“在我心中，曾经有一个梦，要用歌声让你忘了所有的痛。灿烂星空，谁是真的英雄？平凡的人们给我最多感动！再没有恨，也没有了痛，但愿人间处处都有爱的影踪。……”
看这篇文章时，马上想起了《真心英雄》这首歌，这首脍炙人口的流行歌恰好唱出了本文的主题。让我们一起唱起那熟悉的旋律，向那些平凡却伟大的英雄们致敬！
The sun shone brightly in the cloudless blue 1)Wabash, 2)Indiana, sky.
印第安纳州沃巴什县晴空万里的蓝天上，太阳光芒四射地照耀着。
“That was an especially beautiful sunny day,” recalls Jimmy Mitchell, a 3)statuesque man in his early thirties.
“那是一个特别美丽的晴日。”吉米·米切尔回忆道。他30出头，五官轮廓分明。
That day Jimmy was driving his car behind a man on a motorcycle, who was behind a truck hauling a boat, when suddenly the truck 4)swerved 5)erratically. Miraculously the motorcyclist avoided hitting the truck, but he couldn’t prevent himself from 6)colliding with the boat.
那天，吉米正驾驶着自己的小汽车跟在一个骑着摩托车的男人后面，这个男人的前方是一辆运载着一艘小船的卡车。突然，那辆卡车开始无规律地左冲右撞，虽然那个骑摩托车的男人奇迹般地躲过了卡车，没有撞上去，但他却和那艘小船撞到了一起。
The impact of the crash 7)dislodged the boat from the truck, and 8)slammed the motorcyclist to the ground, leaving him lying severely injured in the middle of the road. However, the driver of the truck didn’t stop his vehicle, but raced away from the scene of the accident.
猛烈碰撞的冲力把船甩下了卡车，并把骑摩托车的男人重重地甩到了地上。严重受伤的他躺在道路中间。然而，卡车司机并没有停车，而是快速逃离了事故现场。
Jimmy Mitchell didn’t think twice about stopping to help. Nor could he ever imagine what price he would pay for his good deed.
吉米·米切尔毫不犹豫地立刻停下车去帮忙。他根本就没有想象过自己会为这次善举付出什么代价。
“I 9)pulled over, got out of the car and rushed over to give the man whatever first aid I could.” Jimmy recalled, his large gray eyes 10)misting over as he detailed the events of his 11)brush with death.
“我把车子停到路边，走出车子，冲过去尽我所能对那个男人施行急救。”吉米回忆道。当他详细描述自己与死神擦身而过的经历时，他含有泪水的灰色大眼睛变得模糊起来。
The man’s name was Fred Griffin. After getting Fred 12)untangled from the boat, Jimmy carefully dragged him into the shade by the road, then told him he was going for help, assuring him he would be back. Heart pounding with fear for the injured motorcyclist, Jimmy raced to the nearest house, and asked the person who lived there to call 13)911 to report that there had been a 14)hit-and-run, and give a description of the truck. He then returned to the injured man.
这个受伤的男人叫弗雷德·格里芬。吉米把弗雷德和小船分离开，小心翼翼地把他拖移到路边的阴凉处，然后告诉他自己马上去寻求帮助，并且向他保证自己会回来。由于非常担心这个受伤的骑摩托车的男人，吉米的心一直怦怦地狂跳不已。他驱车赶到最近的居民点，请求那里的住户拨打求助电话911报告这起交通肇事逃逸案，并描述了肇事卡车的具体特征。然后他回到那个受伤男人的身边。
Jimmy was applying pressure to slow Fred’s bleeding when, glancing up, he noticed that the driver of the truck had returned to the scene. When the man spotted Jimmy, he ran back to his truck. What Jimmy had no way of knowing was that the 15)inebriated driver—a man with a criminal record—had returned to his truck to get a nine-millimeter pistol.
当吉米正用按压的方法减慢弗雷德的伤口出血时，他抬眼一看，发现那位卡车司机返回了事故现场。卡车司机看见吉米后，跑回到自己的卡车上。这名醉醺醺的司机是一个有犯罪前科的男人，他回到卡车上是为了取一把口径9毫米的手枪，对于这一切，吉米全然不知。
As Jimmy was bending over caring for the injured Fred, the man shot Jimmy four times, twice in the back. Thinking Jimmy was dead, the man then shot and killed Fred.
就在吉米正弯腰照顾受伤的弗雷德时，卡车司机朝吉米开了四枪，两枪击中他的背部。卡车司机在认为吉米已死之后，又开枪打死了弗雷德。
Believing that both were dead, the driver of the truck climbed back into his truck and sped away. He didn’t get far. A roadblock had been set up in response to the 911 call.
卡车司机认为两个人都死了，便爬上自己的卡车并快速开走。但他并没有开出很远。因为警方接到报警电话后，立刻在路上设了一个关卡。
16)Spinning the truck around, the driver raced back down the road in the direction of the accident. He tried to avoid the 17)wreck he had caused, but in his 18)frenzied 19)flight, he rolled his truck and 20)smashed into a telephone pole directly in front of Jimmy Mitchell. As he looked in the direction of where Jimmy lay, he realized that Jimmy was still alive.
卡车司机开着车兜兜转转，沿着发生事故的那条马路又开了回来。他试着避开他所造成的事故残骸，然而，狂乱逃跑中的他疾驰着卡车，一头撞在了正位于吉米·米切尔前方的一根电话柱上。当他向吉米躺着的方向望去时，他发现吉米还活着。
“He was going for his gun,” Jimmy said. “But that moment a policeman arrived, and 21)handcuffed him.”
“他准备取枪，”吉米说，“但就在那时，一名警察赶到了现场并逮捕了他。”
The 22)cop’s timing was 23)fortuitous for Jimmy. Even so, the gunshot wounds left the young husband and father of two small children, permanently 24)paralyzed from the waist down.
警察的及时出现，对吉米来说是不幸中的万幸。即便如此，枪伤仍然使吉米这位年轻的丈夫同时也是两个小孩的父亲的下半身永远地瘫痪了。
Jimmy’s tale was just one of the heart-25)wrenching stories I listened to, while serving as a guest expert on the 26)Geraldo Rivera Show. The stories of the 27)panel members assembled beside me—mothers, fathers and relatives who had lost loved ones to senseless violence—stirred my soul.
我在杰拉尔多·瑞弗拉主持的谈话节目《杰拉尔多·瑞弗拉秀》担任客座专家时，吉米的故事是我听到的令人心痛如绞的故事之一。围坐在我身边的那些讨论小组成员的故事震撼了我的心灵。他们是受害者的母亲、父亲或其他亲人们，都因为残忍的暴力而失去了心爱的人。
Jimmy’s story, like the others, was 28)harrowing. But unlike the other panel members, Jimmy was an actual victim who had survived his 29)ordeal. “You were so heroic, Jimmy. But after making such a personal sacrifice, would you ever be a 30)Good Samaritan again?” Geraldo asked.
吉米的故事和其他人的一样令人痛心。但与讨论小组的其他成员不同的是，吉米是一位从磨难中挺过来的受害者本人。“吉米，你是如此地英勇。但是在你做出了这样的个人牺牲之后，你还会助人为乐吗？”杰拉尔多问。
“I would help again,” Jimmy answered without hesitation. “I’d want someone to help me. I think it’s a sad world when we can’t stop and help another person.”
“我还是会伸出援手。”吉米不假思索地回答，“我希望有人来帮助我。我想，当我们不能停下来去帮助其他人时，这个世界将是令人感到悲哀的。”
The story of Jimmy Mitchell, a man whose selfless act proved heroic, grows even more touching with the response of the citizens of Wabash to his disability. It was months after that fateful summer afternoon before Jimmy was able to return to work. Many challenges confronted him. Confined to a wheelchair, mobility was one of them. After seeing Jimmy’s wife, Lori, struggling to get Jimmy out of the car one day, citizens in Wabash County decided to reach out. Recently, representatives of his community presented Jimmy with the keys to a new van—totally equipped to accommodate his disabilities.
吉米·米切尔的无私行为是英勇的。而沃巴什县的居民对于他伤残的反应则让他的故事变得更加感人。那个灾难性的夏日午后过后，又过了几个月，吉米才返回自己的工作岗位。他遭遇了许多挑战。其中一项挑战是，他只能坐轮椅而不能灵活自如地走动。有一天，沃巴什县的居民们看到吉米的妻子洛丽艰难地把吉米从小汽车里抬出来之后，他们决定伸出援手。最近，吉米所在社区的代表们给吉米送来了一辆新面包车的钥匙，里面的配备完全是依据他的伤残情况而设置的。
What is lost in so many lives and must be recovered, is the trust that people will reach out to help, support and assist others.
现在必须重新找回的，正是这样一种早已从许多人的头脑中丢失的信念——人们会伸出援手帮助、支持并协助其他人。
Many do: parents who lovingly act in responsible ways in the raising of their children; teachers who maintain excellence in teaching their students to learn; friends who are caretakers and caregivers; those who act with honesty, courage, kindness, encouragement and courtesy—helping each other as we go about our lives.
我们眼前就有许多例子：担负着抚养孩子重任的慈爱的父母们、循循善诱地教导学生如何学习的老师们、彼此关心和爱护的朋友们，以及那些以诚实、勇敢、善良、鼓励和谦恭作为行事准则的人们，在我们漫漫的人生路上，互帮互助。
Like Jimmy Mitchell did.
就像吉米·米切尔所做的那样。
