The face lies on a surgical tray, eyes empty and unseeing, mouth agape, as if exclaiming, "Oh!"
那張臉被放在手術(shù)托盤上,眼睛空洞而無(wú)神,嘴巴張得大大的,好像在喊:“哦!”。
Sixteen hours ago surgeons in Operating Room 19 at the Cleveland Clinic began the delicate work of removing the face from a 31-year-old woman who was declared legally and medically dead three days earlier. Soon they will take it to a 21-year-old woman who has waited more than three years for a new face.
在此16個(gè)小時(shí)前,美國(guó)克利夫蘭診所19號(hào)手術(shù)室的外科醫(yī)生開(kāi)始了一項(xiàng)細(xì)致的工作,從一位現(xiàn)年31歲的女士頭上取下其臉部,此人三天前在法律和醫(yī)學(xué)上被宣布死亡。不久,他們將把這張臉移植在等待了三年多的21歲女性凱蒂·斯圖布爾菲爾德的臉上。
For a moment, the face rests in its astonished solitude.
有那么一會(huì)兒,這張臉顯得如此神圣。
Surgeons, residents, and nurses, suddenly silent, gaze at it in awe as clinic staff, like unusually polite paparazzi, move in with cameras to document it. The face, deprived of blood, grows pale. With each second of detachment, it looks more like a 19th-century death mask.
外科醫(yī)生、住院醫(yī)生和護(hù)士突然集體沉默下來(lái),懷著敬畏的心情注視著它,而診所的工作人員,像異常禮貌的狗仔隊(duì)一樣,帶著攝像機(jī)走進(jìn)來(lái)拍攝它。這張沒(méi)有血色的臉顯得蒼白。隨著每一秒時(shí)間的流逝,它看起來(lái)更像是19世紀(jì)的死亡面具。
Frank Papay, a veteran plastic surgeon, picks up the tray, carrying it carefully in his gloved hands, and walks to Operating Room 20, where Katie Stubblefield waits.
經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的整形外科醫(yī)生弗蘭克·帕佩伊拿起托盤,用戴著手套的手小心翼翼地拿起它,走向20號(hào)手術(shù)室,斯圖布爾菲爾德正在那里等著
Katie will be the youngest person to receive a face transplant in the United States. Her transplant, the clinic's third and the 40th known in the world, will be one of the most extensive, making her a lifelong subject in the study of this still experimental surgery.
斯圖布爾菲爾德將成為美國(guó)接受換臉手術(shù)最年輕的人。她的移植手術(shù)是克利夫蘭診所進(jìn)行的第三次、也是世界上已知的第40次類似手術(shù),她將成為這個(gè)仍處于實(shí)驗(yàn)階段的手術(shù)的終生研究對(duì)象。
Looking down at the face he carries, Papay feels a kind of reverence. It's an amazing thing, he thinks, what some people will do for others—to give them a heart or a liver, even a face. He says a silent prayer of thanks and takes the face to its next life.
看著雙手捧著的臉,帕佩伊油然而生出一種敬畏感。他認(rèn)為,有些人為別人所做的奉獻(xiàn)如此之大,包括給他們心臟或肝臟,甚至是一張臉,這是一件多么令人驚奇的事情。他默默地祈禱著,感謝上帝,然后讓這張臉走向新生。