读者文摘:失去我一生挚爱的那天(1)

Laura Levis, the love of my life, died on September 22, 2016.

劳拉·李维斯是我一生的挚爱，她于2016年9月22日去世。

She was just 34. I was told that Laura never made it to the emergency room.

当时她只有34岁。有人告诉我，劳拉从未进入急诊室。

That she collapsed¹ on a street leading to CHA Somerville Hospital in Somerville, Massachusetts, or possibly in a parking lot on the outskirts² of the property.

她倒在了通往马萨诸塞州萨默维尔市查萨默维尔医院的街道上，或者可能是医院外面的停车场。

My wife had called 911 just after 4 a.m., before she lost consciousness.

刚过凌晨四点，我妻子就打了911，然后她就失去了意识。

She wasn't able to give her exact location, they told me, so it took emergency responders a long time to find her.

他们告诉我，她没有说出她的具体位置，所以急救人员花了很长时间才找到了她。

"She was in the last place they looked," someone said. Even though that place was heartbreakingly close.

有人说，“她就在他们最后找的地方。”尽管那个地方离他们很近，这让人心碎。

Some ten minutes passed between the time Laura called 911 and the time she was found, in cardiac arrest following an asthma³ attack.

从劳拉拨打911到她被发现的时间大约过去了10分钟，她因为哮喘发作而出现了心脏骤停。

Those ten minutes meant her life. People, of course, die from asthma,

那十分钟就意味着她的生死。当然，人们会死于哮喘，

a disease that affects 19 million adults and 6 million children in the United States.

在美国，这种疾病影响着1900万成人和600万儿童。

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3,500 succumb⁴ to attacks each year,

根据疾病控制和预防中心的数据，每年有3500多人死于哮喘，

though in Laura's age-group the death rate is less than 1 in 10,000 asthmatics.

尽管在劳拉这个年龄段，哮喘患者的死亡率不到万分之一。

It's especially rare in those as healthy and active as she was.

在像她那样健康有活力的人中尤其少见。

Laura worked out six days a week and competed in powerlifting competitions, where she could bench-press more than she weighed.

劳拉每周锻炼六天，参加力量举重比赛，在这些比赛中，她可以举起比体重还重的东西。

Her asthma never impeded⁵ her. Laura was vigilant⁶ about carrying inhalers.

她的哮喘从来没有妨碍过她。劳拉会注意携带呼吸器。

Boxing up her clothes, I found more than 20 of them, in pockets, in purses, in gym bags.

我把她的衣服装箱，在口袋里、钱包里、健身包里找到了20多个。

On rare occasions, when an attack intensified⁷, I would drive Laura to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, where she would be given prednisone, a nebulizer treatment, or both.

在极少的情况下，当病情加剧时，我会开车送劳拉去剑桥的奥本山医院，在那里她会接受强的松治疗，雾化治疗，或者两种都接受。

We always arrived in plenty of time. But I wasn't with my wife that September day.

我们总是很及时地到达。但九月的那天，我和妻子不在一起。

And the reason for that, I'll have to live with forever. At the time Laura collapsed, we were spending some time apart.

我一生都将带着这个原因生活下去。在劳拉出事那段时间，我们正分居生活。

We were seeing a couples counselor⁸ and had been in daily contact with each other.

我们去见了一位婚姻咨询师，每天都和对方保持联系。

We had dinner plans the day she collapsed and were going apple picking that weekend, but we had slept apart the night before.

在她病倒的那天，我们计划了晚餐，而且约好周末去摘苹果，但前一晚我们没有睡在一起。

She'd stayed, as fate would have it, in an apartment just a few blocks from Somerville Hospital.

命运注定，她住在离萨默维尔医院只有几个街区的一间公寓里。

I blamed myself for not being with her when the attack struck, for not being able to help my wife in that moment.

我责怪自己在疾病发作时没有陪在她身边，责怪自己在那一刻没能帮助我的妻子。

1 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

2 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

3 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

4 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？

5 impeded   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Work on the building was impeded by severe weather. 楼房的施工因天气恶劣而停了下来。
• He was impeded in his work. 他的工作受阻。

6 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

7 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。