I've been a critical care EMT for the past seven years in Suffolk County, New York.
过去的七年间，我是纽约萨福克郡的一位特危急救人员。
I've been a first responder in a number of incidents ranging from car accidents to Hurricane Sandy.
我曾在不少事故中第一批到达现场，这些事故中有车祸也有飓风桑迪。
If you are like most people, death might be one of your greatest fears.
如果你跟大部分人一样，死亡可能是你最大的恐惧之一。
Some of us will see it coming. Some of us won't.
有的人会预感它的来临。有的人则不能。
There is a little-known documented medical term called impending doom. It's almost a symptom.
有一个很少有人知道的医务术语，叫做“垂死状态”。这可以说是一个症状。
As a medical provider, I'm trained to respond to this symptom like any other,
作为一个医务人员，我被训练过用平常心来对待垂死状态的病人，
so when a patient having a heart attack looks at me and says, "I'm going to die today,"
所以当一个心脏病突发的病人看着我说，“我今天就要死了”的时候，
we are trained to reevaluate the patient's condition.
我们被训练要重新评估这个病人的情况。
Throughout my career, I have responded to a number of incidents
在我的职业生涯中，我曾多次在急救现场，
where the patient had minutes left to live and there was nothing I could do for them.
遇到仅剩几分钟生命的病人，而我却根本无能为力。
With this, I was faced with a dilemma:
在这样的时候我面临一个困境：
Do I tell the dying that they are about to face death, or do I lie to them to comfort them?
我是该坦诚地告知伤者死亡的逼近，还是该用善意的谎言去安慰他们？
Early in my career, I faced this dilemma by simply lying. I was afraid.
在我职业生涯的早期，每当我犹豫该怎么做时，我总是选择对伤者撒谎。我很害怕。
I was afraid if I told them the truth, that they would die in terror, in fear, just grasping for those last moments of life.
我怕如果我告诉他们真相，他们会在恐惧不安中离开人世，惶惶中攫取生命流沙的最后几粒。
That all changed with one incident. Five years ago, I responded to a motorcycle accident.
但一切都在一次救援后改变了。五年前，我参与急救一场摩托事故。
The rider had suffered critical, critical injuries.
摩托车主伤势非常非常严重。
As I assessed him, I realized that there was nothing that could be done for him,
在我对他做了检查后，我意识到自己什么都做不了，
and like so many other cases, he looked me in the eye and asked that question: "Am I going to die?"
而他像很多在同样状态下的伤者一样，看着我的眼睛问我：“我是不是快死了？”
In that moment, I decided to do something different.
那一刻我决定改变常规。
I decided to tell him the truth.
我决定告诉他真相。
I decided to tell him that he was going to die and that there was nothing I could do for him.
我决定告诉他，他将要死了，而我什么都做不了。
His reaction shocked me to this day. He simply laid back and had a look of acceptance on his face.
他的反应到如今仍然震撼着我。他只是放松下来，他的脸上露出了接受事实的平静。
He was not met with that terror or fear that I thought he would be.
他并没有如我料想那样表现出恐惧。
He simply laid there, and as I looked into his eyes, I saw inner peace and acceptance.
他只是躺着，而我在他的眼睛里，看到了内心的接受和平静。
From that moment forward, I decided it was not my place to comfort the dying with my lies.
从那时起我决定，我并没有权利用谎言去安慰将死之人。
Having responded to many cases since then where patients were in their last moments and there was nothing I could do for them,
在那之后我参与的多次救援，有发生病人奄奄一息而我无能为力的时候，
in almost every case, they have all had the same reaction to the truth, of inner peace and acceptance.
在几乎所有的情况下，他们都对将到来的死亡作出了一致的反应，那就是内心的接受和平静。
In fact, there are three patterns I have observed in all these cases.
事实上，我发现在这些人的反应中有三种典型的反应。

The first pattern always kind of shocked me.
第一种总是令我有些震惊。
Regardless of religious belief or cultural background, there's a need for forgiveness.
无论伤者有怎样的宗教信仰或文化背景，他们总会祈求被宽恕。
Whether they call it sin or they simply say they have a regret, their guilt is universal.
大如他们所称的原罪，小到生活中的一丝遗憾，负罪感是那么屡见不鲜。
I had once cared for an elderly gentleman who was having a massive heart attack.
有一次我正在救助一位长者，他的心脏病突然严重发作。
As I prepared myself and my equipment for his imminent cardiac arrest, I began to tell the patient of his imminent demise.
当我做好准备，准备好仪器以处理他突发的心脏骤停，我告诉他，死亡即将来临。
He already knew by my tone of voice and body language.
他已从我的语调和动作中看出。
As I placed the defibrillator pads on his chest, prepping for what was going to happen, he looked me in the eye and said,
当我把心脏除震器放在他的胸口，准备好面对即将发生的事，他看着我的眼睛说，
"I wish I had spent more time with my children and grandchildren instead of being selfish with my time."
“我多么希望，以前要是多花些时间陪陪家人儿孙，而不是自私地享受独处的时光该多好。”
Faced with imminent death, all he wanted was forgiveness.
面对即将到来的死亡，他只想得到上苍的原谅。
The second pattern I observe is the need for remembrance.
我观察到的第二种模式就是期待被记住被缅怀。
Whether it was to be remembered in my thoughts or their loved ones', they needed to feel that they would be living on.
无论是被我还是被他们所爱的人记住，他们都期待能感受到这样的延续。
There's a need for immortality within the hearts and thoughts of their loved ones, myself, my crew, or anyone around.
他们期待永恒不朽地镶嵌在他们亲人爱人的心里和脑海中，或是在我、我的同事或是任何人的心上。
Countless times, I have had a patient look me in the eyes and say, "Will you remember me?"
数不清有多少次，病人看着我的眼睛问道：“你会记得我吗？”
The final pattern I observe always touched me the deepest, to the soul.
我观察到的最后一种模式总会触动我的内心深处，触动我的灵魂。
The dying need to know that their life had meaning.
他们渴望知道自己的生命有意义。
They need to know that they did not waste their life on meaningless tasks.
他们需要知道自己没有将生命浪费在无意义的事情上。
This came to me very, very early in my career. I had responded to a call.
这种情况在我职业生涯很早期就出现了。我曾经接到过一个急救任务。
There was a female in her late 50s severely pinned within a vehicle.
有一位快60岁的女士被卡在车里动弹不得。
She had been t-boned at a high rate of speed, critical, critical condition.
她所驾驶的车辆被另一台汽车从侧面高速撞击，情况非常危急。
As the fire department worked to remove her from the car, I climbed in to begin to render care.
在消防员试图把她从车子里挪出来的同时，我爬进去开始急救。
As we talked, she had said to me, "There was so much more I wanted to do with my life."
我们对话时，她对我说，“我这辈子还有好多事想做呢。”
She had felt she had not left her mark on this Earth.
她觉得还没在这世上留下印记。
As we talked further, it would turn out that she was a mother of two adopted children who were both on their way to medical school.
我们谈得更深入后，我知道她领养了两个小孩，而且他们都将去读医学院。
Because of her, two children had a chance they never would have had otherwise
因为她，这两个小孩拥有了本来不可能得到的机会，
and would go on to save lives in the medical field as medical doctors.
而且还能成为医生并拯救很多生命。
It would end up taking 45 minutes to free her from the vehicle. However, she perished prior to freeing her.
结果花了45分钟，才将她从卡住的车子里救出来。但是她在那之前就已经死了。
I believed what you saw in the movies: when you're in those last moments that it's strictly terror, fear.
我过去相信电影中所演的：你在临终前会感到非常恐惧、害怕。
I have come to realize, regardless of the circumstance,
后来我才了解到，无论在怎样的情况下，
it's generally met with peace and acceptance, that it's the littlest things, the littlest moments,
人们通常都能平静地接受死亡，是那些小事，那些时刻，
the littlest things you brought into the world that give you peace in those final moments. Thank you.
你带到世上最微不足道的那些事，让你在临终时刻得到平静安详。谢谢。