VOA标准英语2011--StoryCorps Gives Voice at End of Life

StoryCorps Gives Voice at End of Life

 

People faced with life-threatening illness are often moved to leave some sort of lasting¹ personal oral history for their loved ones.

StoryCorps is an organization which provides people and their families with the opportunity to record, preserve and share their stories with loved ones, preserving those stories on CDs and in the archives at the Library of Congress.

Now, the group has created the StoryCorps Legacy² initiative. Partnering with hospitals, hospices and cancer centers, it helps people with life threatening medical conditions record their stories.

StoryCorps staff member Perri Chinalai takes a break in the chapel³ inside the Mollie and Jack⁴ Zicklin Hospice Residence in Riverdale, New York.

It's a facility where people come to die in peace but Chinalai explains it is also a place where life is celebrated⁵ and expressed through storytelling and careful listening.

“The motto of StoryCorps is that ‘Listening is an act of love,’ and we really believe beautiful things can happen when we actually sit down with one another to have a conversation and listen to what we have to say to one another," she says. "Sometimes when you are sharing your story and you know that people out there will be listening to it in the future, it brings some validation⁶ to all of the life that you have lived."

Gail Moore and her mother Dorothy recorded their StoryCorps Legacy interview at the Florida hospice where the older woman now lives.

Reign⁷ Voltaire and his niece, Jennifer Pena, are recording⁸ her stories. Pena, 32, has suffered from tubular sclerosis since childhood and breathes with the aid of an oxygen machine.

Voltaire finds that the seemingly trivial memories they share - a trip to an amusement park or Thanksgiving meals - acquire a special luster⁹ and significance.

“Even though it is a simple memory of ours, I felt it was something to honor, because it is her legacy," Voltaire says. "It is something we will always remember.”

Sometimes the conversation can be intensely intimate, and things that might have been left unsaid, are not. Gail Moore's mother, Dorothy, lives in a small hospice bedroom.

"I just want to say what a privilege it is to be your daughter," Gail tells her mother.

"I am privileged to be your mother," Dorothy says. "We have had a very, very happy existence."

Jennifer Pena and her uncle, Reign Voltaire, found a way to cherish memories while also discussing difficult subjects during their StoryCorps Legacy experience.

Then Gail asks her mother what she thinks about the notion of dying.

"People should think about dying because it only gives them so much time to make their mark on this world," Dorothy says. "If you did not know there would be a limit to how long you were going to live, when would you get started?"

For veteran facilitator Debra Parmet Sondoc, that sort of wisdom helps make her StoryCorps volunteer work worthwhile. She helps set up sessions at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

“It is life affirming. People talk about appreciating every moment and every day," she says. "Being able to be so strong and be so positive and find the people in their lives that are there for them, it is a wonderful thing.”

The deep listening that StoryCorps promotes can also help health professionals. Palliative care specialist Dr. Daniel Spurgeon often works with terminally ill patients at Huntington Hospital in San Diego, California.

After facilitating and conducting storytelling sessions, he's realized a patient’s words and demeanor¹⁰ can offer vital clinical information that laboratory tests cannot.

"And the more present and the fuller my heart can be, the more I can do this work," Spurgeon says. "I feel that when I engage with a person's story, I am going beyond their identity as a patient and engaging in their personhood. And I think there is where real compassion¹¹, there is where the 'being' of healing is, rather than doing of healing."

That has been the experience of the thousands of people who have been touched by StoryCorps: that authentic¹² conversation, in which one person speaks from the heart, and another truly listens, is a rare and precious gift.

1 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

2 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

3 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

4 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

5 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

6 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

8 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

9 luster   

n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉

参考例句：

• His great books have added luster to the university where he teaches.他的巨著给他任教的大学增了光。
• Mercerization enhances dyeability and luster of cotton materials.丝光处理扩大棉纤维的染色能力，增加纤维的光泽。

10 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。

11 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。

12 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。