【英语语言学习】手术后的失忆症

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Sonya Lea and her husband Richard Bandy had a 23-year-old marriage filled with ups, downs and memories. In 2000, he developed a rare form of appendix cancer and had an operation in 2003 which was successful, sort of. The patient lived, but he was almost a different man. Richard suffered a post-surgical complication, called anoxic insult, that cut oxygen to his brain and cleared much of his memory. He called his wife sweetness but could not remember how they met, when they got married and the births of their two children. Twenty-three years, more or less, vanished from his mind. Sonya Lea, whose essays and interviews have appeared in Salon¹, The Southern Review and other publications, has written a book about their journey forward together - "Wondering Who You Are." Sonya Lea and Richard Bandy joined us now from the studios of Oregon Public Broadcasting. Thanks so much for being with us.

SONYA LEA: Thanks for having us, Scott.

RICHARD BANDY: It's our pleasure.

SIMON: Richard, I think a lot of people just would like to know from you, what's it like to wake up in a world, surrounded by people who care for you, including your wife, but not really know who they are?

BANDY: Well, I'm not sure I can tell you that because my first memory is about two weeks after I actually woke up from the hospital. I think what happened is I sort of imprinted² on Sonya as the first person that sort of came into my vision. And I can't say that I knew exactly the nature of our relationship, but I knew that she loved me. And I grew to love her fairly quickly.

SIMON: Yeah, Sonya, what did you see when you looked at the man to whom you had been married to for so long?

LEA: You know, his expression and experience in the hospital was nearly angelic. He was so neutral. He didn't appear like he was suffering pain at all, and he was able to write a few words, and he kind of kept writing the same questions over and over again to me.

SIMON: What questions did he keep writing?

LEA: Who is here? Who has been here? And who is coming? He didn't really remember his - the narrative³ of his life, which became apparent fairly quickly. I told him stories about having children and what work he did, and he started to build some container where some information was kept and some information was let go of.

SIMON: Yeah.

LEA: So while he's completely functional⁴ and being back to his career, he has to use accommodation strategies to hold on to experiences. And where that becomes difficult and challenging is in relationship. So for example, he has a calendar with - every Wednesday a little message pops up for him to call his daughter.

SIMON: Sonya Lea, you write candidly⁵ in this memoir⁶ about some of your past problems with drinking.

LEA: Yes.

SIMON: And with Richard's temper.

LEA: Yes.

SIMON: Especially towards your children. Richard, any memory of that?

BANDY: No, I mean, when I read it in the story - 'cause I've read the story several times - it kind of always makes me cry unfortunately - but, well, I don't know if it's unfortunate or not. But when I read this stuff about myself and Joshua, I honestly could not believe that that had happened.

SIMON: Could I get you to explain what you did?

BANDY: I'm not sure that I actually remember, but I was physical with him - pushed him down to the ground and pushed him out the door and that sort of thing - and, you know, was very intimidating⁷ to him, yelling at him, screaming at him, that sort of idea.

SIMON: Yeah.

LEA: The interesting thing about that, Scott, is that he had already made amends⁸ to me for what occurred in that relationship, and he had made amends to Joshua for what occurred. But there were a couple of scenes that I needed to write in the book, and when I brought that information to Richard, he really struggled with it because to him that's that man - that former man. Then he came to this really beautiful statement which was, I don't have any reputation to manage. And that really, I think, liberated⁹ me to write the story as it was without concern for protecting him or protecting us.

SIMON: In a way, did - and this is for both of you - in a way, did the loss of memory give you a fresh start?

BANDY: It definitely did for me. I mean, having no memory of how I was before, I mean, I had no choice but to start afresh. And so it was very challenging for me to get back to my career, but I was determined¹⁰. I read chapters and chapters and chapters and forget 90 percent of it, forget 90 percent of it, forget 90 percent of it.

SIMON: I guess if you keep remembering 10 percent over and over it's...

BANDY: (Laughter) Yeah, at some point it kind of sneaks¹¹ through, yeah.

LEA: I think for me, it really did allow me to look at our marriage, look at our family and community relationships and certainly look at myself and say, you know, what in my identity am I living here that is no longer interesting to me? You know, what am I living out of convention or habitual¹² response to life? Why should I hold on to things based on this continuous narrative of who I think I am?

SIMON: Yeah, Richard, how are you doing?

BANDY: You know, I honestly wake up grateful to be alive every morning. And that is no B.S. I'm very happy to be working, very happy to have Sonya in my life and my kids in my life. And it's been - I don't want to say it's been great because I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy - but it's been a lot better than it could've been. Put it that way.

SIMON: Richard Bandy and Sonya Lea. Sonya Lea's new memoir is "Wondering Who You Are." Thanks, both of you, so much for being with us.

LEA: Thank you so much for having us, Scott.

BANDY: Thank you very much.

1 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

2 imprinted   

v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The terrible scenes were indelibly imprinted on his mind. 那些恐怖场面深深地铭刻在他的心中。
• The scene was imprinted on my mind. 那个场面铭刻在我的心中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

4 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

5 candidly   

adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地

参考例句：

• He has stopped taking heroin now,but admits candidly that he will always be a drug addict.他眼下已经不再吸食海洛因了,不过他坦言自己永远都是个瘾君子。
• Candidly,David,I think you're being unreasonable.大卫，说实话我认为你不讲道理。

6 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

7 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

8 amends   

n. 赔偿

参考例句：

• He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花，为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。
• This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。

9 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

11 sneaks   

abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• Typhoid fever sneaks in when sanitation fails. 环境卫生搞不好，伤寒就会乘虚而入。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Honest boys scorn sneaks and liars. 诚实的人看不起狡诈和撒谎的人。 来自辞典例句

12 habitual   

adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的

参考例句：

• He is a habitual criminal.他是一个惯犯。
• They are habitual visitors to our house.他们是我家的常客。