美国国家公共电台 NPR Tennessee 'Natural' Burial Ground Will Offer A Simpler Farewell — Casket Optional

 

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Larkspur Conservation in Sumner County, Tenn., is a beautiful park-like setting with hiking trails and picnic areas and, soon, occasional burial plots. It's part of a new partnership¹ with the Nature Conservancy, offering families a greener and cheaper way to lay to rest their loved ones on protected land. Amy Eskind reports.

AMY ESKIND, BYLINE²: The all-inclusive cost will be $3,700 for a burial on these 112 acres of serene³ rolling hills. Executive director John Christian⁴ Phifer gives a tour, explaining that this will never be a cemetery⁵ covered in gravestones.

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JOHN CHRISTIAN PHIFER: People that choose to be buried in this type of area are the people that want wildflowers blooming on their graves and butterflies fluttering about.

ESKIND: We walk through the meadow and reach the woods.

PHIFER: So for those people that want to be buried where there are trees present and to have a tree planted on their grave, they would be buried in the woodland area.

ESKIND: After 15 years in the funeral industry, Phifer felt frustrated⁶ that families were having a hard time paying for pricey burials that felt empty. So he rode trains across the country for months, talking to people to find out how they would prefer to handle death. The same themes kept coming up.

PHIFER: Choice, flexibility⁷, simplicity⁸, celebration. They are looking for meaning in these rituals. They don't want to just spend $10,000 to $15,000 to $20,000 on something that has no value to them.

ESKIND: He returned to Nashville and was quickly hired by the nonprofit planning the new conservation burial ground. The first thing to go - embalming⁹. It uses formaldehyde and chemicals to slow the process of decomposition¹⁰. Phifer says the practice is unnatural¹¹ and harms the environment. And there's more. I give Phifer a list of the typical expenses at a modern funeral and ask whether Larkspur's burial will have them.

Makeup¹² and clothes?

PHIFER: Only if you choose.

ESKIND: Casket?

PHIFER: Only if you choose.

ESKIND: Vault¹³ to go around the casket?

PHIFER: Absolutely not. It's prohibited.

ESKIND: Headstone?

PHIFER: Only a native stone from our property.

ESKIND: Hearse?

PHIFER: No.

ESKIND: Phifer believes giving up these costly¹⁴ add-ons leaves room for a more personal experience. But being wrapped in a shroud¹⁵ and buried in a shallow grave may not be appealing to everyone, says Roy Hamley. He's a retired¹⁶ death and dying professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

ROY HAMLEY: For some people, the thought of their loved one's body not being kept dry and not destroyed - the idea is offensive to some folks.

ESKIND: But Hamley thinks natural burial will catch on.

HAMLEY: For a lot of people, this body is not what's going to be eternal. Our spirit, obviously, is the eternal part. And so it doesn't matter what happens to the body for most religious groups. It's what happens with the spirit.

KELLYE JOINER: It is a foreign concept to people, which seems odd, really, (laughter) because this is such a natural way to do it.

ESKIND: That's Kellye Joiner. Months ago, her dying mother's wish was for a burial that wouldn't put toxins¹⁷ into the environment. Her mother's cremated¹⁸ remains¹⁹ will be one of the first buried here. She also asked Kellye to plant a native tree right on top of her.

JOINER: We could hug the tree. And it was like she was hugging us back.

ESKIND: When it opens in late spring, Larkspur Conservation will be open to people of all faiths and nonbelievers. It will be a place where the land will be preserved, but the bodies will go back to dust. For NPR News, I'm Amy Eskind in Nashville.

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1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

6 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

8 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

9 embalming   

v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的现在分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气

参考例句：

• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming. 尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were experts at preserving the bodies of the dead by embalming them with special lotions. 他们具有采用特种药物洗剂防止尸体腐烂的专门知识。 来自辞典例句

10 decomposition   

n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃

参考例句：

• It is said that the magnetite was formed by a chemical process called thermal decomposition. 据说这枚陨星是在热分解的化学过程中形成的。
• The dehydration process leads to fairly extensive decomposition of the product. 脱水过程会导致产物相当程度的分解。

11 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

12 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

13 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

14 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

15 shroud   

n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏

参考例句：

• His past was enveloped in a shroud of mystery.他的过去被裹上一层神秘色彩。
• How can I do under shroud of a dark sky?在黑暗的天空的笼罩下，我该怎么做呢？

16 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

17 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 cremated   

v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬，不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。