大学英语综合教程 第一册 unit 7a

[00:00.00]At first it seemed as if it might just be an old box or rags ahead of the train.
[00:06.79]But then they realized just what it was.
[00:10.92]"KIDS ON THE TRACK!"   by Jack Murphu
[00:15.86]Monday,May1,1989 was a pleasant morning in Ramsey
[00:23.69]N.L Kate Pritchard bent over her car trunk
[00:27.40]and struggled with the bags of groceries she'd just brought home
[00:32.44]She heard the distant cry of a locomotive horn.
[00:36.70]The trans of Conrail passed less than 300 feet from the Pritchards' house
[00:44.09]No fence separated their backyard from the track only a thick row of trees
[00:50.94]But,her sons,31/2-year-old Todd and 18-month-old Scott,
[00:57.68]were nearby,playing on the driveway.
[01:02.12]"Stay right there,"Kate said,"while Mommy puts the groceries away.
[01:07.89]Then we'll go inside and have lunch,okay?"
[01:12.65]"Okay!"said Todd,giving a thumbs-up gesture he'd seen his father make.
[01:19.70]"kay!"echoed Scott,trying to copy his older brother.
[01:25.66]They watched their mother enter the house with several bags.
[01:30.10]Kate shut the refrigerator and hurried outside.
[01:34.30]Good.The boys were plaing right where she'd left them.
[01:39.74]As she lifted more bags from the trunk,
[01:43.58]Kate heard a train race past a passenger express,she judged from its speed
[01:50.63]She carried more bags into the house.
[01:54.23]The sounds of the train apparently drew the boys' attention to the track.
[02:00.24]After making their way through the trees
[02:04.79]they climbed to the top of the steep roadbed,
[02:09.15]knelt down along the railroad and began to play.
[02:14.11]A few thousand feet west,a freight train rolled slowly toward the children
[02:22.05]Overhead lights signaled to enginaeer Rich Campana
[02:27.20]that the passenger train ahead was out of the way.
[02:32.16]and they could resume their normal speed of 40 miles per hour.
[02:38.54]The engineer adjusted the accelerator
[02:43.08]then turned to conductor Anthony Falzo
[02:47.84]a man medium in height and strongly built,
[02:52.80]who had worked for Conrail for almost half of his 35 years.
[02:58.86]"So what'd you do over the weekend,Anthony?"
[03:04.22]"Oh,not much.Mostly messing around a little TV,then bed. What else?"
[03:13.88]Campana smiled.
[03:16.44]Hey,you'd better cool down,Anthony you're getting to be a real party animal
[03:23.52]The two men laughed.
[03:25.98]They were still laughing as the train began gathering speed,
[03:31.54]moving at 21 miles per hour.
[03:35.69]Rich and Anthony spotted something ahead at the same instant.
[03:42.15]"What's that up there?"asked the engineer.Anthony didn't answer.
[03:48.91]Staring intently,he was trying to identify the curious shape on the track ahead
[03:56.36]A box ? Old rags ?
[04:01.03]Suddenly both men realized what it was
[04:05.97]Rich threw on the emergency brake
[04:09.52]and pulled on the air-horn handle with all his strength.
[04:14.20]The horn's blast and Anthony's words exploded at the same time:
[04:20.44]"Kids'on the Track!"
[04:22.90]Anthony sprang through the cab door onto a narrow running board
[04:28.25]six feet above the wheels and raced
[04:33.01]to the front of the swaying train.
[04:36.45]Climbing quickly down a steel ladder,he paused at the bottom
[04:41.73]two feet above the  roadbed flashing by.
[04:46.46]Now he could clearly see the two little children.
[04:51.11]They were sitting alongside the raih
[04:54.95]Anthony waved wildly and shouted,"Get away! Get away!"
[05:01.30]He mentally calculated the train's deceleration rate and groaned.
[05:07.07]We'1l never stop in time.
[05:10.62]Absorbed in play,Todd and Scott did not hear the train.
[05:16.55]Finally,as the sound became thunderous,Scott looked up and froze.
[05:23.60]Though the train was slowing,
[05:26.56]Anthony knew it was still going faster than he could run
[05:31.31]So he forced himself to wait
[05:34.76]until he would be close enough to leap off and grab the boys
[05:40.79]With perhaps ten feet left between them