印度空难唯一幸存者11A

近日，印度航空一架波音787梦想客机坠毁，载有242人，仅1人生还。

🤔️小作业：

1. Which of the following best captures the central idea of the article?

A. Aircraft crashes are becoming less deadly thanks to new technology.

B. Most plane crash survivors tend to be located in economy class.

C. Multiple interrelated factors determine the rare chance of survival in major air disasters.

D. Emergency rows should be prioritized when booking flights.

无注释原文：

How Does One Person Survive a Plane Crash?

From: The Wall Street Journal

When Air India Flight 171 crash-landed shortly after take off, smashing into a residential building and bursting into flames, it seemed impossible that any of the 242 occupants could have survived.

Miraculously, one did—but how?

The passenger who survived the Boeing787 Dreamliner crash in India was seated in 11A, an emergency exit row at the front of the economy cabin. 

He is on a very short list among aviation's worst disasters. Over the past eight decades of commercial travel, there have been fewer than 20 crashes where planes carrying 80 or more occupants left a sole survivor or two, according to data collected by the Flight Safety Foundation, an international nonprofit that provides safety guidance. 

A previous example was in January when two flight attendants survived a Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea that killed 179 people. The attendants were seated in the rear when the Boeing 737 slammed into an embankment and burst into flames.

Investigators assessing the survivability of a plane crash focus on five factors: integrity of the aircraft, effectiveness of safety restraints, G-forces experienced by passengers and crew, the environment inside the aircraft and postcrash factors such as fire or smoke. 

“There are a lot of reasons someone may survive in what appears to be a totally unsurvivable situation,” said Barbara Dunn, president of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.

“Depending on how the aircraft lands and where a passenger is seated has an impact,” she said. “If you have your seat belt tightened, it limits the amount of flailing the body goes through. It also depends on whether a passenger is able to assume a brace position.”

The National Transportation Safety Board deems a crash “survivable” if the forces transmitted to occupants don't exceed the limits of human tolerance and the structure of the aircraft surrounding the occupants remains largely intact. A crash is deemed nonsurvivable when the G-forces are so great, the body can't withstand the punishment.

The NTSB survivability definitions don't take into consideration the effect of hazards such as smoke or fire, nor do they hinge on whether there are, in fact, survivors in a crash.

To understand occupant-survivability rates in serious accidents, the NTSB examined commercial flights between 1983 and 2017. Serious accidents were defined as having had a fire, at least one serious injury or fatality and a substantially damaged or destroyed aircraft. Thirty-five crashes met that criteria.

Just over half of the 3,823 occupants in the accidents studied by the NTSB survived with minor or no injuries; 6.3% experienced serious injuries; 27% died from impact; 4.1% died from fire or smoke; and about 10% died from other or unknown causes.

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注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为华尔街日报官方译文，仅供参考

含注释全文：

How Does One Person Survive a Plane Crash?

From: The Wall Street Journal

When Air India Flight 171 crash-landed shortly after take off, smashing into a residential building and bursting into flames, it seemed impossible that any of the 242 occupants could have survived.

印度航空(Air India) 171航班在起飞后不久坠毁，撞上一栋居民楼并起火燃烧，机上242名乘客和机组人员似乎不可能有人生还。

smash /smæʃ/ 作动词，1）表示“打碎；破碎”，英文解释为“If you smash something or if it smashes, it breaks into many pieces, for example, when it is hit or dropped.”举个🌰：Someone smashed a bottle. 有人打碎了一个瓶子。

2）表示“猛撞，猛冲，猛击（通常造成破坏或伤害）”，英文解释为“to cause something to move with great force against something hard, usually causing damage or injury”举个🌰：He tried to smash the door down to get to me. 他试图将门撞倒来抓我。

smashed /smæʃt/ 作形容词，可以表示“酩酊大醉的；（吸毒后）迷醉的”，英文解释为“extremely drunk, or powerfully affected by illegal drugs”

residential /ˌrez.ɪˈden.ʃəl/ 表示“居住的；定居的”，英文解释为“relating to where you live or have lived”举个🌰：You must satisfy the residential qualifications to get a work permit. 要想得到工作许可，你必须要符合居民资格。

occupant /ˈɒk.jə.pənt/ 1）表示“居住者”，英文解释为“a person who lives or works in a room or building”举个🌰：The previous occupants were an Italian family. 先前的居住者是一家意大利人。

2）表示“占有人；占用者”，英文解释为“a person who is in a car, room, seat, place, or position”举个🌰：One of the occupants of the car was slightly injured. 有一位乘车者受了轻伤。

Miraculously, one did—but how?

然而奇迹般地，有一人幸存——但这是如何做到的呢？

miraculously /mɪˈræk.jə.ləs.li/ 表示“奇迹般地”，英文解释为“in a way that is very surprising or difficult to believe”举个🌰：Miraculously, all 25 crewmen aboard the eight planes survived their icy landings. 八架飞机上的二十五名机组成员在冰面着陆中全部都奇迹般地生还了。

The passenger who survived the Boeing787 Dreamliner crash in India was seated in 11A, an emergency exit row at the front of the economy cabin. 

在印度这起波音(Boeing)787梦想飞机坠机事故中幸存的乘客当时坐在11A座位，该座位位于经济舱前部的紧急出口处。

1）表示“船舱；机舱”，英文解释为“A cabin is a small room in a ship or boat. A cabin is one of the areas inside a plane.”举个🌰：He showed her to a small cabin. 他把她带到一间小房舱。

2）表示“小木屋；小棚屋”，英文解释为“a small, simple house made of wood”如：a log cabin 原木小屋。

3）表示“大办公室内隔离的办公空间”，英文解释为“a small separate space for someone to work in, inside a larger office”

He is on a very short list among aviation's worst disasters. Over the past eight decades of commercial travel, there have been fewer than 20 crashes where planes carrying 80 or more occupants left a sole survivor or two, according to data collected by the Flight Safety Foundation, an international nonprofit that provides safety guidance. 

航空史上最严重的空难只有极少数幸存者，他是其中之一。根据提供安全指导的国际非营利组织飞行安全基金会(Flight Safety Foundation)收集的数据，在过去80年的商业飞行历史中，载有80名或更多乘客和机组人员的航班坠毁后有一到两名幸存者的案例不足20起。

表示“航空（学）；飞行（术）；航空工业”，英文解释为“the activity of flying aircraft, or of designing, producing, and keeping them in good condition”如：the British Civil Aviation Authority 英国民航局。

A previous example was in January when two flight attendants survived a Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea that killed 179 people. The attendants were seated in the rear when the Boeing 737 slammed into an embankment and burst into flames.

此前一个例子发生在今年1月，当时韩国济州航空(Jeju Air)一架飞机坠毁，造成179人死亡，两名空乘人员幸存。事发时，这两名空乘人员坐在飞机尾部，当时这架波音737飞机撞上混凝土基座并起火燃烧。

作形容词，表示“后部的；后面的；背部的”，英文解释为“at the back of something”举个🌰：There's a sticker on the rear door/window. 后门/后窗户上贴着一张纸条。

作动词，表示“抚养；养育；培养”，英文解释为“to care for young children or animals until they are fully grown”举个🌰：She reared a family of five on her own. 她一个人养活五个孩子。

作名词，the rear表示“后面；后部；背部”，英文解释为“the back part of something”举个🌰：We walked round to the rear of the house. 我们绕道走到房子的后面。

slam /slæm/ 1）表示“（使）重重撞上，（使）砰地关上”，英文解释为“to (cause to) move against a hard surface with force and usually a loud noise”举个🌰：The wind made the door/window slam (shut). 风吹过来门/窗户砰地关上了。

2）表示“严厉批评；猛烈抨击”，英文解释为“To slam someone or something means to criticize them very severely.”举个🌰：The famed filmmaker slammed the claims as "an outrageous lie." 该享有盛名的电影制片人猛烈抨击这些说法，称其为“无耻谎言。”

📍类似的，还有condemn，blast，speak out against.

embankment /ɪmˈbæŋk.mənt/ 表示“堤，堤岸，堤围；（路）堤”，英文解释为“an artificial slope made of earth and/or stones”如：a river/road/railway embankment 河堤/路堤/铁路路堤。

Investigators assessing the survivability of a plane crash focus on five factors: integrity of the aircraft, effectiveness of safety restraints, G-forces experienced by passengers and crew, the environment inside the aircraft and postcrash factors such as fire or smoke. 

调查人员在评估飞机失事后的生还可能性时，主要关注五个因素：飞机的完整性、安全约束装置的有效性、乘客和机组人员承受的G力、机舱内环境以及坠机后的火灾或烟雾等因素。

integrity /ɪnˈteɡ.rə.ti/ 1）表示“完整”，英文解释为“the quality of being whole and complete”举个🌰：A modern extension on the old building would ruin its architectural integrity.  在古老建筑物上附加扩建的现代建筑会破坏建筑风格的完整统一。

2）表示“正直；诚实；职业操守”，英文解释为“the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change”举个🌰：No one doubted that the president was a man of the highest integrity. 没有人怀疑总裁是个光明磊落的人。

restraint /rɪˈstreɪnt/ 1）表示“克制；平心静气；冷静”，英文解释为“calm and controlled behaviour”举个🌰：He showed admirable restraint, and refused to be provoked. 他表现出极大的克制，面对挑衅泰然处之。

2）表示“阻止；抑制，遏制”，英文解释为“something that limits the freedom of someone or something, or that prevents something from growing or increasing”举个🌰：Lack of space is the main restraint on the firm's expansion plans. 建筑空间的缺乏是阻碍这家公司实施其扩建计划的主要原因。

post-crash /ˌpəʊstˈkræʃ/ 表示“车祸事故后”，英文解释为“happening or existing after a serious accident in which a vehicle is damaged or someone is hurt”举个🌰：Given the small number of major incidents, officials cannot rely on post-crash analysis for cues on safety. 鉴于重大事故很少发生，官员们不能根据事故后分析来寻找安全线索。

“There are a lot of reasons someone may survive in what appears to be a totally unsurvivable situation,” said Barbara Dunn, president of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.

国际航空安全调查员协会(International Society of Air Safety Investigators)会长芭芭拉·邓恩(Barbara Dunn)说：“在看似完全无法生还的情况下，有人可能幸存下来，这里面有很多原因。”

“Depending on how the aircraft lands and where a passenger is seated has an impact,” she said. “If you have your seat belt tightened, it limits the amount of flailing the body goes through. It also depends on whether a passenger is able to assume a brace position.”

“这取决于飞机如何着陆、乘客的座位位置，这些都会产生影响，”她说。“如果你系紧了安全带，就能限制身体晃动幅度。此外，乘客是否能够采取防撞姿势也很重要。”

seat belt /ˈsiːt ˌbelt/ 表示“（坐椅）安全带”，英文解释为“a belt that fastens around you when you are travelling in a vehicle or aircraft and holds you in your seat, in order to reduce the risk of being injured in an accident”举个🌰：Please fasten/do up your seat belts. 请系上安全带。

flail /fleɪl/ 表示“（尤指手臂和双腿）乱动，胡乱摆动”，英文解释为“(especially of arms and legs) to move energetically in an uncontrolled way”举个🌰：A wasp came towards us and he started flailing his arms around. 一只黄蜂冲我们飞来，他开始使劲挥舞胳膊。

assume /əˈsjuːm/ 1）表示“假定；假设；认为”，英文解释为“to think or accept that sth is true but without having proof of it”举个🌰：It is generally assumed that stress is caused by too much work. 普遍认为，紧张是工作过重所致。

2）表示“承担，担任；僭取，夺取；呈现，具有”，英文解释为“to take or begin to have responsibility or control, sometimes without the right to do so, or to begin to have a characteristic”举个🌰：The new president assumes office at midnight tonight. 新总统在今晚午夜就职。

Brace position是一个常用于航空安全中的术语，指的是乘客在紧急降落或碰撞前采取的一种保护姿势，目的是尽可能减小受伤风险。在飞机遇到紧急迫降时，机组人员会大喊：“Brace! Brace!”这时乘客就要迅速采取brace position，常见姿势包括：弯腰，头贴靠前座椅背；双手护住头部；脚放平、贴地。

The National Transportation Safety Board deems a crash “survivable” if the forces transmitted to occupants don't exceed the limits of human tolerance and the structure of the aircraft surrounding the occupants remains largely intact. A crash is deemed nonsurvivable when the G-forces are so great, the body can't withstand the punishment.

美国全国运输安全委员会(National Transportation Safety Board, 简称NTSB)认为，如果传递给机上人员的作用力未超过人体承受极限，且这些人员周围的飞机结构基本完好，则坠机事故属于“可生存”事故。当重力过大，人体无法承受时，该事故会被认定为不可生存。

表示“认为; 相信”，英文解释为“If something is deemed to have a particular quality or to do a particular thing, it is considered to have that quality or do that thing.”举个🌰：He says he would support the use of force if the UN deemed it necessary. 他说如果联合国认为有必要，他就支持动用武力。

exceed /ɪkˈsiːd/ 表示“超过，超出（数量）；超越（规定的范围）”，英文解释为“to be greater than a number or amount, or to go past an allowed limit”举个🌰：The final cost should not exceed ￥100. 最终的花费不应超出100元。

📍词根“-ceed”表示"走，去"，前缀“ex-”表示"出，超出"。近义词：surpass（超过），同根词：proceed（进行），succeed（成功）

intact /ɪnˈtækt/ 表示“完好无损；完整；完整无缺的；未经触动的”，英文解释为“ complete and not damaged”举个🌰：Most of the house remains intact even after two hundred years. 虽然过了两百年，这房子的大部分还保持完好。He emerged from the trial with his reputation intact. 他受审获释，名誉丝毫未受损害。

🎬《奇异博士》（Doctor Strange）中的台词提到的：Cranial nerves intact. 脑神经完好无损。

The NTSB survivability definitions don't take into consideration the effect of hazards such as smoke or fire, nor do they hinge on whether there are, in fact, survivors in a crash.

NTSB的可生存性定义未考虑烟雾或火灾等危险因素的影响，也不取决于坠机事故中是否确实有幸存者。

definition /ˌdef.ɪˈnɪʃ.ən/ 1）表示“定义”，英文解释为“a statement that explains the meaning of a word or phrase”如：a dictionary definition 词典中的定义。

2）表示“解释，说明”，英文解释为“a description of the features and limits of something”

hazard /ˈhæz.əd/ 表示“危险物，危害物”，英文解释为“something that is dangerous and likely to cause damage”如：a health/fire hazard 健康/火灾隐患，举个🌰：The busy traffic entrance was a hazard to pedestrians. 那个繁忙的车辆入口处对行人来说很不安全。

hinge /hɪndʒ/ 作名词，表示“合页，铰链”，英文解释为“a piece of metal that fastens the edge of a door, window, lid, etc. to something else and allows it to open or close”

作动词，hinge on/upon sth 1）表示“依靠，取决于”，英文解释为“If one thing hinges on another, the first thing depends on the second thing or is very influenced by it.”举个🌰：The prosecution's case hinged on the evidence of a witness who died before the trial. 控方的案子取决于一位证人的证词，而该证人已在审判前死去。

2）表示“（故事或情况）围绕着…展开”，英文解释为“If a story or situation hinges on an idea or subject, it develops from that idea or that is the most important subject in it.”举个🌰：The film's plot hinges on a case of mistaken identity. 该电影的情节围绕着一宗身份误认案展开。

📍2019年政府工作报告Part 17中提到：绿色发展人人有责，贵在行动、成在坚持。Promoting green development is down to every last one of us; its success hinges on action and commitment.

To understand occupant-survivability rates in serious accidents, the NTSB examined commercial flights between 1983 and 2017. Serious accidents were defined as having had a fire, at least one serious injury or fatality and a substantially damaged or destroyed aircraft. Thirty-five crashes met that criteria.

为了解严重事故中乘客和机组人员的生还率，NTSB研究了1983年至2017年间的商业航班。严重事故被定义为发生过火灾、至少造成一人重伤或死亡，并且飞机严重受损或被毁。共有35起事故符合这一标准。

表示“（事故或暴力事件中的）死亡，死者”，英文解释为“a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways”举个🌰：There are thousands of traffic fatalities (= deaths in traffic accidents) every year. 每年因交通事故有数千人死亡。

substantially /səbˈstæn.ʃəl.i/ 1）表示“大体上；基本上”，英文解释为“generally”举个🌰：This model has leather seats, but the two cars are substantially the same. 这一型号有几个附加装置，但两款车大体上是一样的。

2）表示“在很大程度上”，英文解释为“to a large degree”举个🌰：The new rules will substantially change how we do things. 新规则会在很大程度上改变我们的行事方式。

Just over half of the 3,823 occupants in the accidents studied by the NTSB survived with minor or no injuries; 6.3% experienced serious injuries; 27% died from impact; 4.1% died from fire or smoke; and about 10% died from other or unknown causes.

在NTSB研究的这些事故中，3,823名乘客和机组人员中略过半数生还且仅受轻伤或未受伤；6.3%的人受重伤；27%的人死于撞击；4.1%的人死于火灾或烟雾；约10%的人死于其他或未知原因。

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