2021年经济学人 死亡的权力--安乐死(2)

The similarity between the “euthanasia underground” that it describes and underground abortion¹ networks is striking. The president of Compassion² & Choices, a lobby group for doctor-assisted dying, once referred to plastic-bag hoods³ as “the end-of-life equivalent of the coat hanger”. Among those to have taken charge of their deaths were some early AIDs patients, their suff?ering immense, their fates fi?xed. Just having the right drugs, or knowing they could get them, seemed to make many of these young men feel better, recalls the more likeable of the two doctors.

书中所描述的“地下安乐死”与地下堕胎网络之间有惊人的相似之处。“慈悲与选择”是一个提供医生协助死亡的的游说团体，该组织的主席曾提到，用头套塑料袋结束生命就“相当于用衣架堕胎”。那些对自己的死亡负责的人中有一些是早期艾滋病患者，这些人经历着巨大的痛苦，他们的命运已经注定。两位医生中比较讨人喜欢的一位回忆说，仅仅是有了合适的药物，或者知道自己可以得到药物，似乎让许多患病的年轻人更好受一些。

Henry planned to kill herself with the Mexican drugs in her bathtub, but fretted⁴ that she would soil herself and that her house would smell. Dignity—in life and death—seems to preoccupy⁵ her and others above all. Even more than a bad death they fear a bad end to life, in which they are no longer themselves. A desire for autonomy runs through their stories like the thin veins⁶ of some of the characters.

亨利打算服用从墨西哥买的戊巴比妥钠，在浴缸里了结生命，但她担心这样会弄脏自己，还会让家里有臭味。生死存亡之际，尊严似乎是她与其他想要安乐死的人最关心的问题。其分量甚至重于他们害怕的恶终（糟糕的结束生命会让他们失去自我）。对自主的渴望就像人的静脉一样贯穿于他们的故事。

Yet this is not a right-to-die manifesto⁷. The author’s own ethical⁸ doubts are among the book’s strengths. She writes compassionately⁹ of her subjects’ struggles, but is more reserved about the motives¹⁰ of some of their helpers. She remains¹¹ torn about what is perhaps the hardest question of all: euthanasia for victims of dementia. Rather than passing judgment¹², she presents facts. About half of Americans think patients do not have enough control over end-of-life decisions. Existing laws often have arbitrary eff?ects.

然而，这并不是死亡权利宣言。这本书的长处之一在于作者本人基于道德的怀疑。她富有同情心地描写了主人公的挣扎，但对一些帮助者的动机却有所保留。她仍然纠结于可能是所有问题中最难的问题，即痴呆症患者的安乐死。她没有作出判断，只是陈述事实。有大约一半的美国人认为痴呆症患者对临终决策没有足够的控制权。现行法律往往具有任意效力。

After the drugs arrived from Mexico, Henry’s house was raided by police. She had discovered the concept of the “Completed Life”. “That’s when you feel that your life is shaped and fi?nished. And the direction thereafter is down. I did have a complete life. It was a great life ,” she told a friend. Soon after the raid she was found in her bathtub, having drunk the poison the police had missed. The note she left had a postscript¹³: “If I have fouled¹⁴ the bath in death, please please be kind to wash it down.” She provided the disinfectant.

戊巴比妥钠从墨西哥运来后，亨利的家就遭到了警察的突袭。她发现了“完满人生”的概念。她对一个朋友说：“就是当你觉得你的生活被塑造和完成的时候。你此后的生活会走向下坡。我确实拥有了完满的人生。我之前的生活很美好。”警察突袭后不久，人们发现了因喝下警察遗漏的毒药而死在浴缸里的亨利。她留下的纸条上有一个附言：“如果死去的我弄脏了浴缸，请把它清洗干净。”她还提供了消毒剂。

1 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

2 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

3 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

4 fretted   

焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的

参考例句：

• The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝，有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
• The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。

5 preoccupy   

vt.使全神贯注，使入神

参考例句：

• But at the moment he had other things to preoccupy him.不过当时有另外的事情分了他的心。
• An intelligent man considers the prospect of failure,but he doesn't preoccupy himself with pointless worry.一个聪明的男人可以预见到失败，但他绝不会去无谓地担心。

6 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

8 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

9 compassionately   

adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地

参考例句：

• The man at her feet looked up at Scarlett compassionately. 那个躺在思嘉脚边的人同情地仰望着她。 来自飘（部分）
• Then almost compassionately he said,"You should be greatly rewarded." 接着他几乎带些怜悯似地说：“你是应当得到重重酬报的。” 来自辞典例句

10 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

13 postscript   

n.附言，又及；(正文后的)补充说明

参考例句：

• There was the usual romantic postscript at the end of his letter.他的信末又是一贯的浪漫附言。
• She mentioned in a postscript to her letter that the parcel had arrived.她在信末附笔中说包裹已寄到。

14 fouled   

v.使污秽( foul的过去式和过去分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏

参考例句：

• Blue suit and reddish-brown socks!He had fouled up again. 蓝衣服和红褐色短袜！他又搞错了。
• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories. 整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。