新标准大学英语三-Unit7
Last man down: the fireman's story
11 September 2001 9: 59 AM
1 It came as if from nowhere.
2 There were about two dozen of us by the bank of elevators on the 35th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center. We were firefighters, mostly, and we were in various stages of exhaustion. Some guys were sweating like pigs. Some had their turnout coats off, or tied around their waists. Quite a few were breathing heavily. Others were raring to go. All of us were taking a beat to catch our breaths, and our bearings, figure out what the hell was going on. We'd been at this thing, hard, for almost an hour, some a little bit less, and we were nowhere close to done. Of course, we had no idea what there was left to do, but we hadn't made a dent.
3 And then the noise started, and the building began to tremble, and we all froze. Dead solid still. Whatever there had been left to do would now have to wait. For what, we had no idea, but it would wait. Or, it wouldn't, but that wasn't the point. The point was that no one was moving. To a man, no one moved, except to lift his eyes to the ceiling, to see where the racket was coming from. As if we could see clear through the ceiling tiles for an easy answer. No one spoke. There wasn't time to turn thought into words, even though there was time to think. For me, anyway, there was time to think, too much time to think, and my thoughts were all over the place. Every possible worst-case scenario, and a few more besides. The building was shaking like in an earthquake, like an amusement park thrill ride gone berserk, but it was the rumble that struck me still with fear. The sheer volume of it. The way it coursed right through me. I couldn't think what the hell would make a noise like that. Like a thousand runaway trains speeding towards me. Like a herd of wild beasts. Like the thunder of a rockslide. Hard to put it into words, but whatever the hell it was it was gaining speed, and gathering force, and getting closer, and I was stuck in the middle, unable to get out of its path.
4 It's amazing, the kind of thing you think about when there should be no time to think. I thought about my wife and my kids, but only fleetingly and not in any kind of life-flashing-before-my-eyes sort of way. I thought about the job, how close I was to making deputy. I thought about the bagels I'd left on the kitchen counter back at the firehouse. I thought how we firemen were always saying to each other, "I'll see you at the big one. " Or, "We'll all meet at the big one." I never knew how it started, or when I'd picked up on it myself, but it was part of our shorthand. Meaning, no matter how big this fire is, there'll be another one bigger, somewhere down the road. We'll make it through this one, and we'll make it through that one, too. I always said it, at big fires, and I always heard it back, and here I was, thinking I would never say or hear these words again, because there would never be another fire as big as this. This was the big one we had all talked about, all our lives, and if I hadn't known this before – just before these chilling moments – this sick, black noise now confirmed it.
5 I fumbled for some fix on the situation, thinking maybe if I understood what was happening I could steel myself against it. All of these thoughts were landing in my brain in a kind of flashpoint, one on top of the other and all at once, but there they were. And each thought landed fully formed, as if there might be time to act on each, when in truth there was no time at all.
Postscript
6 Richard Picciotto (also known as Pitch) was in the north tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed in the aftermath of the massive terrorist attack on 11 September 2001. A battalion commander for the New York Fire Department, he was on the scene of the disaster within minutes of the attack, to lead seven companies of firefighters into the tower to help people trapped and to extinguish fires blazing everywhere.
7 The north tower was the first of the twin towers to be hit. It was followed 17 minutes later by the south tower. The south tower, however, was the first to collapse, at 9:59 am. At that moment, Picciotto was in the north tower, racing upwards by the stairs because the elevators were out of action. He then gave the order to evacuate. On the 12th story he came across 50 people amid the debris, too badly hurt or frightened to move. Picciotto and his men helped them down. When he reached the seventh floor, the tower fell, and he was buried beneath thousands of tons of rubble. He eventually came round four hours later, leading his men to safety.
8 Picciotto was the highest ranking firefighter to survive the attack. The chief of the department, the first deputy and the chief of rescue operations had all been killed. Altogether the death toll included 343 firefighters and more than 3,000 civilians.
9 Picciotto tells the story in his book Last Man Down. He uses a dramatic first person style which gives the reader an idea of the nightmare and the chaotic confusion of one of the darkest days in the history of the United States, the tragedy now known to the world simply as 9/11, but a day of utmost humanity and heroism too. Published in 2002, the book became an immediate best-seller, which the author wrote in gratitude, and intended as a tribute, to his decent and trustworthy comrades who gave their lives. It's also a testimony to his leadership skills. As he says, "People call us heroes, but we were just doing our job."
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最后撤出的人：消防员的故事
2001年9月11日上午9时59分
1 它似乎从天而降。
2 在世贸中心北塔35层的一组电梯旁，当时大约有20多个人。 我们中绝大多数是消防员，个个都差不多精疲力竭了。 有的人大汗淋漓，有的脱掉了他们的消防战斗服，或是把它们扎在腰间。 有好几个人大口地喘着粗气。 其他人迫不及待地想要开展工作。 我们所有的人都停了下来，想喘口气，清醒一下头脑，搞明白到底出了什么事。 我们已经在这儿拼命战斗了差不多一个小时了，有些人时间稍微短一点儿，可我们根本看不见哪里是尽头。 当然，我们也不知道自己还能干点儿什么，没有一点儿进展。
3 接着传来一阵巨大的响声，整个大楼开始颤动起来，我们都愣住了。 站在那儿一动不动。 不管本来要做什么，现在都只能等了。 可要等什么呢？我们不知道，但还是得等。 或许我们不用等，可是问题不在这儿。 问题是大家都站在那儿一动不动。 所有的人没有一个人动，只是有人抬头看了看天花板，想搞清楚这巨大的声响到底是从哪儿传来的。 好像我们都能透过天花板，很容易就找到答案似的。 没有人开口说话。 即便是有时间思考，我们也没有时间把思维转变成语言。 不管怎么说，我还有时间思考，有太多时间去想了，我思绪万千。 我想到了每一个可能发生的最糟糕的情况，还有一些别的事情。 大楼在剧烈摇晃着，像地震了似的，也像是游乐园里惊耸狂奔的过山车，可真正让我胆颤心惊的是这巨大的轰隆声。 这声音实在是太大了。 好像直接从我的身体中飞快地穿了过去。 我真想不出来是什么东西会发出如此大的响声。 好像一千辆失控了的火车朝我疾速驶来。 好像一群狂奔着的野兽。 又好像是山崩时发出的巨大轰鸣声。 太难用语言来形容了，但不管这该死的声音是什么，此刻它传得越来越快，声音越来越大，离我们越来越近，而我被困在其中，没有办法逃脱。
4 真是奇怪，这种时候你应该是没有时间思考的，可是你满脑子都在想着这些事。 我想到了老婆和孩子，只是在脑海里一闪而过，并不是把自己的人生都回顾了一番那样。 我想到了工作，我离升为副职只有一步之遥了。 我想到了放在消防队橱柜上的面包圈。 我想起我们消防员平常总互相打趣说“在大火中见吧”或者是“我们肯定会在大火中碰面的”。 我不知道这种说法是怎么来的，或者我自己是从什么时候开始说起这种话的，但这就是我们的暗语。 意思是不管这场火有多大，以后在别处还会有比这更大的。 我们能安然无恙地度过这场火，也会安然无恙地度过下一场火。 遇到一场大火时，我总是这么说，也总听别人这么说，可现在，我呆在这儿，想着自己再也不会说这样的话，也不会再听到别人这么说了，因为再也不会有比这更大的火了。 这就是我们大家一辈子都在说的那场大火，如果以前——就在这一个个令人胆战心惊的瞬间之前——我没有认识到这一点的话，现在这恐怖的、不祥的响声印证了这一点。
5 我琢磨着有什么办法能改变我们的处境。我想如果搞明白了现在发生了什么事，也许我就能应对了。 所有这些思绪在我脑子里一个连着一个地闪现，想完一个又是另一个，一时间都堆积在我的脑子里。 每个想法都是那么完整，好像我有足够的时间一个个地付诸行动似的，而事实上我根本没有时间。
后评
6 2001年9月11日，在世贸中心遭到恐怖分子袭击而倒塌时，理查德·皮乔托（也被称作“皮奇”）正在世贸中心的北塔里。 作为纽约消防局的一名营长，他在袭击发生后的几分钟之内就赶到了现场，带领七个连的消防队员进入北塔，解救受困人员，扑灭四处蔓延的大火。
7 北塔是世贸双塔中最先受到攻击的。 17分钟后南塔也遭到了袭击。 而南塔第一个倒塌，时间是上午9点59分。 当时皮乔托正在北塔里，沿着楼梯往上跑，因为电梯根本运行不了了。 这时他下达了撤退的命令。 到达12层时，他看到50个人被压在废墟底下，他们有的受了重伤动弹不了，有的惊慌失措。 皮乔托和他的部下扶着他们往下走。 到第七层时，北塔塌了，他被埋在几千吨的瓦砾之下。 过了四个小时，他终于苏醒了，领着他的部下到达安全的地方。
8 皮乔托是袭击中幸存下来的最高级别的消防员。 纽约消防局局长、第一副局长以及救援队队长全部都以身殉职了。 整个事件中共有343名消防队员献出了生命，超过3,000名平民丧生。
9 皮乔托在他的《最后撤出的人》一书中讲述了他的经历。 他用一种扣人心弦的第一人称的方式向读者描述了被认为是美国历史上最黑暗的日子、也是世人皆知的9/11那天，人们所经历的恶梦般的恐惧和混乱，当然这也是人道主义精神和英雄主义精神展现得最淋漓尽致的一天。 此书于2002年一出版就立即成为一本畅销书，作者抱着一颗感恩的心写了这本书，并欲以此书向那些品德高尚、值得信赖，并献出了生命的战友们致敬。 当然，这本书也展示了他的领导才能。 正如他所说的，“人们都称我们为英雄，其实我们只是在干我们的本职工作。”
Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World
Dear readers,
1 It was during this week in 1948 that Eleanor Roosevelt paused for a moment during a walk from her Washington Square apartment toward New York City's 8th Street. "Suddenly," she wrote in her syndicated column, "I saw on the sidewalk a figure of a man." The man was homeless, "very thin and very poor-looking", a sight not uncommon for city dwellers but rarely a cause for a letter to the nation in which she wondered "how many human rights that poor man had".
2 As a young woman Roosevelt did volunteer work for organizations like the Red Cross and the Junior League of NY – a high-society lady with a big heart. But she was still just a woman at a time and in a country dominated by men. When asked in 1911 if she was for a woman's right to vote, she responded: "If my husband [then a NY State Senator] is a suffragist, I probably must be too." As Franklin Delano Roosevelt's political career grew, however, so too did her concern for women's issues, labor issues, youth and civil rights issues. By the time she and FDR moved to the White House in 1932, Eleanor was coming into her own.
3 Roosevelt would spend the next 12 years rewriting the definition of First Lady. "I was alarmed myself, when she started," Madame Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and a longtime friend of Mrs Roosevelt's, told a Time correspondent in 1952. "I was very alarmed when she began making speeches." Roosevelt was the first First Lady to hold a press conference (only female reporters were admitted); and since the wheelchair-bound FDR counted on her to be his legs, eyes and ears, she became involved with New Deal projects to an extent that shocked many. "I felt certain that somewhere along the line she would stub her toe," said Perkins, thinking of Washington's fishbowl atmosphere. "But she did avoid any real mishap. I don't know how she did it. What to lay it to? Sincerity of purpose, simplicity of heart, an unconscious desire not to hurt people." At first some attributed such qualities to naïveté, but as time passed, Roosevelt's humane and selfless nature won over the naysayers. She was the White House's chief advocate for the rights of women and African-Americans; her syndicated newspaper column, "My Day", was her platform from 1935 until her death in 1962. All the while, Eleanor had been a mother of six children. "We feel," said her daughter Anna, "that if you're that interested and energetic and have a mind like hers, you shouldn't be let down. I hope she keeps right on going the way she has." She was also a wife to a man who could not stand on his own. "We must ascribe to her the marvelous fact," said Winston Churchill in 1948, "that a crippled man, victim of a cruel affliction, was able for more than ten years to ride the storms of peace and war at the summit of the US. The debt we owe to President Roosevelt is owed also to her."
4 Her role as First Lady, heroic though it was, was only training. She had used her White House seat to lobby but the power was still reserved for the man of the House. Besides, as Perkins once said, "She said things that made people angry." With her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt seemed ready to return to a private life. "The story is over," she told the press. Later that year President Truman asked Eleanor to serve as a US delegate to the United Nations. She accepted the charge, moved on, and would change forever the role of women in American society and around the world. "Most people who have played second violin all their lives never have an opportunity to play first violin," remarked Perkins. "Mrs Roosevelt had the chance to, and she plays with genius."
5 The 17 women delegates and advisers to the first United Nations General Assembly looked to Roosevelt for leadership and she delivered, quickly becoming the foremost advocate for human rights the world over. Named as the first chairman of the UN Human Rights Commission, Roosevelt oversaw the two-year process of drafting and securing passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Additionally, her clashes with representatives of the Soviet Union led one Republican to lean forward in his chair and state – he wouldn't allow his name to be used for fear of being labeled as a Democratic supporter – "Now, if you want to know what I think about Mrs Roosevelt, she is tuh-riffic! Mrs Roosevelt is unique in her capacity to create an understanding of our position in the minds of the delegates of other countries. Her performance is so superlative that it is rather unexpected to be asked to evaluate her in ordinary terms."
6 By the time she resigned from her UN post in 1952, Roosevelt had become the "First Lady of the World". On a trip to India that same year she was greeted by throngs of admirers and introduced to the Indian Parliament by Pandit Nehru as "a representative of resurgent humanity". As she traveled around the cities and slums of that country she often spoke with young women about the challenges they faced. "If a man fails it would simply be said, ‘It's so bad that so-and-so failed.' But if a woman fails they will say, ‘So you see, a woman is incapable of holding jobs.' Women have to run on a par with men." Anna Eleanor Roosevelt never ran on a par, she set the pace.
7 Even at 77 she was still going strong, appointed again to the UN by President Kennedy in 1961, and host of her own panel discussion television show, Prospects of Mankind. "There is one thing that a great many women are interested in," she told Kennedy during one of her broadcasts. "Why is it that in this country we have not managed to put them into higher positions of power?"
8 Please join Life magazine as we honor the power and humanity of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt by inducting her into the Hall of Heroes.
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埃莉诺·罗斯福——世界第一夫人
亲爱的读者们：
1 就在1948年这个星期的某一天，正当埃莉诺·罗斯福从位于纽约华盛顿广场的公寓步行前往第八大道时，她停下了脚步。 “突然间 ,”她在自己的联合专栏中写道 ,“我在人行道上看到一个男人的身影。” 他是个无家可归的人，“瘦骨嶙峋，看起来十分穷困”，这种景象对城里人来说并不少见，但很少有人会像她那样为了这样的一件事情向全国民众写了一封公开信，在信中她问道：“这个穷人到底享有多少人权呢 ?”
2 年轻的时候，罗斯福夫人就为红十字会和纽约青少年联盟等组织做志愿者——她出身上流社会，心地善良。 但是在当时那个以男性为主导的时代和国家里，她也仅仅是一个女人。 1911年，当被问到她是否支持给予妇女选举权时，她回答说：“如果我丈夫（当时还是纽约州的一名参议员）是妇女选举权的支持者，那我也许必须支持给予妇女选举权。” 但是随着富兰克林•德拉诺•罗斯福的仕途越来越顺利，她也越来越关注妇女问题、劳工问题、青年人问题和公民权利问题。 1932年，她和罗斯福入主白宫后，埃莉诺开始大显身手了。
3 在接下来的12年中，罗斯福夫人重新定义了“第一夫人”这个角色。 “刚开始时，连我自己都吃了一惊，”罗斯福政府的劳工部长、罗斯福夫人的长期挚友弗朗西斯•珀金斯1952年对《时代》周刊的一名记者这样说道。 “她刚开始发表演讲时，我十分惊讶。” 罗斯福夫人是第一位召开新闻发布会的第一夫人（她只允许女记者参加）；而且，因为罗斯福离不开轮椅，他把埃莉诺当成了自己的双腿、双眼和耳朵，因此她十分积极地参与罗斯福新政，以至于让很多人都感到震惊。 “我那时候觉得总有一天她会受挫的，”珀金斯说，因为在华盛顿，你的一举一动都在别人的注视之下。 “但是她的确没出什么岔子。我不知道她是怎么做到的。这应该归功于什么呢？我想这是因为她用意真诚，心地单纯，从未想要去伤害别人。” 一开始有人把这些品质归结于她的天真，但是随着时间的推移，罗斯福夫人仁慈而无私的性情使她争取到了众多反对者的支持。 在白宫，她是妇女权利和黑人权利的头号倡导者；从1935年到1962年她去世，她创立的报纸联合专栏《我的一天》一直都是她活动的平台。 与此同时，埃莉诺还是六个孩子的母亲。 她的女儿安娜说：“我们觉得如果你有这么浓厚的兴趣，又精力充沛，还有她那样聪明的头脑，你一定不要气馁。我希望她能像现在这样一直不停地做下去。” 另外，她还是一位贤妻，要照顾一个无法站立的丈夫。 温斯顿•丘吉尔在1948年曾说过：“一个双腿残疾、恶疾缠身的人能够领导美国十多年，经受住战争年代和和平时期的风雨磨难。这个奇迹我们同时也要归功于罗斯福夫人，罗斯福总统的伟大功勋中有她的一半。”
4 第一夫人的角色，无论多么英勇，对她来说只能算是小试身手。 虽然她曾经凭借她在白宫的地位去四处游说，但是掌握大权的毕竟还是总统。 此外，正如珀金斯说过的那样，“她也说了一些得罪人的话。” 1945年，她丈夫去世之后，罗斯福夫人似乎已经准备要退隐，离开公众的视野。 她对媒体说：“一切都结束了。” 但那年的晚些时候，杜鲁门总统邀请埃莉诺出任美国驻联合国代表。 她接受了使命，继续努力工作，并且永远改变了女性在美国和全世界所扮演的角色。 “绝大多数一辈子当副手的人从来没有机会当一把手，”珀金斯说，“罗斯福夫人有机会当一把手，而且表现得极为出色。”
5 第一届联合国大会的17位女性代表和顾问都把罗斯福夫人视为领袖，而她也不负众望，很快就成为全世界最卓越的人权领袖。 作为联合国人权委员会的首任主席，罗斯福夫人监督了《世界人权宣言》历时两年的起草和通过的全过程。 此外，她和苏联代表的交锋让一位共和党人从椅子上朝前探过身来，说出了下面一番话——因为怕被当成是民主党的支持者，他不愿意透露自己的姓名——“如果你想知道我对罗斯福夫人的看法，那我会说她真是了不起！罗斯福夫人有一种独特的能力，能让其他国家的代表清楚地了解我们的立场。要用平常的语言来评价她高超的外交手腕，一时间还真不知道该怎么说。”
6 1952年，当她从联合国代表的位置上卸任时，罗斯福夫人已经是“世界第一夫人”了。 同年，去印度访问时，她受到了大批崇拜者的欢迎，潘迪特•尼赫鲁向议会介绍她时，说她是“重获新生的人性的杰出代表”。 她去了印度的各大城市，造访了贫民窟，期间她经常和年轻妇女们探讨女性所面临的挑战。 她说：“如果一个男人失败了，人们只会说：‘某某失败了，真是令人遗憾。’ 但是如果一个女人失败了，他们会说：‘你看，女人就是干不成什么事。’ 女人不应该比男人逊色。” 安娜•埃莉诺•罗斯福从来不满足于同男人并驾齐驱，她要当那个领跑的人。
7 即使到了77岁的高龄，她的风头依然不减当年。1961年，她受肯尼迪总统的任命，再次出任联合国代表，同时主持自己的一档电视节目《人类的前途》。 在一期节目中，她对肯尼迪总统说：“很多女性都对一个问题感兴趣，那就是为什么在我们这个国家女性没有能够在政府中担任更高级别的职务呢？”
8 《生活》杂志已经把安娜•埃莉诺•罗斯福列入英雄殿堂，愿您同我们一起来缅怀她非凡的才智和人性的光辉。
Heroes in Western literature
Every culture has its heroes. The earliest heroes inhabit the shadowy area of mythology, occupying a middle space between human experience and superhuman power and knowledge. They were considered neither human nor divine, and the Greek word from which hero derives actually means “demigod” and refers to someone one of whose parents was a god, the other a human being. Often, in the oldest mythologies, the hero succeeded in changing the world, by discovery, invention, or trickery – for example by discovering or inventing fire, or tricking the gods into giving it to humans.
In Western culture, however, and particularly in Western literature, heroes are traditionally recognized by their bravery, their selflessness, and their ability to rise to the occasion in a desperate or dangerous situation. But they are human, not superhuman, and it is the fact that they are “only human” which makes it possible for us to identify with them; this is a point made more than two thousand years ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his definition of “tragic hero”.
Since then, the adventures of heroes have filled the pages of countless plays and novels; in fact, one of the definitions of the word hero today is “the main character of a book”. In more recent times, especially from the Romantic period on, many heroes have shown unconventional characteristics, making them “anti-heroes” such as the bad-tempered Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights or Yossarian in Catch-22, the air force pilot who does not want to fly. We can understand the motives of these characters, of course, but the real hero remains the person who is a force for good in the struggle against evil.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Harry Potter is a schoolboy with geek-like qualities, while in The Lord of the Rings the two main heroes could not be physically more different. Aragon is tall, strong and fearless, while Frodo is small, and very often frightened. Yet it is Frodo the hobbit, rather than Aragon the man, that most of us probably find it easier to identify with, and for whom we feel most sympathy.
The Lord of the Rings, of course, looks back to the mythology of the past, and recalls some of the earliest recorded stories in history. We may agree that in real life things are different and it is the unsung heroes, whose stories never get told, and whose actions may not involve saving the world, who most deserve our admiration and respect. But larger-than-life heroes who battle and overcome the forces of evil, when all the odds seem to be stacked against them, continue to fascinate us, in films, comics and video games.
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西方文学中的英雄
每个文化都有自己的英雄。最早的英雄出现在神秘的神话中，本领介于人类和具备超人类力量与认识的神灵之间。那个时候的英雄既非凡人，也非神灵，而“英雄”这个词来自古希腊语，在希腊语中的意思是“半神”，指的是那些父母中一方是神灵，另一方是凡人的人。在那些最古老的神话中，英雄常常是通过自己的发现、创造或者是谋略——比如发现了火，或者是诱骗神把火种给了人类——改变了世界的面貌。
但是在西方文化中，尤其是西方文学中，英雄之所以成为英雄，传统意义上是因为他们勇敢、无私，能够在绝境或是险境中应付自如。但他们毕竟是凡人，不是超人，也正因为这一点，我们才会对他们产生认同感；两千多年前，希腊哲学家亚里士多德在定义“悲剧英雄”时就已经作出了这样的阐释。
此后，英雄历险的故事就成了无数戏剧和小说的题材；事实上，如今“英雄”这个词其中的一个含义就是“书中的主要人物”。在较近的时间里，尤其是浪漫主义时期以来，许多主人公都有一些非传统的特征，这些特征使得他们成了“反英雄”，比如《呼啸山庄》中脾气暴躁的希思克厉夫，《第二十二条军规》中那个不愿意执行飞行任务的飞行员约萨里安。我们当然能够理解这些角色背后的动机，但是我们心目中真正的英雄还是那些与邪恶做斗争的、 替天行道的人。
英雄不分高矮胖瘦。哈利·波特是个有点书呆子气的学童，而《指环王》中的两位主人公体型上相差更远。阿拉贡高大、强壮、英勇无畏，而弗罗多体型矮小、胆小怕事。但是对绝大多数人来说，更能让我们产生认同感、 让我们倾注更多同情的却是弗罗多这个矮人，而不是阿拉贡。
当然，《指环王》描述的是远古的神话，让我们回忆起有记载以来最古老的故事。我们可能都会认为，现实生活是不一样的，现实生活中有些无名英雄，没有人传颂他们的故事，他们也没做出拯救世界这样惊天动地的事情，却是最值得我们去崇拜和尊敬的。但是电影、漫画和电子游戏中那些身陷绝境，与邪恶作斗争，并最终战胜邪恶的传奇英雄们还是深深地吸引着我们。
The hero is an integral part of the American culture and identity. In America the hero takes many different forms, reflecting different values. As children Americans are taught about the politicians and religious leaders who fought to establish their country and those who have shaped America since. These are historically real people who have been elevated to a heroic status due to the role they played in creating the United States. This includes people like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In popular culture the comic book superhero has been, and continues to be, a major force. Beginning in the early 20th century comic books gained popularity chronicling the adventures of superheroes, like Superman. The athlete as hero is a more recent occurrence in the history of hero figures. In the United States especially, the rise of professional sports created athletes whose performance was widely publicized. The notion of using single individuals to embody the ideals of many is certainly not unique to American culture, but American people's fascination with heroes is rarely seen in other cultures.
窗体顶端
英雄是美国人文化和身份认同的必要组成部分。在美国，英雄人物是以各种不同的形象出现的，他们反映了不同的价值观。美国人从孩提时代起就学习那些为建立国家而奋斗的政治家和宗教领袖，学习那些建国后塑造美国历史的人。他们是历史上真实存在的人，因为在美国建国过程中发挥了巨大的作用而被提升为英雄，比如乔治•华盛顿和亚伯拉罕•林肯。在通俗文化中，漫画书中的超级英雄以前一直是，并将继续是一支主力军。从20世纪早期开始，这些描述超级英雄冒险奇遇的漫画书，如《超人》，就日益走红。运动员成为英雄这种现象是最近才在英雄人物史中出现的。以美国为甚，随着职业体育的兴起，出现了知名的运动员，他们的在运动场上的表现广为人知。用个体形象来体现大众理想的做法并不是美国文化所特有的，但是美国人对英雄的痴迷在其他文化中也是很少见的。
窗体底端
中国是世界上自然灾害较为严重的国家之一。在和平时期，抢险救灾是中国军队的一项重要任务。中国军队是抢险救灾的突击力量，承担最紧急、最艰难、最危险的救援任务。中国军人都是抱着打仗的心态在救灾，甚至冒着生命危险抢救灾民。每当解放军抵达灾区，群众都热烈欢迎，感到无比欣慰。中国军队在历次灾难救援中表现出的组织性、专业性、高效性赢得了人民群众的信任和赞誉。
窗体顶端
China is one of the countries that are most affected by natural disasters. In peacetime, rescue and relief work is an important part of the mission of the Chinese military. China's armed forces always form task forces for rescue and relief work, taking on the most urgent, most difficult and most dangerous jobs. Chinese military personnel perform their rescue and relief work as if they were fighting a war, sometimes even at the risk of their own lives. Whenever the People's Liberation Army (PLA) arrives at an area hit by a natural disaster, the local people will welcome them warmly and feel greatly relieved. The sense of organization, professionalism and efficiency they have displayed has helped them win the trust and praise of the public.
