2007年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-When a Friend Becomes a Donor

Every Friday at this time we turn to StoryCorps. It's an oral history project that gives families and friends a chance to talk with each other.

Luke Thiboutot and Ryan Conner were roommates while freshmen¹ in college. They stayed close, and now they're in their 30s. Last year their friendship took a remarkable² turn and they stepped into a StoryCorps Booth to talk about it. Luke begins their story.

Dell was diagnosed with kidney failure. Um, you stayed late at the hospital. And that was the first time you offered, to be the donor³. And it's the one question that I would ask you, but the decision seemed really easy to you or else, wondering if you could tell me about that.

Ah, the decision at the time was made in haste in a sense that I didn't know much about renal failure or kidney transplants. However, I was the match. In fact, for me the worst part was not the medical portion of it or the pain in suffering really that stuff. It's the worry or that guilt⁴ that you carry in doing something that could really have a serious negative impact on your family.

Um, you know, I, I, we went to the whole process of the testing and stuffing. I never had really sort of thanked you, (it) was towards the end we were going for a last test that I said, you know, I want you know how much I thank, you know, thank you for this. It's a big deal and you said don't worry, we're gonna get through it.

I'd like to tell one story.

Go.

It's the moment that it really hit me like what we had done, you know, medically what we had done. Yet a piece of you out of your body and put into me, but we had been given the Yankee's Red sox tickets by a friend of us. It was sort of a get-well gift.
And we were atthe Redsox Yankee's game and we had used the bathroom. And um, you know, it was we were standing⁵ there I started getting off feel philosophical⁶ and I realized that everything going on here is essentially⁷ the result of your kidneys. It was no longer my body working, it was your body working.
And I started to like emotional and choked up. I sort, I sort of lookover you. You know, your head's tilted⁸ back and your mouth opened and you were staring at the ceiling.
And I've known you for 16 years and I know what's going to your head. You are sort of counting the beers. You count , you were counting the number of beers you've had that day. You were calculating how many you should've should not have before the 7 Day and thenit closed up. But you know, I sort of had this epiphany, the magnitude of what we did. And again, you know, all along you sort of acted like this wasn't an enormous. Then, and you didn't end either. It's hard to think about.

I am glad we'd done.

Ryan Conner and Luke Thiboutot, at StoryCorps in Boston. Their conversations and all StoryCorps recordings⁹ are archived to the library of Congress and you can learn how you can record an interview with npr.org.

1 freshmen   

n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We are freshmen and they are sophomores. 我们是一年级学生，他们是二年级学生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• University freshmen get lots of razzing, but they like the initiation. 大一新生受各种嘲弄，但是他们对这种入门经验甘之如饴。 来自辞典例句

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

9 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐