When the planes hit the twin towers eight years ago this week, I wasn't a journalist at all, but a business economist living in London. It was my job to look at what was happening to the economy and figure out what it might imply and what might happen next. Alongside the shock experienced by anyone watching the television coverage, I felt bewilderment. It seemed that the sheer physical destruction and the deaths of so many highly skilled people would have to disrupt the running of the US economy – one of Osama bin Laden's declared objectives. But with no close precedents, it was hard to say by how much.
8年前，当飞机撞上双子塔的时候，我还压根儿不是新闻工作者，而是一名住在伦敦的商业manbetx20客户端下载 学家。我的工作是观察各种manbetx20客户端下载 事件，搞清楚其中可能的含意，以及接下来可能会发生什么。除了每一个收看电视报道的人都有的震惊，我还感到了困惑。纯粹的物质破坏和这么多高技能人才丧生，似乎必然会扰乱美国manbetx20客户端下载 的正常运行——这也是奥萨马•本•拉登(Osama bin Laden)所宣扬的目的之一。但由于近年来尚无先例，很难判断其影响程度。