Freezer saved lives as tornado raged
冰箱在龙卷风肆虐中救下数条人命

☆ tornado 龙卷风

Thursday, April 22, 2004 Posted: 0254 GMT (1054 HKT)

UTICA, Illinois (AP) -- Richard Little headed down to the Millstone Tavern to meet a buddy for a beer, but minutes later he and other patrons were rushing to the basement as tornado sirens wailed outside.
伊利诺斯州，尤蒂卡----Richard Little来到Millstone酒馆，来和朋友喝一?shy;。但几分钟后，外面响起了龙卷风警报，他和其他顾客赶紧冲入地下室。

☆ tavern 酒馆
   
"You hear the typical freight-train or jet-engine sound. Me and the guy next to me crouched down and put our hands over our heads," Little said. "And it was over in a couple of seconds."
Little说：“听起来象是货车或喷气飞机引擎声。我和旁边的人蹲在地上，手捂着头。数秒钟后，龙卷风从酒馆上辗过。”

☆ crouch 蜷缩, 蹲下

But when the tornado passed Tuesday night, Little and about a dozen others were trapped in the basement of the country-and-western-themed tavern when its century-old sandstone walls crumbled and the roof collapsed.
周二晚龙卷风肆虐过程中，Little和其他十二个人被困在这个西部乡村风格小酒馆的地下室中，当时，酒馆一百余年的砂岩墙完全崩塌了，屋顶也塌了下来。

☆ crumble 崩溃

"You could hear kids screaming and adults screaming to let us know where they were buried," said Little, a 37-year-old truck driver.
Little，这个37岁的卡车司机说：“小孩和大人不停尖叫，告诉人们他们被埋在哪里。”

Eight people died in the collapse. Authorities on Wednesday pulled the last of the bodies from the rubble of the bar, which was across the street from a grain elevator and featured wagon wheels hanging from the ceiling.

Little was rescued minutes after the tornado swept through the center of Utica. He said he survived because he stood in the basement's southeast corner, next to a freezer.

Debris fell on the top of the freezer, but wood beams formed a protective triangle around Little and the elderly man crouched next to him.

"I took his hand, and I told him I could see daylight," Little said.

Little said he was quickly helped out of the debris by rescue crews, then joined in the rescue efforts himself, helping lift debris off others who were trapped until he sought treatment at a hospital for a sore shoulder, ribs and back.
Little称他很快就被救援队从碎石中救了出来，并且加入到救援行动中，帮助被困的人清除碎石，直到因为肩、肋骨和背部疼痛而到医院求治才停止。
☆ rescue crews 救援队