文字难度：★★☆
It was 2002 and I’d been working as a labourer for about five years. I was 27 and pretty 1)macho—how could anything bad ever happen to me? On this particular job, I was digging a 2)water main with four other guys. One man would dig out the 3)trench, the rest of us would put in the pipes and the 4)digger behind us would then fill it all in with earth. It was like one long trench, and we were continually moving forwards, laying around 1,000ft of pipe a day.
那年是2002年,当时我已经做了大概5年的苦力活。我那时27岁,有着十足的男子气概——怎么可能会有什么糟糕的事发生在我身上?我在做的这一特殊的苦力活就是和其他四个伙计一块挖一条主输水管。一个人负责挖沟渠,其余的人就往沟渠里放管,接着,我们身后的挖掘机便往沟渠里填土。感觉那条沟渠很长,我们不停地往前铺管,一天能铺上约1000英尺(约304.8米)长的管。
There’s something called a trench box—a metal case that holds back the sides of the walls—used to stop the walls from 5)caving in when you dig deeper than 5ft. Some companies use them, some don’t—ours was one that didn’t. I thought I was 6)bullet-proof and didn’t care if we had safety equipment or not.
有一种叫做沟槽的东西——一种用来阻止两面沟壁往下坍塌的金属容器——当你挖土超过5英尺(约1.52米)深时,用它来防止沟壁坍塌。有些公司会使用这种设备,有些则不会——我们公司就没用。我原以为自己刀枪不入,所以不关心我们是否有安全设施。
We were making good progress, and getting well-paid, so I never really considered the dangers. All I could really think about was my honeymoon—I’d got married a week before and had delayed going away for a few days so that we could finish the job. Now it was Friday, about 1pm, and my new wife and I were meant to be flying to Canada later that day.
我们的工作进展不错,报酬也很丰厚,所以我从未认真考虑过其中存在的危险。实际上,我满脑子想的都是我的蜜月——我一周前结婚了,为了完成工作,把外出度蜜月的时间推后了几天。那是周五下午约一点钟的时候,我和我的新婚妻子本来打算在当天晚些时候飞往加拿大。
I was down in the 7)ditch, which was about 6ft deep and 2ft wide, 8)mopping up some water—we’d hit an underground 9)drainpipe. My colleague had gone back up to the truck to get some tools, and 30 seconds later the trench caved in on me.
当时,我就在那条深约6英尺(约1.83米)、宽约2英尺(约0.61米)的沟渠下面清理积水——我们凿破了地下的一条排水管。我的同事回到卡车上去取些工具,30秒后,那沟渠坍塌了,土都压在我身上。
I screamed, but I couldn’t be sure they heard me, although I found out afterwards that they did. In less than a second, I was completely buried by earth from the walls, as well as the 4ft or so of dirt that was piled up on each side. I panicked, fighting and struggling to clear the soil, but there was too much of it. I was covered. I couldn’t move or see anything but blackness.
我尖叫着,但我不肯定他们有没听见我的呼喊声,尽管事后我知道他们听见了。一瞬间,我整个人完全被埋在从沟壁以及堆积在沟渠两边大约4英尺(约1.22米)高的土堆塌下来的土里。我很惊慌,挣扎着想弄走身上的土,但压在我身上的土太多了。我被埋在土里,动弹不得,眼前一片漆黑,我看不见别的东西。
Afterwards, they told me I’d had 2,00010)lbs of dirt on top of me, the equivalent of being hit by a truck going at 70mph. The weight crushed my chest and broke my ribs. I could feel myself starting to 11)suffocate. I was desperate to hear someone call my name or the digging machine start up, but there was only silence. At that point, I thought, “There’s no way I’m going to get out.” I was going to die right there in the bottom of that ditch. After about a minute and a half, I12)blacked out.
后来,他们告诉我,当时有2000磅(约907.2公斤)的土压在我身上——这相当于我被一辆以时速70英里(约112.7公里)行驶的卡车撞倒。沉重的土挤压着我的胸腔,还压断了我的几根肋骨。我能感觉到自己开始呼吸困难。我极度渴望听见有人呼喊我的名字,或是听见挖土机起动的声音,但周围一片寂静。那一刻,我以为“我不可能出去了”。我将死在那个沟底。大约过了一分半钟,我晕了过去。
By then, my colleagues were trying to dig me out. They knew that I was down so deep that if they started to dig with shovels, they’d never reach me in time. They also knew that if they went in with the digger, they might cut me in half. Less than 10 minutes later, they managed to get to me by 13)scooping off some of the earth with the machine and then going in with the shovels.
那时,我的同事们正在设法把我挖出来。他们知道我被埋在地下很深的地方,如果一开始就用铲子挖,绝对没法及时把我挖出来。他们也清楚,如果用挖土机挖,我的身体可能会被截成两半。他们先是用挖土机挖出一些土,再用铲子往下挖,不到10分钟,他们就找到我了。
The first part of me that they spotted was my right knee 14)sticking up, because the weight of the dirt had pushed my head down between my legs. When they got me out, they thought it was too late; I was 15)blue and had no pulse. 16)Technically, I’d died down there, but the ambulance crew managed to save me: they put 17)paddles on me, shocked me and got my pulse going again. I was taken by helicopter to hospital and put on a 18)life-support machine, but my chances of surviving were pretty 19)slim. My family was told that, if I made it, I’d probably have severe brain damage. Yet within a week, I was progressing and starting to make a good recovery.
他们先是看到我突出的右膝,因为沉重的土把我的头往下压到了两腿之间。当把我弄出来时,他们以为太迟了;我当时脸色发紫,且没有脉搏。严格来说,我在沟渠下面时就已经“死”了,但救护车上的工作人员成功把我救活了——他们把电极板按在我身上,电击我的身体,让我的脉搏再次跳动起来。我被直升机运到医院,上了呼吸机,但存活的机会很渺茫。我的家人被告知,即使我活过来了,也很可能有严重的脑损伤。然而不出一周,我的状况渐渐改善,开始恢复得越来越好。
It felt like a miracle at first, until the reality of what had happened began to 20)sink in. I started to have nightmares. I was scared of confined spaces and especially the dark. The accident changed everything, particularly my marriage. You can’t go through something like that and be the same person. I rapidly discovered that I wanted different things from my life. I found it hard to plan for the future because I felt so strongly that it could be taken from me at any minute.
一开始,感觉就像出现了奇迹一般,后来这一切在现实中对我造成的影响渐渐显现。我开始做恶梦。我恐惧密闭的空间,尤其是黑暗的空间。那次意外改变了一切,尤其是我的婚姻。经历了那样的事,你不可能还是老样子。我很快就发现我对生活的诉求变了。我发现自己很难去计划未来,因为我强烈地感受到我的未来随时都可能被夺走。
I knew I couldn’t go back to my old job—instead, I went to college and got a degree in conservation law. Now I travel the world giving lectures on what can happen when you take risks. I talk to people about safety, and I want them to understand it’s not worth taking shortcuts in any area of their lives. We got comfortable doing things the wrong way for a long time, and then all of a sudden we got caught—and that can happen to anyone.
我知道自己无法再回到原来的工作岗位上了——取而代之的是,我进入了大学读环境保护法专业,并且拿到了学位。如今,我到世界各地演讲,谈冒险可能产生的后果。我和人们讲安全问题,我想让他们明白,在生活的方方面面,为了走捷径而忽视安全是不值得的。当我们习惯于长期以来形成的错误的处事方式时,我们冷不防就会遭受打击——而这样的事可能会发生在任何人身上。
