雙語美文欣賞：真心英雄

The sun shone brightly in the cloudless blue Wabash, Indiana, sky.印第安納州沃巴什縣晴空萬里的藍天上，太陽光芒四射地照耀着。

“That was an especially beautiful sunny day,” recalls Jimmy Mitchell, a statuesque man in his early thirties.“那是一個特別美麗的晴日。”吉米米切爾回憶道。他30出頭，五官輪廓分明。

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 swerved erratically. Miraculously the motorcyclist avoided那天，吉米正駕駛着自己的小汽車跟在一個騎着摩托車的男人後面，這個男人的前方是一輛運載着一艘小船的卡車。突然，那輛卡車開始無規律地左衝右撞，雖然那個騎摩托車的男人奇蹟般地躲過了卡車，沒有撞上去，但他卻和那艘小船撞到了一起。

The impact of the crash dislodged the boat from the truck, and 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.猛烈碰撞的衝力把船甩下了卡車，並把騎摩托車的男人重重地甩到了地上。嚴重受傷的他躺在道路中間。然而，卡車司機並沒有停車，而是快速逃離了事故現場。

Jimmy Mitchell didn’t think twice about stopping to help. Nor could he ever imagine what price he would pay for his good deed.吉米米切爾毫不猶豫地立刻停下車去幫忙。他根本就沒有想象過自己會爲這次善舉付出什麼代價。

“I 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 misting over as he detailed the events of his brush with death.“我把車子停到路邊，走出車子，衝過去盡我所能對那個男人施行急救。”吉米回憶道。當他詳細描述自己與死神擦身而過的經歷時，他含有淚水的灰色大眼睛變得模糊起來。

The man’s name was Fred Griffin. After getting Fred 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 911 to report that there had been a hit-and-run, and give a description of the truck. He then returned to the injured man.這個受傷的男人叫弗雷德格里芬。吉米把弗雷德和小船分離開，小心翼翼地把他拖移到路邊的陰涼處，然後告訴他自己馬上去尋求幫助，並且向他保證自己會回來。由於非常擔心這個受傷的騎摩托車的男人，吉米的心一直怦怦地狂跳不已。他驅車趕到最近的居民點，請求那裏的住戶撥打求助電話911報告這起交通肇事逃逸案，並描述了肇事卡車的具體特徵。然後他回到那個受傷男人的身邊。

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 inebriated driver-a man with a criminal record-had returned to his truck to get a nine-millimeter pistol.當吉米正用按壓的方法減慢弗雷德的傷口出血時，他擡眼一看，發現那位卡車司機返回了事故現場。卡車司機看見吉米後，跑回到自己的卡車上。這名醉醺醺的.司機是一個有犯罪前科的男人，他回到卡車上是爲了取一把口徑9毫米的手槍，對於這一切，吉米全然不知。

As Jimmy was bending over caring for the injured Fred, the man shot Jimmy four time twice in the back. Thinking Jimmy was dead, the man then shot and killed Fred.就在吉米正彎腰照顧受傷的弗雷德時，卡車司機朝吉米開了四槍，兩槍擊中他的背部。卡車司機在認爲吉米已死之後，又開槍打死了弗雷德。

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.卡車司機認爲兩個人都死了，便爬上自己的卡車並快速開走。但他並沒有開出很遠。因爲警方接到報警電話後，立刻在路上設了一個關卡。

Spinning the truck around, the driver raced back down the road in the direction of the accident. He tried to avoid the wreck he had caused, but in his frenzied flight, he rolled his truck and 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.卡車司機開着車兜兜轉轉，沿着發生事故的那條馬路又開了回來。他試着避開他所造成的事故殘骸，然而，狂亂逃跑中的他疾馳着卡車，一頭撞在了正位於吉米米切爾前方的一根電話柱上。當他向吉米躺着的方向望去時，他發現吉米還活着。

“He was going for his gun,” Jimmy said. “But that moment a policeman arrived, and handcuffed him.”“他準備取槍，”吉米說，“但就在那時，一名警察趕到了現場並逮捕了他。”

The cop’s timing was fortuitous for Jimmy. Even so, the gunshot wounds left the young husband and father of two small children, permanently paralyzed from the waist down.警察的及時出現，對吉米來說是不幸中的萬幸。即便如此，槍傷仍然使吉米這位年輕的丈夫同時也是兩個小孩的父親的下半身永遠地癱瘓了。

Jimmy’s tale was just one of the heart-wrenching stories I listened to, while serving as a guest expert on the Geraldo Rivera Show. The stories of the panel members assembled beside me-mother fathers and relatives who had lost loved ones to senseless violence-stirred my soul.我在傑拉爾多瑞弗拉主持的談話節目《傑拉爾多瑞弗拉秀》擔任客座專家時，吉米的故事是我聽到的令人心痛如絞的故事之一。圍坐在我身邊的那些討論小組成員的故事震撼了我的心靈。他們是受害者的母親、父親或其他親人們，都因爲殘忍的暴力而失去了心愛的人。

Jimmy’s story, like the other was harrowing. But unlike the other panel member Jimmy was an actual victim who had survived his ordeal. “You were so heroic, Jimmy. But after making such a personal sacrifice, would you ever be a Good Samaritan again?” Geraldo asked.吉米的故事和其他人的一樣令人痛心。但與討論小組的其他成員不同的是，吉米是一位從磨難中挺過來的受害者本人。“吉米，你是如此地英勇。但是在你做出了這樣的個人犧牲之後，你還會助人爲樂嗎？”傑拉爾多問。

“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.”“我還是會伸出援手。”吉米不假思索地回答，“我希望有人來幫助我。我想，當我們不能停下來去幫助其他人時，這個世界將是令人感到悲哀的。”

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.吉米米切爾的無私行爲是英勇的。而沃巴什縣的居民對於他傷殘的反應則讓他的故事變得更加感人。那個災難性的夏日午後過後，又過了幾個月，吉米才返回自己的工作崗位。他遭遇了許多挑戰。其中一項挑戰是，他只能坐輪椅而不能靈活自如地走動。有一天，沃巴什縣的居民們看到吉米的妻子洛麗艱難地把吉米從小汽車裏擡出來之後，他們決定伸出援手。最近，吉米所在社區的代表們給吉米送來了一輛新麪包車的鑰匙，裏面的配備完全是依據他的傷殘情況而設定的。

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.現在必須重新找回的，正是這樣一種早已從許多人的頭腦中丟失的信念——人們會伸出援手幫助、支援並協助其他人。

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.我們眼前就有許多例子：擔負着撫養孩子重任的慈愛的父母們、循循善誘地教導學生如何學習的老師們、彼此關心和愛護的朋友們，以及那些以誠實、勇敢、善良、鼓勵和謙恭作爲行事準則的人們，在我們漫漫的人生路上，互幫互助。

Like Jimmy Mitchell did.就像吉米米切爾所做的那樣。