考研英语阅读-text1

It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken.

凌晨3：45进行了最终表决。

After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia’s Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die.

国会经过6个月的争论和最后16小时激烈的议会辩论，澳大利亚澳北区成为了世界上第一个“合法当局”，即如果绝症病人希望死去，医生就可以结束其生命。

The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10.

这一法案以令人信服的15票对10票通过。

Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada.

几乎同时，该消息就出现在互联网上，而身处另一半球的加拿大死亡权利协会执行董事约翰·霍夫塞斯很快熟悉了这个消息。

He sent it on via the group’s on-line service, Death NET.

他通过协会的在线服务网把这条消息转发到“死亡之网”上。

Says Hofsess: “We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn’t just something that happened in Australia. It’s world history.” 

霍夫塞斯说：“我们整天发布新闻快报，因为这事不仅仅是发生在澳大利亚的事情，而是世界历史的一大事件。”

The full import may take a while to sink in.

要充分理解这一立法的全部意义可能需要一段时间。

The NT Rights of the Terminally Ill law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications.

澳北区的晚期病人权利法已经使得内科医生和市民都一样试图来讨论该法案的道德影响和实际可能的结果。

Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right to life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage.

一些人如释重负、而另一些人，包括教会、生命权利组织以及澳大利亚医学会的成员不但强烈抨击了该法案，而且还强烈抨击了该法案的仓促通过。

But the tide is unlikely to turn back.

但这一潮流已经无法逆转。

In Australia—where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia.

在澳大利亚，老龄化人口、寿命延长技术以及变化的公众态度都发挥着各自的作用，其他州也将考虑制定类似的法律来处理安乐死的问题。

In the US and Canada, where the right to die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.

在美国和加拿大，死亡权利运动正大日益壮大，观察家们正在等待出现多米诺骨牌的效应。

Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death—probably by a deadly injection or pill—to put an end to suffering.

根据澳北区的新法规，成年病人可以要求安乐死——很可能是通过注射致命药剂或服用致命药片的方式——来结束痛苦。

The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors.

病人须由两名医生诊断为绝症。

After a “cooling off” period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request.

然后，经过7天的冷静期之后，病人方可以签署一份申请证明。

After 48 hours the wish for death can be met.

48小时之后，就可以满足其安乐死的愿望。

For Lloyd Nickson, a 54 year old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally Ill law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition.

就居住在达尔文市、现年54岁的肺癌患者利奥德·尼克森来所，澳北区的晚期病人权利法意味着他可以正常生活，而无需整天担心自己会因为呼吸问题而在痛苦中死去。

“I’m not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I’d go, because I’ve watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks,” he says.

他说：“从精神层面的角度讲，我并不怕死，但我怕的是如何死。因为我在医院看到了人们死亡的情景：他们为了氧气而挣扎，拼命地抓他们的氧气罩。”