and far in the air a great splash of fire glowed bright against the black sky. 在远处的天空中，一团明亮的大火映衬在黑夜中。

Halfway down, as the exploded tank car fell, hissing with flame, it met another and another. 在下行途中，随着爆炸的油槽车被摧毁，火焰还发出了嘶嘶声，之后又发生了两次相撞。

The explosions shook the earth, blew great holes in the road bed, 爆炸让大地震颤起来，路基形成了许多大洞，

tore away the sanded rails over which the passenger had just thundered, hurled the sleepers from their berths, 磨砂钢轨被炸断了，乘客之前还在上面大喊大叫，熟睡的乘客从卧铺中猛扔了出来，

jarred out the lights, and swayed the fifty-ton Pullmans as if they had been cardboard playhouses. 灯光颤动了起来，让50吨的铂尔曼摇晃起来，好似硬纸板游戏屋。

Potts, dripping with perspiration, sank weakly to his seat. The train had come to a standstill. 波茨出了很多汗，虚弱地瘫在了椅子上，这列火车停了下来。

The engine breathed as if exhausted with its race. The conductor came up on the run, white of face, and held up his lantern. 引擎好似在竞赛后精疲力尽，喘着粗气，操作员跑了过来，脸色煞白，手里提着灯笼。

It was a narrow escape, he said. Potts, the engineer, smiled in his face. 他说惊险逃脱，工程师波茨笑了起来。

He laid his hand caressingly on the huge black side of the engine as though he feared it had been strained. 他的手亲切地放在了引擎的黑色部分，他很害怕引擎显得过于紧张。

We're behind two minutes, now, he said calmly, as if being on time was the most important thing in the world. 我们晚了两分钟，他镇定地说，好似准时是这个世界最重要的事情。

A mile back the tank train was going up, car after car, like a bunch of giant firecrackers. 往回看一英里处是油槽车在前行，一辆接着一辆，好似一堆巨型鞭炮。

The oil was blazing on the houses of the town, and the panic-stricken engineer of the freight train 汽油在城镇房屋燃起了火焰，货车工程师惊慌失措，

was escaping up the track with his detached engine and a few of the box cars. In all, thirteen tanks of oil were exploded, 他的火车和分离引擎逃脱，以及几列棚车，总共有十三列油槽车爆炸，

two buildings were burned, and a man was killed. But the Chicago express was saved. 两栋建筑被烧毁，一人遇难，但芝加哥快车得救了。