VOA慢速英语--艺术家用镜头以新的方式观察癌症幸存者

Using Her Camera, Artist Looks at Cancer Survivors¹ in New Ways

When we think about people with cancer, the images that usually come to our minds may be dark and sad. But that is not what Linda McCarthy sees.

McCarthy is a photographer.

For her 'Survivors' project, she took pictures of women who survived or are being treated for breast cancer. She says her goal was to put a face on breast cancer.

"I wanted to photograph them as whole women, not the parts that they see of themselves. So I didn't want scars³. I didn't want anything like that, but I wanted them to see how beautiful they are.”

One of the survivors is Cheryl Listman. In 2013, tests showed that she had stage 2-B breast cancer.

Listman was told she had a 40 percent chance of survival⁴. Thinking about her two children helped her decide not to give up and to keep fighting the disease.

Listman said she liked the idea of the Survivors photography project. "I work with women. I help educate women who are going through the journey and just help them navigate⁵ through the medical side of it,” she said.

When McCarthy asked to take her picture for the project, Listman thought it might be yet another way to influence other women. It also helped her to look back in time and see how far she had come over the past few years.

Directing attention on the whole woman

The idea of publicizing breast cancer survivors came to McCarthy when she was searching for a ballerina to photograph. During her search, she met a woman named Maggie, who was known as the bald ballerina.

Doctors told Maggie when she was 23 that she had stage-4 metastatic breast cancer. McCarthy asked if she could take her picture – not as a dancer, “but as a beautiful girl who happens to have breast cancer."

McCarthy told VOA she has always sought to capture the heart and spirit of her subjects. To do that, McCarthy offered each woman she photographed a chance to meet and talk openly.

This gave McCarthy a chance to get to know them. The women were also offered a makeover. They worked with makeup⁶ artist Victoria Ronan.

"In some cases, it's been a very long time since they have had makeup on. It's been a very long time since they have done something for themselves. … I’ve had a lot of women look in the mirror and just start tearing up because they couldn't believe how beautiful I've made them look."

Listman says it is helpful for breast cancer fighters and survivors to feel beautiful.

"It's very important because when you go through a horrific journey and treatment, you don't feel beautiful. And there is a lot of things done to your body physically⁷; there is a lot of things done to you emotionally, mentally, things that you will never forget that are not pretty. So, when you get to that point in your journey, you feel like a woman again. You feel beautiful, you feel like, you know, you've accomplished⁸ the mission."

McCarthy says she hopes that one day she will write a book about her experience capturing survivors in photographs.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

scar² – n. a mark remaining on the skin after an injury

journey – n. a trip; travel

navigate – v. to make one’s way through something

bald – adj. lacking hair on one’s head

mirror – n. an object that provides a true representation⁹ of something

accomplish – v. to carry out or execute

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 scar   

n.伤疤，伤痕，创伤

参考例句：

• This scar is from the bite of a dog.这是狗咬后留下的伤疤。
• The tragedy left a scar on her mind.这个悲剧给她造成精神上的创伤。

3 scars   

n.伤痕( scar的名词复数 )；精神上的创伤；有损外观的地方；裸岩

参考例句：

• Slowly the war scars faded. 战争的创伤慢慢地消失了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• I've got scars from head to toe in tribute to my courage. 为了嘉奖我的胆量，我得到浑身的伤疤。 来自辞典例句

4 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。

5 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

6 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

7 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

8 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

9 representation   

n.表现某人（或某事物）的东西，图画，雕塑

参考例句：

• The painting is a representation of a storm at sea.这幅画描绘的是海上的暴风雨。
• All parties won representation in the national assembly.所有政党在国民大会中都赢得了代表资格。