Unit4DealingwithAIDS课文翻译综合教程一

百度文库

-

让每个人平等地提升自我

Unit 4 Dealing with AIDS

Dealing

with

AIDS

strengthens

the

bond

of

friendship,

encourages

emotional

and

mature

growth. Before the sixteenth of October 1995, I was the most carefree person in the world. I had

no worries and was just living life up. I never thought that anything could happen to me or my

friends. We were invincible. That is, until the word AIDS came into my life.

For

10

years

David

and

I

were

the

best

of

friends.

Then

we

got

to

high

school

and

things

started to change. We were in different classes, so we didn't hang out as much. It bothered me but

I thought that we were both just growing up, and there were more friends where he came from.

Then I began to notice that he wasn't in school a lot, and was sick more than usual. So I called him

and he hung up on me. I didn't know what to do, so once again I blew it off. Then one day I saw

David in the mall and I confronted him as to why we were not friends anymore. He pulled me

aside and broke down in tears and said that he was dying. I didn't believe him. Sure, I had heard

about AIDS, but that it was a homosexual disease and it didn't affect young people, so I said that it

was a sick joke and left.

When I got home things started to make sense. I ran to my room and cried. David was only 17;

he couldn't die. Then I felt so bad that we had grown so far apart. I called David, asking him to

come over so we could talk. When he came over I saw a seriousness in him that I had never seen

before. He looked so old, too old for his age. I asked how it happened. David had had unprotected

sex once and now had to pay with his life. I was so angry. I have never felt so powerless in my

whole life. When things had gone wrong before this, I could always rely on my parents to make

things better. There was nothing that they could do this time. I had to handle it all on my own.

David and I became very close again, and it seemed that I was the only one there for him.

David made the decision to tell people about his disease. There was no use in hiding it; sooner or

later

people

would

find

out.

People

looked

at

him

as

if

he

had

a

plague,

and

our

friends

from

school wanted nothing to do with him. Soon after that they wanted nothing to do with me. All of a

sudden I felt that I had the disease. I didn't know what to do. My whole life was changing so fast

that

I

couldn't

keep

up.

Once

again

I

was

growing

up

and

realized

that

our

friendship

meant

everything to me. Also, I couldn't turn my back on him when he needed me the most. So I stuck it

out and lost most of my friends. The ones that still talked with me didn't come too close in fear

that they would catch the disease. The thing was, I didn't even have AIDS, so why did my friends

treat

me

like

this?

I

was

being

treated

this

way

because

teenagers

are

not

used

to

dealing

with

situations like this, and don't know how to react. So how could I blame them since I would have

done the same thing?

As time went on, David became very ill. There was nothing that I could do but watch him die.

David found out that he had full blown AIDS. This to me meant death was sure to come and all

too quickly. I wasn't ready to let him die, not yet anyway. There was so many things that I wanted

to do and say, but couldn't find the words. I went to doctor after doctor with him, and saw him go

through so much. Everyone said that I must keep a positive attitude for his sake, because attitude

means everything. So, in times of stress I was the one that had to keep things together. I pushed all

my emotions aside and was strong for him.

My mom had had a trip planned for the whole family for some time now, and still wanted to

go. She thought that the trip would do me good; she said that I was not the one that was dying. I

couldn't believe that she said that to me, but to make her happy I went. We were gone for abut 2

1

百度文库

-

让每个人平等地提升自我

weeks, and when I came back the first thing I did was go to see David. That was when I saw AIDS

for the first time. I didn't even recognize him. David had lost weight, had purple lesions all over

his body, and was very pale. He couldn't even get up when he saw me. He was bedridden. I still

had

to

be

the

strong

one

and

keep

everything

in.

I

had

brought

him

stuff

from

the

ocean,

his

favorite place. We talked about my trip and anything else we could think of. Then he fell asleep

because he could no longer stay awake for long periods of time.

On the second of May

1996, David was put in the hospital. This gave him the feeling that

there

was

no

more

hope

left,

and

that

he

was

going

to

die.

I

still

had

to

maintain

my

positive

outlook for him. He needed that in me. One day he looked at me and said,

accept that and deal with it. I know what I did was wrong and now I have to deal with it. All I

want you to do is to remember me, enjoy life and be careful.

cried. I knew that it wouldn't be long before he was gone forever. He shouldn't have to deal with

this at such a young age. Towards the end of May he became so sick that the hospital staff had a

bubble around him, so he wouldn't catch our bad germs. I hated to see him like that, and every day

it became worse. I had come to realize that any day now he would die. At night I would wonder if

he would make it through. School was over now, so I spent every hour I could in the hospital. He

was everything to me. I felt bad for the time that we had lost and how I wasn't even going to fight

for our friendship.

The fifth of June, 1996 marked the end of my best friend David's life. He went peacefully.

That was a comfort all in its own. In a way I was glad that it was over, for he was no longer in

pain. All

the

emotions

that

I

had

held

in

came

rushing out

as

I

realized

that

I

would

never

see

David again. His mother said that I had kept him alive and that she was grateful that I was her

son's last friend. It hasn't been a year yet, but I have done so much since then that I am no longer

that carefree teenager. I now educate people about AIDS, which to me is keeping David's memory

alive. Even though David is gone, he is still with me and always will be in mind and spirit.

应对艾滋病

抵抗艾滋病可以加深友谊，

增进情感交流和促进人们成熟。

在

1995

年

l0

月

16

日之前，

我是这个世界 上最无忧无虑的人，

我没有什么担忧，

只知道享受生活。

我从来没想过任何事

情会发生到我或朋友们身上。我们是所向无敌的。 直到艾滋病这个词进入我的生活。

< br>我和戴维做最好的朋友有十年了。

但是上了高中之后，

事 情起了变化。

因为我们在不同

的班，

所 以不经常一起出去玩。

这让我有点烦，但我想我们在渐渐长大，而且他会遇见更多

的朋友。

然后，

我开始注意到他经常不上学，

而且生病比以前多些。

因此，

我给他打 电话．

但

他给挂了。

我不知道该怎么办 ，

所以就又一次没管这事。

然后有一天我在商场遇见他，

就走

过去当面问他为什么我们不再是好朋友了。

他把我拽到一边，

失控地哭着告诉我他快要死了。

我不相信他 。确实，

我听说过艾滋病，但是它是一种同性恋疾病并且不会感染年轻人，

所以

我对他说这是一个恶心的玩笑后就离开了。

回到家后，事情开始变得明朗。我跑到我的房问，哭了 。戴维只有

17

岁；他不能死。

然后我 对于我们变得如此遥远感到悲伤。

我给戴维打了个电话，

要他过 来说说话。

他到了之

后，我发现他病得很严重，而这一点我以前 从未注意到。

他看起来很老，老过了他实际的年

龄。