小故事

And now the iron hook fell at his feet, and the fireman stood upon the step with the rescued lad in his arms, just as the pentup flame burst lurid from the attic window, reaching with impotent fury for its prey. The next moment they were safe upon the great ladder waiting to receive them below.
这时候，铁钩落到了孩子的脚下，接着，消防队员站在踏脚上，用双手抱下了小男孩。就在这一刹那，一片火光，烈焰终于冲破浓烟，猛地从顶楼窗口喷了出来，想攫住它嘴边的猎物，可是却只能白白地冒火了。接着，消防队员和小男孩安然踏上了在下面候着他们的大梯子。
Then such a shout went up! Men fell on each other's necks, and cried and laughed at once. Strangers slapped one another on the back with glistening faces, shook hands, and behaved generally like men gone suddenly mad. Women wept in the street. The driver of a car stalled in the crowd, who had stood through it all speechless, clutching the reins, whipped his horses into a gallop and drove away, yelling like a Comanche, to relieve his feelings. The boy and his rescuer were carried across the street without anyone knowing how. Policemen forgot their dignity and shouted with the rest. Fire, peril, terror, and loss were alike forgotten in the one touch of nature that makes the whole world kin.
一下于，爆发出一阵热烈的欢呼声。男人们互相搂着脖子，又是叫，又是笑。互不相识的人拍打着对方的背脊，相互握手，脸上喜气洋洋，一个个象突然疯了似的。女人们在街上哭泣。一个马车夫连车带入被阻塞在人群牛，他紧握缰绳，自始至终没说过一句话，这时一声响鞭，策马驱车，飞驰而去，象科曼契人那样叫喊着，以发泄他心中的情感。那个小男孩和他的救命恩人被人们高抬着穿过大街，谁也不知道怎么会这样的。警察也忘了他们自己的身分，跟着别人高声欢呼。这四海之内皆兄弟的本性使人们把大火、险情、恐惧和损失全都忘得一千二净。
Fireman John Binns was made captain of his crew, and the Bennett medal was pinned on his coat on the next parade day.
救火员约翰．宾斯被任命为消防队长。在下一次检阅中，宾斯的外衣上给佩上了一枚贝内特奖章。

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. go up
（喊声或欢呼声）响起，大作；
eg. A cheer went up from the other passengers.
其他乘客发出一阵欢呼声。
eg. I heard a great cry go up from one of the trainees.
我听到新兵中有人扯开嗓子的喊声。
2. at once
同时；一起；
eg. You can't be doing two things at once.
不能一心二用。
eg. No bank could ever pay off its creditors if they all demanded their money at once.
如果所有的储户同时要求提取存款，没有哪家银行能办得到。
3. pin on
（用别针等）别住；（用图钉等）钉住；
eg. Everyone was supposed to dance with the bride and pin money on her dress.
每个人都要和新娘跳舞，并把钱别在她的衣服上。
eg. When you go to the palace to receive your Military Cross, the Queen herself will pin it on.
你去皇宫接受十字勋章时，女王会亲自为你别上勋章。