温馨夜读II PART2 10.Working Christmas Day

 

[00:00.30]10.Working Christmas Day

[00:03.78]It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25.

[00:08.47]I was triage nurse that day. 

[00:11.19]I didn’t think there would be any patients, sighing about having to work on Christmas. 

[00:15.65]Just then five bodies showed up at my desk, a pale woman and four small children.

[00:21.32]“Are you all sick?” I asked suspiciously.

[00:24.69]“Yes,” she said weakly and lowered her head.

[00:28.50]But when it came to descriptions of their presenting problems, things got a little vague. 

[00:33.73]Two of the children had headaches, 

[00:36.13]but the headaches weren’t accompanied by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still. 

[00:41.79]Two children had earaches¹, but only one could tell me which ear was affected². 

[00:46.47]The mother complained of a cough but seemed to work to produce it.

[00:51.48]Something was wrong, but I didn’t say anything but explained that it might be a little while before a doctor saw her. 

[00:57.69]She responded, “Take your time; it’s warm in here.”

[01:01.71]On a hunch³, I checked the chart after the admitting clerk had finished registering the family. 

[01:06.72]No address—they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.

[01:11.84]I looked out at the family huddled⁴ by the Christmas tree. 

[01:14.89]The littlest one was pointing at the television and exclaiming something to her mother. 

[01:19.46]The oldest one was looking at an ornament⁵ on the Christmas tree.

[01:22.73]I went back to the nurses’ station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room. 

[01:27.74]The nurses, grumbling⁶ about working Christmas, turned to compassion⁷ for a family just trying to get warm on Christmas. 

[01:35.36]The team went into action, much as we do when there’s a medical emergency. 

[01:40.26]But this one was a Christmas emergency.

[01:43.64]We were all offered a free meal in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas Day, 

[01:48.11]so we claimed that meal and prepared a banquet for our Christmas guests. 

[01:52.24]We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket. 

[01:57.14]We collected from different departments candies, crayons and other things available that could be presents. 

[02:03.48]As seriously as we met the physical needs of the patients that came to us that day, 

[02:08.29]our team worked to meet the needs, and exceed the expectations, of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas Day.

[02:16.49]Later, as the family walked to the door to leave, the four-year-old came running back, gave me a hug and whispered, 

[02:23.60]“Thanks for being our angels today.”

1 earaches   

n.耳朵痛( earache的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He has had some earaches lately. 他近来耳朵有点痛。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

4 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

5 ornament   

v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• The flowers were put on the table for ornament.花放在桌子上做装饰用。
• She wears a crystal ornament on her chest.她的前胸戴了一个水晶饰品。

6 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

7 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。