lesson4

　　自己選擇死亡方式

　　Lesson Four 　Die as You Choose

　　制定關于安樂死的法律已經到了不能再回避的地步。

　　The need for laws on euthanasia cannot be dodged for much longer.

　　在世界上某個較小的國家里，安樂死被醫療機構普遍接受，每年都有數千例公開實施。

　　In one of the world's smaller countries， mercy-killing is accepted by the medical establishment and openly practiced a few thousand times each year.

　　而在某個世界大國，安樂死雖然經常受到醫療機構的公開譴責，每年卻以數倍于此的次數秘密實施，且從未公之于眾。

　　In one of the world's biggest countries， euthanasia is condemned by the medical establishment， secretly practiced many times more often， and almost never comes to light.

　　但是，在上述那個國家有醫生因為實施安樂死而在監獄里服刑呢？

　　Which of these countries has a mercy-killing doctor now languishing in its jails？

　　是在小國荷蘭。荷蘭制定了有關安樂死的法律，能有效地管理它。

　　It is the small one， Holland， which has rules for euthanasia and so can police it effectively.

　　那位荷蘭的醫生違反了他國家的規定。

　　The Dutch doctor broke his country's rules.

　　有關安樂死的問題在所有國家都存在，決不僅出現在美國這個禁止安樂死的大國。

　　There is a moral here for all the countries， and not just for the big death-forbidding country， America.

　　目前美國正再次展開有關安樂死的辯論。

　　Right now it is going over the arguments about euthanasia once again.

　　美國醫學協會會刊1月份發表了一封非同尋常的來信。一位醫生在信中宣稱自己按照病人的意愿，殺死了一位身患癌癥的20歲女孩。

　　In January the Journal of the American Medical Association published a bizarre letter， in which an anonymous doctor claimed to have killed a 20-year-old cancer patient at her own request.

　　這件事引起了一場辯論，而這場辯論將轟轟烈烈地持續到秋季，那時加利福尼亞州可能會就一項使安樂死合法化的法律進行投票表決。

　　This started a debate that will rumble on into the autumn， when Californians may vote on a proposed law legalizing euthanasia.

　　這封信可能是為了起到引發爭論的效果，內容并不可信。

　　The letter was probably written for polemical impact. It is scarcely credible.

　　是作者自己在信中聲稱他（或她）第一次與那位得了癌癥的病人見面，聽到病人說出5個字——“讓我去死吧