英语听力精选进阶版 10685（在线收听）

Two stories about Alzheimer’s have touched me this week. Yesterday the author Sir Terry Pratchett died having suffered with the disease since 2007. Earlier this week we heard the interview with Chris Graham, the former soldier, talking about having early onset Alzheimer’s. Both men had the courage to go public with their illness.

本周有两个关于阿尔茨海默病的故事都让我感动，昨天自2007年就开始身患此病的作家泰瑞·普莱契爵士去世。本周早些时候我们听到对退伍军人克里斯·格拉汉姆的采访，他谈到自己刚刚患上阿尔茨海默病。两个人都有勇气公开自己的病情。

Chris spoke about inheriting this condition of familial Alzheimer's from his father who died at just 42. Chris himself is only 39. His older brother also affected now needs round the clock care.

克里斯谈到从42岁就去世的父亲那里遗传到家族阿尔茨海默病，克里斯本人目前年仅39岁，他的兄长也身患此病，需要全天24小时的护理。

What made the interview so moving was his positive attitude and his hopes for his young family. Next month he will set off on a 16,000-mile, year-long bike ride around the coasts of Canada and the United States to raise money for Alzheimer' research. As he says, "If we can put a man on the Moon then surely we can find a cure for Alzheimer's?"

那次采访很感人，是因为他积极的态度和对家庭的希望。下个月他将开始绕加拿大和美国海岸为期一年1.6万英里的骑行，为的是筹集研究阿尔茨海默病所需的资金。正如他所说，“如果我们无法将人送往月球，那么我们肯定能找到治愈阿尔茨海默病的办法吧？”

Today we hear much about the lack of resources in our health service, the demands made on the changing nature of care for the elderly living longer with more chronic illnesses. But we focus less on the young who die and how they cope knowing that they will face a gradual stripping away of bodily dignity in the prime of their lives. I don’t think anything in life can prepare you for that. Saints and scholars have written that there is a distinction between the dignity of the soul and the dignity of the ego and that fundamentally faith in God demands this kind of letting go of the ego. But it’s hard to feel comforted by this kind of thinking as we witness the slow demise of all that makes us human.

今天我们听到太多医疗方面缺少资源的故事，听到患慢性病的老年人因为活得更久所需护理的性质在变化的故事。但我们很少关注那些英年早逝的人，对他们如何对待盛年时期遭遇身体尊严逐渐被剥夺的处境。我认为生活中没有什么可以让人为此遭遇做好准备，圣人和学者们写道，灵魂的尊严和自我的尊严是有区别的，而对上帝最根本的信仰要求人放弃这种自我。但在目睹自我的慢慢死去时，这种思想很难让人感到安慰。

But as Chris said, knowing his condition, rather than be sad and upset he can plan what he wants to do. I find this both humbling and inspiring because this takes so much courage. Rather than lament the lack of a cure, he wants to help find one. There is both hope and heroism here - to want to give something back to help future generations, to be able to accept your mortality with such candour and to live your life to the full while you can.

但正如克里斯所说，了解到自身的处境，而不是选择悲伤和不安，他就能计划自己想做的事情。我认为这需要勇气，所以此举既谦卑、又很鼓舞人。他没有为缺乏治愈疗法而悲叹，而是想找到治疗方法。这就体现了希望和英雄主义，希望能回馈社会，帮助未来一代，能够如此坦率地接受死亡，并能尽自己所能让生命有价值。

In his novel, The Pilgrimage, Paulo Coelho describes dignity in the human effort to live meaningfully while aware of the reality of death:

保罗·柯艾略在小说《朝圣》中描述了在意识到死亡这一现实时人努力活得有意义的尊严。

Human beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die. For that reason and only for that reason, I have a profound respect for the human race.. Even knowing that their days are numbered and that everything will end when they least expect it, people make of their lives a battle that is worthy of a being with eternal life.

人类是自然界唯一能意识到自己会死亡的生物，因此，也仅仅因此，我对人类有着一种深刻的敬意。即使知道自己生命有限，一切都将消亡，尽管这是人最不希望看到的，但人类仍能将生命视作一场战斗，视作一场值得以整个生命来拼搏的战斗。

Life holds a potential meaning for all of us even under the most difficult conditions but sometimes it takes one person’s actions to remind us just what living with hope means.

即使在最艰难的情况下，生命对我们每个人而言都有着潜在的意义，但有时需要一个人的行动来提醒我们，满怀希望活着究竟意味着什么。