第1个回答 2022-06-22
清明节刚过去，咱们也来聊聊life和death。
这并不是一篇纪念逝者的抒情文，也不是一篇激励生者的鸡汤文。借此机会，我用双语和大家分享一些我对生与死的理解，可以学到一些英文表述和常识，也可以通过另一种语言来从另一个角度来理解生与死。
首先，清明节的英文表达是Tomb-Sweeping Day，直译过来就是“扫墓日”。之所以不用Festival这个词，是因为festival通常都和“喜庆的气氛”联系在一起（参考下图）。
说到这儿顺便给大家介绍一个很好用的网站， British National Corpus ，直接搜索就能找到。要想知道某个词最常见的用法以及某几个词分别在那些场合用比较地道，这个网站可以给出很好的参考。
根据百度百科释义，清明节“不仅是人们祭奠祖先、缅怀先烈的节日，也是中国民族认祖归宗的纽带，更重要的是认识先辈。看自己的不足，修正自己，带动后人。感悟人生的价值，去除先辈遗留的干枝枯叶，保留可借鉴的新芽，弘扬正能量”。这一段如果用英文表达，就是：
It is a time not only for people to pay homage to deceased family members, ancestors and heroes who sacrificed their lives for peace, but also for people of up to 25 ethnic groups to identify with the past generations. It is a moment for introspection, which is a reminder for us of what we have done wrong and what influences we could have on future generations, and of what should be abandoned as well as what should be preserved and further promoted in our culture.
pay homage to sb . 向某人致敬
也可以说 pay respect to sb .
在英文中，“死”的说法有很多种，多数情况下都用委婉语(euphemism)来表达敬意，这和中文是相通的。不同的语境中用到的说法不一样：
动词以及动词词组：
die , vi. 死亡
在医院，如果病人抢救无效离开人世，一般医生会宣布病人死亡，表达是：
As Dr. X called it, his/her time of death was …
… was pronounced dead by Dr. X. at + time
这个词是最直截了当的表达，所以一般用这个词的场合也就是医院，这个与“温情”格格不入的地方。（关于医院，文章后面还会提到）
sacrifice , vi. & vt. 牺牲
这个词不一定表示“献出生命”，如果要表达这个意思，需要加上宾语one’s life
pass away/on , vi. 去世
go to a better place , vi. 上天堂了
这个词组直译为“去了更好的地方”，而大部分以英语为通用语言的国家的人一般都信奉基督教（分支），他们认为比人间“更好的地方”是天堂，所以这个用法被意译成“上天堂了”。
e.g.
My dog went to a better place after sharing all his 14 years of life with me.
我的狗上天堂了，他陪我走过了14年。（这句话是我的一个外国朋友说的，他觉得他的狗是他最好的朋友之一）
cease to exist , vi.不复存在
这个词组一般用来描述无生命的东西，比如公司，组织等。
e.g.
Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991.
前苏联于1991年解体。
perish , vi. 溘然长逝
习语：
kick the bucket , vi. 翘辫子了
我听过外国朋友在讲述他家里的一位关系很好的生前充满幽默感的亲人时用了这个说法：
Uncle Mike kicked the bucket after being tortured by stomach cancer for two years.
麦克叔叔被胃癌折磨了两年，还是走了。
rest in peace , vi.安息
这个说法一般用在提到一个生前受人尊敬的人时用：
e.g.
May Dr. Smith rest in peace! He saved more lives than we could count.
史密斯医生生前救助的人数不胜数，愿他在天堂安息！
名词以及名词词组：
demise , n. 死亡（正式或幽默的用法）
the deceased , n. 逝者
这个用法一般是在法律文件中出现
好了，语言点讲完了，咱们来唠唠想法。话说在前面，下面的话可能会让你不舒服，毕竟我不煽情，不像大多数人一年一次仪式感地思考生死。关于死亡，也许我们还想得不够。
这里我说说我对两个现象的思考。
第一个现象：
在我们的主流文化中，“死”是禁忌。聊天中触及到这个词，都会有人使眼色或者转到另一个话题上。很多人明知道自己不久于人世，却不愿或者不能安排后事，看起来这是为了家庭和谐，其实为以后的种种矛盾埋下了伏笔。还有人不知道具体出于什么心态，对亲人的痛苦视而不见，他们生命的尊严在最后的岁月消失殆尽，生比死还难熬。
In our mainstream culture, death is a taboo topic. As soon as it is touched upon in conversations, there will be warning or the topic will be shifted to something else. There are a number of people who refuse to put things in order despite their awareness of their own imminent departure to another world. It might be interpreted as keeping family harmony, but actually it leads to endless trouble. There are also other people who, with unknown intentions, ignore the pains and sufferings of their loved ones, whose dignity is gone in the last moments of their life, where death is an easier way out than life.
死亡这件事，是谁都躲不过的终点，与其避而不谈，不如早点儿做好安排。
No matter how hard we try, death is our shared destination. It is better to contemplate and discuss it than to pretend it is not important.
有本书叫《 最好的告别 》(Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End)，作者自己是外科医生，讲述了不少他亲身经历或是他亲耳所闻的发人深省的关于生与死的故事。推荐给大家看，可能在读的时候会觉得难以接受，但是总比一年一次象征性地思考生死更有意义。
还有一本书，叫《 相约星期二 》(Tuesdays with Morrie)，上过我的课的学生基本上都被我推荐过这本书。作者记录了自己的大学老师施瓦茨教授的生命最后十四周，每周二作者和教授都会深入地谈论一个话题，包括死亡。施瓦茨教授患有肌肉渐冻症，目前还是不治之症，2014年社交网站上非常火的“冰桶挑战”就是为了研究这个病的治疗的捐款活动。我推荐大家读这本书的原版，一本很薄语言也很简单的书。但是内容触动内心。
对生的敬意，也体现在对死亡的了解和接受上。
How much we understand and accept death is one way to show our respect to life.
第二个现象：
医生竭尽全力但是抢救无效离开的病人家属医闹不停，让医生这个本该受到全社会尊敬的职业变成了烫手的山芋，很多人不想考医学院，很多医生也不希望自己的孩子继续自己的道路，哪怕他们的孩子从小耳濡目染也立志救死扶伤。
Not all deaths that happen in hospital are the result of medical malpractice. Disgruntled family members of patients in situations where bad news came despite doctors’ and nurses’ every attempt to save the patients’ lives have assaulted the medical workers. Such incidents are discouraging for doctors-to-be and doctors, who don’t want their children, whose life has revolved around hospital since childhood, to practice medicine.
明明自己也想沾现代医学进步的光，可是当得知牺牲的是自己或自己的家人，马上就会改口，质问为什么自己非得遭这种罪，总要找个人来负责，那就找医生吧！然而，医生也是人，他们只能尽力救死扶伤，却不能给出任何保证——在死亡这件事上，谁都没法给出任何保证。如果医生遵守了他们的誓言，尽最大努力运用了现代医学，无奈死神还是更快一步，那么为什么要怪罪医生呢？
We all want to benefit from the advancement of modern medicine, as long as neither we nor anyone we care about is sacrificed for such advancement. When bad news comes, we resent that it has happened to us, which subsequently leads us to blame the doctors. After all, it is the doctors who fail to save lives. But doctors are mortals, who are not omnipotent gods and goddesses. Nobody's tomorrows are guaranteed. If the doctors have done what they are supposed to do by exhausting all the possibilities in medicine, why should they get blamed?
要知道，今天因为医闹而不能继续从医的医生，很可能是明天那个本来可以救助你自己生命的人。我对legal high里面古美门律师在一起医疗纠纷为医院方辩护的辩护词深有感触 ：“死亡，在医学世界里是有意义的，死亡才是希望。我们能做的，只有对现在还活着的生命心怀慈悲。”
It does not occur to some people that the doctors and nurses who cannot continue to practice medicine because of the assault this time might as well be the people who could have saved the assailants’ lives next time. I am deeply impressed by the defence speech made by Komikado Sensei on behalf of the hospital involved in an alleged medical malpractice lawsuit. In court, he said “death is meaningful in the medical world, and actually death is hope. What we can do is be merciful to the ones that are alive. ”
在我们祭奠完先人和先烈之后，也别忘了纪念在本不该发生的医闹中逝去的医护人员，他们本是站在死亡线上把患者奋力拉回去的人，现在却长眠于另一个世界了。
After we paid homage to our ancestors and heroes, let’s not forget to pay our respect to the doctors and nurses who left us because of the assaults that should never have happened. They were supposed to be the last hope between life and death, but now they are in another world. May they rest in peace!
乔布斯在2005年斯坦福大学毕业演讲中提到一个拉丁语说法: Memento mori，直译成英文是be mindful of death，也就是“记住人们都会死亡”。 重要的是，在这不确定长短的岁月里，我们怎样度过。