9/11 Special: Ten Years Later, 9/11 Still Haunts Americans

Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, Bin¹ Laden² is dead, but some Americans are still struggling with their experiences and memories of the disaster.

As Su Yi reports, some of them are still suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorders³, while others are fighting against respiratory illnesses or even cancer.

 
John Marshall is a retired⁴ New York police detective who spent weeks on the debris⁵ at Ground Zero. Now he has throat cancer and speaks through a tracheal tube. He has lot a lot of weight.

"When I retired I was probably about three-twenty. I'm about two-twenty-five now. I was a bull. And now I'm just like, uh, slowly wasting away."

Marshall believes his cancer was caused by his time as a first responder.

However, while people have blamed everything from strange rashes to skin cancer on the dust of 9/11, experts say there lacks of strong evidence to link these afflictions with the event.

But on the other hand, most scientists are confident there's a link with different kinds of afflictions, such as nightmares, depression and anxiety, caused by the experiences of the disaster.

Over 10-thousand city workers who spent time clearing ground zero of debris have sued the city government and contractors⁶ in relation to their health problems.

Although a legal settlement worth over 700 million US dollars was reached this year, for most of them like Firefighter Adam Lake, the memory of 9/11 and the work to clear the debris still haunts them every day.

"You know you live with it. It's not something that you can just turn off. We live with it every day."

Lake remembers he was stunned⁷ at how the remains⁸ of his 11 fellow firemen had settled in the debris: in the same order of rank and position as the firefighters would line up when responding to New York City fires.

Over in Florida, the pupils who were with President George W when he paid a routine visit to the school on that fateful day, say being a part of history made them mature faster.

"The 16 kids, you know, who else can say they were with the president on September 11? That's our age. No one. And that's an honor, obviously. But in that moment, I think we all matured maybe a little bit."

Despite the suffering and sacrifices made by Americans, intelligence officials are warning that the war on terror may be still far from over.

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff:

"It has really become like a hydra⁹ with a lot of different heads. And my theory has been that in many ways, as a younger generation comes up, we may find that they're more dangerous because they're no longer locked into the strategies that we're accustomed to facing, but they're going to have new strategies."

New York Fireman Adam Lake says one joy to look forward to with each anniversary is the visits from families of the men he lost that day.

"When you go upstairs there's faces of the guys we lost and it's just a reminder¹⁰ that, one, this job is serious and how much they sacrificed and what they taught us."

Millions of Americans like Lake may have different opinions on whether their country won the fight, but they all know what they have taken away from that tragic¹¹ day.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.

1 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。

2 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。

3 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

5 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

6 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 hydra   

n.水螅；难于根除的祸患

参考例句：

• Let's knock down those hydras and drive them to the sea!让我们铲除祸根，把他们赶到大海去！
• We may be facing a hydra that defies any easy solution.我们也许正面临一个无法轻易解决的难题。

10 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

11 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。