2005年NPR美国国家公共电台十一月-A Name, and the Choices It Represents

Anchor: The first gift parents give to their children is a name. For commentator¹ Laurel Snyder the name her parents chose is emblematic² of the way she came into the world.

Laurel Snyder: My mother almost killed me in the spring of 1973. She was 22, fresh from college, crushing with some guy she knew in Baltimore. She didn't wanna get pregnant or married. She'd never crossed the ocean or eaten a lobster³. To hear my mother tell it years later, in 1973, abortion⁴ was a foregone conclusion in her circle of friends. Roe⁵ v. Wade⁶ had passed into law 4 months earlier and it was a political statement to have an abortion. An automatic decision. An abortion meant freedom.

Laurel Snyder: So my mother made an appointment, and rode a filthy⁷ Greyhound bus to DC. Surrounded by sticky vinyl, cigarettes, smoke and smelly strangers, she was forced to spend a long hour thinking. She chewed her nails, and each time the bus stopped to let a few people on and off, she stared intently outta her window. By the time the driver braked a few blocks from the Laurel Clinic where she had an afternoon surgical⁸ appointment, my Mom had changed her mind. She found a pay phone, called my Dad, that guy she was crushing with in Baltimore and told him she was gonna have a baby. So I was born after all. And they named me for the clinic: Laurel.

Laurel Snyder: I have known about the Laurel Clinic since I was a teenager. When my mother, a realistic parent saw me becoming sexually active at sixteen, she made sure I understood: I was an accident, unplanned. She didn't try to scare me with it, but she did use it to illustrate⁹ the obligation of sex. She explained that we all make choices and then we live with our choices. She said she'd never regretted her decision to have me, but that she really would've liked to backpack through France before becoming a mom.

Laurel Snyder: So I think a lot about what we mean when we say we have a right to choose. Choice isn't about doing the first thing that pops into your head or doing what your friends tell you to do. Choice is about considering all the information at your disposal, and the honest feelings in your belly¹⁰, and then making a decision. Choice is hard. Choice is about living with your decision, accepting responsibility for what you've done. If a choice is easier, (it) really isn't a choice.

Laurel Snyder: My mother chose to give birth to me, and accepted one set of burdens and gifts. If she'd had an abortion, she'd simply have had a different set of burdens and gifts. So my story doesn't support a political agenda. But I hope it makes an argument for care and consideration. Last year, I miscarried in the middle of a step aerobics¹¹ class. And I was really scared that the loss of my child would in some way awaken¹² latent feelings about my mom's choice. I thought I might mourn the miscarriage¹³ as a real death, and judge my mother for what she almost did. But that didn't happen at all. Instead, my miscarriage just felt disappointing like a job I had applied¹⁴ for, really wanted, but not gotten. I've thought a lot about this and here's how it makes sense to me. If you plant 100 seeds in your garden you can expect to find healthy plants growing from about 3 of them. Some seeds will die because of forces completely beyond your control, and some will die because you are a bad gardener. Well, I'll just have to live with that.

Anchor: Laurel Snyder lives in Atlanta. She is a podcaster for nextbook.org

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 emblematic   

adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性

参考例句：

• The violence is emblematic of what is happening in our inner cities. 这种暴力行为正标示了我们市中心贫民区的状况。
• Whiteness is emblematic of purity. 白色是纯洁的象征。 来自辞典例句

3 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

4 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

5 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

6 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

7 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

8 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

9 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

10 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

11 aerobics   

n.健身操，健美操，韵律操

参考例句：

• Doing aerobics is a good way to improve one's health.做有氧健身操是改善健康状况的一个好方法。
• Aren't you going to the aerobics class this morning?今天上午你不是去上有氧运动课吗？

12 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

13 miscarriage   

n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产

参考例句：

• The miscarriage of our plans was a great blow.计划的失败给我们以巨大的打击。
• Women who smoke are more to have a miscarriage.女性吸烟者更容易流产。

14 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。