全新主题大学英语2 U7 T.docVIP

Unit Seven The Power of Spirit Section A Invincible PART I Background Information 1. September 11, 2001 attacks On September 11, 2001, as is well known, 19 terrorists associated with an organization called Al Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, and succeeded in crashing three of them into public buildings they had targeted — one into each of the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and one into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. The World Trade Center towers were destroyed and the Pentagon was seriously damaged. Passengers on the fourth airplane sought to overpower the hijackers, and in so doing prevented that airplane from being similarly used, although it too crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, and all aboard were killed. In all, more than 3,000 people were killed in that day’s coordinated attacks. Americans were awestruck by the way New Yorkers pulled together in the face of the greatest disaster ever to hit their city. As a consequence of the September 11 attacks, the United States’ President George W. Bush announced that fighting terrorism and preventing future attacks would be his administration’s top priority. The attacks also had an international impact, with many Western governments enacting tougher anti-terrorist legislation in response to the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and its affiliate organizations. 2. World Trade Center The World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings on 16-acres, constructed and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The towers, One and Two World Trade Center, rose at the heart of the complex, each climbing more than 100 feet higher than the silver mast of the Empire State Building. Its construction began in 1966 and cost an estimated $1.5 billion. When complete, the Center met with mixed reviews, but at 1,368 and 1,362 feet and 110 stories each, the twin towers were the world’s tallest, and largest, buildings until the Sears Tower surpassed them both in 1974. In only a few y