2020年经济学人 产科医师凯瑟琳·哈姆林(1)

Catherine Hamlin, obstetrician, died on March 18th, aged¹ 96

产科医师凯瑟琳·哈姆林于3月18日去世，享年96岁。

The ad in the Lancet called for a gynecologist to set up a midwifery school for nurses in Ethiopia. In the end they got two for the price of one—Catherine, who had grown up in a wealthy Sydney family, and her husband, Reg, from New Zealand. She was reminded of her homeland as soon as she saw the rugged², biblical landscape.

《柳叶刀》杂志上的广告呼吁一名妇科医生在埃塞俄比亚为护士建立一所助产学校。最后，两所学校建成，只用了建一所学校的钱。凯瑟琳在悉尼一个富裕的家庭长大，她的丈夫雷格来自新西兰。当她看到崎岖多岩的、圣经式的风景时，她就想起了她的家乡。

It looked a bit like New South Wales, with its armies of gum trees arrayed along steep hillsides as in the Blue Mountains. She liked the lemony light of early morning when she would start the day with a cup of tea on her veranda³ and a passage from the Bible. But in other ways it wasn't like home at all. No one was there to meet the couple when, with their six-yearold son, Richard, they stepped off the dusty flight from Djibouti, where their ship had docked. The telegram announcing their arrival in Addis Ababa was not delivered until two weeks after they got there.

那里有点像新南威尔士州，就像蓝山那样，大片的桉树排列在陡峭的山坡上。凯瑟琳喜欢那里清晨的柠檬色阳光，她在阳台上喝杯茶，读一段《圣经》，开始新的一天。但是在别的方面，这里和家乡一点也不一样。他们带着6岁的儿子理查德坐船到吉布提，然后坐飞机去埃塞俄比亚。当他们走下布满灰尘的飞机时，没有人在那里等着他们。他们抵达亚的斯亚贝巴的电报直到抵达两周后才发出。

Ethiopia had more pressing needs too, it turned out, than either midwifery or teaching. Each day, when the hospital gates swung open, she found them there, the young women who believed she might be their last hope. Some had been carried for hundreds of kilometres on the back of their fathers or mothers, others had spent years saving for the bus fare. One arrived at night and, finding the gate shut, tried to hang herself. In the morning the guards cut her down; Dr Hamlin operated, and cured her.

事实证明，埃塞俄比亚也有比助产或教学更迫切的需求。每天，当医院的大门打开时，凯瑟琳都会发现那些年轻的女人出现在那里，她们相信她可能是她们最后的希望。有的是被父母从几百公里外的地方背过来的，有的是用花几年时间攒钱买的公交车票过来的。有个人是晚上到的，发现大门没开后，她就上吊了。到了早晨，警卫救了她。哈姆林医生给她做了手术，治好了她的病。

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

3 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。