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Still, he could never have imagined such a capacity in himself. Only minutes before his character was tested, he was sitting in the ordinary plane among the ordinary passengers, listening to the stewardess telling him to fasten his seat belt and saying something about the "no smoking" sign. So our man relaxed with the others, some of whom would owe their lives to him. Perhaps he started to read, or to doze, or to regret some harsh remark made in the office that morning. Then suddenly he knew that the trip would not be ordinary. Like every other person on that flight, he was desperate to live, which makes his final act so stunning.

For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand over the rope and ring to others. He had to know it, no matter how slow the effect of the cold. He felt he had no choice. When the helicopter took off with what was to be the last survivor, he watched everything in the world move away from him, and he let it happen.

Yet there was something else about our man that kept our thoughts on him, and which keeps our thoughts on him still. He was there, in the essential, classic circumstance. Man in nature. The man in the water. For its part, nature cared nothing about the five passengers. Our man, on the other hand, cared totally. So the age-old battle began again in the Potomac. For as long as that man could last, they went at each other, nature and man; the one making no distinctions of good and evil, acting on no principles, offering no lifelines; the other acting wholly on distinctions, principles and, perhaps, on faith.

Since it was he who lost the fight, we ought to come again to the conclusion that people are powerless in the world. In reality, we believe the opposite, and it takes the act of the man in the water to remind us of our true feelings in this matter. It is not to say that everyone would have acted as he did, or as Usher, Windsor and Skutnik. Yet whatever moved these men to challenge death on behalf of their fellows is not peculiar to them. Everyone feels the possibility in himself. That is the enduring wonder of the story. That is why we would not let go of it. If the man in the water gave a lifeline to the people gasping for survival, he was likewise giving a lifeline to those who watched him.

The odd thing is that we do not even really believe that the man in the water lost his fight. "Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature," said Emerson. Exactly. The man in the water had his own natural powers. He could not make ice storms, or freeze the water until it froze the blood. But he could hand life over to a stranger, and that is a power of nature too. The man in the water set himself against an immovable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with kindness; and he held it to a standoff. He was the best we can do.

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然而，他可能从来没有想过自己会有能力做出如此举动。就在品质被考验的几分钟之前，还在坐在普通的飞机中，周围是普通的乘客。他听着空姐叫他系好安全带并劝告不要吸烟。随后他和她将救其命的其他人一起放松下来。也许他开始了读报，或是打盹，或是为那天早晨在办公室中的严厉的话而感到后悔。然后，他突然意识到这次的旅途将不同寻常。和航班上的每个其他人一样，他也渴望生还，但这使得他最后的举动如此令人吃惊。

在水中的某一刻，他肯定想到了如果他继续把救生索和救生圈让给别人的话，他将不会活下来。他必须要清楚这一点，不管寒冷的作用有多缓慢。他感觉到自己别无选择。当直升机带走最后一个生还者时，他看见世界上的一切离他远去，而他只能任由这一切发生。

然而，我们的这位英雄的其他一些东西使我们关注着他，并且仍然使我们挂念着他。他当时处于关键的典型环境中。人类生活在自然界中，此时人却被困于水中。对自然界来说，它并不在意这五个乘客的生命。而相反，我们的大英雄却非常在意。因此，古老的战争在波托马克河重演。只要还有最后一口气，人来总会与大自然相斗争；一方不分善与恶，行为不羁，拒绝给予生还的希望；而另一方则完全是在明辨是非、遵循尊则或许还在坚持信仰。

由于战败的一方是这位水中人，我们应该又可以得出人类面对自然无能为力的结论。在现实中，我们却不相信这个，水中的这个人的举动使我们即期我们在这次事件中真实的想法。这并不是说我们每个人都可能会效仿水中人，或者是仿效厄舍尔、温莎或是斯库特尼克。然而，驱使这些英雄代表人类与死亡相抗争的动力并非为他们所独有。我们每个人都感觉到自己身上隐藏着这种可能性。这就是这个故事的恒久魅力之所在。这就是为什么我们不能忘怀这件事的缘故。如果水中的这位英雄给了幸存者一根救生索的话，他同时给了那些看着他的人一根救生索。

奇怪的是，我们居然不相信水中的这位英雄在抗争中失败了。“大自然中的万物苍生汲取了大自然的全部力量，”埃莫森如是说道。的确如此。水中的这位英雄有着他自己的自然力量。他不能制造冰暴，或是让水结冰直至使血液凝固，但是，他能把生命传递给一个陌生人，这也是大自然的一种力量。水中的英雄与一个无情的敌人抗争着；他带着仁慈，与自然打了一个平手。他已经做到最好了。

词汇释义

1.stewardess n.空中小姐，机上女服务员

例句：

Stewardess, will you direct me to my seat?
空中小姐，可否带我到我的座位？

2.survivor n.幸存者, 生还者, 遗族; 残存物

例句：

The survivor was adrift on a raft for six days.
幸存者在筏子上漂浮了六天。

3.distinction n.区别; 差别; 不同之处

例句：

There is no appreciable distinction between the twins.
在这对孪生子之间看不出有什么明显的差别。

4.peculiar adj.独特的, 特有的；特别的, 特殊的

例句：

This book has a peculiar value.
这本书有特殊的价值。

5.immovable adj.

呆板的, 冷淡的, 无感觉的; 稳定的, 固定的, 不可移动的；
不可动摇的; 不屈的；不可改变的

例句：

His belief of communism is immovable.
他坚定不移地信仰共产主义。

难句解析

1.Like every other person on that flight, he was desperate to live, which makes his final act so stunning.

【难句释义】His final act was amazing because he also valued his life and was desperate to live, which makes his final act so atunning.

2.For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand over the rope and ring to others. He had to know it, no matter how slow the effect of the cold.

【难句解析】状语从句no matter how slow the effect of the cold省略了could be 或might be，同时还可以这样表达however slow the effect of the cold(might be/could be)。