New York: When the first plane struck 1 World Trade Center at 8:48 am on Tuesday, the people in 2 World Trade Center who saw the instant (瞬間的) damage to the other tower realized clearly what they, too, must do: get out fast.
Katherine Ilachinsiki, who had been knocked off her chair by the blast (一陣)of heat exploding from the neighboring tower, was one of those. Despite her 70 years of age, Mrs Ilachinsiki, an architect working on the 91
st floor of 2 World Trade Center, the south tower, went for the stairs. Twelve floors above her, Judy Wein, an executive (經(jīng)理), cried sharply and set off too.
But others up and down the 110 floors, many without seeing the damage across the way and thus unclear about what was happening, were not so sure. And the 18 minutes before the next plane would hit were ticking off.
Most people had no idea about what was the best thing to do, formal announcements inside the south tower asked people to
stay put, assuring them that the building was sound and the threat was limited to the other tower.
Some left, others stayed. Some began to climb down and, when met with more announcements and other cautions (警告) to stop or return, went back up. The decisions made in those instants proved to be of great importance, because many who chose to stay were killed completely when the second plane crashed into the south tower.
One of those caught in indecision (猶豫不決) was the executive at Fuji Bank USA.
Richard Jacobs of Fuji Bank left the 79
th floor with the other office workers, but on the 48
th floor they heard the announcement that the situation was under control. Several got in the lifts and went back up, two minutes or so before the plane crashed into their floor.
“I just don’t know what happened to them,” Mr Jacobs said.
小題1:From the passage, we know that the south tower was hit by the plane ________.
A.a(chǎn)t 8:30 | B.18 minutes earlier than the north tower |
C.a(chǎn)t around 9:06 | D.a(chǎn)t 8:48 |
小題2:The underlined words “stay put” means ________.
A.stay in the building | B.leave at once |
C.put everything back and then leave | D.keep silent |
小題3:Which floor was hit by the second plane?
A.The 91st floor | B.The 103rd floor | C.The 60th floor | D.The 79th floor |
小題4:Fewer people would have died if
.
A.more announcements had been made | B.people hadn’t used the lifts |
C.the attack had happened on a weekend | D.the people had obeyed the office rules |