|
《中英對照讀新聞》President Bush and wife have living wills布希總統伉儷立有生預囑
◎張沛元
A situation similar to that of Terri Schiavo would be unlikely to occur in President George W. Bush's family because both he and his wife, Laura, have living wills.
類似（女植物人）泰瑞•夏佛的情況，不可能發生在喬治•Ｗ•布希總統的家人身上，因為他與妻子蘿拉，都立有生預囑。
The first lady told reporters traveling on her plane to Afghanistan on Tuesday that she was encouraged that the Schiavo case was generating more interest in living wills.
第一夫人周二搭機前往阿富汗途中告訴記者，她對夏佛的案子讓外界對生預囑更感興趣，感到鼓舞。
“The president and I have living wills and of course our parents do and they wanted us always to be aware of it. I think that is important for families to have opportunities to talk about these issues,” she said.
「總統與我都立有生預囑，我們的雙親當然也有，他們希望我們時時注意這件事。我想家人之間有機會談論這些議題，是很重要的，」她說。
Living wills allow people to set out specific instructions on whether they want to be kept alive by extraordinary or artificial means in the event they become incapacitated.
生預囑讓民眾訂定明確的囑咐，明示當自己失去行為能力時，是否要透過特殊的或人工的方式來維持生命。
Dictionary-新聞辭典
living wills：生預囑。遺囑（will）與生預囑（living will）不同。遺囑主要是交代遺物、遺產等物質項目，而且要等到立遺囑人死後才會生效；至於生預囑，則是交代自己願意的醫療照顧，立囑人在世時便已生效。台灣法律原本並無生預囑觀念，但在民國八十九年已立法通過「安寧緩和醫療條例」，其中便針對立生預囑有所規定。
specific：形容詞，明確的；特殊的。名詞，特效藥。例句：Quinine is a specific for malaria.（奎寧是瘧疾的特效藥。）
artificial：形容詞，人造的，人為的，虛假的。例句：You can't smell the natural fragrance from an artificial flower.（人造花聞不到天然芳香。）
incapacitate：動詞，使不能，使喪失能力，褫奪資格。
|
