Against the Raging River（1/2）
面对咆哮的河流
By Richard Shears
理查德•施亚兹

    汉语成语“洪水猛兽”来形容极大的祸害。“洪水”与“猛兽”难以等量齐观，也许有人认为。然而，读了本篇，洪水为害之烈，将印记在读者的脑海中。
 连日降雨，澳大利亚新南威尔士的Hastings River一改往日景象：通常十分平静的河水变成了200英尺宽的雷鸣般的湍流。
此刻，Jack Rogers驾驶着大巴士来到了河边。过河的桥已经沉到了水下。水深3英尺处，桥的轮廓依稀可辨。
 54岁的司机Rogers通过电话告诉远在Melbourne的老板：The current’s too fast, and I’m not going to risk any lives，但是：Rogers was under pressure to go on。留在车上的另有：导游小姐Suzanne Evers和另一位美国游客Oscar Buckingham。
 车慢慢驶入“水中桥”，开始并无问题。然而，好景不长。车驶到桥的中心，车头始翘，并发生倾斜，最后…the bus rolled back upright and began to float nose-first downstream.
 洪水哗哗涌入车内，Rogers迅即打开了车顶的天窗，三人由此上了车顶，瑟瑟发抖，蜷缩一团。
当地警署的Brian Smith闻讯赶到出事地点。
Rogers同别的在场的人一起，用绳子把一只铝制的救生艇传送到大巴士旁，三人先后上了救生艇。不料小船翻转过来，把上面的乘客都甩进了大漩涡之中。
 见三人在水中挣扎，Smith想出一法，但是，水流太急，无法前行，只得退回岸上。岸上的营救人员又生一计：
The rescuers on the bank waded into a shallow part of the river and gripped each other’s arms to form a human chain.
 接着，读者又见到了Smith舍己救Buckingham的动人场面：
Again he dived into the icy water…
 然而，谋事在人，成事在天：
But with the rope wound tightly around him, Buckingham couldn’t move.
 就这样，在icy water中待了10分钟后，Smith游回岸上，瘫倒在地。
 Smith刚刚上岸，缠住Buckingham的绳子竟然被水流冲断，当他被人救起时：He was numb with cold, but alive.
 此时，水中只剩下司机Rogers一人：Rogers was exhausted and shivering furiously. 自感生命之焰行将熄灭时，Rogers心里想些什么？
Images of his wife, Alice, and their eight children spun through his mind.
 岸上的Ray Richards在绝望中，突然想到了使用flying fox（注：不是“飞狐”），又经过了一个多小时的周折，Rogers终于通过flying fox被救上了岸。随后，Hughes也上了岸，两人被同时送往医院。
 文章的结尾似在平平淡淡话家常，但是，它同文章中的一些内容遥相呼应，在读者的心中激起层层涟漪。
 文章结尾这些话，再次让我们记起美国著名的盲人作家Helen Keller的一段名言：
 Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
 我们中间没有遭过劫难的人难道不应该从中汲取养分，让我们的生命之树更加郁郁葱葱吗？

JACK ROGERS could barely see through the windshield of his bus. Heavy rains fell steadily as he drove toward the Hastings River, which flow near Mount Seaview in New South Wales, Australia. Usually placid，the river had been transformed into a thundering, 200-foot-wide torrent by days of rains. Darkened by tons of silt，the water rolled and seethed；branches and trees sped by in the flood. Rogers’s mission: to cross the turbulent river using a narrow bridge now hidden beneath flood waters.
杰克•罗杰斯几乎无法从大巴士的挡风玻璃看到外面。雨一直下得很大，他驾车开往黑斯廷斯河。 这条河在澳大利亚新南威尔士附近。它通常都十分平静，但是连日来的大雨把这条河变成了200英尺宽的雷鸣般的湍流。数吨的淤泥把河水染黑。河水翻腾着，枝叶和树在洪水中飞快地流过去。罗杰斯的任务是：通过现在淹没在洪水下的窄桥穿过这咆哮的河水。
 The 54-year-old bus driver didn’t want to make the trip. “The current’s too fast,” he had told his boss in Melbourne over the phone, “and I’m not going to risk any lives.” But the tour bus was behind schedule, and Rogers was under pressure to go on.
    这位54岁的巴士司机不想进行这次行程。“水流太急了”，他在电话里对墨尔本的老板说，“我不想拿任何人的生命开玩笑”。但是，这辆旅行车已经落后于原定计划。迫于压力，罗杰斯不得不继续。
 He finally agreed to make the crossing, but without passengers. Suzanne Evers, a tour hostess in her 20s, and Oscar Buckingham, an American tourist, volunteered to ride with him that afternoon in April 1989.
    他最后同意驾车过河，但是不承载乘客。在1989年4月的那个下午，和他一起坐在车里的还有：20多岁的导游小姐苏珊安娜•伊芙丝和一位自愿乘坐大巴士的美国游客奥斯卡•白金汉姆。
 AT THE RIVER’S EDGE, Rogers strained to see the outline of the bridge three feet below the surface. There were no side rails to guide him. As he eased the 20-ton bus into the roiling water, the torrent instantly surged up against its sides. But the eight massive wheels held firm. So far, so good, he thought.
    在河边，罗杰斯睁大眼睛使劲观察没在水面下3英尺处的桥的轮廓。桥边没有栏杆做引导。当他驾驶着20吨重的巴士驶进翻腾着的河水时，湍流顿时汹涌澎湃，拍打着车身。但是，8个巨大的车轮行驶地很平稳。到目前为止，一切安全，他想。
 Then, halfway across, the front of the bus reared up and the whole vehicle began to tilt. Rogers’s gut tightened with fear. “We’re losing it!” he yelled. In chilling slow-motion, the bus began to roll slowly onto its side.
    接着，行驶到桥中心的时候，车头翘起，整个汽车开始倾斜。由于恐惧，罗杰斯的五脏六腑绷得紧紧的。“我们要失控了！”他大喊。汽车开始向一侧滚动，速度很慢，令人胆寒。
The three clung to their seats as bags cascaded down from the luggage racks. Then the bus rolled back upright and began to float nose-first downstream. Rogers turned the steering wheel and stomped uselessly on the brake pedal. Suddenly there was a loud thump. We’ve hit bottom, Rogers thought. The door sprang open, and water gushed in.
三个人紧紧抓住座位，包从行李架上哗啦啦落下来。接着汽车又翻了回来，车头向前漂向下游。罗杰斯转动方向盘，重重地踩刹车板，但是汽车毫无反应。突然“砰”的一声巨响。我们沉底了，罗杰斯心里想。车门被弹开，河水涌入车内。
Evers and Buckingham yelled in fear as water swirled around their legs. “Let’s get out of here!” Rogers shouted. “We’ll be safer on top!” He pushed open an overhead hatch, and the three scrambled onto the roof. They crouched there, clutching the open hatchway.
水在伊芙丝和白金汉姆的腿边打旋，他们俩害怕地大叫起来。“离开这里！”罗杰斯大声呼喊，“到上面去更安全！”他推开天窗盖，三个人急忙爬到车顶。他们三个紧紧抓住天窗，蜷缩在那里。
The bus was jammed against submerged rocks, 130 feet from the river bank. With the front two-thirds filling with water, the vehicle shuddered repeatedly from the flood’s force. “We’re still moving,” Rogers told his shivering companions. “We could roll over at any time.”
汽车卡到水下的岩石，停住了，这时它离河岸130英尺。车身前部的三分之二都装满了水，由于洪水的巨大冲击力，汽车不停地摇晃。“我们还在行驶”，罗杰斯对他那两个发抖的伙伴说
“PLEASE HELP!” a voice on the phone said to Sgt. Brian Smith at the Wauchope police station. “People are trapped in a bus in the river by the bridge at Seaview!”
“请求帮助！”一个声音在电话里对沃科普警察局的布赖恩•史密斯警官说。“一辆公交车在海景河的桥边翻车，乘客被困在里面”。
Smith dashed to his car. When he reached Mount Seaview, some 30 miles away, he was astonished by what he saw: the bridge had disappeared beneath the torrent. Forty yards downstream, a bus rocked like a whale stranded in surf, with three people clinging desperately to the top. The water swirling around them appeared to be rising.
史密斯冲上汽车，行驶了大约30英里后，他来到海景山。他被眼前看到的景象惊呆了：桥消失在湍流之下。在河流下游40码处，一辆巴士搁浅了，像一头搁浅在海浪中的巨鲸，有三个人死死地抓住车顶。河水在他们身边打旋，而且看起来还在上涨。
Smith helped staff members from the nearby tourist lodge and the local fire brigade attach two lines to a small aluminum dinghy and guide it toward the victims. As the boat floated close by him, Rogers climbed inside the bus, kicked out a window and grabbed three life jackets from the dinghy. Then he tied one of the lines to a seat mounting.
史密斯帮助附近旅游支部和当地消防队的同事把一艘铝制的救生艇系上两根绳子，然后驾船驶向遇难者。当小船靠近罗杰斯的时候，他爬进汽车，踢碎玻璃窗，从救生艇上拿了三件救生衣。然后，他把一根绳子系到座架上。
Donning the life jackets, the three crawled though the window. As they climbed into the dinghy, it began to list violently. God help us, Rogers thought, we’re going over! The boat flipped and hurled its passengers into the maelstrom.
穿上救生衣，三个人从窗户里爬了出来。当他们登上救生艇时，救生艇开始剧烈地倾斜。上帝救救我们，罗杰斯想，我们要完了！这时，小船翻转过来，把上面的乘客都甩进了大漩涡之中。
As Rogers sank, he felt the dinghy’s line tighten around his lower body. Kicking frantically, he strained to reach the surface. Just as his head cleared the water, however, a massive weight smashed down on it. He felt his head explode with pain. Looking up, he saw a flash of silver, The dinghy! He was caught in a deathtrap: the boat’s line snared his lower body while its hull kept him underwater.
罗杰斯往水下沉，他感觉救生艇的绳子紧紧地缠住了他的下半身。他拼命地踩水，尽力靠近水面。可是，就在他的脑袋冒出水面的时候，一个巨大的重物狠狠地砸在他的头上。他觉得头疼得要爆炸了。他抬起头来，只见上面银色闪现。是救生艇！他被置于死地了：小船的绳子缠住了他的下半身，而船体却把他埋在水下。
His chest hurt, and water kept filling his lungs. I can’t hold on much longer, Rogers thought. Suddenly the dinghy shifted slightly, leaving a clear space above him. Air! He kicked powerfully, broke through to the surface and inhaled, coughing and spitting out mouthfuls of water. With one hand he seized the static line to shore; with the other he untangled the boat line from his body. He struggled to keep his head above water. But the current was so strong it formed a plume that cascade over his face. Gasping he dragged himself along the line toward the bus. He was able to hook his feet under a ridge of metal below the bus’ side panels. He lifted his head out of the water and grabbed hold of the bus.
他的胸口受伤了，河水不断灌进他的肺里。我撑不了多久了，罗杰斯心里想。突然，救生艇稍稍偏移了一点，他的头顶露出一片空闲的空间。空气！他使劲踩水，破水而出，他大口地吸气，一边咳嗽一边满口吐水。他一只手抓住系在岸边的静力绳；另一只手从他身上解开救生艇的绳子。他努力把头伸出水面，不过水流湍急，在他的脸部形成了羽状喷流。他大口地喘着气，并沿着绳子把自己拖向巴士。他的脚钩住巴士侧板下面的金属隆起，然后把头伸出水面，并紧紧地抓住了巴士。