The following information will help you better understand the text:

• Heroism has always been admired in human history. Heroes all have extraordinary qualities. They could have been revolutionary martyrs, great statesmen, staunch truch believers who died for their faith; people who laid down their lives in performing their duties, who displayed courage in their attempts to save the lives of others. Ironically, there has also been an over-emphasis on war heroes whose main feat is their ability to kill many enemies, as well as on those politicians who have shown unusual talent in seizing power, influence and money. 

• But this man in the water does not fit in any of these descriptions. He died anonymous, unidentified. He was extraordinary precisely because he was not extraordinary. He showed what every one of us could do. He is a civilian hero. The display of his heroism is a song to the human character.

• We should be aware that the fact that this hero happened to be an American does not necessarily mean that heroism is the American national trait. No nation has a monopoly of this human spirit. ...

  
  

The overall structure of the article:

I. A brief account of the air crash that leads to the thesis of the essay--in the air crash, ________ rose to the occasion. (paras. 1-2)

II. The development of the thesis: how _______ rose to the occasion. (paras. 3-8)

    A. The ________ of three of the four heroes in the disaster. (para.3)

    B. A brief description of what the man in the water did. (para.4)

    C. The imagined thoughts and _________ of the man on the plane and in the water. (paras.5-6)

    D. The writer's reflections on the man's role in the battle between ________and ________: he triumphs over ________. (paras.7-8)

III. The reason why the man could have done what he did-- the ______________ enables him to defy death. (para.9)

Think about the following questions. We'll discuss them in class.

• prepare to answer the 18 questions on pages 95-97 in your textbook. 

• Think about the following questions:

part I (paras. 1-2):

1. What was unusual about this air crash?  Did it make the disaster more special than others?

2. What is the aesthetic crash? Is it really so?

3. What was the cause of the air crash?

4. What did people actually see in the disaster?

part II (paras. 3-8):

1. Who were able to account for what they did? 

2. What did they do? And why did they do so?

3. Who attracted most of people’s attention?

4. What was “the man in the water” like?

5. What did “the man in the water” do?

6. What is the meaning of “the fact that he went unidentified gave him a universal character”? What is this universal character?

7. What does the writer want to reveal through the imagined scene?

8. “He watched everything in the world move away from him, and he let it happen.” What does the sentence imply? Did he just passively watch and let it happen? Could he stop it? What might be the reason?

9. What does “the essential, classic circumstance” refer to?

10. “The one making no distinctions of good and evil,… acting wholly on distinctions, principles and, perhaps on faith.” What is the author trying to say specifically?

11. “He was likewise giving a lifeline to those who watched him.” Why does the writer say so? 

    part III (paras.9): 

1. Why do we believe that man did not lose the fight against nature?

2. What kind of power do we see in “the man in the water”?