6. In an image that reflects the Dantesque surreality of 9/11, witnesses watch flames spew (喷涌) from one of the several buildings -- in addition to the Twin Towers -- damaged or destroyed in lower Manhattan. Mario Tama's photograph has a vertiginous (眩晕的) feel that recalls the swirl of emotions that we endured on 9/11 and, in a sense, in the years since. In layer upon layer, the image reflects the ordinariness of the day -- pedestrians, bicyclists, trees, street signs – jarringly (不和谐的) juxtaposed (并置) against an inferno (地狱). As details emerge (the police in the distance, the masks on people's faces, debris in the street), the image evolves from a portrait of mere disaster to a chronicle of a singular, era-defining cataclysm (灾难).
(Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)