My first string had failed and I was falling about 400 feet per second, needing 1,000 feet for the shoot to open.

我的第一根绳子坏了，我以每秒 400 英尺的速度下落，需要 1000 英尺才能打开射击。

He remembered how excited they had been when they had gone to Chicago together and he had bought her first little string of pearls; how proud she had been of them, and how grateful. . . . Then he felt curiously free.

他记得他们一起去芝加哥时是多么兴奋，他给她买了第一串小珍珠；她为他们感到多么自豪，多么感激。 . . .然后他感到奇怪的自由。