【往期回顾】
【本期内容】
The car accident that changed my life
那场车祸改变了我的生活
In this story my family and I were in a bad car accident that leaves me left in the hospital. This is about how the accident started and what was left behind after the whole thing ended from the damages to the car and the damages to my family and myself.
在这个故事中，我和家人发生了一场严重的车祸，我被送进了医院。这是关于事故是如何发生的，事故对车子以及我的家人和我自己造成了什么损害，整个事件结束后对我们造成了什么影响。
Chapter 1 December Night
第一章 十二月之夜
Accidents can happen to anyone at any given time with no warnings. My family and I didn’t think that it was ever going to happen to us, but we were wrong. It was a cold December night in 2007, a night I will never forget. It was just my mother and stepfather in the front seat, my little younger brother and sister in the back seat and my older brother and I in the farther seats of our 2001 grey van. We were on our way home from my grandmother’s house after an anniversary party for my mother and stepfather’s one-year marriage. We were all getting ready for the big Christmas dinner the next morning, But then something took a huge turn. We were not even five minutes away from our home when then the next thing I heard was a loud “BANG”, tires skidding, braking, and screams coming from inside our car. A red truck with no headlights drove straight into the right side of our van. My sight was becoming very blurry after my head had come into contact with the window. I sat there thinking that the world was spinning faster than ever, not realizing it was our car rolling, not the earth. After the car stop rolling I tried to move but something was pushing down on me. The last thing I could remember was my older brother grabbing my hand while screaming my name.
在没有任何提醒的情况下，事故可能在任何特定时间发生在任何人身上。我和我的家人都没想到这会发生在我们身上，但是我们错了。那是2007年12月一个寒冷的夜晚，一个我永远也不会忘记的夜晚。当时只有我母亲和继父坐在前排，我弟弟和妹妹坐在后座，我和哥哥坐在我们2001年的灰色面包车的更后排的座位上。在我母亲和继父结婚一年的周年纪念派对结束后，我们正从祖母家离开后回家的路上。我们都在为第二天早上的圣诞大餐做准备，但后来事情发生了巨大的转变。我们离家还不到五分钟，接下来我听到的是“砰”一声巨响，轮胎打滑，刹车声和尖叫声从我们的车里传出来。一辆没有前灯的红色卡车直接驶入我们面包车的右侧。我的头撞到窗户后，我的视线变得非常模糊。我坐在那里，心想整个世界比以往任何时候都旋转得更快，却没有意识到是我们的汽车在滚动，而不是地球。汽车停下来后，我试图移动，但有什么东西压在我身上。我记得的最后一件事是我哥哥一遍拽着我的手，一边大叫着我的名字。
Chapter 2 The Hospital
第二章 医院
“Doctor, Doctor, will she be okay?” my mother screamed at the doctor as I lay there in the hospital bed in a coma, helpless. I had machines that did everything for me, fed me, breathed for me, used the bathroom for me, even kept my heart beating. Every night my mother slept in the hospital bed right next to me, waiting for me to wake up. It was a warm May morning in 2008 when I slowly opened my eyes. “Mother, are you there?” I cried. My mom leaped out of her chair and ran down the halls to get the doctors. When my vision became clear there was everyone standing around my bed with tears in their eyes. Doctors and nurses were surprised to see me awake after taking a few vital signs. Everything came back normal.
“医生，医生，她会没事的吗？”当我躺在医院的病床上无助地昏迷时，我母亲冲着医生尖叫道。机器为我做了所有的事情，给我喂食，帮我呼吸，帮我上厕所，甚至帮助我心跳。每天晚上，我妈妈都睡在我旁边的病床上，等我醒来。那是2008年5月一个温暖的早晨，我慢慢睁开了眼睛。“妈妈，你在吗？”我哭喊道。我妈妈从椅子上跳了起来，跑下大厅去找医生。当我的视线变得清晰时，大家都站在我的床周围，眼里噙着泪水。在给我做了一些生命体征检查后，医生和护士们看到我醒过来了，都很惊讶。一切都恢复了正常。
Chapter 3 Getting Back On Track
第三章 回到正轨
The next few weeks were tough. I had to learn how to walk and and feed myself again. It took about two weeks before I had learned to use the bathroom on my own and be able to wash my hands. I wanted to become independent again and not have to worry about having someone doing the work for me. I had to attend therapy three times a week for two months. It wasn’t an easy process, but when you have parents there to support you and cheer you on, then you know you are able to accomplish things you never thought possible. I worked so hard those two months to gain back my independence and after a few months I was able to walk, eat, shower, use the restroom and dress myself without any help. The doctors were impressed with the progress that I had been making. When they took an MRI of my brain, they found the left side was smooshed up. The doctors weren’t sure if it would have an effect on my learning. I was sent to a tutor and they were dumbfounded when they realized that I could learn the same speed as other students in my grade.
接下来的几周很艰难。我不得不重新学会走路和吃饭。我花了大约两周的时间才学会自己使用卫生间，学会自己洗手。我想重新独立，而不必担心让人帮我做这一切。我必须在两个月内每周接受三次治疗。这不是一个容易的过程，但当你有父母在那里支持你并为你加油时，你就知道你能够完成你从未想过可能完成的事情。在那两个月里，我非常地努力，以恢复独立；几个月后，我可以在没有任何帮助的情况下走路、吃饭、洗澡、上厕所和穿衣服了。医生们对我所取得的进展印象深刻。当他们对我的大脑左侧进行核磁共振成像时，他们发现我的左大脑被挤扁了。医生们不确定这是否会对我的学习产生影响。我被送到一位家庭教师那里，当他们意识到我可以和同年级的其他学生一样学习时，他们都惊呆了。
Chapter 4 The Struggle
第四章 拼命努力
Summer had already started and as a little child it was the time that we could let all the knowledge we learned drain out of our ears. I, on the other hand, had to attend summer school or I would have been held back. It was a very challenging time, I had the sound that is made when you jump into the pool on a hot June day. I had the smell of hamburgers on the grill. I lost my focus very easily and I got angry at the teacher who was trying to help me. I didn’t think that it was fair that I had to pay for someone else’s mistake. My mom had seen the struggle I was having with the work. She was upset: how I was spending my summer in aroom most of the day. It only took 9 weeks and I had finished the work that I was behind on and I passed summer school and I was able to go onto the next grade.
夏天已经开始了，作为一个小孩子，这是我们可以忘掉学到的所有知识的时候。但是，我必须上暑期学校，否则我就会落后的。那是一个非常具有挑战性的时刻，我听到了六月炎热的日子里你跳进游泳池时发出的声音。我闻到了烤架上汉堡的味道。我很容易失去注意力，我对试图帮助我的老师发脾气了。我认为我必须为别人的错误付出代价是不公平的。我妈妈看到了我在课堂上的挣扎。她很难过：我夏天大部分时间都在教室里怎么过啊。只花了9周的时间，我就完成了落后的课业，从暑期学校毕业，我就可以上下一个年级了。
Chapter 5 Remembering the accident
第五章 回忆事故
It was October of 2008 almost one year after the horrible accident. It was brought up every night at the dinner table how blessed my family was that I survived. I wasn’t too sure on what happened that night, so one night at dinner I asked my parents “What happened in the accident?” My parents both looked at each other and had me sit down in the living room. They played a tap in the VCR; it was a recording of the news report of our accident. It was the van that my family and I were riding in; the windows were all broken, the doors were pulled off and in the back the roof of the car was bent in. I looked at my parents and they told me, “We were on our way home when a drunk driver in a red pickup truck smashed into the side of the van. The van rolled over six times, you smashed your head against the window causing your head injury. Your brothers were beat up pretty bad with cuts from the glass and hitting their heads on the seats. Your little sister survived with just a little bruised chin. While your mother and I had a few broken ribs and slight headaches from the airbags.” I sat there with nothing to say, until I stumbled out “Why was I hurt so bad?” My mother said with tears in her eyes “Your seat belt snapped and while the van was rolling it hit a curb on your side which caused the roof to cave in and squish you.”
那是2008年10月，距离那场可怕的事故已经过去了将近一年。每天晚上的餐桌上都会提到我的家人是多么的幸运，因为我活了下来。我不太确定那天晚上发生了什么，所以有一天晚上吃晚饭时，我问父母：“当时车祸时到底发生了什么？”。我父母面面相觑，让我坐在客厅里。他们打开录像机播放了一个录像带，是我们事故新闻报道的录像。录像里是我和家人乘坐的面包车；车窗都碎了，车门被扯下，车顶在后面卷进了车里。我看着父母，他们告诉我：“当时我们在回家的路上，一个开着红色皮卡的醉酒司机撞上了面包车的侧面。面包车翻滚了六次，你的头撞在窗户上，导致头部受伤。你两个兄弟被玻璃割伤得很厉害，头撞在座位上。你妹妹只受了一点擦伤，幸免于难。而你妈妈和我有几根肋骨断了，还有撞击安全气囊引起的轻微头痛。”我坐在那里，不知道说什么，直到我吞吞吐吐地问道：“我为什么伤得这么重？”我母亲含着泪水说：“你的安全带断了，当面包车滚动时，它撞到了你一侧的路缘石上，导致车顶塌陷，把你压扁了。”
Chapter 6 My Story
第六章 我的故事
It took over two years to get over the accident that put me and my family into danger. We never drove down that street after the accident, because we were too scared to see the damages left behind. It was in December we drove down that street after the car accident five years later. And driving on the road you can feel a dent in the road left behind from the van. I wouldn’t change what happened to me because it opened my mind about the dangers of the road and I have a story to share with everyone and how this accident has changed mine and my family’s lives but how it also brought us closer together. Every time my family and I get into our family car and drive on the road, we keep a sharp eye out for the little dangers that can occur, because the accident that we experienced was unexpected.
这场事故使我和我的家人陷入危险，我花了两年多的时间才从中恢复过来。事故发生后，我们再也没有开车沿着那条街行驶过，因为我们太害怕了，看不得事故留下的损痕。那是在12月，车祸发生五年后，我们沿着那条街行驶。在路上行驶时，你可以感觉到面包车在路上留下的凹痕。我不会改变发生在我身上的事情，因为它让我意识到了路上的危险，我有一个故事要与大家分享，这场事故如何改变了我和我家人的生活，但它也让我们的关系变得更加得亲密。每次我和家人坐上我们家的车在路上行驶时，我们都会密切关注可能发生的小危险，因为我们当时经历的事故是意料之外的。
【Source】www.teenink.com
【Translated by】Spark Liao (廖怀宝)
【Illustration】From Bing
