Lesson Six

Pre-class Work

Read the text a third time. Learn the new words and expressions listed below.

Glossary

acknowledge
v. to recognize; to admit

admirable
adj. worthy of admiration

aesthetic
adj. concerning beauty, esp. beauty in art

anonymity
n. the state of not having one's name or identity known to others

balding
adj. becoming bald

behave
v. to do things in a particular way

behavior
n. the way someone behaves

blast
n. an unexpected quick strong movement of wind or air

budget
n. a plan of how a government will spend the money that is available in a particular period of time 预算

capacity
n. ability to do sth.

casualty
n. sb. who is hurt or killed in an accident

challenge
v. to defy 藐视；在……面前毫无畏惧，以挑战姿态面对……

chaotic
adj. in a state of complete disorder and confusion

chunk
n. (infml) a fairly large amount of

clash
n. a loud sound made by two metal objects being hit together

classic
adj. important and special

collision
n. an accident in which two or more people or vehicles hit each other while moving in different directions; in ～ : in conflict

commitment
n. a responsibility; a determination to do what one considers to be his duty

conclusion
n. the end; the closing part

congressional
adj. related to a congress, the elected law-making body of certain countries 国会的

dip
v. to put into liquid （液体） for a moment and then take out

distinction
n. difference

doze
v. sleep lightly

emotional
adj. making people have strong feelings

employee
n. a person who is employed

essential
adj. being central or most important

Florida
n. 佛罗里达州（U. S.）

flotation
n. ～ ring: 救生圈

freeze
v. to cause water to harden into ice as a result of great cold

gasp
v. to breathe quickly with difficulty, making a sudden noise

grope
v. to try to find sth. that you cannot see by feeling with your hands

gull
n. a large common black and white sea bird that lives near the sea

harsh
adj. unpleasant or cruel (words)

helicopter
n. 直升飞机

immovable
adj. impossible to move, change, or persuade

impact
n. the force of one object striking or hitting another

injured
adj. having an injury; having been physically damaged or hurt

jet
n. an airplane driven by a jet engine

likewise
adv. in the same way

monument
n. a building or sth. that preserves the memory of a person or event

possibility
n. sth. that is possible

Potomac
n. 波托马克河 （U. S.）

presidential
adj. concerning a president

proof
n. sth. that proves that sth. is true

remark
n. a spoken or written opinion

slap
n. a quick blow with the flat part of the hand, used figuratively here

standoff
n. a situation in which neither side in a fight can gain an advantage

stewardess
n. a woman who serves passengers on a plane

stunning
adj. shocking; very impressive

survivor
n. a person who has continued to live, esp. in spite of having been nearly destroyed or killed

thus
adv. in this way; so, therefore

totally
adv. completely

tragedy
n. a terrible, unfortunate event

unique
adj. being the only one of its type

Washington
n. 华盛顿 (capital of U.S.)

Proper Names

Donald Usher
唐纳德·厄舍

Eugene Windsor
尤金·温莎

Skutnik
斯库尼克

Text A

The Man in the Water

Roger Rosenblatt

Read the text once for the main idea. Do not refer to the notes, dictionaries or the glossary yet.

As disasters go, this one was terrible, but not unique, certainly not among the worst U. S. air crashes on record. There was the unusual element of the bridge, of course and the fact that the plane hit it at a moment of high traffic. Then, too, there was the location of the event. Washington, the city of form and rules, turned chaotic by a blast of real winter and a single slap of metal on metal. The jets from Washington National Airport that normally fly around the presidential monuments like hungry gulls are, for the moment, represented by the one that fell. And there was the aesthetic clash as well — blue-and-green Air Florida, the name of a flying garden, sunk down among gray chunks of ice in a black river. All that was worth noticing, to be sure. Still, there was nothing very special in any of it, except death, which, while always special, does not necessarily bring millions to tears or to attention. Why, then, the shock here?
Perhaps because the nation saw in this disaster something more than a mechanical failure. Perhaps because people saw in it no failure at all, but rather something successful about themselves. Here, after all, were two forms of nature in collision: the elements and human character. Last Wednesday, the elements, indifferent as ever, brought down Flight 90. And on that same afternoon, human nature — groping and struggling — rose to the occasion.
Of the four acknowledged heroes of the event, three are able to account for their behavior. Donald Usher and Eugene Windsor, a park police helicopter team, risked their lives every time they dipped into the water to pick up survivors. On television, side by side, they described their courage as all in the line of duty. Lenny Skutnik, a 28-year-old employee of the Congressional Budget Office, said: "It's something I never thought I would do" — referring to his jumping into the water to drag an injured woman to shore. Skutnik added that "somebody had to go in the water", delivering every hero's line that is no less admirable for being repeated. In fact, nobody had to go into the water. That somebody actually did so is part of the reason this particular tragedy sticks in the mind.
But the person most responsible for the emotional impact of the disaster is the one known at first simply as "the man in the water". Balding, probably in his 50s, a huge mustache. He was seen clinging with five other survivors to the tail section of the airplane. This man was described by Usher and Windsor as appearing alert and in control. Every time they lowered a lifeline and flotation ring to him, he passed it on to another of the passengers. "In a mass casualty, you'll find people like him," said Windsor. "But I've never seen one with that commitment." When the helicopter came back for him the man had gone under. His selflessness was one reason the story held national attention; his anonymity another. The fact that he went unidentified gave him a universal character. For a while he was Everyman, and thus proof (as if one needed it) that no man is ordinary.
Still, he could never have imagined such a capacity in himself. Only minutes before his character was tested, he was sitting in the ordinary plane among the ordinary passengers, listening to the stewardess telling him to fasten his seat belt and saying something about the "no smoking" sign. So our man relaxed with the others, some of whom would owe their lives to him. Perhaps he started to read, or to doze, or to regret some harsh remark made in the office that morning. Then suddenly he knew that the trip would not be ordinary. Like every other person on that flight, he was desperate to live, which makes his final act so stunning.
For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand over the rope and ring to others. He had to know it, no matter how slow the effect of the cold. He felt he had no choice. When the helicopter took off with what was to be the last survivor, he watched everything in the world move away from him, and he let it happen.
Yet there was something else about our man that kept our thoughts on him, and which keeps our thoughts on him still. He was there, in the essential, classic circumstance. Man in nature. The man in the water. For its part, nature cared nothing about the five passengers. Our man, on the other hand, cared totally. So the age-old battle began again in the Potomac. For as long as that man could last, they went at each other, nature and man; the one making no distinctions of good and evil, acting on no principles, offering no lifelines; the other acting wholly on distinctions, principles and, perhaps, on faith.
Since it was he who lost the fight, we ought to come again to the conclusion that people are powerless in the world. In reality, we believe the opposite, and it takes the act of the man in the water to remind us of our true feelings in this matter. It is not to say that everyone would have acted as he did, or as Usher, Windsor and Skutnik. Yet whatever moved these men to challenge death on behalf of their fellows is not peculiar to them. Everyone feels the possibility in himself. That is the enduring wonder of the story. That is why we would not let go of it. If the man in the water gave a lifeline to the people gasping for survival, he was likewise giving a lifeline to those who watched him.
The odd thing is that we do not even really believe that the man in the water lost his fight. "Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature," said Emerson. Exactly. The man in the water had his own natural powers. He could not make ice storms, or freeze the water until it froze the blood. But he could hand life over to a stranger, and that is a power of nature too. The man in the water set himself against an immovable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with kindness; and he held it to a standoff. He was the best we can do.