Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Karen SONG 校对人员: Meng Wang

You know, we wake up in the morning,

我们每天早上醒来

you get dressed, put on your shoes,

着装打扮，穿上鞋

you head out into the world.

走向外面的世界

You plan on coming back, getting undressed,

盘算着回到家来，脱下衣服

going to bed,

上床睡觉

waking up, doing it again,

然后醒来，再重复这一切

and that anticipation, that rhythm,

而这种对生活的期待，这种节奏

helps give us a structure

给了我们一个框架

to how we organize ourselves and our lives,

来管理我们自己和自己的生活

and gives it a measure of predictability.

让我们能够精确预测

Living in New York City, as I do,

有多少人像我一样生活在纽约

it's almost as if, with so many people doing so many things

大家忙忙碌碌

at the same time in such close quarters,

在同一时间，相距不远

it's almost like life is dealing you extra hands

就好像从生活的那副牌中

out of that deck.

多发给你一手牌

You're never, there's just, juxtapositions are possible

并列事件不会发生

that just aren't, you don't think they're going to happen.

你从不认为它们可能发生

And you never think you're going to be the guy

而你也从未想过你会成为那个

who's walking down the street

走在街上

and, because you choose to go down one side or the other,

只是因为选择了某一边走

the rest of your life is changed forever.

人生就全然改变

And one night, I'm riding the uptown local train.

一天晚上，我坐上了上城区的区间列车

I get on. I tend to be a little bit vigilant

我试着提高了点警觉

when I get on the subway.

当我在地铁里的时候

I'm not one of the people zoning out with headphones

可不是那种沉浸在自己世界里的人，只顾听耳机

or a book.

或者看书

And I get on the car, and I look, and I

我上了车，环顾四周

notice this couple,

注意到一对情侣

college-aged, student-looking kids,

两人都是大学生模样

a guy and a girl, and they're sitting next to each other,

一个男生和一个女生，并排坐在一起

and she's got her leg draped over his knee,

女生把一条腿架在男生的膝盖上

and they're doing -- they have this little contraption,

他们在摆弄一个小玩意

and they're tying these knots,

不停地打结

and they're doing it with one hand,

而且只用一只手

they're doing it left-handed and right-handed very quickly,

迅速地换用左手和右手

and then she'll hand the thing to him and he'll do it.

女生做完又拿给男生做

I've never seen anything like this.

这是我从没见过的景象

It's almost like they're practicing magic tricks.

他们就像在变魔术一样

And at the next stop, a guy gets on the car,

在之后的一站，一个男人上了车

and he has this sort of visiting professor look to him.

他打扮的像个访问教授

He's got the overstuffed leather satchel

拿着一个塞得鼓鼓的皮包

and the rectangular file case and a laptop bag

一个长方形的文件夹，还有一个笔记本电脑包

and the tweed jacket with the leather patches,

穿着肘部有两块皮补丁的那种粗花呢外套

and — (Laughter) —

（笑声）

he looks at them, and then

看到他们

in a blink of an eye, he kneels down in front of them,

一眨眼的功夫，他已经单膝跪立在他们面前，

and he starts to say,

然后说道

"You know, listen, here's how you can do it. Look,

“你们知道吗，听我说，你们可以这么做。看着

if you do this -- " and he takes the laces out of their hand,

“请看，如果你这样做……” 他从他们手中拿过线

and instantly, he starts tying these knots,

马上开始打结

and even better than they were doing it, remarkably.

做的明显比那两个学生更好，

And it turns out they are medical students

原来这对情侣是医学院的学生

on their way to a lecture about the latest

正赶去听一个关于最新缝合技术的演讲

suturing techniques, and he's the guy giving the lecture.

而那个男人正是那位讲者

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So he starts to tell them, and he's like,

他告诉他们

"No, this is very important here. You know,

“不，这里非常重要。你们得知道

when you're needing these knots,

在打结的时候

it's going to be, you know, everything's

你们要知道

going to be happening at the same time, it's going to be --

什么都有可能发生，很可能会--

you're going to have all this information coming at you,

你要面对五花八门的情况

there's going to be organs getting in the way,

”挡路“的病人器官

it's going to be slippery,

病人体内很滑

and

还有

it's just very important that you be able to do these

这一点至关重要：你们要能够不假思索地完成动作

beyond second nature, each hand, left hand, right hand,

无论是左手还是右手

you have to be able to do them without seeing your fingers."

即使眼见看不到手指也必须完成所有工序

And at that moment, when I heard that,

当我听到这席话的那一瞬间

I just got catapulted out of the subway car into a night

我的思绪飞出了车厢，回到了那个夜晚

when I had been getting a ride in an ambulance

那晚我躺在救护车里

from the sidewalk where I had been stabbed

刚刚在人行道上被捅了几刀

to the trauma room of St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan,

被送到曼哈顿圣文森医院的清创室

and what had happened was

这其中的原委是

a gang had come in from Brooklyn.

从布鲁克林来了一伙帮派分子

As part of an initiation for three of their members,

为了替三个新加入的成员举行入伙仪式

they had to kill somebody,

他们按惯例要杀个人

and I happened to be the guy walking down Bleecker Street

而我恰巧在那天晚上

that night,

走在布利克街上

and they jumped on me without a word.

他们不由分说就袭击了我

One of the very lucky things,

幸运的是

when I was at Notre Dame, I was on the boxing team,

我曾在圣母大学参加过拳击队

so I put my hands up right away, instinctively.

所以我本能地抬起手做出防守姿势

The guy on the right had a knife with a 10-inch blade,

我右手边的一个家伙拿着一柄25公分长的刀

and he went in under my elbow,

从我手肘下方攻过来

and it went up and cut my inferior vena cava.

刀刃向上插，割断了我的下腔静脉

If you know anything about anatomy,

如果你们懂一点解剖

that's not a good thing to get cut,

就会知道这个伤很要命

and everything, of course, on the way up,

与此同时，当然，袭击还在进行

and then — I still had my hands up —

这时我仍然举着拳头

he pulled it out and went for my neck,

他拔出刀刃来刺我的脖子

and sunk it in up to the hilt in my neck,

刀从我领子那里刺进身体 直没刀柄

and I got one straight right punch

我使出一记右直拳

and knocked the middle guy out.

把中间那个家伙打倒

The other guy was still working on me,

左边那家伙仍在攻击我

collapsing my other lung,

想刺穿我另一边的肺

and I managed to, by hitting that guy, to get a minute.

我反击过去，争取到了分秒时间

I ran down the street and collapsed,

我沿街一直跑直到倒下

and the ambulance guys intubated me on the sidewalk

救护人员在人行道上帮我插管

and let the trauma room know

然后通知清创室

they had an incoming.

伤患即将到达

And one of the

大量失血

side effects of having major massive blood loss

的其中一个副作用是

is you get tunnel vision,

你的视野变得狭窄

so I remember being on the stretcher

我记得自己被抬上担架

and having a little nickel-sized cone of vision,

只能看到五分镍币那么大的地方

and I was moving my head around

我试着转头

and we got to St. Vincent's,

我们到达了圣文森医院

and we're racing down this hallway,

在走廊里狂奔

and I see the lights going,

看着顶灯一盏盏退后

and it's a peculiar effect of memories like that.

都是这类稀奇古怪的记忆

They don't really go to the usual place that memories go.

不像一般的记忆

They kind of have this vault where they're stored in high-def,

这些记忆的影像部分以超高分辨率存储

and George Lucas did all the sound effects. (Laughter)

而（刺激的）音效部分仿佛出自乔治.卢卡斯之手（笑声）

So sometimes, remembering them, it's like,

有时候，回忆当时

it's not like any other kind of memories.

浮现的那些记忆跟一般的记忆完全不同

And I get into the trauma room,

我被送到清创室

and they're waiting for me, and the lights are there,

医护人员在等我，手术灯亮着

and I'd been able to breathe a little more now,

我好不容易可以正常呼吸了

because the blood has left, had been filling up my lungs

之前因为血流到肺里

and I was having a very hard time breathing,

我很难呼吸

but now it's kind of gone into the stretcher.

而现在血流到担架床上，似乎轻松了些

And I said, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

我张口问道“有什么我能效劳的吗？”

and — (Laughter) —

然后……（笑声）

the nurse kind of had a hysterical laugh, and

护士笑的有些歇斯底里了，当时

I'm turning my head trying to see everybody,

我转着脑袋试图看清在场的每一个人

and I had this weird memory of being in college

奇怪的是，那时候我居然回想起

and raising,

在大学搞募捐的时候

raising money for the flood victims of Bangladesh,

为孟加拉洪水的灾民募捐时的情景

and then I look over and my anesthesiologist

看到麻醉师帮我把氧气面罩戴上

is clamping the mask on me, and I think,

我居然在想

"He looks Bangladeshi," — (Laughter) —

“他长得真像孟加拉人”（笑声）

and I just have those two facts, and I just think,

我得知这两件事，就觉得

"This could work somehow." (Laughter)

这能成（笑声）

And then I go out, and

然后我就昏过去了

they work on me for the rest of the night,

医生护士彻夜为我动手术

and I needed about 40 units of blood to keep me there

为了救活我，用了40单位的血

while they did their work,

手术中

and the surgeon took out about a third of my intestines,

医生取出了我三分之一的肠子

my cecum, organs I didn't know that I had,

我的盲肠，还有一些我不知道名字的器官

and he later told me one of the last things he did

医生时候告诉我他那晚在手术室做的最后一件事

while he was in there was to remove my appendix for me,

就是取掉了我的阑尾

which I thought was great, you know,

我觉得这很不错

just a little tidy thing there at the end. (Laughter)

终于有点完整的东西了（笑声）

And I came to in the morning.

第二天早上麻醉过去，我醒了过来

Out of anesthetic, he had let them know

医生告诉大家

that he wanted to be there, and he had given me

他要呆在病房里

about a two percent chance of living.

他给了我2%的生存机会

So he was there when I woke up,

我醒过来时他在身边

and it was, waking up was like

那天醒来

breaking through the ice into a frozen lake of pain.

就像是从疼痛的冻湖中破冰而出

It was that enveloping,

疼痛笼罩着我

and there was only one spot that didn't hurt

全身上下

worse than anything I'd ever felt,

唯一不那么疼的地方

and it was my instep,

是我的脚背

and he was holding the arch of my foot

医生拿住我的脚弓

and rubbing the instep with his thumb.

正用大拇指按摩我的脚背

And I looked up, and he's like,

我抬眼看他，他对我说

"Good to see you,"

“太好了，你醒了”

and I was trying to remember what had happened

我尝试回忆昨晚的事

and trying to get my head around everything,

我尝试回忆

and the pain was just overwhelming, and he said,

但全身痛不可支

"You know, we didn't cut your hair. I thought

他说“我们没有剪掉你的头发。

you might have gotten strength from your hair like Samson,

我觉得你能像参孙大力士一样从头发中获得力量

and you're going to need all the strength you can get."

你需要你能得到的一切力量（来复原）

And in those days, my hair was down to my waist,

那时我的头发长及腰间

I drove a motorcycle, I was unmarried,

我飙摩托车，未婚

I owned a bar, so those were different times. (Laughter)

开酒吧，那个时代不一样嘛（笑声）

But

但是

I had three days of life support,

我挂着一身生命支持仪器躺了三天

and everybody was expecting,

所有人都以为

due to just the massive amount of what they had had to do

受了这么重的伤

that I wasn't going to make it,

我会挺不过去

so it was three days of

三天时间里

everybody was either waiting for me to die or poop,

所有人都在关心我 死或者拉屎

and — (Laughter) —

（笑声）

when I finally pooped, then that somehow,

当我终于能大便了

surgically speaking, that's like you crossed some good line,

从外科手术的角度上讲，这就算是从鬼门关回来了

and, um — (Laughter) —

（笑声）

on that day, the surgeon came in

那一天，医生进门来

and whipped the sheet off of me.

抽走了我的床单

He had three or four friends with him,

他身边跟着三四个朋友

and he does that, and they all look,

他做了这个手势，其他人都看过来

and there was no infection,

发现我身上没有感染

and they bend over me and they're poking and prodding,

他们弯下腰来，戳戳这里，按按那里

and they're like, "There's no hematomas, blah blah,

说道“没有血肿……

look at the color," and they're talking amongst themselves

看看这颜色”，他们径自谈论着

and I'm, like, this restored automobile

我就像一台刚结束大修的车

that he's just going, "Yeah, I did that." (Laughter)

我的医生还说了句“是啊，这是我修的。”（笑声）

And it was just,

这可真是……

it was amazing, because these guys are high-fiving him

这可太神奇了，他们和我的医生击掌

over how good I turned out, you know? (Laughter)

庆祝我的康复（笑声）

And it's my zipper, and I've still got the staples in

那时我肚子上还有医用拉链啊，皮肤缝合钉啊

and everything.

这些乱七八糟的东西

And

后来

later on, when I got out

我出院后

and the flashbacks and the

经常有记忆闪回

nightmares were giving me a hard time,

做噩梦，搞得我十分痛苦

I went back to him

我又找到那位医生

and I was sort of asking him,

问他

you know, what am I gonna do?

我接下来怎么办

And I think, kind of, as a surgeon, he basically said,

作为外科医生，他的大概意思是

"Kid, I saved your life.

“小子，我救了你的命。

Like, now you can do whatever you want, like,

你现在能尽情地做你想做的事。

you gotta get on with that.

你要适应这一切。

It's like I gave you a new car

这就像我给了你一辆新车，

and you're complaining about not finding parking.

你却在抱怨停车难。

Like, just, go out, and, you know, do your best.

别想太多，努力生活吧。

But you're alive. That's what it's about."

你活着，这是最重要的”

And then I hear, "Bing-bong," and the subway doors

这时我听见“bing-bong”一声，车厢门关上了

are closing, and my stop is next, and I look at these kids,

下一站我就要下车了

and I go, I think to myself,

我看着那对学生心想

"I'm going to lift my shirt up

“我要把衬衫撩起来

and show them," — (Laughter) —

给他们看看” （笑声）

and then I think, "No, this is the New York City subway,

我转而又想，“不行，这可是纽约地铁，

that's going to lead to other things." (Laughter)

这样做会让别人误会的。”（笑声）

And so I just think, they got their lecture to go to.

所以我只是在脑子里想想罢了。他们去听讲座

I step off, I'm standing on the platform,

我下了车，站在站台上

and I feel my index finger

伸出食指

in

抚上

the first scar that I ever got,

我的第一道伤疤

from my umbilical cord,

从肚脐这儿

and then around that, is traced

绕过这儿

the last scar that I got

来到最后一道伤疤

from my surgeon,

是那位医生的杰作

and I think that, that chance encounter

我感慨万千

with those kids on the street with their knives

遇到那些带刀的街头小无赖的偶然

led me

让我遇到了

to my surgical team,

我的外科团队

and their training

他们的严格训练

and their skill

他们的卓绝医术

and, always, a little bit of luck

当然了，必须再加上一点运气

pushed back against chaos.

逆转了乾坤

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢（掌声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you. Very lucky to be here. Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢大家。我很幸运能站在这里。谢谢大家。（掌声）