Unit 4B - Two Heroes for the Price of One
Two Heroes for the Price of One
Marsha Arons
When I saw her on the Good Morning America show being interviewed by Charles Gibson the morning of December 11, she looked pretty much like the other widows I had seen since September 11: Her face still registered that awful sadness, that deeply etched worry for herself and her family left behind since the death of her husband, Harry Ramos. And, yes, there it was that bittersweet pride when others referred to her husband as a hero. But what struck me about Migdalia Ramos was something else. She was angry.
Migdalia Ramos was sitting next to the widow of the man that her husband had rushed back into the World Trade Center to try to save. Both of them died. Harry Ramos was the head trader at the May Davis Group, a small investment firm on the eighty-seventh floor of Tower One. All the other employees of May Davis got out. I understood immediately why Migdalia Ramos seemed angry. I felt anger too at the television program that had brought these two women together just for a good story. Didn't they see the pain here?
The television program centered on the coincidences between the two men—things I thought were really irrelevant—like the fact Victor Wald, the man Harry Ramos had tried to save, had the same name as the best man at the Ramos's wedding or that both couples had a child named Alex. The only relevant link between these two women was the fact that they both had husbands who died just because they went to work that morning.
But one of them had had a chance to save himself and had not taken it. Migdalia Ramos spoke about her anger—not at Rebecca or Victor Wald but at her own husband. She just couldn't understand then why he had gone back in. I understood how she felt. How could he leave her and his children with all the responsibilities that they had to face? Couples should be there for each other, should cleave to one another. And if everyone else at his firm had gotten out, why hadn't Harry? He made a choice and the consequences of it didn't just affect him. It affected his whole family.
Then Migdalia Ramos told about another incident in her life. Her mother had died on September 1. The management of her mother's apartment building had told Mrs. Ramos that she would have to clear out the apartment by September 30. So, on September 30, Mrs. Ramos together with other family members went to her mother's apartment. While they were hauling out boxes and furniture, the fire alarm sounded. The hallway quickly filled with smoke. Mrs. Ramos did what every mother would do, what every right-thinking responsible person would do—she got her child and her relatives to safety.
But then, without thinking, she did something else: Migdalia Ramos ran right back into a burning building, up seven flights of stairs, to get her mother's blind neighbor out.
She did what Harry did. And, probably like Harry, she did it without thinking, reflexively, because whatever was in Harry that made him act that way was in her, too. That "something" made her forget every other aspect of her life and focus on someone else, someone who needed help.
Migdalia didn't use the word "hero" once in her interview. I don't think she thinks of herself that way. She just did what needed to be done. A lot of people called her husband a hero. He was, but not just because he went back into the World Trade Center. To Migdalia and her family, Harry Ramos was probably a hero just because he got out of bed every morning.
Migdalia Ramos lost a lot—her husband, her lover, her best friend. But maybe Migdalia Ramos found something, too. Maybe she found that the best qualities in her husband had rubbed off on her. Personally, I think they were there all along.
Migdalia Ramos said that what happened at her mother's apartment building made her understand her husband's motives. She thought he was sending her a message. I heard a message from this woman on my TV screen. There's something inside some of us—inside, I think, most of us. It's something good and decent and brave and unselfish. It's that best part of ourselves, that part that rises to the surface unquestioning, without thought, the simple act of caring for and about another human being. In a world where there are those who only exist to cause pain and terror, Mrs. Ramos's message is timely. It is a message for all of us, of hope.
参考译文——一人献身，造就两位英雄
一人献身，造就两位英雄
玛莎·阿伦斯
12月11号早上，当她出现在《早安美国》访谈节目中接受查尔斯·吉布森的采访时，她看起来与那些自9·11事件以来我见过的其他遗孀非常相似。她的脸上仍然流露出无限的悲伤以及对自己和整个家庭的明显的担忧。这种担忧是她丈夫哈里·拉莫斯的去世带来的。当然，当人们把她的丈夫称作英雄的时候，她也有一些苦乐参半的自豪感。然而我留意到的却是米格达里亚·拉莫斯其他的情况：她很生气。
米格达里亚·拉莫斯的丈夫当时冲回世贸中心想救另外一位男士，结果两个人都死了。现在那位男士的遗孀就紧挨着她坐着。哈里·拉莫斯是梅·戴维斯集团的首席交易员，该集团在一号塔楼的87层，是一家小型投资公司。事故发生时，梅·戴维斯集团的所有其他工作人员都跑出去了。我立刻明白了为什么米格达里亚·拉莫斯看起来那么生气，我也对电视台只为做一期好节目而把这两名遗孀一起请来感到愤怒。难道他们看不出她们在这里有多痛苦吗？
电视节目以这两个男人之间的巧合为中心，像哈里·拉莫斯试图救的人维克托·沃尔德与他婚礼上的伴郎同名，或者是像这两对夫妇都有一个孩子名叫阿历克斯之类的事情。我却认为这类事情毫不相关，这两名遗孀之间唯一相关的就是她们的丈夫都因为在那天早上去上班而丧命。
但其中一人本来有机会生还，但他没有把握这个机会。米格达里亚·拉莫斯诉说着她的气愤，不是针对丽贝卡，也不是针对维克托，而是对她自己的丈夫。她不明白他为什么又跑回去了。我能理解她的感受。他怎么能够将所有的责任都留给她和孩子们，让他们不得不面对一切？况且夫妻之间本来就应该互相依靠、相依相偎的呀。并且如果这家公司的其他人都跑出去了，哈里为什么就没有呢？他做了个决定，但结果不仅影响着他一个人，还影响着全家人。
米格达里亚·拉莫斯接着谈起她生命中的另外一件事。她母亲在9月1号去世了，她母亲公寓的管理人让拉莫斯夫人在9月30号之前把公寓腾空。因此，9月30号那天拉莫斯夫人和家人一起去了她母亲的公寓。正当她们往外拖箱子和家具时，火警警报响了。整个走廊瞬时烟雾弥漫。拉莫斯夫人做了一件任何一个母亲或是任何一个有理智的负责任的人都会做的弥漫事：她把她的孩子和亲人们安置到了安全的地方。
随即，她想都没想就做了另一件事：米格达里亚·拉莫斯径直跑回燃烧着的建筑物里，爬了七层楼，把她母亲的盲人邻居救了出来。
她跟哈里做了同样的事。而且或许和哈里一样，她做的时候连想都没想，只是凭条件反射，因为促使哈里那么做的某种东西在她身上也有。那个“某种东西”使她忘记了她生活中的其他方面，把注意力放在另外一个人——一个需要帮助的人身上。
在对米格达里亚的采访里，她一次也没有使用“英雄”这个词。我认为她没把自己当作英雄，她只是做了她要做的。很多人称她的丈夫为英雄，他的确是英雄，但却不仅仅是因为他又跑回了世贸中心。对米格达里亚和她的家人来说，哈里·拉莫斯之所以是英雄或许是因为他那时每天早上都起床去上班，为家庭而奋斗。
米格达里亚·拉莫斯失去了太多——她的丈夫、爱人和她最好的朋友。但是或许米格达里亚也找到了一些东西，也许她发现她丈夫身上的优秀品质也传到她身上了。
就我个人看来，我觉得她一直都有这些优秀品质。
米格达里亚·拉莫斯说在她母亲公寓发生的事情让她理解了丈夫为什么要那样做。她觉得他是在向她传达一种信息。我也从电视屏幕上的这个女人那里听到了一种信息。我们中一些人——我认为是大多数人——的内心深处都有某种东西，这种东西是善良、正派、勇敢和无私的。这是我们身上最好的品质。这些品质在我们关心、在乎另外一个人的简单行动中，会不假思索地表现出来。在如今的世界里，有些人生存只为给他人带来痛苦和恐惧，米格达里亚·拉莫斯的讯息如同一场及时雨，它为我们所有人带来了希望。
Key Words:
relevant ['relivənt]
adj. 相关的，切题的，中肯的
incident ['insidənt]
n. 事件，事变，插曲
adj. 难免的，附带
irrelevant [i'relivənt]
adj. 不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的
affected [ə'fektid]
adj. 受影响的，受感动的，受疾病侵袭的 adj. 做
affect [ə'fekt]
vt. 影响，作用，感动
cleave [kli:v]
vt. 劈开，使分开，穿过
vi. 劈开，分开
spoke [spəuk]
v. 说，说话，演说
hallway ['hɔ:lwei]
n. 门厅；玄关；走廊
understand [.ʌndə'stænd]
vt. 理解，懂，听说，获悉，将 ... 理解为，认为<
victor ['viktə]
n. 胜利者 Victor: 维克托(男子名)
decent ['di:snt]
adj. 体面的，正派的，得体的，相当好的
terror ['terə]
n. 恐怖，惊骇，令人惧怕或讨厌的人或事物
understand [.ʌndə'stænd]
vt. 理解，懂，听说，获悉，将 ... 理解为，认为<
unselfish ['ʌn'selfiʃ]
adj. 无私的
screen [skri:n]
n. 屏，幕，银幕，屏风
v. 放映，选拔，掩
timely ['taimli]
adj. 及时的，适时的
参考资料：
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