May 12 Florence Nightingale’s Birthday
In 1837,to the age of seventeen,Florence Nightingale decided to become a nurse,which horrified1) her whimsical2) mother.In those days,nurses were little more than janitors3),and hospitals were pits of squalor and neglect.Nightingale pressed on,and in 1853she became superintendent4) of a small London hospital.She went on to the Crimea when war broke out there between Britain and Russia.She established the first of what we now know as war hospitals:sanitary,safe,and stocked with supplies.Her tireless ministrations to the wounded soldiers made her famous all over the world.Following the war,Nightingale avoided fame and continued to train nurses,ever battling against what she herself declared“a commonly received idea...that it requires nothing but a disappointment in love,or incapacity5) in other things,to turn a woman into a good nurse.”Since 1921,her birthday has been the centerpiece of National Hospital Week,observed in British and American hospitals with special exhibitions,workshops,and publicity drives.
佛羅倫薩·南丁格爾的誕辰
1837年,將滿17歲的佛羅倫薩·南丁格爾決定當(dāng)一名護(hù)士,這個(gè)想法讓她多奇思怪想的母親驚駭不已。當(dāng)時(shí),護(hù)士的地位比看門(mén)人高不了多少,而醫(yī)院又是骯臟不堪無(wú)人關(guān)懷的地方。南丁格爾卻堅(jiān)持不渝,并在1853年成為倫敦一家小醫(yī)院的院長(zhǎng)。英俄戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)爆發(fā)后,她前往克里米亞。她建立了第一所我們現(xiàn)在所說(shuō)的戰(zhàn)地醫(yī)院:衛(wèi)生、安全、設(shè)備充足。她對(duì)傷員不知疲倦的照顧使她譽(yù)滿全球??死锩讈啈?zhàn)后,南丁格爾不計(jì)個(gè)人的美名,繼續(xù)培養(yǎng)護(hù)士,并一直與人們對(duì)護(hù)士的偏見(jiàn)進(jìn)行著斗爭(zhēng)。她自己把這種偏見(jiàn)描述作“一種普遍為人所接受的看法---要使一位女性成為一名好護(hù)士,惟一的條件是情場(chǎng)失意或在其他方面一無(wú)所能。”1921年以來(lái),她的生日一直是英美全國(guó)醫(yī)院周的中心內(nèi)容,各醫(yī)院都在這一周舉辦特別的展覽、討論會(huì)和宣傳活動(dòng)。
NOTE 注釋?zhuān)?/span>
horrified [`hCrIfaId] adj. 驚悸的, 驚駭?shù)?/span>
whimsical [5(h)wimzikEl] adj. 奇思怪想的, 古怪的
janitor [5dVAnitE] n. 看門(mén)人
superintendent [7sju:pErin5tendEnt] n. 負(fù)責(zé)人, 管理者
incapacity [7inkE5pAsiti] n. 無(wú)能力