图片新闻【25】Squeegee saviour at Trade Centre

By Philip Delves Broughton in New York
(Filed: 10/10/2001)

FIVE men trapped in a lift when the World Trade Centre was attacked on September 11 escaped after one of them, a window cleaner, cut through the lift shaft with the edge of his window wiper.

在9月11日世界贸易中心遭到恐怖袭击后，一名玻璃清洗工用手中的清洗工具的金属刃口凿穿了电梯井的墙壁，从而使与他一道困在一部电梯内的5名男子得以逃生。

The men were on their way up the north tower of the centre, close to the 70th floor, when the first plane struck at 8.47am. "We felt a muted thud," Shivam Iyer told the New York Times. "The building shook. The elevator swung like a pendulum."

在当天上午8时47分第一次撞击发生时，这名男子正在北塔乘电梯上行到达约第70层。“我们感到一声闷响，”Shivam Iyer对“纽约时报”记者说。“整座建筑在摇晃。电梯则象个钟摆一样来回摇动。”

The lift then began to fall faster and faster until someone hit the emergency stop button. The men were 500ft off the ground. They waited for 10 minutes until a crackly voice told them over the intercom that the tower had been hit. Smoke was pouring into the lift. The intercom went dead.

随后电梯开始向下坠，越来越快，直到有人压下紧急制动按纽。此时电梯里的人距地面尚有500英尺。他们等了10分钟后，才听到一个沙哑的声音通过楼内对讲系统告诉他们大楼遭到撞击。浓烟已开始涌入电梯。对讲系统也中断了。

The tallest man in the group, George Phoenix, an engineer, found a hatch in the ceiling of the lift. The other men pulled open the doors, propping them open with the handle of a squeegee belonging to the window cleaner, Jan Demczur.

一行中个头最高的男子 - 一位名叫George Phoenix的工程师 - 在电梯顶棚上发现了一个开口。另一名男子拉开了那扇门，并用玻璃清洁工Jan Demczur的橡皮清洁刷的手柄支撑住让门开着。

In front of them was a wall marked "50". The lift they were in did not service the 50th floor. They would have to find another way out. After feeling the wall, Mr Demczur, a former builder, saw that it was made of layers of inch-thick panels of synthetic partition material known as sheetrock.

在他们面前是一堵标有“50”字样的墙。可是他们乘坐的电梯正常情况下并不通往第50层。他们不得不另寻出路。在用手摸了摸墙后，曾做过建筑工人的Demczur先生发现，墙壁是由数层一英尺厚的面板砌成，面板是由一种叫石膏灰胶纸夹板的人工合成隔板材料做成的。

He knew he could cut through it with a knife. As no one had a knife, he pulled the rubber from his squeegee and used its metal edges to begin cutting. All the men breathed through handkerchiefs dipped in a carton of milk which Mr Phoenix had bought for breakfast.

他知道这种材料可以用刀子切割。由于没有人带刀，于是他就剥下橡皮清洁刷上的橡胶磙子，开始用它的金属刃口划开墙体。所有人透过浸了Phoenix先生买来用做早点的一盒牛奶的手帕呼吸。

As Mr Demczur reached the third inch of sheetrock, he dropped his squeegee, watching it spiral down the shaft. His hands aching, he used the small metal handle he was left with and punched and kicked at the wall.

当Demczur先生切到第三层夹板时，他不小心掉落了清洁刷，只见清洁刷旋转着落下竖井。他的手开始感到疼痛，他用手中剩下的金属把手戳、并用脚踢墙。

He gouged a hole about 12in by 18in, enough to crawl through. Finally, he came to a layer of white tiles: a bathroom wall. All the men joined in punching it out, then squirmed through.

慢慢地他凿开了一个长18英尺宽12英尺的洞，足够一个人钻出去。最后，他挖到一层白瓷砖：是一间卫生间的墙。所有人都动起手来，终于把墙凿开了，大家都从开孔中蠕动着钻出去了。

It was 9.30am and the building was deserted except for firemen who looked astonished to see the men crawling through the wall. They joined the line of people in the fire escape and when they reached the 15th floor heard the noise of the south tower collapsing.

当时已是9点半，整幢建筑已人去楼空，只有救火队员惊奇地看着这些人一个个从洞中爬出来。他们立刻加入沿火警紧急出口撤离的人流，在到达第15层时，他们听到南塔倒塌的隆隆声。

"We heard a thunderous metallic roar," Mr Demczur said. "I thought our lives had surely ended." Behind them, the firemen told them to hurry. At 10.23am they ran into the street. Five minutes later the north tower fell. "That man with the squeegee - he was like our guardian angel," Mr Iyer said.

“我们听到雷霆般金属撕扯声，”Demczur先生说。“我以为我们的末日到了。”在他们身后，救火队员要他们加快脚步。在10点23分，他们跑到了街上。5分钟后北塔倒塌了。“那个拿着橡胶清洁刷的人就象是我们的守护天使。”Iyer先生说。

本文中文翻译由世博英语Robin完成，深表感谢！