by Jesse Hunter foonfoon 譯

PROLOGUE 卷首語(yǔ)

腦海里的橡皮擦

Remember Those Who Can’t

by Jesse Hunter foonfoon 譯

lf in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

—Khalil Gibran

I don’t have much personal experience with Alzheimer’s disease, but my nana (grandma) suffered from a form of dementia that shared several symptoms with Alzheimer’s.

As long as I had known her, and from all accords, nana was an inherently negative woman. Her favorite pastimes included verbally abusing my mother, blaming people for things, and smoking 40-60 Kent cigarettes a day (without turning on the electric ashtrays my mom got her). So visiting my grandparents’ apartment in Queens was not something we looked forward to. And then dementia set in…

It was really weird visiting grandma in hospice care. After half a century of nicotine intake, she suddenly forgot she was a smoker. She put on a few pounds (which happened to me when I quit smoking, too) and she was even a bit playful at times. She would tell jokes and ask if we brought her any candy. She wasn’t always sure who we were, at least not right away. And there was the occasional awkward moment when she would ask if my mom and I were a couple. But, as terrible as it is to say, I enjoyed this nana’s company better than the old one.

As you may have surmised, this month’s features are all about Alzheimer’s. In I Yelled at You Today, Pat Tomlinson feels sorry for yelling at her mom, and ends up learning a lesson in patience before saying goodbye. In What Alzheimer’s Disease Feels Like, Dr. Stephen Hume takes an introspective look at his ongoing battle with the disease. And in Still My Grammy, we see a grandmother’s facilities slowly fade through the eyes of a young girl.

So don’t forget all your elders out there, who’ve probably forgotten more than we relative youngsters have learned in our abbreviated lifetimes. In other words: remember those who can’t.

我個(gè)人并沒(méi)怎么接觸過(guò)阿爾茨海默病，但我外婆（外祖母）得了一種癡呆癥，其癥狀與阿爾茨海默病有幾分相似。

從我認(rèn)識(shí)她開(kāi)始，無(wú)論在哪個(gè)方面，外婆都是個(gè)天性消極的人。她最愛(ài)的消遣包括用言語(yǔ)羞辱我的母親，責(zé)怪別人，每天抽40至60根的健牌香煙（沒(méi)有用上我媽媽買給她的電子煙灰缸）。因此，去皇后區(qū)探望外公外婆并不是一件讓我們期待的事。然后，癡呆癥降臨了……

去療養(yǎng)院看望外婆的感覺(jué)真的很奇怪。在攝入了半個(gè)世紀(jì)之久的尼古丁后，她突然忘記了自己是個(gè)煙民。她的體重增加了幾磅（我戒煙時(shí)也是這樣），有時(shí)她甚至變得有點(diǎn)兒調(diào)皮可愛(ài)。她會(huì)講笑話，問(wèn)我們有沒(méi)有給她帶糖果。她并不總能認(rèn)出我們，至少不能馬上認(rèn)出。偶爾出現(xiàn)過(guò)這樣的尷尬時(shí)刻，她問(wèn)我和媽媽是不是一對(duì)情侶。雖然這樣說(shuō)很糟糕，但是比起以前的外婆，我更喜歡和現(xiàn)在的外婆相處。

正如你猜測(cè)的那樣，這個(gè)月的主題文章都與阿爾茨海默病相關(guān)。在《我今天吼你了》一文中，帕特·湯姆林森為吼了他母親而感到抱歉，并在天人永隔前學(xué)到了關(guān)于耐心的一課。在《當(dāng)記憶漸漸消失》一文中，斯蒂芬·休姆博士對(duì)自己與阿爾茨海默病所作的斗爭(zhēng)進(jìn)行了一番自我審視。在《奶奶，依然愛(ài)你》一文中，我們通過(guò)一個(gè)小女孩的眼睛目睹了其祖母逐漸喪失各方面能力的過(guò)程。

所以不要忘記你的那些長(zhǎng)輩們，他們忘記的東西可能比我們這些年輕人目前的人生所學(xué)到的東西還要多。換言之：記住那些丟失了記憶的人。

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epub掃一掃即可下載11月號(hào)精選閱讀體驗(yàn)版至你的手機(jī)手機(jī)體驗(yàn)版電子書格式為多媒體技術(shù)，建議蘋果及安卓用戶先下載安裝"奇特閱讀器"app(百度一下)，然后再掃碼下載閱讀體驗(yàn)版。(特別說(shuō)明：手機(jī)安裝支持epub2.0版本的閱讀器即可閱讀體驗(yàn)版文件)