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Matthew O'Reilly: “Am I dying?” The honest answer.
Matthew O'Reilly: “我快死了吗？” 一个诚实的回答
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Matthew O'Reilly 是纽约长岛的一位已退役的急救医务人员。在他的演讲中，O'Reilly 向我们描绘了在重伤病人提出这个问题：“我快死了吗？”之后，会发生什么。
Matthew O'Reilly - Emergency medical technician
Matthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York. Full bio
Matthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I've been a critical care EMT for the past
seven years in Suffolk County, New York.
seven years in Suffolk County, New York.
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过去的七年间
我是纽约萨福克郡的一位特危急救人员。
我是纽约萨福克郡的一位特危急救人员。
00:16
I've been a first responder in a number of incidents
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我曾在不少事故中第一批到达现场
00:18
ranging from car accidents to Hurricane Sandy.
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这些事故中有车祸也有飓风桑迪。
如果你跟大部分人一样，
00:21
If you are like most people, death might be
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死亡可能是你最大的恐惧之一。
00:23
one of your greatest fears.
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00:25
Some of us will see it coming.
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有的人会预感它的来临。
00:26
Some of us won't.
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有的人则不能。
有一个很少有人知道的医务术语
00:28
There is a little-known documented medical term
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00:30
called impending doom.
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叫做”垂死状态“。
00:32
It's almost a symptom.
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这可以说是一个症状。
00:34
As a medical provider, I'm trained to respond
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作为一个医务人员，我被训练过
用平常心来对待垂死状态的病人，
00:35
to this symptom like any other,
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00:37
so when a patient having a heart attack looks at me
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所以当一个心脏病突发的病人看着我说
00:39
and says, "I'm going to die today,"
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“我今天就要死了”的时候，
00:41
we are trained to reevaluate the patient's condition.
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我们被训练要重新评估这个病人的情况。
00:45
Throughout my career, I have responded
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在我的职业生涯中，
我曾多次在急救现场
00:47
to a number of incidents where the patient
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遇到仅剩几分钟生命的病人
00:49
had minutes left to live
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00:50
and there was nothing I could do for them.
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而我却根本无能为力。
00:54
With this, I was faced with a dilemma:
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在这样的时候我面临一个困境：
00:56
Do I tell the dying that they are about to face death,
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我是该坦诚地告知伤者死亡的逼近，
01:00
or do I lie to them to comfort them?
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还是该用善意的谎言去安慰他们？
01:03
Early in my career, I faced this dilemma
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在我职业生涯的早期，
每当我犹豫该怎么做时
每当我犹豫该怎么做时
01:05
by simply lying.
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我总是选择对伤者撒谎。
01:07
I was afraid.
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我很害怕。
我怕如果我告诉他们真相，
01:09
I was afraid if I told them the truth,
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01:11
that they would die in terror, in fear,
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他们会在恐惧不安中离开人世，
01:14
just grasping for those last moments of life.
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惶惶中攫取生命流沙的最后几粒。
01:18
That all changed with one incident.
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但一切都在一次救援后改变了。
01:20
Five years ago, I responded to a motorcycle accident.
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五年前，我参与急救一场摩托事故。
01:23
The rider had suffered critical, critical injuries.
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摩托车主伤势非常非常严重。
01:26
As I assessed him, I realized that there was nothing
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在我对他做了检查后，
我意识到自己什么都做不了 ，
01:29
that could be done for him,
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而他像很多在同样状态下的伤者一样，
看着我的眼睛
看着我的眼睛
01:31
and like so many other cases,
he looked me in the eye
he looked me in the eye
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01:34
and asked that question: "Am I going to die?"
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问我：”我是不是快死了？“
那一刻我决定改变常规。
01:39
In that moment, I decided to do something different.
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01:42
I decided to tell him the truth.
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我决定告诉他真相。
01:45
I decided to tell him that he was going to die
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我决定告诉他 他将要死了
而我什么都做不了。
01:48
and that there was nothing I could do for him.
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01:51
His reaction shocked me to this day.
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他的反应到如今仍然震撼着我。
01:55
He simply laid back and had a look
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他只是放松下来
他的脸上露出了接受事实的平静。
01:57
of acceptance on his face.
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他并没有如我料想那样
01:59
He was not met with that terror or fear
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表现出恐惧。
02:01
that I thought he would be.
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02:04
He simply laid there, and as I looked into his eyes,
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他只是躺着 而我在他的眼睛里，
02:07
I saw inner peace and acceptance.
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看到了内心的接受和平静。
02:09
From that moment forward, I decided
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从那时起我决定，
02:11
it was not my place to comfort the dying with my lies.
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我并没有权利用谎言去安慰将死之人。
02:16
Having responded to many cases since then
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在那之后我参与的多次救援
02:19
where patients were in their last moments
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有发生病人奄奄一息
02:21
and there was nothing I could do for them,
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而我无能为力的时候，
02:23
in almost every case,
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在几乎所有的情况下，
02:25
they have all had the same reaction to the truth,
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他们都对将到来的死亡作出了一致的反应，
02:28
of inner peace and acceptance.
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那就是内心的接受和平静。
02:30
In fact, there are three patterns
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事实上 我发现在这些人的反应中
02:32
I have observed in all these cases.
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有三种典型的反应。
02:37
The first pattern always kind of shocked me.
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第一种总是令我有些震惊。
02:40
Regardless of religious belief or cultural background,
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无论伤者又怎样的宗教信仰或文化背景，
02:44
there's a need for forgiveness.
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他们总会祈求被宽恕。
02:47
Whether they call it sin
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大如他们所称的原罪
02:49
or they simply say they have a regret,
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小到生活中的一丝遗憾，
02:52
their guilt is universal.
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负罪感是那么屡见不鲜。
02:54
I had once cared for an elderly gentleman
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有一次我正在救助一位长者
02:55
who was having a massive heart attack.
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他的心脏病突然严重发作。
02:58
As I prepared myself and my equipment
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当我做好准备，准备好仪器
03:00
for his imminent cardiac arrest,
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以处理他突发的心脏骤停，
03:03
I began to tell the patient of his imminent demise.
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我告诉他，死亡即将来临。
03:07
He already knew by my tone
of voice and body language.
of voice and body language.
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他已从我的语调和动作中看出。
当我把心脏除震器放在他的胸口，
03:10
As I placed the defibrillator pads on his chest,
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准备好面对即将发生的事，
03:13
prepping for what was going to happen,
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03:15
he looked me in the eye and said,
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他看着我的眼睛说，
“我多么希望，以前要是多花些
时间陪陪家人儿孙，
时间陪陪家人儿孙，
03:17
"I wish I had spent more time with
my children and grandchildren
my children and grandchildren
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03:20
instead of being selfish with my time."
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而不是自私地享受独处的时光该多好。”
面对即将到来的死亡，
03:23
Faced with imminent death,
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03:25
all he wanted was forgiveness.
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他只想得到上苍的原谅。
03:28
The second pattern I observe
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我观察到的第二种模式
就是期待被记住被缅怀。
03:30
is the need for remembrance.
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03:33
Whether it was to be remembered in my thoughts
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无论是被我还是被他们所爱的人记住
03:35
or their loved ones', they needed to feel
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他们都期待能感受到这样的延续。
03:37
that they would be living on.
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03:39
There's a need for immortality
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他们期待永恒不朽地
03:41
within the hearts and thoughts of their loved ones,
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镶嵌在他们亲人爱人的心里和脑海中，
03:44
myself, my crew, or anyone around.
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或是在我，我的同事或是任何人的心上。
03:47
Countless times, I have had a
patient look me in the eyes
patient look me in the eyes
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数不清有多少次，
病人看着我的眼睛问道：
病人看着我的眼睛问道：
03:50
and say, "Will you remember me?"
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”你会记得我吗？“
我观察到的最后一种模式
03:54
The final pattern I observe
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03:56
always touched me the deepest, to the soul.
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总会触动我的内心深处，
触动我的灵魂。
触动我的灵魂。
他们渴望知道自己的生命有意义。
03:59
The dying need to know that their life had meaning.
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04:03
They need to know that they did not waste their life
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他们需要知道自己没有将生命
04:06
on meaningless tasks.
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浪费在无意义的事情上。
04:09
This came to me very, very early in my career.
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这种情况在我职业生涯很早期就出现了。
04:12
I had responded to a call.
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我曾经接到过一个急救任务，
有一位快60岁的女士
04:14
There was a female in her late 50s
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被卡在车里动弹不得。
04:16
severely pinned within a vehicle.
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04:18
She had been t-boned at a high rate of speed,
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她所驾驶的车辆被另一台汽车从侧面高速撞击，
情况非常危急。
04:22
critical, critical condition.
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在消防员试图把她从车子里挪出来的同时，
04:24
As the fire department worked
to remove her from the car,
to remove her from the car,
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04:26
I climbed in to begin to render care.
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我爬进去开始急救。
04:29
As we talked, she had said to me,
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我们对话时，她对我说，
04:32
"There was so much more
I wanted to do with my life."
I wanted to do with my life."
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”我这辈子还有好多事想做呢。“
她觉得还没在这世上留下印记。
04:35
She had felt she had not left her mark on this Earth.
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我们谈得更深入后，
04:39
As we talked further, it would turn out
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我知道她领养了两个小孩，
04:41
that she was a mother of two adopted children
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而且他们都将去读医学院。
04:44
who were both on their way to medical school.
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04:47
Because of her, two children
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因为她，这两个小孩
04:49
had a chance they never would have had otherwise
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拥有了本来不可能得到的机会。
04:52
and would go on to save lives in the medical field
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而且还能成为医生并拯救很多生命
04:54
as medical doctors.
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结果花了45分钟，
04:56
It would end up taking 45 minutes
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04:58
to free her from the vehicle.
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才将她从卡住的车子里救出来。
05:00
However, she perished prior to freeing her.
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但是她在那之前就已经死了。
我过去相信电影上演的：
05:04
I believed what you saw in the movies:
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05:06
when you're in those last moments
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你在临终前
05:07
that it's strictly terror, fear.
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会感到非常恐惧、害怕。
后来我才了解到，
无论在怎样的情况下，
无论在怎样的情况下，
05:10
I have come to realize,
regardless of the circumstance,
regardless of the circumstance,
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人们通常都能平静地接受死亡。
05:13
it's generally met with peace and acceptance,
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是那些小事，那些时刻，
05:16
that it's the littlest things, the littlest moments,
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你带到世上最微不足道的那些事，
05:20
the littlest things you brought into the world
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让你在临终时刻得到平静安详。
05:23
that give you peace in those final moments.
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05:26
Thank you.
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谢谢。
（掌声）
05:28
(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Matthew O'Reilly - Emergency medical technicianMatthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York.
Why you should listen
When first responders are honest with the gravely injured, what happens? Watch this short, moving talk to find out.
Matthew O'Reilly | Speaker | TED.com