清明節剛過去，咱們也來聊聊life和death。
這并不是一篇紀念逝者的抒情文，也不是一篇激勵生者的雞湯文。借此機會，我用雙語和大家分享一些我對生與死的理解，可以學到一些英文表述和常識，也可以通過另一種語言來從另一個角度來理解生與死。
首先，清明節的英文表達是Tomb-Sweeping Day，直譯過來就是“掃墓日”。之所以不用Festival這個詞，是因為festival通常都和“喜慶的氣氛”聯系在一起（參考下圖）。
說到這兒順便給大家介紹一個很好用的網站，British National Corpus，直接搜索就能找到。要想知道某個詞最常見的用法以及某幾個詞分別在那些場合用比較地道，這個網站可以給出很好的參考。
根據百度百科釋義，清明節“不僅是人們祭奠祖先、緬懷先烈的節日，也是中國民族認祖歸宗的紐帶，更重要的是認識先輩。看自己的不足，修正自己，帶動后人。感悟人生的價值，去除先輩遺留的干枝枯葉，保留可借鑒的新芽，弘揚正能量”。這一段如果用英文表達，就是：
It is a time not only for people to pay homage to deceased family members, ancestors and heroes who sacrificed their lives for peace, but also for people of up to 25 ethnic groups to identify with the past generations. It is a moment for introspection, which is? a reminder for us of what we have done wrong and what influences we could have on future generations, and of what should be abandoned as well as what should be preserved and further promoted in our culture.
pay homage to sb. 向某人致敬
也可以說pay respect to sb.
在英文中，“死”的說法有很多種，多數情況下都用委婉語(euphemism)來表達敬意，這和中文是相通的。不同的語境中用到的說法不一樣：
動詞以及動詞詞組：
die, vi. 死亡
在醫院，如果病人搶救無效離開人世，一般醫生會宣布病人死亡，表達是：
As Dr. X called it, his/her time of death was …
… was pronounced dead by Dr. X. at + time
這個詞是最直截了當的表達，所以一般用這個詞的場合也就是醫院，這個與“溫情”格格不入的地方。（關于醫院，文章后面還會提到）
sacrifice, vi. & vt. 犧牲
這個詞不一定表示“獻出生命”，如果要表達這個意思，需要加上賓語one’s life
pass away/on, vi. 去世
go to a better place, vi. 上天堂了
這個詞組直譯為“去了更好的地方”，而大部分以英語為通用語言的國家的人一般都信奉基督教（分支），他們認為比人間“更好的地方”是天堂，所以這個用法被意譯成“上天堂了”。
e.g.
My dog went to a better place after sharing all his 14 years of life with me.
我的狗上天堂了，他陪我走過了14年。（這句話是我的一個外國朋友說的，他覺得他的狗是他最好的朋友之一）
cease to exist, vi.不復存在
這個詞組一般用來描述無生命的東西，比如公司，組織等。
e.g.
Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991.
前蘇聯于1991年解體。
perish, vi. 溘然長逝
習語：
kick the bucket, vi. 翹辮子了
我聽過外國朋友在講述他家里的一位關系很好的生前充滿幽默感的親人時用了這個說法：
Uncle Mike kicked the bucket after being tortured by stomach cancer for two years.
麥克叔叔被胃癌折磨了兩年，還是走了。
rest in peace, vi.安息
這個說法一般用在提到一個生前受人尊敬的人時用：
e.g.
May Dr. Smith rest in peace! He saved more lives than we could count.
史密斯醫生生前救助的人數不勝數，愿他在天堂安息！
名詞以及名詞詞組：
demise, n. 死亡（正式或幽默的用法）
the deceased, n. 逝者
這個用法一般是在法律文件中出現
好了，語言點講完了，咱們來嘮嘮想法。話說在前面，下面的話可能會讓你不舒服，畢竟我不煽情，不像大多數人一年一次儀式感地思考生死。關于死亡，也許我們還想得不夠。
這里我說說我對兩個現象的思考。
第一個現象：
在我們的主流文化中，“死”是禁忌。聊天中觸及到這個詞，都會有人使眼色或者轉到另一個話題上。很多人明知道自己不久于人世，卻不愿或者不能安排后事，看起來這是為了家庭和諧，其實為以后的種種矛盾埋下了伏筆。還有人不知道具體出于什么心態，對親人的痛苦視而不見，他們生命的尊嚴在最后的歲月消失殆盡，生比死還難熬。
In our mainstream culture, death is a taboo topic. As soon as it is touched upon in conversations, there will be warning or the topic will be shifted to something else. There are a number of people who? refuse to put things in order despite their awareness of their own imminent departure to another world. It might be interpreted as keeping family harmony, but actually it leads to endless trouble. There are also other people who, with unknown intentions, ignore the pains and sufferings of their loved ones, whose dignity is gone in the last moments of their life, where death is an easier way out than life.
死亡這件事，是誰都躲不過的終點，與其避而不談，不如早點兒做好安排。
No matter how hard we try, death is our shared destination. It is better to contemplate and discuss it than to pretend it is not important.
有本書叫《最好的告別》(Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End)，作者自己是外科醫生，講述了不少他親身經歷或是他親耳所聞的發人深省的關于生與死的故事。推薦給大家看，可能在讀的時候會覺得難以接受，但是總比一年一次象征性地思考生死更有意義。
還有一本書，叫《相約星期二》(Tuesdays with Morrie)，上過我的課的學生基本上都被我推薦過這本書。作者記錄了自己的大學老師施瓦茨教授的生命最后十四周，每周二作者和教授都會深入地談論一個話題，包括死亡。施瓦茨教授患有肌肉漸凍癥，目前還是不治之癥，2014年社交網站上非常火的“冰桶挑戰”就是為了研究這個病的治療的捐款活動。我推薦大家讀這本書的原版，一本很薄語言也很簡單的書。但是內容觸動內心。
對生的敬意，也體現在對死亡的了解和接受上。
How much we understand and accept death is one way to show our respect to life.
第二個現象：
醫生竭盡全力但是搶救無效離開的病人家屬醫鬧不停，讓醫生這個本該受到全社會尊敬的職業變成了燙手的山芋，很多人不想考醫學院，很多醫生也不希望自己的孩子繼續自己的道路，哪怕他們的孩子從小耳濡目染也立志救死扶傷。
Not all deaths that happen in hospital are the result of medical malpractice. Disgruntled family members of patients in situations where bad news came despite doctors’ and nurses’ every attempt to save the patients’ lives have assaulted the medical workers. Such incidents are discouraging for doctors-to-be and doctors, who don’t want their children, whose life has revolved around hospital since childhood, to practice medicine.
明明自己也想沾現代醫學進步的光，可是當得知犧牲的是自己或自己的家人，馬上就會改口，質問為什么自己非得遭這種罪，總要找個人來負責，那就找醫生吧！然而，醫生也是人，他們只能盡力救死扶傷，卻不能給出任何保證——在死亡這件事上，誰都沒法給出任何保證。如果醫生遵守了他們的誓言，盡最大努力運用了現代醫學，無奈死神還是更快一步，那么為什么要怪罪醫生呢？
We all want to benefit from the advancement of modern medicine, as long as neither we nor anyone we care about is sacrificed for such advancement. When bad news comes, we resent that it has happened to us, which subsequently leads us to blame the doctors. After all, it is the doctors who fail to save lives. But doctors are mortals, who are not omnipotent gods and goddesses. Nobody's tomorrows are guaranteed. If the doctors have done what they are supposed to do by exhausting all the possibilities in medicine, why should they get blamed?
要知道，今天因為醫鬧而不能繼續從醫的醫生，很可能是明天那個本來可以救助你自己生命的人。我對legal high里面古美門律師在一起醫療糾紛為醫院方辯護的辯護詞深有感觸：“死亡，在醫學世界里是有意義的，死亡才是希望。我們能做的，只有對現在還活著的生命心懷慈悲。”
It does not occur to some people that the doctors and nurses who cannot continue to practice medicine because of the assault this time might as well be the people who could have saved the assailants’ lives next time. I am deeply impressed by the defence speech made by Komikado Sensei on behalf of the hospital involved in an alleged medical malpractice lawsuit. In court, he said “death is meaningful in the medical world, and actually death is hope. What we can do is be merciful to the ones that are alive.”
在我們祭奠完先人和先烈之后，也別忘了紀念在本不該發生的醫鬧中逝去的醫護人員，他們本是站在死亡線上把患者奮力拉回去的人，現在卻長眠于另一個世界了。
After we paid homage to our ancestors and heroes, let’s not forget to pay our respect to the doctors and nurses who left us because of the assaults that should never have happened. They were supposed to be the last hope between life and death, but now they are in another world. May they rest in peace!
對逝者心懷敬意，對生者心存慈悲。
Be respectful to the deceased, and be merciful to the alive.
喬布斯在2005年斯坦福大學畢業演講中提到一個拉丁語說法: Memento mori，直譯成英文是be mindful of death，也就是“記住人們都會死亡”。重要的是，在這不確定長短的歲月里，我們怎樣度過。
