2007年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-A Way to Honor Life

Welcome to This I Believe and NPR series presenting the personal philosophies of remarkable¹ men and women from all walks of life.

I believe in figuring out my own way to do things.
I believe in the power of numbers.
I believe in Barbeque.
Well, I believe in friendliness².
I believe in mankind.
This I believe…

Over 20,000 essays have been submitted to our series, This I believe. What today our assay³ comes from Cortney Davis, a mother, nurse and poet from Wreting, Connecticut. Here's our series curator,independent producer Jay Allison.

Cortney Davis didn't plan to become a nurse. She was divorced with two children and needed a job that was flexible and paid well. Over time, though,she came to love the profession. In caring for patients she acquired an unexpected belief that now guides her in her approach to the work. Here is Cortney Davis with her essay for This I Believe.

I believe in grief. Almost everyday when I walk into the hospital where I work as a nurse practitioner⁴, I hear crying, moaning or wailing⁵. A young woman has miscarried, an elderly widower⁶ is holding his wife's belongings⁷, a mother stands guard over her badly burned child. Once I would have rushed to comfort these people. Uncomfortable myself with their grief, I'd want to ease their sadness with my cheer and consolation⁸. I'd hug a patient and tell her to: "Try to get pregnant next month." I would reassure⁹ the widower telling him:" Your wife have a long life." I'd enter the burnt child's room in intensive care with // smile rather than encouraging the mother to weep in my arms.

When my own mother died, I was terrified, confused about how I was expected to act. Was I allowed to be the grieving daughter? Or should I be the competent grief-denying professional? I held my mother's rest, counting her pulse as it slow, after her last breath I ran for the nurse. Heart pounding, I waved goodbye to my mother, her gray hair bright against the sheets, and said:" Bye, mom.” In the cheery voice I'd practiced all my life. I didn't know then that I could' ve climbed into bed and held her that I should have wailed¹⁰ when she was gone.

It wasn't until I had stayed with many dying patients, and finally with my dying father, that I allowed myself to grieve for my parents, for those lost patients, for all their loved ones who as I once did held back their tears. At my father's death I cried like a child, not caring that I made the gulping¹¹, I believe this is what u've heard)noises of unrestrained morning. Now years later I know that it is both necessary and human for us to wallow, each in our own way in grief.
I no longer comfort others with false cheer. In the hospital where my encounters with patients are ever more distanced by stereo gloves, computer protocols¹². and pressures of time. One way I can still be present is during their moments of grief. I don't encourage anyone to move on, to replace, to remarried or put the photos or the memories away. Grief must be given its time.
I believe that both the care-givers and the cared-for should be free to scream and cry and fall to the floor, if not actually then at least in the heart. I believe that grief fully¹³ expressed will change over time into something less over / powering, even granting us a new understanding, a kind of double vision that comprehends both the beauty and fragility of life at the same time.

When I grieve, when I stand by others as they grieve, even in the midst of seemingly unbearable¹⁴ sorrow. Grief becomes a way to honor life, a way to cling to every fleeting¹⁵ precious moment of joy.

Cortney Davis with her essay for This I Believe. Davis told us that the opportunities for tenderness in nursing are important to her and she hopes that the profession doesn't move too far toward the technical and the way from the bedside. We invite everyone to submit essays to our series, you can find out more and read what others have written at npr.org.

For this I Believe, I'm Jay Allison.

1 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

2 friendliness   

n.友谊，亲切，亲密

参考例句：

• Behind the mask of friendliness,I know he really dislikes me.在友善的面具后面，我知道他其实并不喜欢我。
• His manner was a blend of friendliness and respect.他的态度友善且毕恭毕敬。

3 assay   

n.试验，测定

参考例句：

• The assay result of that material is rich in iron.化验结果表明那种物质含铁量丰富。
• The ore assay 75 percent of gold.这种矿石经分析证明含金百分之七十五。

4 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

5 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

6 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

7 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

8 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

9 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

10 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

11 gulping   

v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的现在分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住

参考例句：

• She crawled onto the river bank and lay there gulping in air. 她爬上河岸，躺在那里喘着粗气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• And you'll even feel excited gulping down a glass. 你甚至可以感觉到激动下一杯。 来自互联网

12 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

15 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。