與世界分享母親的最后時(shí)刻

Host： Our weekend edition host Scott Simon has put his mother’s stories on the air before. Well， recently， Scott has been telling a different story about his mother. She went into the 1）ICU over a week ago and last night she died. She was 84 years old. Scott has been tweeting the entire experience of sitting and sleeping at his mother’s bedside， a lyrical and quite public way of saying goodbye.

Tell us how you ended up making this announcement on Twitter.

Scott： You know， I have an active Twitter account， as you know. And when I first went to my mother in the ICU here in Chicago， more than a week ago at this point， I didn’t…I didn’t know it was going to be her deathbed. And I， of course， was hoping and praying that it wouldn’t be her deathbed. But she just was so interesting. She was funny and perceptive and bright and sparkling， and this is just something that I wanted to share.

Host： One example from yesterday： I know the end might be near as this is the only day of my adulthood I’ve seen my mother and she hasn’t asked， “Why that shirt？”

Scott： Yes， indeed. That was a constant source of 2）byplay between the two of us： “Why that shirt， why that shirt and tie？”—that sort of thing. You know， I…I always tried to dress well for her and I always felt I could never dress quite well enough for her. Although， I’m…I’m glad on the last day we had with each other， she looked up from her bed and said， “You really look lovely today.”

Host： What was her understanding of you sharing this experience with so many people？ I mean， you have 1.3 million followers on Twitter and that’s a lot of people to share what 3）ostensibly is a sacred moment.

Scott： Well， I…I don’t think it’s any less sacred because it was shared with a lot of people. I mean， my mother was to a degree a public figure. And I didn’t tweet anything and wouldn’t have， that I didn’t think she would be totally comfortable with.

But when she， for example—I think when the reality that these were her last few days， or even hours， was beginning to crash in on her， when she just looked up and said， “I guarantee you， those great deathbed speeches， they were all written in advance.” I mean， that’s just so funny and wise， I think it deserves to be shared.

And when she told me， she said， “Honey， always take time with people in their 80s.” I hear her voice coming back into mind now： “Always take time with people in their 80s， because for more than a decade they’ve been looking right across the street at death and they know what’s really important in life.” I don’t know about you， but I’m—I can stand to hear that message.

She and I sang to each other a lot in…in the ICU. But a song that kept popping up and we kept singing to each other...is Nat King Cole singing“Unforgettable.”

And I will hear that song again for the rest of my life. And I bet I will sing it to my wife and sing it to my children. I will never hear that song without thinking of my mother.

主持人：我們節(jié)目的周末主持人斯科特·西蒙曾經(jīng)讓他的母親上過(guò)電臺(tái)節(jié)目。不過(guò)，最近斯科特一直在講述一個(gè)關(guān)于他母親不一樣的故事。他母親一個(gè)多星期前進(jìn)了重癥監(jiān)護(hù)病房，昨晚，她去世了，享年84歲。在這期間，斯科特一直在推特上講述他陪坐在母親病床前，在她床邊入睡的這段經(jīng)歷。他以一種深情而又非常公開(kāi)的方式向母親告別。

請(qǐng)你跟我們說(shuō)說(shuō)你怎么會(huì)在推特上做這事的？

斯科特：你也知道，我是一名活躍的推特用戶。一個(gè)多星期前，我第一次到芝加哥的重癥監(jiān)護(hù)病房看望我母親，那時(shí)我……我并不知道她已生命垂危。當(dāng)然，我也在暗自祈禱她的生命還沒(méi)有到頭。但躺在病床上的她很有意思。她很有趣，善解人意，樂(lè)天向上，歡快，這些正是我想與大家分享的。

主持人：昨天你發(fā)了這樣一篇推文：我明白最后的時(shí)刻就要到了，因?yàn)檫@是在我成年后惟一的一次我母親見(jiàn)到我，卻沒(méi)有問(wèn)：“為什么穿這件襯衣？”

斯科特：是的，確實(shí)如此。那是我們母子倆之間經(jīng)常上演的插曲。“為什么穿這件襯衣？為什么這件襯衣配這條領(lǐng)帶？”等等諸如此類(lèi)的對(duì)話。你知道嗎，我總是會(huì)盡量精心打扮去見(jiàn)她，可我又覺(jué)得我怎么穿都無(wú)法讓她滿意。不過(guò)，我們?cè)谝黄鸬淖詈笠惶?，她躺在床上抬眼看了看我，說(shuō)：“你今天看上去真帥?！蔽摇液荛_(kāi)心。

主持人：她對(duì)你與這么多人分享這段經(jīng)歷有多少了解？我是說(shuō)，你在推特上有130萬(wàn)的聽(tīng)眾，也就是說(shuō)，有非常多的人在與你分享這些看起來(lái)很神圣的時(shí)刻。

斯科特：嗯，我不認(rèn)為與他人分享這些就讓事情變得不那么神圣。我的意思是，我母親從某種程度上說(shuō)也是一個(gè)公眾人物。如果有什么事情讓她有一絲不快的，我都不會(huì)，也不曾把它放到推特上。

但當(dāng)她……比如說(shuō)——我覺(jué)得，當(dāng)她意識(shí)到她只剩下幾天，甚至幾個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)候，她抬眼看看，說(shuō)：“我敢說(shuō)，那些了不起的臨終遺言肯定是事前寫(xiě)好的。”我想說(shuō)的是，她當(dāng)時(shí)還是那么風(fēng)趣，那么睿智，我覺(jué)得這些都應(yīng)該與大家分享。

然后，她對(duì)我說(shuō)：“親愛(ài)的，要花時(shí)間與年逾八旬的人在一起?！蔽掖丝桃材苈?tīng)到她的聲音在耳邊響起：“要花時(shí)間與年逾八旬的人在一起，因?yàn)樗麄冇惺嗄甑臅r(shí)間都在盯著馬路對(duì)面的死神，他們明白在生活中什么是最重要的?！蔽也恢滥阍趺聪?，可我……我準(zhǔn)備好再次聽(tīng)到這句話。

我倆在重癥監(jiān)護(hù)病房里會(huì)相互給對(duì)方唱歌。不過(guò)，有一首歌常冒出來(lái)，我們經(jīng)常為對(duì)方唱……那就是由納特·金·科爾演唱的《難忘的》。

我這一輩子都會(huì)不斷重聽(tīng)這首歌，我肯定會(huì)對(duì)我妻子兒女唱這首歌。每一次聽(tīng)到這首歌，我一定會(huì)想到我的母親。

翻譯：丁一

Nat King Cole

納特·金·科爾是美國(guó)著名的黑人歌唱家。他原名Nathaniel Adams Coles，后得外號(hào)“歌王”（King）。他以唱民謠為主，嗓音略帶沙啞，演唱自然、優(yōu)美，在上世紀(jì)中期，他是美國(guó)最受歡迎的歌手之一。他最著名的歌曲包括：《圣誕歌》（The Christmas Song）、《蒙娜麗莎》（Mona Lisa）、《難忘的》（Unforgettable）等。他的女兒Natalie Cole也是有名的歌手。

附：《難忘的》（Unforgettable）歌詞

Unforgettable， that’s what you are/Unforgettable， tho’ near or far/Like a song of love that clings to me/How the thought of you does things to me/Never before has someone been more/Unforgettable， in every way/And forever more， that’s how you’ll stay/That’s why， darling， it’s incredible/That someone so unforgettable/Thinks that I am， unforgettable， too/Unforgettable， in every way/And forever more， that’s how you’ll stay/That’s why， darling， it’s incredible/That someone so unforgettable/Thinks that I am unforgettable， too.