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MatthewOReilly_2014S-_面对「我快死了吗？」的最诚实回答_
I've been a critical care EMT for the past seven years in Suffolk County , New York. 我在纽约苏福克郡担任重症紧急救护技术员至今七年了。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的; Suffolk:n.萨福克(英国东部一郡);萨福克羊;萨克福马; County:n.郡,县;
I've been a first responder in a number of incidents ranging from car accidents to Hurricane Sandy. 我是各种意外的第一线急救员, 从车祸到桑迪颶风都碰过。
responder:n.响应器;回答者; Hurricane:n.飓风,暴风;
If you are like most people, death might be one of your greatest fears. 如果你跟大家一样, 死亡大概会是你最怕的事之一。
Some of us will see it coming. 有些人能料到自己将死;
Some of us won't. 有些人不行。
There is a little-known documented medical term called impending doom . 有个医学名词鲜为人知, 称为濒临死亡。
little-known:鲜为人知的; impending:adj.迫在眉睫的; v.(事件,危险等)逼近; (impend的现在分词) doom:n.厄运;毁灭;劫数;死亡;v.使…注定失败(或遭殃、死亡等);
It's almost a symptom . 那几乎算是种症状。
symptom:n.症状;征候;征兆;
As a medical provider , I'm trained to respond to this symptom like any other, so when a patient having a heart attack looks at me and says, "I'm going to die today," 身为医疗人员,训练让我以平常心面对这种症状。 因此当心脏病人看着我说: 「我今天就会死。」
provider:n.供应者;养家者; patient:adj.有耐心的,能容忍的;n.病人;患者; heart attack:n.[医]心肌梗塞
we are trained to reevaluate the patient's condition. 训练要我们重新评估病人的情况。
reevaluate:vt.再评估;重新估计;vi.再评估;重新估计;
Throughout my career , I have responded to a number of incidents where the patient had minutes left to live and there was nothing I could do for them. 在我的职涯中, 我去过一些意外现场急救, 当中有些病人还有几分钟可以活, 而我却无能为力。
Throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及; career:n.职业;事业;生涯;经历; responded:v.回答,回应;作出反应;响应;反应灵敏;(respond的过去式和过去分词)
With this, I was faced with a dilemma : 因此我常面对进退两难的问题:
dilemma:n.困境;进退两难;两刀论法;
Do I tell the dying that they are about to face death, or do I lie to them to comfort them? 我要告诉临终病患,他们快死了吗？ 还是我应该说谎来安抚他们？
are about to:眼看就要;即将;正要;行将;
Early in my career, I faced this dilemma by simply lying. 我还是菜鸟时, 碰到这种问题只会说谎。
I was afraid. 当时我很害怕。
I was afraid if I told them the truth, that they would die in terror, in fear, just grasping for those last moments of life. 我害怕如果我说了实话, 他们就会在害怕和恐惧中死去, 只能紧抓生命的最后时刻。
grasping:adj.贪婪的;紧紧抓住的;v.理解,领会;抓紧,抓牢;(grasp的现在分词形式)
That all changed with one incident. 一场事件改变了我的观点。
Five years ago, I responded to a motorcycle accident. 五年前,我到摩托车意外现场急救。
The rider had suffered critical, critical injuries . 骑士受的伤非常严重。
rider:n.骑手;附文;扶手; injuries:n.伤害,损伤;挫伤;(injury的复数)
As I assessed him, I realized that there was nothing that could be done for him, and like so many other cases, he looked me in the eye and asked that question: "Am I going to die?" 我评估他的伤势, 发现完全束手无策, 就像许多伤患一样, 他看着我的双眼问那个问题:
assessed:v.对…进行评估(assess过去时形式);
In that moment, I decided to do something different. 在那当下 ,我决定改变作法。
I decided to tell him the truth. 我决定告诉他实情。
I decided to tell him that he was going to die and that there was nothing I could do for him. 我决定告诉他,他快死了, 而且我完全无能为力。
His reaction shocked me to this day . 他的反应至今仍让我震惊。
reaction:n.反应,感应;反动,复古;反作用; to this day:至今;
He simply laid back and had a look of acceptance on his face. 他只是躺在那, 脸上露出接受的表情。
laid back:adj.懒散的;悠闲的;闲散的; acceptance:n.验收;接受;认可;承认;
He was not met with that terror or fear that I thought he would be. 他没有面临我想像中 那样的恐惧和害怕。
He simply laid there, and as I looked into his eyes, 他只是躺在那里,
I saw inner peace and acceptance. 我在他的眼里看见
inner:n.内部;射中接近靶心部分的一发;adj.里面的;向内的;内部的;接近中心的;
From that moment forward, I decided it was not my place to comfort the dying with my lies. 从那个时刻开始, 我决定自己没有立场用谎言安抚垂死的人。
Having responded to many cases since then where patients were in their last moments and there was nothing I could do for them, in almost every case, they have all had the same reaction to the truth, of inner peace and acceptance. 自此之后,我回覆许多临终病患, 我无法幫他们做任何事, 我无法幫他们做任何事, 几乎每一位病患 面对实话的反应都一样, 接受,以及内心的平静。
patients:n.接受治疗者,病人;(patient的复数)
In fact, there are three patterns 其实我在所有案例中
I have observed in all these cases. 观察到三种模式。
observed:adj.观察的;观测的;v.观察;遵守;注意到(observe的过去分词形式);
The first pattern always kind of shocked me. 第一种总会让我吃惊。
Regardless of religious belief or cultural background, there's a need for forgiveness . 不论哪种宗教信仰或是文化背景, 他们都需要饒恕。
Regardless:adj.不管的; v.不顾后果地; religious:adj.宗教的;虔诚的;严谨的;修道的;n.修道士;尼姑; cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; forgiveness:n.宽恕;原谅;宽宏大量
Whether they call it sin or they simply say they have a regret, their guilt is universal . 不管他们自认犯了罪 或只是有个遗憾, 他们全都感到内疚。
sin:n.罪恶;罪行;过错;过失;恶行;v.犯戒律;犯过失; universal:adj.普遍的;全体的;全世界的;共同的;
I had once cared for an elderly gentleman who was having a massive heart attack. 我照顾过一位年长绅士, 他的心脏病发,非常严重。
elderly:adj.上了年纪的;过了中年的;稍老的; massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的;
As I prepared myself and my equipment for his imminent cardiac arrest, 我做好心理准备,打点好器材, 因为他的心跳就快停止了。
imminent:adj.即将来临的;迫近的; cardiac:n.强心剂;强胃剂;adj.心脏的;心脏病的;贲门的;
I began to tell the patient of his imminent demise . 我开始告诉他,死亡即将降临。
demise:n.死亡,终止;转让;传位;vt.遗赠;禅让;
He already knew by my tone of voice and body language . 他从我的声调和动作中已经预知了这件事。
tone:n.语气:风格:特色:声音信号:v.使更结实:与…协调: body language:n.身势语;
As I placed the defibrillator pads on his chest, prepping for what was going to happen, he looked me in the eye and said, "I wish I had spent more time with my children and grandchildren instead of being selfish with my time." 我把电击器放在他胸前, 准备好面对即将发生的事。 他直视着我的双眼说: 「我好希望过去能多花点时间陪陪儿孙, 而不是自私地享受独处时光。」
defibrillator:n.除颤器(通过电击心脏控制心肌运动); pads:n.软垫,护垫; v.填充,覆盖,保护; (pad的第三人称单数和复数) prepping:v.把…准备好;预备;为(患者)做手术准备;(prep的现在分词)
Faced with imminent death, all he wanted was forgiveness. 面对即将来临的死亡, 他只想要得到原谅。
The second pattern I observe is the need for remembrance . 我观察到的第二种模式 就是被缅怀的需要。
remembrance:n.回想,回忆;纪念品;记忆力;
Whether it was to be remembered in my thoughts or their loved ones', they needed to feel that they would be living on. 不论是在我或是 他的爱人记忆中被缅怀。 他们都需要感到生命能延续。
There's a need for immortality within the hearts and thoughts of their loved ones, myself, my crew, or anyone around. 他们需要永恒不朽地 存在爱人的心里和脑海中, 或是在我、同仁或任何人的心上。
immortality:n.不朽;不朽的声名;不灭;
Countless times, I have had a patient look me in the eyes and say, "Will you remember me?" 有无数次,病人看着我的双眼问: 你会记得我吗？」
Countless:adj.无数的;数不尽的;
The final pattern I observe always touched me the deepest, to the soul. 我观察到的最后一种模式 总会触动我的内心深处,触动我的灵魂。
The dying need to know that their life had meaning. 他们渴望知道自己的生命有意义。
They need to know that they did not waste their life on meaningless tasks. 他们需要知道自己没有浪费生命 在无意义的事情上。
This came to me very, very early in my career. 这种情况在我入行没多久就出现了。
I had responded to a call. 我曾接过一个急救任务,
There was a female in her late 50s severely pinned within a vehicle . 有位快 60 岁的女性, 被卡在车里动弹不得。
female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物; severely:adv.严重地;严格地,严厉地;纯朴地; pinned:v.固定;使不能动弹;按住;钳住;(pin的过去分词和过去式) vehicle:n.[车辆]车辆;工具;交通工具;运载工具;传播媒介;媒介物;
She had been t-boned at a high rate of speed, critical, critical condition. 她的车子从侧边被高速撞上, 情况非常危急。
As the fire department worked to remove her from the car, 消防队要从车子里救出她的同时,
fire department:n.消防部门:消防队员:消防队:
I climbed in to begin to render care. 我爬进去开始急救。
render:v.提供;给予;提交;翻译;n.粉刷;[建](墙壁的)初涂;抹灰;精制油;
As we talked, she had said to me, "There was so much more I wanted to do with my life." 我们对话时,她对我说: 「我这辈子还有好多事情想做。」
She had felt she had not left her mark on this Earth. 她觉得还没在这世上留下印记。
As we talked further, it would turn out that she was a mother of two adopted children who were both on their way to medical school. 我们谈得更深入后, 我才知道她领养了两个小孩, 而且他们都准备要念医学院。
adopted:adj.被收养的;被采用的;v.采用;接受;(adopt的过去式和过去分词);
Because of her, two children had a chance they never would have had otherwise and would go on to save lives in the medical field as medical doctors. 因为她,这两个小孩 拥有本来不可能得到的机会。 而且还能从医,拯救许多生命,
It would end up taking 45 minutes to free her from the vehicle. 结果花了 45 分钟, 才将她从车子里救出来。
However, she perished prior to freeing her. 但是她在那之前就已经死了。
perished:adj.极冷;v.死亡;暴死;丧失;毁灭;老化;(perish的过去分词和过去式) prior:adj.先前的; n.(小隐修院)院长; v.居先;
I believed what you saw in the movies: when you're in those last moments that it's strictly terror, fear. 我过去相信电影上演的: 你在临终前 会感到非常恐惧、 害怕。
I have come to realize, regardless of the circumstance , it's generally met with peace and acceptance, that it's the littlest things, the littlest moments, the littlest things you brought into the world that give you peace in those final moments. 后来我才了解,不论在什么情况下, 通常都会变得平静也能接受。 是最微不足道的那些事、那些时刻, 你带到世上最微不足道的那些事, 让你在临终时刻得到平静。
circumstance:n.环境,情况;事件;境遇; generally:adv.通常;普遍地,一般地;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）