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In Chicago, Steve Bernard was huddled around the TV with colleagues on the 36th floor of Chicago's Sears Tower, shortly after 8 a.m., watching the smoke billowing from the World Trade Center after the first attack. When the second plane hit, bewilderment at a faraway spectacle turned into a much more personal, creeping panic. The Chicago staff of the Piper Jaffray investment firm suddenly redirected their gazes toward the windows, quietly searching for jets on their own horizon. The 110-story Sears Tower, even taller than the World Trade Center, is the tallest building in the U.S.; a vulnerable target. Bernard's wife called him and insisted he come home. Within an hour, the building was evacuated.
在芝加哥,Sears大楼的36层，刚过8点，Steve Bernard和同事们聚在电视前，看着浓烟从被第一次被袭后的世贸大楼中滚滚冒出。在第二次撞机后，对远处发生的惊讶变成了蔓延开的对自身处境的恐慌。Piper Jaffray 投资公司的员工突然开始将目光转向窗外，担心他们眼前也会出现一架飞机。110层的Sears大楼比世贸大楼更高，作为美国最高的大楼，是一个极易受攻击的目标。Bernard的妻子打电话来坚持让他回家。一小时之内，大楼整个被疏散。
Across the country, houses of all kinds of worship filled with grieving Americans singing America the Beautiful, wiping away streams of tears. "Humanity came apart in lower Manhattan today, and each of us is wounded. We mourn the loss of our innocence," declared Rabbi Gary Gerson at Oak Park Temple, a Reform Jewish congregation outside Chicago. "Terror has struck us, but it will not destroy us. Now we are all Israelis," he added.
全国上下，一个个的教堂满是悲伤的美国人,唱着美丽的美国，擦着不断涌出的泪，“今天人性在下曼哈顿破碎了，我们都受了伤。我们为我们失了清白而哀悼”，在橡木公园一次犹太人集会上，Rabbi Gary Gerson说。“恐怖袭击了我们，但不会毁灭我们。现在我们都是以色列人。”他接着说道。
Indeed, there were many Americans who refused to be intimidated by the tragedy, rightly or wrongly. They were reassuring, if not necessarily reasonable. The order to close the U.S. Courthouse in Little Rock, Ark., came shortly before 10 a.m., and it was promptly heeded by everyone except a solitary federal district judge. There sat Henry Woods, age 83, his lined face framed by a mane of white hair, beneath a replica of the seal of the U.S. Around him, at his insistence, a jury and lawyers carried on in a damage suit stemming from, of all things, a 1999 American Airlines crash. "This looks like an intelligent jury to me," Woods said, explaining his refusal to grant a mistrial to the defense after getting word of the disaster. "And I didn't want the judicial system interrupted by a terrorist act, no matter how horrible."
是的，有很多美国人拒绝被这个悲剧所惊吓。他们还在确认，不管这是不是一种多余的理智。关闭在Little Rock, Ark的法庭的命令在快十点的时候传达了下来，但有一个联邦地区法官没有注意到它。那就是Henry Woods, 83岁，他白发苍苍，脸上爬着皱纹。一圈美国政府的印章的复制品环绕在他身边，在他的坚持之下，在他的周围，一个法官和一些律师们继续处理着一次诉讼，而这次诉讼，恰好是关于一起1999年美国Airline的空难。“只有这样，我认为，才是一个真正聪明的法官”，他说，这是他对他在听到灾难后，仍拒绝给与被告休庭的解释。“而且我不希望执法系统会被一次恐怖主义者的行动打断，不管这行动有多可怕。”
If people all over the country had a sense of being suddenly at war--chat boards on Yahoo filled up with people wanting to volunteer for military service--it was with an enemy they could not see and not easily touch.
如果全国的人民都有一种突然面临战争的感觉，比如说，雅虎的留言板上充斥着志愿去参军的人，他们好像是在面对着一个看不见摸不着的敌人。
Meanwhile the U.S. government reassembled and mobilized. Secretary of State Colin Powell cut short his trip to Latin America to return to the U.S. By midafternoon, members of Congress were calling on their leaders to summon a special session, to show the world the government was up and running. About half of the Senate convened in a conference room at the Capitol Hill Police Station to hear from their leaders--some to vent their outrage at President Bush. Both Democrats and Republicans wanted to know, Where is he? Why isn't he here? Why isn't he in New York? Why isn't he talking to the country? The answer: Bush had been told by the Secret Service, the military and the FBI that it was not yet safe to return to Washington. Only 24 hours later, after absorbing a wave of criticism for his delayed return, did aides claim there had been "credible evidence" that the White House and Air Force One were targets.
与此同时美国政府重新聚在一起并且开始了行动。国务卿鲍威尔缩短了他在南美洲的行程，在中午时分回到了美国，议会成员号召他们的领导举行一次特别会议，以此来告诉外界美国政府开始采取行动了。大概有一半的参议员聚集在CapitolHillPoliceStation的会议室里聆听上级的旨意，有人指责布什总统泄愤。民主党员和共和党员都希望知道，他在哪儿？为什么他不在这里？为什么他不在纽约？为什么他给全国人民一个交待？答案是：安全部门，军队和联邦调查局告诉他，现在回华盛顿还不安全。仅在24小时后，在默默接受对他迟到的批评浪潮后，才有助手宣称，有确信的事实证明，白宫和空军一队是行动的目标。