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Douglas Maurer， a 15 years old boy， had been feeling bad for days. His temperature ranged between 103 and 105 degrees， and he had severe flu-like symptoms. Finally his mother， Donna， took him to Children's Hospital at Washington University Medical Centre in St. Louis. Blood tests revealed leukemia①.

During the next 48 hours， Douglas endured blood transfusions， spinal and bone marrow tests ?and ?chemotherapy②. ? He ? developed

pneumonia③. For ten days his mother stayed in his hospital room. One night Douglas， afraid， asked her to sleep in his bed by his side. Through her tears， she had to tell him she couldn't; I.V. ?tubes were attached to his body， the bed was small， and there was no room.

The doctors were frank， telling Douglas that for the next three years he would have to undergo chemotherapy. He would go bald and probably gain weight. Learning this， Douglas become even more discouraged; although he was told that there was a good chance of remission④， he was smart enough to know that leukemia can be fatal.

On the day Douglas was admitted， his first time in a hospital， he had opened his eyes， looked around his room and said to his mother，“I thought you get flowers when you're in the hospital.” Hearing this， an aunt called Brix

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15歲的道格拉斯·莫勒， 這些天一直身體不舒服。他的體溫到了103至105華氏度，并有嚴(yán)重的類似感冒的癥狀。最后他的媽媽唐娜把他帶到了圣路易斯華盛頓大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)中心的兒童醫(yī)院。驗(yàn)血的結(jié)果是白血病。

接下來(lái)的48小時(shí)，道格拉斯經(jīng)受了輸血、骨髓檢查和化療。 他又得了肺炎。 十天來(lái)他媽媽一直呆在醫(yī)院的病房里。一天晚上， 道格拉斯感到害怕，讓媽媽在身邊陪他睡一覺(jué)。她不得不用眼淚告訴他， 她不能;I.V.管子連在他的身體上，床很小，沒(méi)有地方。

醫(yī)生很直率地告訴道格拉斯，以后的三年他必須忍受化療。他的頭會(huì)變禿，體重可能也會(huì)增加。知道這些后，道格拉斯變得更灰心了。盡管人們告訴他病痛會(huì)減輕，但聰明的他知道白血病是致命的。

那天道格拉斯住院了，這是他第一次住院，他睜開(kāi)眼，環(huán)視了一下病房，對(duì)他媽媽說(shuō)：“我認(rèn)為住院的時(shí)候會(huì)有人送花?！甭?tīng)到這句話，一位姨媽打電話向圣路易斯的布里克斯花店訂花。售貨員的聲音很高，聽(tīng)起來(lái)挺年輕的。姨媽覺(jué)得一個(gè)沒(méi)有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的職員可能不知道訂花的重要意義。

所以姨媽說(shuō)：“我希望花能特別迷人。它是送給我十幾歲得了白血病的侄子的?！?/p>

Notes： ①leukemia /lu??ki?mI?/ n. 白血病 ②chemotherapy /?ki?m???er?pI/ n. 化療 ③pneumonia

/nju??m??nI?/ n. 肺炎 ④remission /rI?mI?n/ n. （病痛等）緩解