英国新闻听力 满怀希望、有尊严地活着的意义

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 onset¹ Alzheimer’s. Both men had the courage to go public with their illness.

Chris spoke² 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 affected³ now needs round the clock care.

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?"

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 chronic⁴ 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 ego⁵ 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 demise⁶ of all that makes us human.

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 humbling⁷ and inspiring because this takes so much courage. Rather than lament⁸ the lack of a cure, he wants to help find one. There is both hope and heroism⁹ 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.

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

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 worthy¹⁰ of a being with eternal life.

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.

1 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

5 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

6 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

7 humbling   

adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气

参考例句：

• A certain humbling from time to time is good. 不时受点儿屈辱是有好处的。 来自辞典例句
• It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-buildingexperience. 据说天文学是一种令人产生自卑、塑造人格的科学。 来自互联网

8 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

9 heroism   

n.大无畏精神，英勇

参考例句：

• He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
• Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。

10 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。