新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第三册 te-unit05-b

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！Decisions of the Heart
[00:-1.00]1  Assume for a moment that your 90-year-old mother
[00:-2.00]has recently suffered a stroke.
[00:-3.00]She is right-handed, and now she is unable to move
[00:-4.00]her right arm and leg — they are worthless to her.
[00:-5.00]She can make sounds,
[00:-6.00]but she can't make herself understood.
[00:-7.00]2  The condition has lasted two months
[00:-8.00]and since there has been no sign of improvement,
[00:-9.00]the doctor tells you she will never get significantly better.
[00:10.00]Until this time your mother has always been an active,independent person
[00:11.00]who lived on her own.
[00:12.00]Now she is completely dependent on others.
[00:13.00]3  Next, x-rays show your mother has a lung infection —
[00:14.00]a frequent problem with stroke patients.
[00:15.00]The doctor then calls you, her only surviving relative.
[00:16.00]4  "We can treat the infection with drugs
[00:17.00]and she'll probably get better in a week," he says.
[00:18.00]"When I say better, I mean she'll go on as she has —
[00:19.00]until some other germ comes along.
[00:20.00]Or I can deny her the medicine,
[00:21.00]in which case she'll probably die in three or four days.
[00:22.00]We can make those days comfortable by giving her painkillers and sleeping pills.
[00:23.00]Which course do you want me to follow?"
[00:24.00]5  Tough question, isn't it? On the one hand,
[00:25.00]you cannot bear to see your once vigorous mother living the painful,
[00:26.00]limited life to which the stroke has condemned her.
[00:27.00]On the other hand,
[00:28.00]you hate to be the one to decide to let nature take its course.
[00:29.00]6  I'll tell you which choice I would make in this theoretical situation.
[00:30.00]I'd say, "Don't give her anything to fight the infection.
[00:31.00]Keep her comfortable and let's see what happens;
[00:32.00]maybe she'll fight off the infection on her own and if she doesn't,
[00:33.00]she'll die a peaceful death.
[00:34.00]I don't want to be responsible for condemning my mother to a living hell."
[00:35.00]7  I can make this decision because I've gone down
[00:36.00]this road with patients many times.
[00:37.00]Recently I operated in vain on an eighty-year-old woman
[00:38.00]with cancer of the liver...
[00:39.00]There was nothing I could do to relieve the problems the cancer had caused.
[00:40.00]She was an intelligent woman, without any close relatives,
[00:41.00]and a couple of days after the operation
[00:42.00]I sat down with her and explained the situation.
[00:43.00]8  "I can give you some anti-cancer drugs," I said,
[00:44.00]"but they will make you sick and cannot cure you.
[00:45.00]Similarly, I can give you fluids through a needle in your arm,
[00:46.00]which will keep you fed as your appetite slips away;
[00:47.00]the fluids might add a week or two to your life.
[00:48.00]Or I can withdraw all other treatment
[00:49.00]and just give you a vitamin pill,
[00:50.00]and we can see what happens. Personally,
[00:51.00]my recommendation would be the last choice.
[00:52.00]I'll keep you comfortable, and we'll see what happens."
[00:53.00]9  The patient elected to follow my advice and died peacefully,
[00:54.00]pain free, a fortnight later.
[00:55.00]10  Sometimes such a transparent decision is more difficult to come by.
[00:56.00]Recently I had a patient who suffered a severe stroke.
[00:57.00]He was completely unable to move and couldn't swallow anything.
[00:58.00]We gave him fluids for the first two weeks
[00:59.00]and then fed him through a tube
[-1:00.00]which passed through his nose into his stomach.
[-1:-1.00]11  After three weeks he was still completely unconscious,
[-1:-2.00]and the tube caused him to have a constant, painful sore throat...
[-1:-3.00]I talked to his four grown children
[-1:-4.00]and told them I thought we should insert a tube
[-1:-5.00]directly into his stomach through a small hole
[-1:-6.00] so he could be fed without so much pain.
[-1:-7.00]I also told them, "I can remove the tube