她贏得了翅膀

EARNING HER WINGS

At the end of her shift, Lois, a surgical and intensive care nurse for thirty years, was eager to go home to a hot bath and a novel. As she pulled out of the hospital parking lot, she saw the nearby ambulance station and felt an unexplainable urge to stop and greet the paramedics, most of whom she had worked with in the past as an EMT. The closer she got, the stronger she felt compelled to stop.

She had barely entered the building and greeted her friends when the phone rang. “There’s been an accident of two cars,” the head nurse said. “We’re understaffed today and could sure use your experience, Lois. Will you come with us?”

Instinctively, she climbed into one of the ambulances. As a bright yellow sunset hung over the Rocky Mountains, Lois felt an unseen force urging her to help. The sirens shrieked and they soon arrived at the accident site. While paramedics attended to an injured man in one car, Lois checked the vital signs of a woman sitting in the other car. There was no blood or visible signs of injury and the woman said nothing, but stared at Lois with vacant eyes.

Lois suspected a brain concussion, but kept her thoughts to herself. Hoping to comfort the woman, she said, “Looks like you’re going to be fine, but just to be on the safe side, we’ll take you to the hospital.”

The woman continued to stare at Lois, silently, as if her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

The injured man was loaded into an ambulance that sped away and the nurses placed the woman into a second ambulance. En route to the hospital, Lois held the patient’s hands and comforted her with assurances that everything was going to be fine.

The following morning when Lois reported for duty, she discovered that the woman accident victim was a patient on her floor. After checking her chart, Lois was relieved to see she was well enough to be discharged.

She entered the room and introduced herself. “I’m Lois, your nurse. How are you feeling?”

The patient blinked her eyes and her face turned white. “Are you real or am I hallucinating?”

“Oh, I’m real, I assure you.” Lois gently held the woman’s hand and checked her pulse.

“A...are you sure you’re not a…an angel?”

Lois smiled and attached the blood pressure cuff. “Nurses are often referred to as angels of mercy.”

Her patient continued to stare at Lois and whispered, “I mean a real angel.”

Lois raised her eyebrows. “A pair of wings would be handy, but, believe me, I’m just as human as you are.”

The woman shook her head. “Last night I was in a car accident and thought I might die. The sun was slipping behind the mountains when suddenly an angel appeared in a halo of light. When she touched me, I felt a surge of love and knew God sent her to reassure me that I’d live.” She clasped Lois’ hands. “You look and sound exactly like her except you don’t have wings!”

【日積月累】

◇intensive care n. 重病特別護理

◇sirens n. 警笛，汽笛

◇brain concussion 腦震蕩

◇hallucinate v. 出現幻覺，使產生幻覺

cuff n. 袖口，護腕

halo n.（日月周圍的）暈輪，光環

【參考譯文】

她贏得了翅膀

路易斯擔任手術和重癥特別看護已經30年了。一天，快下班的時候，她只想回家泡個熱水澡，看看小說。當她把車開出醫院停車場時，她看見了附近的救護車站，突然感到一股莫名的急迫感，讓她停下車去跟護理人員打招呼。里面絕大多數人員在她當緊急救護技術員的時候一起同事過。她走的越近，那股要她停下來的迫切感就變得越強烈。

當她正要走進大樓和她的同事打照面時，她的手機響了。護理長說：“出了車禍，兩車相撞。今天我們人手不夠，而你又有很豐富的經驗，路易斯。你能過來幫我們一把嗎？”

她本能地上了一輛救護車。當時緋紅色的太陽正落到落基山那頭，路易斯感到一股發自內心的動力要她出手相助。警笛一路響著，他們很快就到了事發地點。護士們照料著一輛車里受傷的一名男士，而路易斯則去查看另一輛車里的女士是否有生命跡象。那位女士身上沒有血跡，也沒有可見的傷口。但是她一言不發，兩眼空洞地看著路易斯。

路易斯懷疑她可能傷成了腦震蕩，但是沒說出來。為了安慰她，路易斯說：“你看上去沒事，不過為了安全起見，我們還是會帶你去醫院。”

女人依舊不做聲，繼續盯著路易斯，雙眼仿佛就要從眼眶里迸出來了。

那位男傷者被抬進一輛救護車，火速送進了醫院。護理人員把這位女士抬進了另一輛救護車。在前往醫院的路上，路易斯一直握著她的手，安慰她說不會有事。

第二天早上，路易斯來報到上班時，發現那位出車禍的女人就在她負責的那層樓。查看過她的情況記錄后，路易斯發現她沒大礙，可以出院了，為此松了一口氣。

她走進她的病房，自我介紹說：“我叫路易斯，是你的護士。感覺怎么樣？”

病人眨眨她的眼睛，臉一下子變白了：“你是真實的嗎？還是我產生幻覺了？”

路易斯輕輕地握著她的手，檢查她的脈搏：“噢，我是真實的，我保證。”

“你……確定你不是天使嗎？”

路易斯笑了，把血壓測量儀摘了下來。“護士常常被稱作愛心天使。”

她的病人繼續看著她，嘀咕道：“我說的是真正的天使。”

路易斯的眉毛揚了起來：“有對翅膀會很方便，不過，相信我，我和你一樣就是個凡人。”

女病人搖了搖頭。“昨晚我遭遇了一起車禍，我以為我會死掉。當時太陽正從山的那頭滑下去，突然一位天使在一個光環里出現了。當她觸摸到我時，我突然感到一股愛的力量，知道上帝派她過來告訴我我還活著。”她抓緊路易斯的手：“除了沒有翅膀外，你和那位天使長得一模一樣。”

【人生啟迪】

每一個熱心幫助他人的人都是墜落在人間插著隱形翅膀的天使。所以不要放過每次能力所能及幫助別人的機會。那個時候你就是他們眼中的天使。