人物:抗击疫情的一线英雄们(1)

Heroes on the front-line

前线的英雄们

Each night, doctors and nurses coming off their 12-hour workdays at hospitals across America are greeted by teams just starting their night shifts.

每天晚上，美国各地医院的医生和护士结束了12小时的工作后，迎接他们的是刚刚开始上夜班的团队。

But on March 27 the shift change in hospitals across New York City was also met by the sounds of applause, car horns and shouts of “thank you!” ringing out from high-rise windows and apartment balconies.

但在3月27日，整个纽约市里医院的换班也得到了掌声和汽车鸣笛声的问候，还有从高层窗户和公寓阳台传出来的“谢谢你们!”。

It was a socially distanced shout-out to the men and women fighting COVID-19 in overflowing¹ emergency rooms, maxed-out intensive care units and make shift tent triage centers.

这是在保持社交距离的情况下，人们向医护人员们发出的呼喊，他们在人满为患的急救室、满负荷运行的重症监护病房和临时搭建的分诊中心与新冠肺炎作战。

As the pandemic’s toll² in the U.S. reached, at press time, more than 163,000 infections—the worst in the world—medical professionals have become America’s front-line soldiers.

截至发稿时，美国感染人数已超过16.3万人，是世界上疫情最严重的国家，医护人员已成为美国的前线士兵。

“When we look back 25 years from now and our kids and grand kids ask us, ‘What was that like?’ we’ll all have a story to tell,” says Esther Choo, a Portland, Ore., ER doctor.

“25年后，当我们回头看时，我们的祖孙后代问我们，‘当时是什么样子?’，我们都会有自己的故事要讲。”俄勒冈州波特兰市的急诊室医生Esther Choo说。

Amid wretched suffering, the dedication³ and compassion⁴ of her colleagues shine.

她的同事们在痛苦中表现出献身精神和同情心。

“It’s the mix of horrible and wonderful all at once.”

“那是恐惧和美妙的结合。”

DR. SYLVIE DE SOUZA, 55 Chair of Emergency Department Brooklyn Hospital Center, New York City

SYLVIE DE SOUZA医生，55岁，纽约市布鲁克林医院中心急诊科主任

On March 24 there was a night of horrible weather, and the intake⁵ tent for COVID-19 screenings was flooded.

3月24日晚上，天气恶劣，用于筛查新冠肺炎的帐篷被淹没。

The floor had to be completely reconstructed overnight, and that morning we had to rearrange all the equipment and furniture and make sure the computers and phones were running.

整个地板一夜之间就被彻底翻修了，那天早上我们不得不重新安排所有的设备和家具，并确保电脑和电话能正常运转。

Everybody helped—it didn’t matter who you were,what your title was. Patients were already lined up outside.

每个人都出了力——无论你是谁，你的职位是什么。病人们早已在外排队等候。

We were all sweating, and the day hadn’t even started yet. I said to myself, “Look at all these amazing people.”

我们都汗流浃背，而这一天还没真正开始呢。我对自己说，“看看这些了不起的人。”

I felt like we needed something to encourage these troops at the front-line.

我觉得我们需要找点东西来鼓励这些一线的战士们。

I said, “Let’s all get into a circle”—we were not touching—“and is there somebody here who is good at praying?”

我说，“我们围成一个圈吧”——我们没有触碰彼此——“这里有擅长祈祷的人吗?”

An emergency-medicine resident said, “I can pray,” and we raised our hands and she prayed for us to make the right decisions for our patients, for guidance and for the protection of us all.

一位急诊住院医师说:“我可以祈祷。”我们举起手，她祈祷我们能为病人做出正确的决定，祈祷得到指导，祈祷得到保护。

Then we let in the first patient—and they just kept coming. The daily prayer is what we do now.

然后我们迎来了第一个病人，之后还有源源不断的病人到来。我们每天都会祈祷。

1 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

4 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

5 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。