读者文摘:我从死亡事故中学到了什么(3)

Occasionally, I would hear a familiar voice, and that brought some comfort.

有时，我会听到一个熟悉的声音，那会给我带来一些舒适。

Whenever Sean came into the room, he would call out, "Hey, honey, I'm here."

每当肖恩进到房间里，他都会大喊，“嘿，亲爱的，我在这里。”

I know that only because he has told me so since then, not because I remember it.

我之所以知道那件事，只是因为从那时起他就这样告诉我，而不是因为我记得这件事。

He says I would open my eyes and look around like I was looking right through him.

他说我会睁开眼睛，环顾四周，就像我正透过他看一样。

I was too out of it to think, Oh, that's Sean, but I did sense the familiarity.

我太迷糊了，无法思考，奥，那是肖恩。但是我感受到了那种熟悉。

I relished¹ when someone would hold my hand, stroke my head, or comb my hair.

当有人握着我的手，抚摸我的头或者梳我的头发时，我很享受。

That was the good part. The dreams were the bad part. Over and over, I had graphic² nightmares about being attacked.

这是好的部分。噩梦则是不好的部分。一次又一次，我做了自己被攻击的噩梦。

I now know that the dreams came when the nurses were cleaning my wounds.

我现在知道了，当护士们清理我的伤口时，我就会做这些噩梦。

Although I was heavily sedated³, my blood pressure would spike⁴, and they would see my face grimacing⁵.

尽管我服用了大量镇静剂，但是我的血压也会飙升，他们会看到我脸上痛苦的表情。

Even in that state, I recognized the pain, but I couldn't process it, so my brain turned it into the only thing that made sense: assault.

即使是在那个状态，我都能感觉到痛苦，但是我不能处理它，所以我的大脑把它转变成唯一合理的事情：攻击。

In mid-November, with my body stabilized⁶, I was moved to the Gaylord Specialty⁷ Healthcare facility in Wallingford, Connecticut, to begin physical therapy.

11月中旬，身体稳定下来后，我被转移到了康涅狄格州沃林福德的盖洛德专业医疗机构，开始接受物理治疗。

It was my next ring of hell. My therapists wanted me to try to walk with a walker.

这是我下一个地狱之旅。我的治疗师想让我试着用助行器走路。

It was difficult and painful and, for someone who had considered herself an athlete, disheartening.

这是艰难而痛苦的，对于某个曾认为自己是运动员的人来说，是沮丧的。

I just couldn't do it." Am I ever going to walk normally again?" I asked. "We don't know, but we're going to work on it," the therapist said.

我做不到。“我还能不能正常走路？”我问道。“我们不知道，但是我们得努力恢复。”治疗师说。

They were so damn honest. What pulled me out of my funk was remembering a speech I'd heard by Nobel Prize laureate Jody Williams.

他们太诚实了。使我从恐惧中走出来的是想起诺贝尔奖得主乔迪·威廉姆斯的一次演讲。

In it, she said, "Emotion without action is irrelevant⁸." She was right. Screw this, I thought. There has to be a reason I'm still alive.

她在演讲里说，“没有行动的情感是无关痛痒的。”她是对的。去他的，我想。我还活着一定是有原因的。

All this wasted emotion feeling miserable⁹ for myself needed a direction.

所有这些为自己感到痛苦的浪费掉的情感需要一个方向。

The direction I chose was gratitude¹⁰. I thought of all the people who had saved my life.

我选择的方向是感激。我想到了所有拯救我生命的人。

The strangers who ran to my side after the truck hit me; the doctors and nurses who brought me back from death more than once;

卡车撞到我后跑到我身边的陌生人；不止一次把我从死亡中拯救出来的医生和护士；

the staff at Gaylord who were doggedly¹¹ helping¹² me walk again and relearn basic tasks.

盖洛德的工作人员坚持不懈地帮助我重新行走，重新学习基本的活动。

And then there were the strangers who had donated their life-giving blood.

还有哪些捐血给我生命之血的陌生人。

In order for me to receive those 78 units of blood, as well as 25 bags of plasma¹³ and platelets,

为了让我接受那78单位的血液，以及25袋血浆和血小板，

more than 125 people had to donate theirs. Suddenly I felt a need to do something to honor them.

超过125人不得不捐出他们的血液。突然，我觉得有必要做点什么来尊敬他们。

1 relished   

v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The chaplain relished the privacy and isolation of his verdant surroundings. 牧师十分欣赏他那苍翠的环境所具有的幽雅恬静，与世隔绝的气氛。 来自辞典例句
• Dalleson relished the first portion of the work before him. 达尔生对眼前这工作的前半部分满有兴趣。 来自辞典例句

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 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

4 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

5 grimacing   

v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• But then Boozer drove past Gasol for a rattling, grimacing slam dunk. 可布泽尔单吃家嫂，以一记强有力的扣篮将比分超出。 来自互联网
• The martyrdom of Archbishop Cranmer, said the don at last, grimacing with embarrassment. 最后那位老师尴尬地做个鬼脸，说，这是大主教克莱默的殉道士。 来自互联网

6 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

8 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。

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

10 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

11 doggedly   

adv.顽强地，固执地

参考例句：

• He was still doggedly pursuing his studies.他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。
• He trudged doggedly on until he reached the flat.他顽强地、步履艰难地走着，一直走回了公寓。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。