美国国家公共电台 NPR Taking The 'Journey' Through Alzheimer's Together

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Now we check in on the Greenes. Pansy is one of the 5.7 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease¹. She and her husband Winston call her illness part of their journey together. We first met the Greenes in 2013 when they talked about having to make adjustments in their daily lives.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

WINSTON GREENE: I don't have to say oh, well, baby, I - you just told me that, or I just told you that. You know, and that's what I had to really work on myself.

PANSY GREENE: And I just said, well, just be patient with me. I just forgot. That's all I can do.

SIMON: NPR's Ina Jaffe covers aging. She reports that the Greenes continue to adjust to losses one by one. And day by day, they're doing their best to hang on to what's left of normal.

INA JAFFE, BYLINE²: A meal can be so much more than sustenance³. It gives structure to the day. It's a way to bond⁴ with family and friends. But Pansy Greene doesn't cook anymore. Her husband Winston stands in the kitchen of their suburban⁵ home and points to the stove.

W. GREENE: No knobs⁶. We just take off all the knobs because with this disease, Pansy might come in and turn on - gas may be escaping. Anything could happen.

JAFFE: Winston calls this one of the little things they've lost. But the list of little things keeps getting longer. Pansy used to talk more. She's pretty quiet now. Pansy used to pay the bills. Now Winston does. She used to do the laundry. That's also Winston's job now, though Pansy doesn't want to hear it.

W. GREENE: Hey, Pansy, what do you say? OK, so I do the wash. Pansy...

P. GREENE: Since when do you do that?

W. GREENE: ...Well, you do the folding up. You help out, too. We do it together.

JAFFE: The Greenes have been doing everything together for 61 years. In our first interview in 2013, they explained that they met at a party when Pansy was just 16 and Winston was 18.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

P. GREENE: He wouldn't let anybody else dance with me (laughter).

W. GREENE: You know, I had just moved here from New York, and I thought I was better than sliced bread.

JAFFE: They married not long after they met, raised three daughters and spent decades working in the aerospace⁷ industry - Pansy on the space shuttle, Winston on the B-1 bomber⁸. Now, at the age of 80, his full-time⁹ job is making sure that he and Pansy have days that are as full as he can make them, which is why five days a week, they have lunch at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center.

W. GREENE: So, Hilda, you remember we said we was bringing someone here?

JAFFE: Winston explains to his lunch companions that the reporter tagging along is just a part of his and Pansy's efforts to raise awareness¹⁰ of Alzheimer's disease, particularly for other African-Americans, who are especially at risk.

W. GREENE: Because there's too many people that have Alzheimer's and everything is hush-hush. And so by being advocates and talking about it, it may help anybody.

JAFFE: Winston could probably make sandwiches at home, but he knows that the social stimulation¹¹ here is important for Pansy. And she does perk¹² up. She smiles. She gets chatty.

P. GREENE: How you doing?

JAFFE: I'm doing well. How are you doing?

P. GREENE: I'm doing good.

JAFFE: Good.

P. GREENE: Thank you.

JAFFE: Do you like seeing these people every day?

P. GREENE: Now, I do.

JAFFE: You do, yeah?

P. GREENE: I do, but sometimes I get tired. But anyway, I get up to make myself more spiritual to God. So that's the way I try to take it.

JAFFE: Winston notices the difference. You're doing a lot of talking, he tells her.

P. GREENE: I like it.

W. GREENE: I know. I like it, too.

(LAUGHTER)

W. GREENE: I've got to think about stuff¹³ to talk about so we can talk all day long.

P. GREENE: Well, don't do it too much.

W. GREENE: Not too much? OK.

(LAUGHTER)

JAFFE: Winston knows it's also important to keep Pansy physically¹⁴ and mentally active, so in the afternoons they walk and listen to music. Sometimes they attend support groups. Dinnertime is another opportunity to bond over a meal.

SHANE FERRIS: All right, this is for grandma.

JAFFE: Their son-in-law Shane Ferris sets a plate of roast beef, mashed¹⁵ potatoes and veggies in front of Pansy. Five nights a week, she and Winston have dinner at the home of Shane and their daughter Antoinette Ferris, who explains that Shane is the cook in the family.

ANTOINETTE FERRIS: He's actually a chef. He went to culinary school and all that good stuff.

JAFFE: Winston says dinners here are the reason that he and Pansy moved close by.

W. GREENE: Shane said you come out, you'll never have to cook another meal.

S. FERRIS: And I still don't remember saying that. That's the thing.

(LAUGHTER)

JAFFE: He's joking, of course.

S. FERRIS: They're a great mom and dad. We got along from Day 1. Plus, you know the old saying - happy wife, happy life.

A. FERRIS: Total suck-up.

(LAUGHTER)

JAFFE: There's a full house. Shane and Antoinette's 13-year-old son Aiden and 26-year-old daughter Alexia are at the table. Two dogs and three cats just wish they were. Pansy doesn't join in the conversation much, so Winston checks in with her from time to time.

W. GREENE: Nothing bothering you today?

P. GREENE: No, nothing's bothering me today.

W. GREENE: OK, good.

P. GREENE: Sometimes it's difficult because I'm not sure what I'm doing. But most of the time I get a (unintelligible).

JAFFE: That last little bit wasn't really a word. Antoinette says these lapses¹⁶ in speech are happening more frequently.

A. FERRIS: Getting the words out and speaking in legible sentences is one thing that's just come up over in the last few months, huh? Yeah, so much more than before.

W. GREENE: Absolutely.

JAFFE: Maybe that's another one of what Winston calls the little things. He's focused on what really matters.

W. GREENE: Even though going through this, Pansy and I are still here. We're together. We are a couple.

JAFFE: And that's what makes life normal, even though with Alzheimer's it's a different kind of normal every day. Ina Jaffe, NPR News.

1 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

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 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

4 bond   

n.结合，债券，契约，粘合剂，保证人，键，关栈保留；vt.存入关栈，粘着；vi.结合

参考例句：

• This glue makes a good firm bond.这种胶水粘得很结实。
• His word is his bond.他是讲信用的。

5 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

6 knobs   

小块( knob的名词复数 )； （收音机等的）旋钮； （门、抽屉的）球形把手； 疙瘩

参考例句：

• There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house. 我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
• We have replaced the knobs on all the doors. 我们将门上所有的把手都换了。

7 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

8 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

9 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 stimulation   

n.刺激，激励，鼓舞

参考例句：

• The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
• You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。

12 perk   

n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费；

参考例句：

• His perks include a car provided by the firm.他的额外津贴包括公司提供的一辆汽车。
• And the money is,of course,a perk.当然钱是额外津贴。

13 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

14 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

15 mashed   

a.捣烂的

参考例句：

• two scoops of mashed potato 两勺土豆泥
• Just one scoop of mashed potato for me, please. 请给我盛一勺土豆泥。

16 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句