上节课我们开始探讨All right. Last time we started asking ourselves
到底是死亡的哪些因素about what are some of the other aspects of death that
可能使它产生危害  或者说might contribute to its badness, or
至少有些因素是值得我们去思考的at least other features of death that are worth thinking about.
可以想见  有些因素会Conceivably, some of them might
在某种程度上减少死亡带来的危害reduce the badness of death, in some way.
我们讨论了死亡的必然性We talked about the inevitability of death;
以及不同的we talked about the variability,
生命长度所带来的变数that people have different lengths of time before they die.
现在我们来讨论死亡的不可预见性And we turned to a discussion of the unpredictability of death,
我们不知道  也不能预测the fact that because we don't know--we can't predict--
我们将活多久how much more time we've got,
我们似乎也无法完全掌控自己的生活we may, as it were, pace ourselves incorrectly.
你可能壮志未酬You may take on a long-term project and then die
身先死before you've been able to complete it;
也可能过早的功成名就or alternatively, you may peak too soon and then
而后看着自己continue to stick around
慢慢老去in an anti-climactic way.
这种不幸本可避免These are bads of life
如果我们知道that could presumably be avoided if only we knew
我们到底可以活多久的话how much exactly we had--how much longer we had.
另一方面  我们必须诘问自己On the other hand, we have to ask ourselves--
上节课我留的那个问题and this the question that I left us with last time--
如果我们确切了解我们活在世上的时间whether it would really, all things considered, be better to know
是不是更好how much time you had.
假设我们身上有这么一种胎记After all, if you knew--suppose we had the
它能告诉你  你什么时候会死birthmarks that told you when you were going to die--
如果真有这么一块胎记if you had that kind of a birthmark,
你会时时生活在它的阴影之下you would face your entire life with the burden of knowing,
我还剩年  年  或是年I've got  years left,  years left,  years left.
我会这样一直倒计时下去I should've been counting down--
年  年  年  等等, ,  and so forth.
许多人会发现  正如我所说  是个负担Many of us would find that was, as I say, a burden--
就像有什么东西始终悬在心头似的something hanging constantly over us
以至于影响我们享受生活的能力interfering with our ability to enjoy life.
设想有这么一种基因标志Suppose that there were some sort of genetic marker
尽管我们并不能and, although we didn't have
把它纹在身上  想看就看a tattoo that you would just have to look at,
但你可以做基因咨询  检测你的DNAbut you could have genetic counseling--have your DNA examined
通过D
NA测试  你会知道and you could tell, if you had the DNA testing,
你还会活多久how much time you had left.
你愿意去做这种测试吗Would you want to get that testing done?
当然  这仅仅是像科幻小说一样Now, that's of course science fiction,
而且我想一时半会儿这也不可能实现and I presume it's going to stay science fiction--
尽管我们的认知though we're on the cusp of
至少已经越来越接近having something at least approximating that
随着我们越来越多地了解不同的基因as we learn more and more about the various genes that
会导致不同的疾病carry various diseases,
但越来越多的人还是要we--more and more of us
面临这个问题face the question of whether or not we want to
即  我们是否想被检测是否患有这些疾病get tested for those diseases.
假定有这么一个测试Suppose there was a test.
某人偶然间Indeed, one occasionally
在报上读到reads in the newspaper about this sort of thing
可以对这些疾病如此检测where you can get tested for such and such a disease.
你得知自己有%的概率会得这种病You might know already that you've got a  percent chance of having it,
但你还是不能确认你是否一定会得but you don't know whether you yourself have it.
如果你确实会得If you do have it,
这种病通常会the disease will always
在你岁  岁或者什么时候发作have onset by age ,  or what have you.
你希望早早得到这样一种信息吗Would you want to have that kind of information?
言归正传Closely related question.
如果你们现在知道你们将不久于人世If you did know how much time you had left,
那么你们会做出何种改变呢how would you act differently from what you're doing now?
它能否把你的注意力都集中到Would it focus your attention on
你认为是对你来说最重要的事情上呢making sure you did the things that were most important to you?
这是个很值得...And it's worth--
这是个很有效的测试it's sort of a useful test for asking yourself
反问自己  生命中哪些事是有价值的what are the things you must value in life--to ask,
如果你知道自己还有what would you choose to do if you knew you had
或年的活头  你将如何去活five years, ten years, what have you?
《周六夜现场》节目中有段老掉牙的故事There's an old Saturday Night Live routine
说的是一名演员去看医生 where one of the actors is in the doctor's office, and the
医生告诉他一个非常不幸的消息doctor gives him the very sad news that he's got
他的生命只剩下两分钟了two minutes left to live.
这名演员说  "那我就尽情享受And he says, "I'm going to pack a lifetime of enjoyment
生命的最后两分钟吧"into those two minutes."
可以想见  故事的笑点出现了And then of course, the point of the skit is
这名演员按下了电梯的按钮he presses the down button on the elevator a
nd
就在他等待电梯上来的时候a minute and a half goes by
一分半钟已经悄然间逝去了while he's waiting for the elevator to come.
如果你知道你的生命还有一年或者两年If you knew you had a year left or two years left,
你将如何去度过剩余的时光what would you do with that time?
你会选择上学    还是外出旅行Would you be in school? Would you travel?
还是花更多的时间Would you spend more time
与你的朋友待在一起hanging out with your friends?
对我来说  有一件刻骨铭心的事情A very, for me, extremely striking example
就发生在我讲这门课的时候of this question occurred in this very class.
许多年前There was a student
有一位听我这门课的学生将不久于人世in this class some years ago who was dying.
他知道他就要死了And he knew that he was dying.
他在大一时就被诊断出患有癌症He'd been diagnosed with,
如果我没记错的话if I recall correctly, cancer as a freshmen--
他的医生告诉他基本没有治愈的可能and his doctor had told him that he pretty much had no chance
他只剩下两年多的时间了of recovery and indeed had only a couple more years to live.
面对此情此景  他只能问自己Faced with that question, he had to ask himself,
"我该如何度过我的余生""Well, what should I do with my remaining years?"
他做出了一个令人惊异不已It was astonishing enough that somebody--
但又合乎情理的决定  but perhaps understandable--that somebody in that situation would
继续求学  并且逼迫自己decide to take a class on death and then have himself,
周复一周地来听我的课submit himself, to my getting up here week after week,
讨论灵魂的缥缈talking about how there's no soul,
亦无来生there's no prospect for an afterlife,
人终有一死是件好事it's a good thing that we're all going to die.
但是要他直面这一问题  他将如何去做But faced with the question what should he do,
如何去度过这剩下的两年时光what did he want to do with his remaining couple of years,
他选择了去攻读耶鲁的学位what he decided he wanted to do was finish his Yale degree--
并在临终前实现了他的夙愿thought he'd set himself the goal of
顺利完成了学业graduating college before he died.
他是大二第二学期上的这门课And he was taking this class second semester of his senior year.
至少坚持上到春假之前At least, he was taking it until Spring Break.
但到了春假期间他就病得很重了By Spring Break he'd gotten sufficiently sick that
医生说他不能再在校读书了his doctor basically said, "You can't continue in school anymore.
他必须回家静养You've got to go home."
这基本上是说  他要回家Basically, "You've got to go home to die."
的确And indeed,
他当时病情日益恶化  后来又急转直下he got progressively and then rapidly deteriorated at that point.
所有
那学期教过他课的老师The faculty members who were teaching his classes that semester
都面临着一个行政难题then all faced the question posed to them by the administration,
基于他已学习了大半个学期这一情况based on the work he's done so far this semester,
将给他怎样的一个成绩呢has he--what kind of grade are you prepared to give him?
因为  根据他的课程通过情况来看Because, depending on which of his classes he passed
这个问题也就演变为and which of his classes he failed, the question was going to be,
他到底可不可以毕业was he going to graduate or not?
当然  事实上  他还是毕业了In fact, of course, he did manage to graduate.
我想  这对耶鲁来说实在是一种荣光And Yale, to its, I think, real glory and credit
在他临终之时亲自sent a member of the administration down
到他的病榻之前to his deathbed to award him his degree
授予他学位before he passed away.
如我所说  这是个令人难忘的故事So, as I say, it's a very striking story.
我并不能确定我们当中有多少人会决定I'm not sure how many of us would decide the last thing we wanted
临终之前最想做的事是在校读书to do with our remaining years is to spend it in college.
那么你想做的是什么呢Well, what is it that you'd want to do?
我们再来问自己一个再大点的问题And again, to move back and ask ourselves a larger question,
知道你将还活多久是会would knowing how much time you have be something that
让你面临种种选择早做决定would allow you to actually embrace those choices,
还是仅仅是一种负担or would it instead just be a burden?
这就是当我们去考虑That's the kind of question
我们并不清楚自己还能活多久这一事实时we have to face when we think about the
所要面临的一类问题fact that we don't know how much time we've got.
这会增加死亡带给我们的害处Is that something that increases the badness of death,
还是会稍微减轻些死亡的重要性呢or does it reduce its significance somewhat?
下面谈谈死亡的另一个特征Here's another feature.
谈到了死亡的必然性  可变性In addition to the inevitability, in addition to the variability,
死亡的不可预见性in addition to the unpredictability, there's the fact that
还有一样  我喜欢称之为死亡的普遍性death is, as I like to think of it, ubiquitous.
我的意思不是说我们周围总有人即将离世I don't just mean the fact that people are dying all around us,
而是我们会随时与死神相遇but I mean rather, you yourself could die at any time.
谁也不能保证我们There's never any getting away from the possibility
不会立马就死that you'll die now.
即使是有所征兆Even if we didn't have unpredictability,
当然  即使我们没有征兆I mean rather, even if we had unpredictability,
也不必按着有无征兆来探讨死亡的普遍性it wo
uldn't necessarily follow that death was pervasive in this way.
我想说的重点是The point I've got in mind here is this--
即使我们认为自己十分安全的时候even when you think you're perfectly safe,
你也可能会死于中风you could of course die of a stroke.
或者死于心脏病突发You could die of a heart attack.
即使是年轻人也会死于动脉瘤Even somebody who's young could have an aneurysm.
或者像我喜欢的一个案例那样Or one of my favorite examples,
你可能正坐在...you could be sitting in your--
你正像往常一样读着报纸you read this sort of thing in the newspaper periodically--
你可能正呆在你的卧室里面you could be sitting in your living room
这时一驾飞机突然撞向你的房子when suddenly an airplane crashes into your house,
杀死了你killing you.
事情就这样发生了These sorts of things happen.
你原以为自己很安全You thought you were safe.
你正在看电视节目重播You were watching reruns on television--
然而下一分钟  你就死了the next minute, you're dead.
人终有一死The fact that you could die
以及你无法得知自己何时会死and you don't know when you're going to die
的事实并不能得出doesn't yet entail that
你会在任何时间  任何时点死去这一结论you could die at any minute, at any moment.
但事实上  对我们也是如此But in fact, that's true of us as well.
再举个身边的事例Yet another example close to heart.
我记得...  在我到这里教书之前I remember--before I taught here I used to teach
我曾在芝加哥的伊利诺斯大学教书at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
有一次我驾车顺路行驶And once I was driving down the highway and a car pulled in
有辆车没看路就冲了过来  撞上了我的车without looking and clipped my car, and caused my car--
从入口直接冲过来you know, so pulled in from
我的车被斜着撞出the entrance--caused my car to go careening
三条行驶道之外across three lanes of traffic spinning out of control.
我十分清楚地记得And I remember quite
当时所发生的事情clearly thinking to myself as that happened--
一切只发生在一瞬间the whole thing lasted only a few moments--
但我还是清楚地记得自己当时的想法but I remember thinking quite clearly,
"我要完了""I'm going to die."
巧了  我居然没死Now, as it happens, I didn't die.
我安然无恙地躲过了这场事故I walked away from the accident,
车子也仅仅受了点小伤and the damage to my car was rather minimal.
但是事实也可以是另一个样子But it could've have happened like that.
死亡的可能性是无处不在的Death is--the possibility of death--is ubiquitous.
遍布在各个角落It's pervasive.
于是我们必须自问We have to ask ourselves then,
这会不会使事情变得更糟does this make things worse?
它一直在我脑子里打转转It certainly feels, to my mind,
仿佛它是死亡所带来的特别害处as though it's an extra bad about the nature of death.
现在应该让紧绷的神经休息一下It would be nice to get a breather.
想像一下  如果世上有个地方Imagine, if you will, that there were certain locations,
有处度假圣地certain vacation spots,
只要你呆在那儿就不会死where as long as you were there you couldn't die.
如果能到达那个地方Wouldn't it be nice to be able to go someplace
让自己住上一段时间  心里想and just for a period think to yourself,
"现在再也不用担心死亡的问题了"Well, you know, right now I don't have to worry about that.
甚至连一丝这样的担忧都不用再去烦恼了"It doesn't even have to cross my mind."
如果有这样一处不死地带Maybe if there were these sort of death-free zones,
一定为人满为患的they'd get rather crowded.
或许我们应该把这个事例改变一下So perhaps we should change the example.
不是存在这么一个不死的地带Instead of having death-free zones,
而是存在一段不死的时间imagine that there were death-free times.
假想一下  别管什么理由Just suppose, for whatever reason,
没有人会在点到点之间死去nobody could die between twelve and one.
你可以在那段时间逍遥自在You could just put it out of your mind.
这会是件好事吗Wouldn't that be nice? All right,
一点钟一到  你又要面临死神的挑战one o'clock, you take the mantle back on.
但是每天都有这么一个固定的时段But wouldn't it be nice to just have a certain period of time
你不必去考虑死神的降临every day when you didn't have to even have it
难道这不是一件好事吗be so much as a remote possibility?
再假定有一种免死的活动Or suppose there were certain death-free activities.
或许是读哲学书之类的Maybe reading philosophy would be something
只要你去做它就可以免死that as long as you were doing it you couldn't die
或者是某些宗教传统or, as perhaps some religious traditions might've taught,
只要你不停地祈祷就不会死去as long as you were engaged in prayer you couldn't die.
这样好吗Wouldn't that be nice?
或者  我们反过来看整个事例Or turn the entire thing the other way around.
假定大多数的时间Suppose that most times and
大多数的活动都是可以免死的most activities were death free,
sort of there是什么意思但是有些活动but certain activities
却带有致死的可能性introduce the possibility of dying.
换句话说  只要你不去So you couldn't die
从事那些活动  你就不会死unless you were engaged in certain activities.
你会长生不老  只要你不认为So you would be immortal but
长生不老有违你的意愿not in the sense of immortal against your will.
或许有这样的情况存在There'd be certain activities perhaps,
比方说  有一支顶着你的脑袋for example putting a gun to your head, that would
它会了结你的

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