前不久，一架轻型客机偏离了航线，在山中坠毁，飞行员遇难。
When a light passenger plane flew off course some time ago, it crashed in the mountains and its pilot was killed.
仅有的乘客——一位年轻女性和她的两个幼女——安然无恙。
The only passengers, a young woman and her two baby daughters, were unhurt.
那时正值隆冬时节。
It was the middle of winter.
地上积雪深厚。
Snow lay thick on the ground.
那位妇女知道最近的村庄也在几英里之外。
The woman knew that the nearest village was miles away.
天黑下来时，她把一只手提箱变成了床，把孩子们放进去，再用她能找到的所有衣物把她们盖上。
When it grew dark, she turned a suitcase into a bed and put the children inside it, covering them with all the clothes she could find.
夜间，天气变得异常寒冷。
During the night, it got terribly cold.
那位妇女尽可能地靠近孩子们，甚至自己也想钻进箱子里，但箱子太小了。
The woman kept as near as she could to the children and even tried to get into the case herself, but it was too small.
第二天清晨，她听到飞机在头顶飞过，心里在想怎样才能发出求救信号。
Early next morning, she heard planes passing overhead and wondered how she could send a signal.
突然，她有了一个主意。她在雪地上踩出了"SOS"这三个字母。
Then she had an idea. She stamped out the letters 'SOS' in the snow.
幸运的是，一位飞行员看到了这个信号，并用无线电向最近的城镇发出了消息。
Fortunately, a pilot saw the signal and sent a message by radio to the nearest town.
不久，一架直升机抵达现场，救援飞机失事的幸存者。
It was not long before a helicopter arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors of the plane crash.