美国国家公共电台 NPR They Fell In Love For Life, After She Got Over All The Death

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Time now for StoryCorps. Today, a love story that is just ripe for Halloween. Lynne and Greg Houston met 25 years ago. Lynne was working at a restaurant in Buffalo¹, N.Y. Greg was a mortician at the funeral home across the street. It wasn't exactly love at first fright.

LYNNE HOUSTON: You placed an order over the phone and said, can you deliver some lunch to the funeral home? The door was unlocked², so I came in with meatballs marinara. And you were doing some kind of autopsy³ or something. And I remembered I just stood there staring at you in your white gown⁴ with blood all over it.

GREG HOUSTON: When you walked in, I didn't think anything of it.

L. HOUSTON: You were coming towards me with blood on your hands going, it's OK. It's OK (laughter). So I dropped the food and ran out of there. But later on, you asked me out to dinner. And back then, every day, you were on call.

G. HOUSTON: Then, we got a call.

L. HOUSTON: We were at the restaurant. I was like, I'll wait here. I don't want to go pick up a body. And you said it was nothing to worry about. I remember bringing the gurney in, and you put it in the back of the van. We were driving, and we stopped at the red light real quick. And then that gurney and whoever was on there rolled right up between us. Who feels like eating after that?

G. HOUSTON: Me.

L. HOUSTON: Oh, my God...

G. HOUSTON: Well, he wasn't going to dinner with us. I wanted to see if you would hang in there because that was my lifestyle. And if it would freak you out, then there was no reason to go any further.

L. HOUSTON: But that was the second date.

G. HOUSTON: Like a Band-Aid, right off.

L. HOUSTON: (Laughter) At that time, a lot of women would have run for the hills. But I remember you said, hey, you want to go up to Long Island for a weekend? But you didn't say that we were going to go to a military funeral. You came to pick me up in a hearse, and you said, we just got to go drop off the colonel⁵, then we'll have the whole weekend.

When we did finally get to the cemetery⁶, those gates open, and you knew everything. You knew what to do and what to say to them. And all of a sudden, I see you in a whole different way. To me, that was my weekend because after that, it was, like, how's he going to top this?

G. HOUSTON: They're all special. That's why I like doing an average person because that person's not average to that family. And that's why it's so important when you make arrangements to listen. You got two ears and one mouth. Use them in proportion⁷. Get them talking so they'll find that, OK, I know I can live on.

(SOUNDBITE OF NIC BOMMARITO'S "KTM (LOAD-SHEDDING)")

MARTIN: We heard from funeral director Greg Houston and his wife Lynne at StoryCorps in McLeansville, N.C. They married on All Souls Day, two days after Halloween. Their interview is archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress⁸ along with the rest of the StoryCorps Collection.

(SOUNDBITE OF NIC BOMMARITO'S "KTM (LOAD-SHEDDING)")

1 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

2 unlocked   

v.开锁( unlock的过去式和过去分词 )；开启；揭开；开着，解开

参考例句：

• Don't leave your desk unlocked. 请不要忘记锁好办公桌。
• On no account should you leave the door unlocked. 你无论如何也不应该不锁门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

4 gown   

n.长袍，特殊场合穿的长服

参考例句：

• She pinned the gown at the neck with a safety pin.她在领子那儿用一枚别针把睡衣别住。
• He threw on his gown.他穿上他的礼服。

5 colonel   

n.(英国陆军、美国陆空军及海军陆战队)上校

参考例句：

• It's a pity we didn't mend our fences with the colonel.可惜我们还没有和上校先生调整好关系。
• An army major ranks between a captain and a colonel.陆军少校的军阶在上尉与中校之间。

6 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。

7 proportion   

n.比率，比例；大小

参考例句：

• His head is out of proportion to the size of his body.他的头部与身体大小不成比例。
• The proportion of imports to exports is worrying the government.进口与出口的比例令政府担忧。

8 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。