密歇根新闻广播 互联网什么时候变得致命

 

I had an intensely painful lunch earlier this week with a woman who is a mid-level executive of one of the auto¹ companies. She used to be concerned about the future of the auto industry. She is also deeply religious, and is appalled² by what was going on in Washington.

Appalled in theory, that is. In reality, she no longer cares. For her, life as she knew it has been destroyed by a growing epidemic³ you may never have heard about.

She hadn't either. Teenagers are sometimes and at some point, crazy. We got into plenty of trouble in the analog⁴ world in which I grew up. Billy suggesting we "borrow" his brother's Corvette even though we didn't have our licenses⁵ yet, et cetera.

But there was no social media then. And I never heard of what the online version of Time magazine, in a major story on March 12, called "the choking game," though it evidently existed, even then. Kids wrap a belt, a noose⁶ or something around their necks until they almost pass out. In the "old days," like the 1990s, they usually did it in groups.

Now, they often do it alone, talking to other kids online and watching videos on YouTube. And hundreds have died. The woman I was lunching with was happily married, and she had one son who was born when she was in her late 30s. He was getting ready for college. He was an honor student with a sunny disposition⁷; athletic⁸, handsome, and had his first girlfriend.

And then his father found his body hanging in the basement.

The death was ruled a suicide – and that's why she came to me. I am the ombudsman for the Toledo Blade, a newspaper that circulates in southern Michigan and Northwest Ohio. That means I deal with reader complaints.

The newspaper had published the coroner's ruling. She couldn't believe her son had killed himself, and wanted that changed. I gently explained that the paper had to print the word of the authorities. She knew that – but she'd also done her research.

She got into her son's computer, and found he had been communicating with a young woman who lives somewhere on the East Coast. "I lasted 20 seconds before passing out," she told this woman's son, daring him to do better.

It is clear what happened after that. She took her evidence to authorities, and last night the coroner told me that, yes, he was going to take the relatively⁹ rare step of changing that ruling, and I was able to tell her the newspaper would print that.

I imagine that would be precious little compensation.

There wasn't much else I could say to this once-happy woman who had been thin to begin with and has lost 35 pounds, who knows that our schools and democracy are in trouble and our roads are falling apart, but who can no longer care about any of that.

Except I thought I'd tell her story, in the hope that maybe somebody would hear me and somehow stop some kid who thinks he is indestructible from killing¹⁰ himself.

We live in a world of wholesale¹¹ problems, and I'll be back talking about those tomorrow. But in the end, tragedy is personal, and I would hope this never happens to you.

Jack¹² Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior Political Analyst¹³. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 analog   

n.类似物，模拟

参考例句：

• The analog signal contains high-frequency video information,which helps make up the picture.模拟信号包括有助于构成图像的高频视频信息。
• The analog computer measures continuously,without proceeding step by step.模拟计算机不是一步一步地进行，而是连续地进行量度。

5 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

6 noose   

n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑

参考例句：

• They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
• A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。

7 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

8 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。