10-13 劫机

The Hijacking 11

The flight from New York to Florida began routinely. The flight attendants were busy welcoming passengers, helping 2 them stow their luggage and guiding them to their seats. Since I was first flight attendant, I was going through procedures that were now becoming normal to me after seven months of flying. In my preliminary check of the cabin, I didn’t particularly notice the man wearing the black suede 32 cowboy hat and sitting in the third row.

It was an overcast 4 day in 1983. Ten minutes after leaving New York, the plane broke through the clouds. Checking passenger tickets, I came to the man in the cowboy hat and leaned over to ask for his ticket. In a split second of terror, a normal flight turned into a hijacking.

The man jumped up and pinned my left arm behind my back. He whispered in my ear, “I have a gun. Take me to the cockpit3.” As he jammed the gun into my back, I saw the look of deathly fear in the eyes of the woman who had been sitting next to him, with her little girl. I took a couple of deep breaths and gave the woman and her little girl a reassuring 5 look.

The hijacker 6 was strong; my arm twisted with pain. With the gun pressing into my back, I told the hijacker that the door to the cockpit was pressurized4 and couldn't be opened for another 15 minutes, when the plane reached an altitude of 30,000 feet. Fortunately, he didn't know there’s no such thing as a pressurized cockpit door.

Slowly, I led the hijacker to the back of the plane, as far away from the pilots and passengers as possible. Only a few people knew anything was wrong. Michael, another flight attendant, was conducting beverage 75 service when he caught sight of my face. I don’t know what my voice sounded like, but I managed to tell him we had a little problem and that we needed to go to the back of the plane.

It was painfully clear that my own life was not the only one at stake. I thought of the crew, the passengers and their loved ones waiting innocently at the airport. Our survival depended on my absolute composure6-- I desperately 8 needed a way to calm myself. Trying to ignore the jabbing pressure of the gun in my back, I began to repeat a prayer I learned as a teenager, the Serenity 97Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

The courage to change the things I can, and

Wisdom to know the difference.

As I recited the Serenity Prayer, all the procedures I had learned during training to deal with a hijacking flooded back to me. “Before you officially declare a hijacking, you must see a weapon,” they said. I gathered my nerve and told the hijacker I had to see his gun. He pushed it harder into my back. “It’s a 32-caliber and if you ask me again, I’ll blow a hole right through you.”

He then turned to Michael and said, “Call the pilot and tell him we’re going to Haiti.” Michael complied. After several terrifying moments of silence, the hijacker told Michael to call the pilot again and tell him to first land the plane in New Jersey 10, get rid of all the passengers there and then continue to Haiti with just the crew.

This new direction gave me a plan. It was a long shot, but maybe I could convince the hijacker to get off the plane with me in New Jersey. The next 40 minutes felt like a lifetime, but finally, with the gun still pressed to my back, we approached the runway in New Jersey. I turned to the hijacker and said, “You’ll never get away with8 this if we go all the way to Haiti. You’ll be arrested and thrown into jail for the rest of your life. If you get off the plane with me here, I’ll help you get a car and get away, and no one will ever know.”

He said, “No, we’re going to Haiti.”

The plane landed, and when it finally came to a stop, he turned to me and said, “I’ve changed my mind -- I want it to end.”

The silence in the airplane cabin was deafening 119.

Michael lowered the automatic airstairs, and the hijacker and I walked alone down the stairs and across the airfield 12. As we walked together, my arm was still twisted behind my back, with the gun pressing into my spine 13. I wondered where I was going to take him and what I was going to do with him.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a patrol car appeared on the airfield. The hijacker swung me around in front of him, shielding10 himself against the police with my body.

That was the moment I was sure I was going to die. I saw my whole family and their reaction to my death. But the Serenity Prayer quickly filled my mind again. “The courage to change the things I can ...” That’s when I felt a peaceful acceptance that became my strength.

I looked back at the plane and watched as the airstairs folded up and the plane slowly pulled away to safety, with my friends and colleagues and all the other passengers on board. I realized with frightening finality that I was on my own.

The hijacker pushed me into the nearest building with him. He waited in the hallway while I entered a nearby office to get him a phone so he could call for a getaway car. When he released my arm for the first time in over an hour, I carefully walked away from him and into the office.

After alerting the tense men inside the office to the danger, I turned and motioned for the hijacker to come in. I calmly explained to him that the two men at the desk were going to help him get a car. When he went to use the phone, it was the first time since the hijacking began that his attention was diverted from me. I knew this was my only chance to escape.

I ran. I thought my heart would pound right out of my chest, but I kept running. It would be impossible to describe the sense of relief I felt when FBI agents and police flooded around me.

Fifteen minutes later they successfully apprehended11 the hijacker. I was taken immediately to a small room and asked to give a detailed 15 account of the event to the police and the FBI. My heightened memory recalled every nuance 1612 of the flight, the crew and the hijacker. They looked at me in amazement 17 and said, “How did you do it? We train people for years to respond like you did. You did everything right.”

I simply told them it was a combination of things: good training, good crew and passengers, the ability to handle stress and most of all, faith.

注释：

1. hijacking [5haidVAk] n. 劫持

2. suede [sweid] a. 绒面革（或仿麂皮织物）做的

3. cockpit [5kCkpit]] n.（飞行员）座舱

4. pressurize [5preFEraiz] vt. 给（飞机座舱等）增压，密封

5. beverage [5bevEridV] n. 饮料（如牛奶、茶、咖啡、啤酒等）

6. composure [kEm5pEuVE] n. 镇静，沉着，克制

7. serenity [si5reniti] n. 平静，安详，宁静

8. get away with [口] 做成（某坏事或错事而未被发觉或受处分）

9. deafening [5defEniN] a. 震耳欲聋的，极喧闹的

10. shield [Fi:ld] vt. 保护，保卫

11. apprehend 14 [7Apri5hend] vt. 逮捕，拘押

12. nuance [nju:5B:ns] n.（意义、感情、意见、颜色、音调等的）细微差别

劫机

自纽约飞往佛罗里达的航班像往日一样开始登机了。乘务员们忙着欢迎乘客，帮他们安放行李和领座。由于我是乘务员组长，我正按照经过7个月的飞行后已经熟悉的程序进行工作。第一次检查客舱时，我没有特别注意那个坐在第三排、头戴黑色仿麂皮牛仔帽的男士。

那是1983年阴沉沉的一天。离开纽约10分钟后，飞机穿越了云层。在检查乘客机票时，我来到戴牛仔帽的男士面前，弯身请他出示机票。在恐怖的刹那间，一次正常飞行变成了劫机。

那男子跳起来，把我的左胳臂扳到背后，在我耳旁低声说：“我有枪。带我到驾驶舱去。”当他把枪顶在我的后背时，我看到他旁座带小女孩的女士极其恐惧的目光。我深吸了几口气，看了她和女孩一眼，示意她们放心。

劫机者身强力壮，我的手臂被扭疼了。枪顶在我背上，我告诉他驾驶舱门是压力控制的，要等到15分钟后飞机飞到3万英尺的高度时才能打开。幸运的是，他不知道根本没有气压驾驶舱门这一说。

我慢慢地领着劫机者到后舱，尽可能远离驾驶员和乘客。只有几个人知道出事了。另一名乘务员迈克尔正在给乘客送饮料，他注意到我的脸色。我不知道当时我说话的声音听起来如何，但是我设法告诉他出了点小问题，我们得到后舱去。

我痛心地意识到，不仅是我自己的生命面临危险。我想到了机组、乘客和正在机场不知情地等待着他们的亲人。我们的生存取决于我的绝对镇静——我急切需要镇定自己的方法。我试图忘记后背被枪顶着的压力，开始一遍遍默诵我少年时学会的“静心祷告”：

主啊，赐与我宁静的心

来接受我无法改变的事情；

赐与我勇气改变我所能改变的

并赐与我分辨两者的智慧。

在背诵“静心祷告”的时候，我接受培训时学到的所有应对劫机的措施涌现在脑中。他们说：“在正式宣布发生劫机之前，你必须看见武器。”我鼓起勇气对劫机者说我必须看看他的枪。他更使劲用枪顶着我的后背：“这是把0.32(英寸)口径的手枪。你要是再问的话，我就把你的身体打穿个洞。”

他随后对迈克尔说：“给驾驶员打电话，告诉他我们去海地。”迈克尔照办了。经过片刻可怕的宁静之后，劫机者要迈克尔再给驾驶员打电话，告诉他先在新泽西降落，把所有乘客赶下飞机后，只留下机组人员再继续飞往海地。

新的航行路线使我萌生一个计划。航程很长，但是我有可能说服劫机者随我在新泽西下飞机。随后的40分钟犹如一生，不过，我们终于飞临新泽西机场的跑道，那把枪仍然顶在我的后背。我转身对劫机者说：“如果我们直飞海地的话，你永远也逃脱不了。你会被逮捕并在牢中度过你的余生。如果你在这儿跟我下去，我会帮你弄辆车跑掉，没有人会知道。”

他说：“不，我们去海地。”

飞机落地了。待飞机最终停稳后，他对我说：“我改变主意了——我想就此结束。”

机舱里的宁静反而起到震耳欲聋的效果。

迈克尔放下了自动舷梯。劫机者和我走了下去，穿过机场。我们一起走的时候，我的手臂仍然被扭在身后，枪顶在我的脊椎上。我不知道往哪儿带他，也不知道怎样对付他。

突然间，机场上不知从哪儿冒出一辆巡逻车。劫机者把我拽到他前面，用我的身体挡住警察。

那一时刻我确信自己就要死了。我看到我的全家人和他们对我死亡的反应。但是，“静心祷告”再一次迅速充满了我的脑海。“赐与我勇气改变我所能改变的……”此时，我平静地接受了现实，从而也获得了力量。

我回头看那架飞机，看着舷梯折起，飞机慢慢开到安全地带，满载着我的朋友、同事和机上的所有其他乘客。我害怕并肯定地意识到得靠我自己了。

劫机者把我推进最近的建筑物。我进入附近一间办公室给他找个电话叫辆能帮他逃走的车，他在楼道里等着。一个多小时里他第一次松开我的手臂，我小心翼翼地从他身边走开，进入了办公室。

向办公室里神经紧张的人们发出危险警告后，我转身示意劫机者进来。我镇静地向他解释说桌旁的两个人将帮他弄辆车。他走过去打电话，这是自劫机发生以来他第一次分散了对我的注意力。我明白这是我惟一的脱逃机会。

我撒腿就跑。我想我的心脏要从胸膛里跳出来了，但我不停地奔跑。当联邦调查局人员和警察潮涌般围住我时，我无法形容我的轻松感。

15分钟后，他们成功地逮捕了劫机者。我立即被带进一间小屋，他们要我向联邦调查局人员和警方详细叙述事件的经过。我那强化的记忆回想起航行中、机组人员和劫机者的每个细节。他们惊异地看着我说：“你是怎么做到的？多年来我们训练人们像你那样做出反应。你所做的每件事都是对的。”

我只是告诉他们这是多个因素的组合：训练有素、合作的机组和乘客、应对压力的能力，而最重要的是，信念。