Coping with Death 与死神和解

    Coping with Death 与死神和解
    Vertamae Grosvenor searched for answers to her young grandson‘s questions of "why?" when his father died. Grosvenor took her grandson, Oscar, to Oaxaca, Mexico, where death, in its celebratory symbols and rituals, is 1)inescapable. He found 2)solace¹ in performing caretaking rituals in a cemetery² and building an altar to his father, and in seeing others grieving for their ancestors alongside him. Oscar found comfort in everyone being "even."You can read the transcript³:
    ALEX CHADWICK, HOST: In the summer of last year, the son-in-law of NPR‘s Vertamae Grosvenor was killed in a 3)head-on car crash with a drunken driver. It happened before dawn on the day that Vertamae was to have put her then-8-year-old grandson on a flight to Chicago where his father would have been waiting.
    She struggled with how to help the child bear the loss of his father. And she decided⁴ to turn to a culture different from her own.
    VERTAMAE GROSVENOR, NPR REPORTER: My son-in-law Beau, as he was called, was a musician, a bass⁵ player. When his son and namesake Oscar asked why, why did this happen to my dad, I choked, remembering as a child how my elders were able to utter words of solace with ease and certainly, but I couldn‘t. I felt that meaningful answers to Oscar‘s "why?" required a faith deeper than I had at the time.
    One night, weeks after Beau‘s memorial service, I woke from the deepest part of sleep with Oaxaca on my mind. Shortly after my mother passed in 1993, I went to Oaxaca, Mexico on assignment during the Days of the Dead celebration. Death was everywhere in Oaxaca. It was impossible to avoid a direct confrontation⁶. And yet, I came away comforted.
    So, hoping to make it better, I decided to take my grandson Oscar to Oaxaca.
    Death was everywhere in Oaxaca. In the markets, vendors⁷ sell 4)crystallized sugar skulls⁸ with 5)sequined eyes, chocolate coffins⁹, 6)clay 7)skeletons. Death designs cut out of flowing colored tissue paper dance around the city. 8)Murals and paintings display death with a thousand different faces. There are altars and offerings for the dead in restaurants, churches, homes and hotels.
    In our hotel room, we built an alter for Beau, made of bought things from the market in Oaxaca and treasured things that we‘d carried with us from home. It was Oscar‘s first altar.
    OSCAR, GRANDSON OF VERTAMAE GROSVENOR: I kind of like it that—about the altar, because I, I put a lot of nice things, like my necklace that has Jesus being born, on it. And I was gonna put my watch, but since I put my necklace there it won‘t fit. I hope that my dad will come to eat some candy or stuff, and he could probably smell all these flowers from up where he is. So, I hope my dad could find the altar, wherever he is.
    GROSVENOR: The ancients believed life is the dream from which death awakens¹⁰ us. When I read they buried food, drink, and personal belongings¹¹ with their dead, I recalled a similar custom among my people, the Gullahs, who call a funeral service a "home going."PABLO, CEMETERY VIGIL GUIDE: We‘re in hoho. Hoho in Oaxaca. These mystical people who come to welcome the souls of the relatives. And then to—so, when they arrive, they, they, they have to feel the grace beautifully decorated, and of course candles, flowers. And the whole family is waiting for them.
    GROSVENOR: Pablo is our guide at the cemetery 9)vigil for the dead.
    PABLO: To get to the cemetery, we must go this route.
    GROSVENOR: This way, OK.
    The sweet scent¹² of the flowers and the sharp smell of the 10)incense and wood smoke fill the air. Lamp and candle flames turn the dark night orange red. The graves are 11)adorned with the favorite things of the departed. And flowers, flowers, and flowers. Oscar discovers some placed too close to the candles.
    OSCAR: Yeah, this one‘s burning those top leaves down. See, this one‘s burning them. This one‘s burning those.
    PABLO: OK, so I‘ll fix this one and you go around and fix the other one.
    GROSVENOR: No one seems to mind Oscar and Pablo moving among the graves, putting out flower fires.
    PABLO: OK, yes. That‘s better now. Can you move the—can you move the candle a little bit toward me?
    OSCAR: No.
    PABLO: No. It‘s…GROSVENOR: Move the candle a little bit, Oscar.
    OSCAR: Perfect. I saved it.
    PABLO: OK.
    GROSVENOR: You saved it.
    PABLO: Yes. Great.
    OSCAR: But now…GROSVENOR: Family reunions are going on all over the cemetery. People are talking, eating, and communing with their relatives, living and dead.
    OSCAR: They‘re feeling what I‘m feeling, but in a different way, because somebody else died in their family. And I think they‘re under a lot of stress, too. So, everybody here is even.
    GROSVENOR: Back at the hotel, I ask Oscar what he meant by being "even."OSCAR: Everybody lost a mother or father or aunt when they get real, real old. Or they could die in a car accident like my dad, or they could die from breast cancer like my auntie, or they could just die normally like my great,great grandmother. It‘s kind of hard to go through with whoever died and can do it, you gotta—you just gotta go on and go on and go on. You can never give up on your ancestors.
    GROSVENOR: I came to Oaxaca hoping to make it better, hoping to help Oscar find an answer to why death came for his dad. We left Oaxaca without answers, but we came away comforted.
    Did you feel his presence any time you were here?
    OSCAR: Yeah.
    GROSVENOR: When?
    OSCAR: When I was sleeping, I felt something scratching me, and I wasn‘t.
    GROSVENOR: What do you mean?
    OSCAR: When I was asleep, I, like, felt some—a wet, some wet things, like on my cheek right here and—and I felt something wrap around me like this. And that‘s, I think it was my dad giving me a hug and a kiss good night.

1 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

2 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。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

6 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

7 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

9 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

10 awakens   

v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• The scene awakens reminiscences of my youth. 这景象唤起我年轻时的往事。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The child awakens early in the morning. 这个小孩早晨醒得早。 来自辞典例句

11 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

12 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。