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They were tired, too, and burdened by the heat and the weight of their equipment, and theywere anxious to evacuate the building. But because some of them were not aware of the other building s collapse, and because the towers had always seemed somehow immortal, they did not feel at that moment that there was great urgency.
他們自己也疲憊不堪，悶熱與沉重的消防器械更使他們不勝重負，而且他們急于把人們疏散出大樓。但由于他們中有的并不知道另一幢樓已經倒塌，由于這兩幢塔樓一向顯得牢不可破，此時此刻，他們并不覺得情形相當緊迫。
None of them expected the terrible, otherworldly, thunderous sound; none of them expected the rumble that, in an instant, signaled catastrophe. Time stands still at moments like that. They stretch out long enough to give people pause, to consider what dying would mean. Bill Butler thought, I didn't even get to say good-bye to my wife and kids. Clearly, this was it. They had done their best, and now it was over. They prayed for it to be over quickly;they repented and asked for forgiveness; they thought of loved ones.
他們誰也沒料到會傳來那可怕的、地獄般的轟隆聲；他們誰也沒料到，剎那間，那轟隆聲就是災難的信號。在那樣的時刻，時間似乎凝固了。凝固的時間長得足以讓人們停下來想一想死亡意味著什么。比爾·巴特勒想，我甚至沒能跟老婆孩子告別呢。顯然此刻就是那樣的時刻到來了。他們盡了全力，現在一切都結束了。他們祈禱著快快完結；他們懺悔，祈求寬恕；他們想著摯愛的親人。
And then everything turned to dust around them. One hundred and five floors above them cametumbling down, each crushing the one under it with greater force. Within seconds the proud,shiny tower had been turned to sand-sized pieces of rubble, taking thousands of lives in itsshattering wake.
隨后周圍的一切都變為灰塵。他們上面的105層樓統統轟然倒塌下來，每一層都以更大的沖力撞向下一層。短短數秒之間，不可一世的、光芒耀眼的塔樓成為一堆細小的瓦礫，隨著其倒塌破碎，上千條生命被奪去。
From all vantage points, there was no way for anyone to survive this disaster, and no obvious reason why the staircase at which Josephine had halted should have been spared. But miracles have their own reasons. And as the dust settled, Captain John (Jay) Jonas, Sal D'Agostino, Bill Butler, Tommy Falco, Mike Meldrum, Matt Komorowski and Josephine, thrown wildly through the debris, were left whole, if not exactly standing, seemingly buried alive.
無論從哪方面來看，沒有人能從這場災難中幸存，然而，不知什么原因，約瑟芬停下來的這段樓梯竟然會幸免于難。但奇跡自有其道理。等到塵埃落定，在瓦礫落下時被拋擲得東倒西歪的約翰（杰伊）·喬納斯隊長、薩爾·達格斯迪諾、比爾·巴特勒、托米·菲爾科、麥克·梅爾姆、邁特·科莫羅斯基和約瑟芬，即便沒能完全頂住，看上去像是被活埋了似的，但卻完好無損。
