(1997年考研英语真题.docxVIP

1997-1After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australias NorthernTerritory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives ofincurably ill patients who wish to die.经过6个月的争论和最后16小时的国会激烈辩论，澳大利亚北部州成为世界上第一个允许医生根据绝症病人个人意愿来结束其生命的合法当局。The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10.这个法案以令人信服的15票对10票通过。Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by JohnHofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada.几乎同时，该消息就出现在互联网上，身处地球另一端的加拿大死亡权利协会执行主席JH收到了该消息。The full import may take a while to sink in.（该法案的）重要性可能需要一段时间才能为人们所完全理解。The NT Rights of the Terminally Ill law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal withits moral and practical implications.澳大利亚北部州晚期病人权利法促使无论是内科医生还是普通市民都极力想要领会其道德和实践的含义。Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right-to-life groups and theAustralian Medical Association bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage.But the tide is unlikely to turn back.一些人如释重负，另一些人，包括教会、生命权利组织以及澳大利亚医学会对于这个法案及其草率的通过进行了猛烈抨击。In Australia—where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing communityattitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law todeal with euthanasia.在澳大利亚，人口老龄化、延长寿命技术以及多变的社会态度都发挥着各自作用，其它州也将考虑制定类似的法律来处理安乐死问题。In the US and Canada, where the right-to-die movement is gathering strength, observers arewaiting for the dominoes to start falling.在美国和加拿大，死亡权利运动正蓄势待发，观察家们正等着多米诺骨牌开始倒下。For Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights ofTerminally Ill law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: aterrifying death from his breathing condition. 对于现年54岁居住在达尔文地区的肺癌患者LN而言，这个法律的通过意味着他可以平静地照常生活下去而无需整日惧怕即将来临的痛苦：因呼吸困难而痛苦的死去。“Im not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how Id go,because Ive watched people die in the hospital fighting for o