美国国家公共电台 NPR A Mother Of A Son With Autism Thanks A Stranger Who Helped: 'Nobody Does What You Do'

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's time now for StoryCorps. Late last year, 33-year-old Walker Hughes tried a new medication. Instead of helping¹ him calm down, though, the medication made him agitated². Walker had autism and struggled to communicate what was going on, but his mom Ellen knew they had to get to a hospital.

ELLEN HUGHES: We're driving at rush hour, and my sweet guy is screaming and grabbing me. And we're just scared to death. This is not the guy I know at all.

MARTIN: As he arrived at Loyola Medicine near Chicago, Walker bit Ellen. That's when they encountered Public Safety Sergeant³ Keith Miller⁴. Ellen and Keith came to StoryCorps to talk about that day.

HUGHES: We were already anticipating what was going to happen in this emergency room because when he was a little boy, an officer got on his back while he was screaming. And he's been handcuffed to gurneys in emergency...

KEITH MILLER: Oh, wow.

HUGHES: ...Rooms just for having a seizure⁵ and being big. That day, we show up at a hospital. Here's this giant 6-foot-3 guy just bit his old Mom.

MILLER: Yeah.

HUGHES: I'm sitting there brokenhearted, scared out of my mind, bleeding.

MILLER: Yeah.

HUGHES: And Walker's trying to run away. And I see, like, five guys on him, and all I can think is, this will not end well. They're going to kill him. But suddenly, I hear this cute game.

MILLER: Right (laughter).

HUGHES: Where he's trying to escape, and you're going, Walker gets up. Walker sits down. Walker scoots back. Walker lies down. And then you said, high-fives all around. And I thought, he won't do it. And I look, and he's beaming. And he's high-fiving every single officer. And then you started singing, and I thought I would lose it forever.

MILLER: I started singing "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

HUGHES: You're singing "Mister Rogers" with these men. And he went from being terrified to feeling like he had cool friends, cool guys, hanging out with him.

MILLER: I saw this man who was dealing⁶ with something he just did not understand.

HUGHES: Yes.

MILLER: And I saw the fear...

HUGHES: Yes.

MILLER: ...In your face. It touched me personally. My son is 14. He was 15 months when he was first diagnosed as being autistic.

Being a father of a child who has autism, I don't know what change is going to occur in him. And as parents, we are there to help them deal with their obstacles. And if we can't do it by ourselves, there's other people out there to help. And I want to be one of those other people.

HUGHES: Well, nobody else does what you do. We look like a very scary situation coming in there. And we turned into a kind of party I think people wanted to join. I've been in a lot of ERs, and some people have been kind of nice. I never sat there and felt like this is one of the most important moments of my life.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: Ellen Hughes and Sergeant Keith Miller for StoryCorps in Chicago. Their conversation will be archived at the Library of Congress.

1 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。

2 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

3 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

4 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

5 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。