TERROR AT RUSH HOUR

摘要

During the Blitz, the London Underground was a refuge. Night after night, as the Luftwaffe rained bombs down on the city, whole families would descend deep into the subway system to wait for the "all clear." They would lie in bunk beds, or talk, or tell nursery rhymes, or sing songs, or even sleep. Then they would go back aboveground, return to their homes and businesses, clear up the rubble, and life would go on. Last week, however, the London Underground was a scene of carnage, not shelter. Three terrorist bombs in the subways (a fourth blew up a bus) killed at least 49 people and wounded 700 more. In one deep tunnel, blocked by the mangled wreckage of a subway car and teeming with rats, rescuers had still not dug out all of the bodies two days after the attack. The message was clear enough to Londoners and the rest of the world: in the age of terror, there are no sanctuaries, no safe places to hide.