[E463]What is unbearable?|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist 2016年第32期，Science and Technology版块。
The right to die
Some data about an emotional issue
Aug 6th 2016
“A FATE worse than death[1]” is a journalistic cliché[2], used this week alone to describe a visit to the dentist (in a British newspaper) and the plot arc of a character in J.K. Rowling’s new “Harry Potter” play (in an American magazine). But for the terminally ill[病入膏肓者;患绝症者], such fates do exist: death really can seem preferable to a lifetime of pain and suffering. A growing movement, including this newspaper, thus seeks to legalise[使获得法律许可,使合法化]—with stringent[严重的;严格的,苛刻的] safeguards—doctor-assisted suicide around the world.
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Yet doctors are taught to keep patients alive regardless of the circumstances, says Emily Rubin of the University of Pennsylvania[宾夕法尼亚大学]. A paper by her and her colleagues, just published in JAMA Internal Medicine, attempts to give statistical rigour[3] to scientific hunches[4] about end-of-life care[临终关怀]. Over an eight-month period, beginning in July 2015, her team surveyed 180 patients who had been admitted to a hospital in Philadelphia[费城(美国宾夕法尼亚州东南部港市)] suffering from serious illnesses, including lung and heart disease. All participants were over 60, and were asked by medical staff to hypothesise[假设;假定] whether they would prefer to die than be in progressively worse vegetative states[逐渐恶化成植物人].
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As the chart shows, half or more said that they would consider ( being incontinent[(大小便)失禁的], being unable to get out of bed or relying on a breathing machine to stay alive ) as fates worse than death. Being so debilitated[被削弱的;使变衰弱的;使变虚弱的] that they were reliant on[依赖;依靠;依赖于] food delivered via a tube, were constantly confused or required round-the-clock[日夜不停的;持续一整天的] care were judged similarly by a third or more of respondents.
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Although it draws on a small sample, Dr Rubin’s study adds data to the discussion. Too much of the debate around the “right to die” focuses on individual opinion, often that of campaigners (on both sides) who are in rude health[健壮的身体;非常健康;十分健壮的] imagining how they would feel were they faced with severe illness. And when the views of those who are actually afflicted by ill-health are considered, the cases cited are often the hard ones that proverbially[5] make bad law. Asking people approaching, or threatened with death, how they feel about it, and the moment at which they would like it to come, is a welcome development. Both sides of the doctor-assisted-dying debate should pay attention to it.
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注释
[1]a fate worse than death：something you do not want to experience because it is so unpleasant 令人极为不快的事
a very bad or unpleasant experience（often used in a humorous way to describe something that is not too serious）
When you're 16, an evening at home with your parents seems like a fate worse than death.
到了16岁，晚上在家和父母呆在一起似乎是极其难受的事。
[2]cliché ['kli:ʃei]
a comment that is very often made and is therefore not original and not interesting 陈词滥调，老生常谈，老套的话
My wedding day - and I know it's a cliché - was just the happiest day of my life.
我结婚那天——我知道这是老生常谈——是我一生中最幸福的一天。
[3]rigour ['rɪgə] n.
forceful or extremely strict obedience of rules 严厉；严格；苛严
They were punished with unusual rigour.
他们遭到了非常严厉的惩罚。
[4]hunch [hʌn(t)ʃ] n.
hunchesan idea which is based on feeling and for which there is no proof 直觉；预感
[ + that ] I had a hunch that you'd be here.
直觉告诉我你会来这儿。
Sometimes you have to be prepared to act on/follow a hunch.
有时候你得准备好按直觉行事。
[5]proverbial [prə'vɜːbɪəl]
1) as used in a proverb or other phrase 谚语的，俗话所说的，常言中的
He's got to pull the proverbial finger out.
他不得不，照俗语的说法就是，开始认真工作。
2) well known 众所周知的
his proverbial good humour
他那人人皆知的好脾气
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以上言论不代表本人立场。
原文摘自The economist，仅外语学习之用。
其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
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