹³ later found that the intense fires from the jet fuel, burning for as long as they had, had caused the structures to fail.

The ruins of the two buildings quickly became known as Ground Zero.

Several other buildings in the World Trade Center complex were damaged or destroyed as a result of the collapse⁹ of the twin towers.

(MUSIC)

Another group of hijackers took over American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757. The plane had taken off from Washington Dulles International Airport.

MILITARY RADIO COMMUNICATION: “OK, American Airlines is still airborne. He’s heading towards Washington. I think we need to scramble¹⁴ Langley [Air Force Base] right now, and I’m going to take the fighters from Otis [AFB] and try to chase this guy down if I can find him.”

KATIE COURIC: “[Jim] Miklaszewski has some new information at the Pentagon. I hope you’ll stand by and continue to talk with us, Mike?”

JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: “Katie, I don’t want to alarm anybody right now, but it felt – just a few moments ago – like there was an explosion of some kind here at the Pentagon.”

The hijackers crashed the plane into the Pentagon, the Department of Defense¹⁵ headquarters across the Potomac River from Washington in Arlington, Virginia.

JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: “We’re on the E-Ring of the Pentagon. We have a window that faces out toward the Potomac, toward the Kennedy Center. We haven’t been able to see or hear anything after the initial blast. I just stepped out in the hallway. Security guards were herding¹⁶ people out of the building, and I saw just a moment ago, as I looked outside, a number of construction workers who have been working here have taken flight. They’re running as far away from the building as they can right now.”

The plane exploded a hole into one of the five sides of the huge building.

And four hijackers seized United Airlines Flight 93, another 757. That plane had taken off from Newark, New Jersey¹⁷.

(NATURAL SOUND)

CONTROLLER: “United 93, that traffic for you is one o’clock, twelve miles east on 3-7-0.”

UNITED 93: “Negative contact. We’re looking. United 93.”

People on the flight learned about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington through phone calls to loved ones.

CLEVELAND CENTER CONTROLLER #1: “Looked like he descended¹⁸ there.”

CONTROLLER #2: “I don’t think so. United 93, verify 3-5-0 (compass heading).”

CONTROLLER #1: “United 93, Cleveland [Center]”

CONTROLLER #2: “Do you have United 93 south of Chardon?

CLEVELAND CENTER: “We hear some funny noises we’re trying to get him. Do you have him?”

CONTROLLER #2: “No.”

Some of the forty passengers and crew members fought to retake control of the plane from the hijackers.

CONTROLLER: “United 93 was waving his wings as he went past the VFR aircraft. They don’t quite know what that means. Rocking his wings.”

Air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials struggled to make sense of the events taking place that morning. 

WOMAN: “United 93 – Have you got information on that yet?”

MAN: “Yeah, he’s down.”

WOMAN: “He’s down?

MAN: “Yes.”

WOMAN: “When did he land?”

MAN: “He did not land.”

WOMAN: “Oh…he’s down? Down?”

MAN: “Yes, somewhere northeast of Camp David.”

Further Radio Communications:

MAN #1: “OK, there is now on that United 93…”

MAN #2: “Yes.”

MAN #1: “…There is a report of black smoke in the last position I gave you, fifteen miles south of Johnstown.”

Flight 93 crashed in a field near the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The intended target for Flight 93 may have been the Capitol, the building where Congress meets.

No one could be sure if other airliners¹⁹ were involved in the terrorist operation.

PETER JENNINGS: “The Federal Aviation Administration has actually gone even further than it did a few minutes ago. It was asking all planes not to take off. Now the FAA has ordered all aircraft currently in the air over the United States to land at the nearest airport.”

Air traffic controllers began the complex job of getting all planes across the country – and those heading in over the Atlantic – onto the ground safely.

MIKE MC CORMICK (Air Traffic Manager): “So this meant, at very early in the morning, as flights were halfway²⁰ across the Atlantic Ocean to land in the United States, we had already initiated²¹ protocols²² to shut those arrivals off from the oceanic areas. And they had to make tough decisions, such as either turn around and go back to Europe or go to alternate destinations, which many of them did in Canada.”

Canadian officials assisted. They allowed flights from across the Atlantic to land in eastern Canada, including at airports in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Gander, Newfoundland.

(MUSIC)

Almost three thousand people died in the 9/11 attacks.

WOMAN: “You got it coming into Building Number Two on the ninety-seventh floor. People trapped.”

FIRE DEPARTMENT DISPATCHER: “We’re all around the building. We’re completely around the building. We’re into the building now.”

Most of the victims worked in the World Trade Center.

(RADIO COMMUNICATIONS)

The victims also included rescuers, among them three hundred forty-three New York City firefighters. They died trying to save others.

(MORE RADIO COMMUNICATIONS)

[Much is indistinct, but includes firemen trapped in elevator shaft²³: “They’re going to have to get a different elevator. We’re chopping through the wall to get out…. Tower One.”

(MUSIC)

Pictures of missing persons began to appear in the city as loved ones waited and worried.

Three days after the attacks, President Bush went to Ground Zero. He spoke²⁴ to the rescue workers and promised that the attacks would be answered.

GEORGE W. BUSH: “I want you all to know, America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City, and New Jersey, and Connecticut, as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens.

“I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people… And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

CROWD: “USA, USA, USA...”

(MUSIC)

Each day, thousands of visitors came to see the site and to honor those who died.

At the Pentagon, people left flowers and messages of sympathy near the heavily damaged wall. One hundred eighty-four people died in the attack on the Pentagon, including the victims on the plane.

(MUSIC)

It took months to clear the wreckage²⁵ of the twin towers.

The attacks in New York changed the distinctive²⁶ skyline of Lower Manhattan. The twin towers -- completed in nineteen seventy-three -- were gone.

The economic effects of 9/11 were felt far beyond America's largest city. The New York Stock Exchange stayed closed until September seventeenth. When it reopened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- a measure of leading stocks -- fell by what was then its biggest point drop ever in a single day.

Among the companies most affected²⁷ by the attacks were airlines and other businesses that depend on travelers. The nation's skies were empty of commercial flights for three days after the hijackings. And when flights returned to normal, many people were too afraid to fly.

Thousands of hotel workers and others in the travel industry lost their jobs.

The shock and sadness of the 9/11 attacks brought Americans together less than a year after the disputed presidential election. In a show of patriotism²⁸, more and more American flags began to appear on homes, cars and businesses. Small American flag pins were worn by many Americans.

The attacks pointed²⁹ to the work of Osama bin⁸ Laden³⁰ and his al-Qaida organization. On September twentieth, President Bush went before a joint³¹ session of Congress to declare a war on terror.

GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

The War on Terror -- and America after 9/11 will be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

You can find our series online with transcripts³², MP3s, podcasts and pictures at www.voanews.cn. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember, inviting³³ you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

___

Contributing: Jerilyn Watson

This was program #234. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation³⁴ marks in the search box at the top of the page.

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

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 mace   

n.狼牙棒，豆蔻干皮

参考例句：

• The sword and mace were favourite weapons for hand-to-hand fighting.剑和狼牙棒是肉搏战的最佳武器。
• She put some mace into the meat.她往肉里加了一些肉豆蔻干皮。

5 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

6 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

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 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。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

12 demolitions   

n.毁坏，破坏，拆毁( demolition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Randy Couture as Toll Road, an Expendable and demolitions expert. 大卫·萨亚斯饰演加尔扎将军，邪恶的独裁者。 来自互联网
• Allied Demolitions upgrade moved one slot to the left on the Allied HQ UI. 盟军的爆破升级在指挥部界面中左移一格（由于现在没钳子升级了，所以填钳子的位置）。 来自互联网

13 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

15 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。

16 herding   

中畜群

参考例句：

• The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
• They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

17 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

18 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

19 airliners   

n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fog grounded the airliners. 大雾迫使班机停飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They placed very stable and accurate atomic clocks on regularly scheduled jet airliners. 他们将非常稳定、准确的原子钟装在定期飞行的喷气式班机上。 来自辞典例句

20 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

21 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

22 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

23 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

24 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。

25 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

26 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

27 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

28 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

29 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

30 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

31 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

32 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

33 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

34 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。