2006年VOA标准英语-Bush Reflects on September 11 Attacks

By Paula Wolfson
White House
11 September 2006

President Bush is marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a pilgrimage to the three sites where Americans lost their lives. It is a day of reflection for the president and the nation.

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Throughout this day, images will tell the story: faces of the families of the dead, the barren pit where New York's World Trade Center towers once stood, the flags flying in remembrance at the Pentagon and in a field in western Pennsylvania, where the last of four hijacked¹ planes went down. 

President Bush and wife, Laura, lay memorial wreath in pool of water at ground zero

The president has no plans to speak at any of the commemorative events, although he will share his personal thoughts with the nation in a speech at the end of the day. In a recorded interview broadcast on the morning of the anniversary, he offered a bit of a preview.

He reflected on his first look at the devastation² in New York in the days immediately following the collapse³ of the World Trade Center towers, and the words he shouted into a bullhorn, while standing⁴ with exhausted⁵ rescue workers atop a pile of crumbled⁶ concrete and twisted metal.

"I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon," he said.

Mr. Bush told NBC's Today Show that those words captured the emotions of the day.

"That was not a planned speech. It just came out," the president explained. "There was smoke, and there was haze⁷. The emotions were unbelievable. There were tears in peoples' eyes, there was hugging, there was exhaustion⁸, and there was anger."

The president said there was no way to envision at that time that, five years later, 150,000 U.S. troops would be fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. But he said the determination needed to wage the war on terror was already evident.

"I knew that we were going to have to be a nation of resolve, and I knew that we were dealing⁹ with cold-blooded killers¹⁰, the likes of which we hadn't seen in a long period of time," he said.

He said once again that, five years after the attacks, America is safer, but not yet safe. He said the only way to protect the nation from the terrorist threat is to "defeat an ideology¹¹ of hate with an ideology of hope."

1 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。

2 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

6 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

7 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

8 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

10 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

11 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。