VOA标准英语2013--朋友生病了怎么做?

 

AS IT IS 2013-09-29 How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who Is Sick 朋友生病了怎么做?

Hello again. Welcome back to As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Good news for people who live in polluted cities. A common garden herb may be able to help make the water cleaner and safer.

But first we talk about friendship and illness. For someone who is seriously ill, good friends can help -- or hurt.

A few years ago, Letty Cottin Pogrebin learned she had breast cancer. Some of her friends could talk easily to her about her illness. But others struggled. They could not be honest or supportive.

Ms. Pogrebin asked other cancer patients if their friendships had changed, too. Those conversations gave her an idea for a book. The book is called “How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick.”

“People aren’t good at it naturally. It does not come naturally, so they really pause, they blunder, they can’t find the right words.”

Ms. Pogrebin found that fear caused many of the communication problems. Some people feel so uncomfortable, they do not want to see the sick person at all.

Rhonda Waithe says that is how her brother felt when her son was born with a serious disease.

“He was like, ‘I don’t know how to act. I wouldn’t know how to be around these people.’ And I would say to him, ‘Just be yourself.  Because this is what they want -- for you to just be you!'”

Ms. Pogrebin found that some people who do not know what to do try too hard to be nice.

“Sometimes the nicest thing you can do is simply treat them normally. It’s the luxury of the normal. It’s the miracle of the ordinary that I sought. I didn’t want to feel like ‘Cancer Girl.’”

Ms. Pogrebin has some advice for people with friends or family members who are sick. She says think about what might help the person feel better, not what you think might be the “right” thing to say or do.

“It’s very tempting¹ to feel good about yourself when you are in a tough situation like that. ‘I called when I heard. I did the right thing.’ ‘I sent a bouquet² of flowers. I did the right thing.’ ‘I said, you’ll get past this, or I’m sure it’s going to be OK.’ But you do not know on the other end if that is what is really needed, and if that is what is really wanted.”

Often what is needed is practical help.

Nicole Brown said that is what she wanted when her father was ill.

“We needed people to actually come and help us, be there for us. Come over, cook. Bring some food. He lp give him a bath.” 

Ms. Pogrebin adds that the best idea is usually just to be polite. And, she says, let the person who is sick say what she or he wants.

“My advice to everyone, if it had to be distilled³ into a single sentence, is: If you’re the friend, ask the sick person, ‘What do you really want us to do during this period?  Do you want me to offer, or come, or just take the initiative? Are you uncomfortable asking, or would it be better to wait to hear what you really want? If I call you every day, will that drive you nuts? I will take the advice you give me right now and I will run with it for the rest of the period of time that we are in this together.’”

Letty Cottin Pogrebin was treated and is now cancer-free. She is the author of the book “How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick.”

Miracle Herb?

The herb cilantro is an important part of Latin American and Southeast Asian cooking. It is also known as Thai parsley and coriander. Cilantro is loved for its taste. It could possibly also have scientific uses. Mario Ritter reports.

Scientists say the cilantro plant shows promise as what they call a biosorbent. They say it is able to drink up heavy metals that have leaked into ground water from factories.

Cilantro costs very little to produce. The herb is plentiful⁴ in some of the most polluted countries in the world. These are countries in which industrial chemicals have polluted ground water supplies. The chemicals include arsenic⁵, cadmium, copper⁶, lead and mercury. They can come from factories and waste collection centers.

In the West, new technologies are being used to remove the heavy metals, including activated⁷ carbon. But these technologies are costly⁸.

Douglas Schauer is program chair for chemical technology at Ivy⁹ Tech Community College in Lafayette, Indiana. Earlier this year, he led a few students to the Tula Valley, near Mexico City. They wanted to find low-cost and plentiful materials that could be used to filter, or separate, industrial pollutants¹⁰ in ground water.

Douglas Schauer says several wild plants were dried out and crushed…

“And then we put that into a solution that has a known amount of lead in it. That’s the metal we used as our test metal. Shake it up for a little bit, and then we let the particles settle out, and then we test the water to see how much lead is left behind.”

Mr. Schauer says his students' tests showed cilantro was one of the most effective plants for pulling lead out of polluted water.

He is suggesting that cilantro be used as a water purifier. It is especially important, he says, for people living near polluting factories, or in areas such as the Tula Valley, where Mexico City leaves all of its untreated municipal waste.

“Our hope is for somebody who lives in that region to simply be able go in their back yard and grab a handful of cilantro, maybe let it dry out for a couple days sitting on a rock in the sun, and then maybe a handful of that would purify a pitcher¹¹ of water.”

He believes dried cilantro could someday be sold like tea bags, or as reusable water filters to heavy metals.

The findings of field studies for cilantro in Mexico were presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Indiana. 

I’m Mario Ritter.

And I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

1 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

2 bouquet   

n.花束，酒香

参考例句：

• This wine has a rich bouquet.这种葡萄酒有浓郁的香气。
• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。

3 distilled   

adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

5 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

6 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

7 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

9 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

10 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。