小故事

The Story of a Fire
烈火雄心
Thirteen years have passed since, but it is all to me as if it had happened yesterday, the clanging of the fire-bells, the hoarse shouts of the firemen, the wild rush and terror of the streets; then the great hush that fell upon the crowd; the sea of upturned faces with the fire glow upon it; and there, against the background of black smoke that poured from roof and attic, the boy clinging to the narrow ledge so far up that it seemed humanly impossible that help could ever come.
事情已经过去十三年了，然而对我来说，它仿佛是昨天才发生似的--报火警钟的当当声，消防队员声嘶力竭的喊叫声，大街上人们狂奔乱跑，惊恐万分。突然，人群寂静无声。熊熊的火光照着那无数张向上仰望着的脸。那边，小男孩紧紧地拽住墙壁上狭窄的突出部分，后面是屋顶和顶楼里喷涌而出的黑烟，他离地面是那么高，看来人力是无法搭救他的了。
But even then it was coming. Up from the street, while the crew of the truck-company were labouring with the heavy extension ladder that at its longest stretch was many feet too short, crept four men upon long slender poles with crossbars, iron-hooked at the end. Standing in one window, they reached up and thrust the hook through the next one above, then mounted a storey higher. Again the crash of glass, and again the dizzy ascent. Straight up the wall they crept, looking like human flies on the ceiling, and clinging as close, never resting, reaching one recess only to set out for the next; nearer and nearer in the race for life, until but a single span separated the foremost from the boy.
但是，尽管这样，还是有人来搭救了。消防梯车上的救火队员正在费劲地架起笨重的伸缩梯，但是那梯子伸足后还是太短，差了一大截。这时候，四名消防队员缘着细长的杆子从街面往楼上爬，杆子上装有横档，顶端用铁钩钩住。他们站上一扇窗口，把杆子伸上去，用钩子钩住上面的窗子，随后又爬上一层楼。接着，又一阵砸碎玻璃的砰砰声，又一次令人头晕目眩的攀登。他们沿着墙壁笔直地往上爬，看上去小得好似天花板上的苍蝇。四名消防队员紧贴着墙，不歇气地一个窗台接着一个窗台向上爬。在这场争夺生命的竞赛中，他们愈爬愈近了，爬在最前面的消防队员离小孩只剩下一柞的距离了。

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. cling to
紧紧抓住；抱紧；
eg. The cat tried to cling to the edge by its claws.
猫用爪子拼命抓住那边缘。
eg. Survivor cling to a raft.
幸存者们紧紧抓住救生伐。
2. set out
动身；出发；
eg. Let us set out when the sun has risen.
太阳一出来，我们就动身。
eg. So they got a crippled pick and a shovel, and set out on their three - mile tramp.
于是，他们就找到一把不大好使的镐和一把铁锹，踏上了三英里的路程。
3. separate from
分开；分离；
eg. They have been kept separate from my sponsors, my commercial endorsements.
他们一直与我的赞助商、我的商业代言等保持距离。
eg. Benefits administration is and should be separate from payroll.
福利是并且应该是同薪酬分开管理的。