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Without warning there followed a terrific crash. The freight train came together,
突然發生了嚴重碰撞，貨車撞在了一起，
and far in the air a great splash of fire glowed bright against the black sky.
在遠處的天空中，一團明亮的大火映襯在黑夜中。
Halfway down, as the exploded tank car fell, hissing with flame, it met another and another.
在下行途中，隨著爆炸的油槽車被摧毀，火焰還發出了嘶嘶聲，之后又發生了兩次相撞。
The explosions shook the earth, blew great holes in the road bed,
爆炸讓大地震顫起來，路基形成了許多大洞，
tore away the sanded rails over which the passenger had just thundered, hurled the sleepers from their berths,
磨砂鋼軌被炸斷了，乘客之前還在上面大喊大叫，熟睡的乘客從臥鋪中猛扔了出來，
jarred out the lights, and swayed the fifty-ton Pullmans as if they had been cardboard playhouses.
燈光顫動了起來，讓50噸的鉑爾曼搖晃起來，好似硬紙板游戲屋。
Potts, dripping with perspiration, sank weakly to his seat. The train had come to a standstill.
波茨出了很多汗，虛弱地癱在了椅子上，這列火車停了下來。
The engine breathed as if exhausted with its race. The conductor came up on the run, white of face, and held up his lantern.
引擎好似在競賽后精疲力盡，喘著粗氣，操作員跑了過來，臉色煞白，手里提著燈籠。
It was a narrow escape, he said. Potts, the engineer, smiled in his face.
他說驚險逃脫，工程師波茨笑了起來。
He laid his hand caressingly on the huge black side of the engine as though he feared it had been strained.
他的手親切地放在了引擎的黑色部分，他很害怕引擎顯得過于緊張。
We're behind two minutes, now, he said calmly, as if being on time was the most important thing in the world.
我們晚了兩分鐘，他鎮定地說，好似準時是這個世界最重要的事情。
A mile back the tank train was going up, car after car, like a bunch of giant firecrackers.
往回看一英里處是油槽車在前行，一輛接著一輛，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
汽油在城鎮房屋燃起了火焰，貨車工程師驚慌失措，
was escaping up the track with his detached engine and a few of the box cars. In all, thirteen tanks of oil were exploded,
他的火車和分離引擎逃脫，以及幾列棚車，總共有十三列油槽車爆炸，
two buildings were burned, and a man was killed. But the Chicago express was saved.
兩棟建筑被燒毀，一人遇難，但芝加哥快車得救了。
