2021年经济学人 死亡的权力--安乐死(1)

Books & arts

文艺板块

Book review

书评

The right to die

死亡的权力

Going gently

安乐死

The Inevitable¹. By Katie Engelhart.

《不可避免》。作者：凯蒂·恩格哈特

If it is humane² to put down a dog in unbearable³ and incurable⁴ pain, why not extend the same right to humans if they want it? That question echoes through “ The Inevitable” as it follows four people in search of a good death—and in fear of a bad one.

如果杀死一只沉浸在难以忍受且无法治愈的痛苦之中的狗狗是人道的，那为什么想要得到解脱的人类却无法拥有同样的权力？《不可避免》对这一问题给出了答案，书中讲述了畏惧痛苦死亡而寻求安乐死的4个人。

Katie Engelhart’s deeply researched and beautifully reported book raises familiar quandaries⁵. Do people have a right to die on their own terms? Should doctors help? Do motivations matter? And might a right become a duty for everyone who grows old, dependent or demented? It also considers less publicised problems, such as: how do people actually die? Advances in medicine and technology that have made pills and appliances safer have made it harder to achieve an “ easy” or “peaceful” death for those who seek one.

凯蒂·恩格哈特的这本研究深入、内容精妙的书引发了人们熟悉的困惑。人们有权按照自己的方式死去吗？医生应该帮忙吗？动机重要吗？安乐死的这项权利是否会成为每一个老人、被赡养人或痴呆病人的义务？书中还考虑了一些不太公开的问题，例如：人们实际上是如何死亡的？药物和技术上的进步使药片和医疗器械更加安全可靠，也使得寻求安乐死的人更难轻松平和地死亡。

As policymakers and ethicists ponder these moral conundrums⁶, around the world people are taking matters into their own hands, a trend that gives Ms Engelhart’s book its urgency. Faced with intolerable suff?ering, her subjects have largely given up on laws and doctors and instead turn to strangers on the internet for help. For instance, Avril Henry, a British octogenarian, spent her nights “marinating in her pain” and considered eating lethal⁷ fungi⁸ from her garden to end it. But “death by mushroom could be slow, messy, painful. The Nembutal would work better.” The “Peaceful Pill Handbook” suggested buying that drug from either a vet-supply store in Mexico or the Chinese black market. Doubtful about Chinese merchandise, Henry settled on Mexico.

当政策制定者和伦理学家思考其中的道德难题时，世界各地的人们选择用自己的方式解决，这一趋势使恩格哈特的书充斥着紧迫感。面对无法忍受的痛苦折磨，她的研究对象大多放弃了法律，对医生也不再抱有希望，他们转而求助互联网上的陌生人。例如，英国八旬老人艾薇儿·亨利夜间常疼痛难耐，她考虑吃下花园里的致命真菌来结束痛苦。但是“蘑菇引发的死亡可能缓慢、混乱、痛苦。戊巴比妥钠的效果更好。”《和平药丸手册》建议从墨西哥的宠物用品店或中国黑市购买这种药。但亨利对中国黑市的药品存疑，最后选定从墨西哥购买。

Over several years, Ms Engelhart’s main characters meticulously⁹ plan their escapes from old age, dementia and chronic¹⁰ or mental illness. She also follows two doctors, one of whom lost his licence for teaching people how to “exit” via “DIY death seminars”.

恩格哈特书中的主人公用多年时间精心策划了他们从老年、痴呆和慢性病或精神疾病中解脱出来的过程。她还描绘了两位医生的经历，其中一名医生因通过“DIY死亡研讨会”教人们如何“解脱”而失去了执照。

1 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

2 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

3 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

4 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

5 quandaries   

n.窘困( quandary的名词复数 )；不知所措；左右为难

参考例句：

• Behind all these quandaries, of course, lies the summer's basic political mystery. 此番窘境，当然都可以归结是夏天的原因。 来自互联网
• She's found that dreams help people work through the day's emotional quandaries. 她已经发现，梦帮助人们处理白天的情绪困境。 来自互联网

6 conundrums   

n.谜，猜不透的难题，难答的问题( conundrum的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• After all the conundrums of Hungary, the second Turkish Grand Prix promises much. 继匈牙利站所有猜不透的事之后，第二届土耳其大奖赛许诺了太多。 来自互联网
• I see conundrums, dilemmas, quandaries, impasses, gnarly thickets of fateful possibility with no obvious way out. 眼看问题经纬万端，进退两难、入困境，死路一条，盘根错节的命定可能性，但找不到明显的出路。 来自互联网

7 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

8 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

9 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

10 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。