名校励志英语演讲 45:我人生中的三个故事

 　　I lived with that diagnosis¹ all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines³, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor⁴. I was sedated⁶, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I'm fine now.

　　我那一整天一直在想这个诊断。到了晚上，我做了一次组织切片检查，他们把一个内窥镜通过喉咙经由我的胃进入了肠子，用针头在胰腺的瘤子上取了一些细胞组织。当时我服用了麻醉剂，陪在一旁的妻子后来告诉我，医生在显微镜里看到了细胞之后叫了起来，原来这是一种少见的可以通过外科手术治愈的恶性肿瘤。我做了手术，谢天谢地，现在好了。

　　This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely⁷ intellectual concept: No one wants to die.Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It's Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.

　　这是我和死神离得很近的最后一次，我希望这也是今后几十年里最近的一次。有了这次经历之后，现在我可以更加实在地和你们谈论死亡，而不是纯粹纸上谈兵：谁也不愿意死。就是那些想进天堂的人也不愿意为了去那里而死。但是，死亡使我们共同的归宿，没人能摆脱。我们注定会死，因为死亡很可能是生命最好的一项发明。它推进生命的变迁，旧的不去，新的不来。现在你们就是新的，但是在不久的将来，你们也会逐渐成为旧的，也会被淘汰。很抱歉，话说得太过分了，不过这是千真万确的。

　　Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

　　你们的时间有限，所以不要将它们浪费在重复其他人的生活上。不要抱有成见，那是在按照别人设想的结果而活。不要让别人观点的聒噪声淹没自己的心声。最主要的是，要有跟着自己感觉走的勇气。无论如何，感觉和直觉早就知道你到底想成为什么样的人，其他都是次要的。

　　biopsy

　　n. 活组合切片检查

　　eg. A muscle biopsy is positive for fungus⁸.

　　肌肉活组织检查发现有真菌侵犯。

　　endoscope

　　n. 内窥镜

　　eg. The endoscope used is inserted through the urethra, and that insertion can cause damage.

　　内窥镜通过尿道进入身体的时候，很可能造成损伤。

　　intestine²

　　n. 肠

　　eg. So far as digestion⁹ is concerned, the small intestine is the real champion.

　　论消化，小肠是真正的冠军。

　　sedate⁵

　　vt. 给......服镇定剂

　　eg. A sedate person out of livery approached them and relieved the maid of her bags.

　　一个举止庄重的没穿制服的人走来，从女仆手里接过提包。

　　pancreatic

　　adj. 胰腺的

　　eg. Ever since his surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004, Steve Jobs has dismissed questions about his health as irrelevant¹⁰.

　　自2004年被诊断为胰腺癌后，乔布斯便拒绝回答其认为无关紧要的健康问题。

　　make way for

　　为......开路

　　eg. Several houses were pulled down to make way for the new road.

　　为了给新修的道路让路，几座房屋被拆毁了。

　　dogma

　　n. 教条；定论

　　eg. It is precisely¹¹ such ignorant people who take Marxism-Leninism as a religious dogma.

　　那些将马克思列宁主义当宗教教条看待的人，就是这种蒙昧无知的人。

1 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

2 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

3 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

4 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

5 sedate   

adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的

参考例句：

• After the accident,the doctor gave her some pills to sedate her.事故发生后，医生让她服了些药片使她镇静下来。
• We spent a sedate evening at home.我们在家里过了一个恬静的夜晚。

6 sedated   

v.使昏昏入睡，使镇静( sedate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's sedated,but she's probably scared out of her mind. 她很安静，但是她可能已经吓疯了。 来自电影对白
• Are you telling me the porn actually sedated you? 你是要告诉我，那毛片的确让你镇静下来吗？ 来自电影对白

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 fungus   

n.真菌，真菌类植物

参考例句：

• Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
• This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。

9 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

10 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

11 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。