英语泛读教程3第三册Unit4课文翻译
大学英语三泛读课文翻译
大学英语三泛读课文翻译美国男性—The American Man我们不厌其烦地谈论“美国男人”，似乎他们身上存在着某种几十年或者十年恒常不变的品质。
当今的美国男人不再是1630年来到新英格兰的快乐的农民了。
他们不再是老脑筋，他们不再以内向的性格为荣，他们不会坐在没有取暖设备的教堂里连做三遍祷告。
在南方，富裕的受母亲制约的种植园主也发展壮大了，但这两种“美国男人”都不像之后东北部发达起来的贪婪的铁路承包商。
而不计后果、为所欲为的西部文明移民也不像他们。
即使在我们自己的年代，公认的模范也发生了戏剧性的变化。
举个例子说，在20世纪50年代，这样一种美国人越来越凸显出来，成为大多数人认可的模范。
这就是50年代的男人。
上班起早贪黑，干活尽职尽责，养家糊口，遵规守纪。
里根就是这类人的典型——固执而坚忍不拔。
这类人弄不懂女人的心，却颇为赏识女人的身体；他们的文化观和文化观的美国部分幼稚而乐观。
他们大都有坚忍不拔、信心十足的品质，但在他们魅力十足、虚张声势的外表下，还有另外的三个特征：孤立、清贫、被动。
他们需要通过自己的敌人来证明自己还活着。
50年代的男人喜欢橄榄球，好斗，他们维护美国，从不流泪，只是默默奉献。
但在这些男人的身上，善于接纳和对人友善的品质消失了。
他们的个性缺乏洋溢感。
他们还缺乏同情心，正是这点怂恿了他们对越战的狂热；就像后来的里根，他的头脑中缺乏那种我们称之为“和平之心”的东西，这使得他对萨尔瓦多那些手无寸铁的人，对这里的老人、失业者、上学的孩子，乃至对穷人都铁石心肠、残暴野蛮。
50年代的男人清楚地知道男人该是什么样，男人的职责是什么，但他们自身孤立和片面的观念弄得他们危机四伏。
到了60年代，又出现了另外一类男人。
越战的荒废和暴虐让他们质疑，自已是否真的知道一个成年男人是什么样子?如果成年等于越战，他们对成年还有一丝一毫的向往吗?同时，女权运动激励男人们开始真切地审视女人，迫使他们开始理解50年代男人苦苦逃避的担忧和苦楚。
新视野大学英语读写教程3Unit4课文翻译
新视野大学英语读写教程3Unit4课文翻译新视野大学英语读写教程3Unit 4课文翻译新视野大学英语读写教程第3册第四单元的课文都跟艺术有关，有自由女神像、芭比娃娃等有名的艺术作品，也有关于艺术家的人生经历。
下面是店铺整理的课文翻译，欢迎大家阅读!新视野大学英语读写教程第3册Unit 4课文翻译【1】自由女神像19世纪70年代中期，法国艺术家弗里德里克·奥古斯特·巴托尔迪正在设计一个大项目，名为“自由照耀世界”。
这是一座庆祝美国独立和美法联盟的纪念碑。
与此同时，他爱上了一位他在加拿大认识的女子。
他母亲不赞成自己的儿子和一个她没有见过的女子恋爱，然而巴托尔迪不为所动，和心中所爱于1876年结为伉俪。
同年，巴托尔迪组装完雕像的右臂和火炬，并将它们陈列在费城。
据说，他用了妻子的手臂为模本，但觉得她的脸太漂亮，不适合做雕像模本。
他需要这样一个女人：面容沧桑却不失坚定，庄重多于美丽。
他选择了自己的母亲。
1886年，自由女神像在纽约湾北部落成。
雕像综合了他母亲的脸和他妻子的身材，不过巴托尔迪称之为“我的女儿，自由之神”。
芭比娃娃在现今销售的各式各样的芭比娃娃之前，原本部门只有一种芭比娃娃。
实际上，她的名字叫芭芭拉。
芭芭拉·汉德勒是马特尔玩具公司的联合创始人艾略特和鲁思·汉德勒夫妇的女儿。
鲁思是在见到女儿玩纸娃娃之后才想到做芭比娃娃的。
芭比娃娃的三维模特是一个德国洋娃娃，一个哄成年人开心的礼物，被描绘成具有“风尘女子”的模样。
马特尔公司将这个娃娃做了一番改造，变成了体面而地道的美国版本，尽管胸围有些夸张。
它以当时10多岁的少女芭芭拉的名字命名。
自从1959年面世，芭比娃娃就成了全球公认的“娃娃女王”。
马特尔公司说，一般的美国女孩拥有10个芭比娃娃，全球每秒钟就有两个芭比娃娃售出。
如今芭芭拉已有60多岁了，她拒绝接受采访，但据说她非常喜欢芭比娃娃。
她可能是当今世上最著名的不为人知的人物了。
泛读教程 第三册 cloze 答案 原文
Unit1. The ability to predict what the writer is going/ about/ trying to say next is both an aid to understanding and a sign of it.A prediction begins from the moment you read the title and from expectations of what he book is likely to contain. Even if the expectations/predictions are contradicted，they are useful because they have started you thinking about the topic and made you actively involved。
If you formulate your predictions as questions which you think the text may answer，you are preparing yourself to read for a purpose：to see which of your questions are in fact dealt with and what answers are offered. If your reading is more purposeful you are likely to understand better.Naturally your predictions/expectations will not always be correct。
This does not matter at all as long as you recognize when they are wrong, and why. In fact mistaken predictions can tell you the source of misunderstanding and help you to avoid certain false assumptions.Prediction is possible at a number of levels. From the title of the book you can know/foretell the topic and the possibly something about the treatment。
英语泛读教程3上课文+译文（Unit1-7）
Unit 11 TextInvented WordsNew words appear in English every day. Do you know how these words are born? Read the following passage to find various ways English words are invented.Scholars guess that English has about 600 000 words, but there are probably more. New words continue to come into the language at such a rate that no dictionary could possibly keep up with them. The old words which were born centuries ago in the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and French languages make up four fifths of the English language. The other one fifth is made up partly of borrowed words and partly of three other kinds of words: words from the names of peoples and places; imitative words; and invented words.Ampere, volt and watt are all units of electricity, and they are named for the men who discovered them; Andre M. Ampere, a French physicist; Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist; and James Watt, a Scottish engineer and inventor. Nowadays we all drink pasteurized milk, that is, milk which is clean and purified. Pasteurized gets its name from Louis Pasteur, a French doctor who invented the process for purifying milk. There are many words like this in the English language.There is no need to say anything else about these words, for they speak for themselves. You can probably think of many more.Then there are the invented words. English-speaking people have always made up words as it suited them, and they continue to do so every day. One kind of invented word is one which is made up of two other words. Dictionaries call this kind of word a compound. If you put "play" and "thing" together, you get the compound,whole words. Most prefixes and suffixes come from Latin or Greek, and each has a special meaning of its own. When we add a prefix before a word or a suffix at the end of it, we change its meaning. For example, the prefix re- means "again." If we add re- to "do" or "paint", we get two new words meaning "do again" and "paint again." Un- means "the opposite of" or "not." By adding un- to "happy" or "kind", we get "unhappy" or "unkind", meaning "not happy" and "not kind." The suffix -ness means "the condition of." "Happiness" and "kindness" are the conditions of being happy and kind. It is easy to see the meanings of unhappiness and unkindness. The word to which we attach the prefixes and suffixes is called the root word. In a word like unkindness the root word is kind.Some words, like astronaut, are made up entirely of Greek or Latin prefixes and suffixes. Astro- is a Greek prefix meaning "having to do with the stars"; naut- means "having to do with sailing." So, an astronaut is a "star-sailor." Other words can be root words, prefixes or suffixes, depending on where they come in the word. Remember, the prefix comes first, the root word second, and the suffix last. As an example, let's take the word "graph" and build several different invented words with it by adding prefixes and suffixes to it or using it as a prefix or suffix. Graph by itself means anything which is shown to us in pictures or writing. For instance, your teacher might want to keep track of your reading progress by drawing a graph of your reading test scores, or a businessman might draw graphs which show the ups and downs of his company's sales records. Now, by adding the prefixes and suffixes listed below to graph, we can make several new words. Notice that graph is part of aYou may have noticed that you can make even other words using some of these prefixes and suffixes without graph. "Biology" is the study of life. What do you think is the meaning of "biologic"? If the prefix anti- means "against," what does "antibiotic" really mean? There are hundreds of Latin and Greek prefixes in the English language, and the possibilities for inventing new words are endless. Every day, as we make new discoveries in science and technology, we invent new words to describe them. Many of these new words are combinations of root words and prefixes and suffixes which have already existed in English for centuries.Another kind of invented word is the nonsense word. Some nonsense words are used for a while by only a few people and then disappear completely from the language, never to be used again. Others, when they become popular enough and are used over a period of time, become a permanent part of the language. If enough people decide and agree on the meaning of an invented word, it is here to stay. Some examples of everyday modern words which probably began as nonsense words centuries ago are: bad, big, lad, lass, chat, job and fun. Linguists guess that these are nonsense words because they have not been able to trace them back to any of the ancestor languages. Just who invented them, and when or where remains a puzzle. Puzzle itself is one of these mystery words. No one knows where it came from.Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, was a great inventor of nonsense words. As a matter of fact, he created a whole language of nonsense. Most of Carroll's nonsense words are not used in English, except for "chortle." Chortle, Carroll tells us, is a cross between a chuckle and a snort. The word is formed by packing two different meanings together in it. The dictionary calls such words blends. A fairly recent blend, which, unfortunately, we hear almost every day, is "smog," a combination of smoke and fog.People invent nonsense words by combining certain sounds that just seem to fit the things or actions they describe. Often we make up words for anything which is basically rather silly. Spoof was invented by an English comedian some fifty years ago. It means "to poke fun at." Hornswoggle was used a great deal in the United States during the nineteenth century, and it means "to cheat." If a dishonest politician wants to hornswoggle the taxpayers, he invents a "boondoggle," which is a useless, expensive project which does nobody any good. Fairly recently someone invented the word "gobbledygook." When people talk or write using long, fancy words that really mean nothing, we call it gobbledygook. Unfortunately, many people use gobbledygook because they want to seem more important than they are, or because they don't really want people to understand what they mean or what they are doing. So, when the dishonest politician wants to hornswoggle the public with a boondoggle, he usually explains things in gobbledygook.When Lewis Carroll was writing his books the word gobbledygook had not been invented yet, but Carroll would have known exactly what it meant. Carroll loved to spoof or poke fun at people who used fancy, important-sounding words when simple language would have done better. In one part of Through the Looking Glass, Alice has a conversation with Humpty Dumpty in which Humpty Dumpty insists words can mean whatever he wants them to mean. Alice insists that this is impossible. If everyone did that no one would understand anyone else. The conversation goes like this:"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knockdown argument'," Alice objected."When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean －neither more nor less.""The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things.""The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be the master －that's all."The question is, just as Humpty Dumpty said, which is to be master. But Humpty Dumpty used words in an odd way, and that made him a master of gobbledygook, not a master of language. A master of language knows what words really mean, and where they come from; knows when to use big, important ones and when to use the shorter, equally important simple ones. Winston Churchill was a great British prime minister. He was also a great writer, truly a master of language. He said once, "Short words are best, and old words when they are short, are best of all."(1545 words) 译文：新造词英语中每天都有新词出现。
泛读教程第三册第四单元
Text study
• 1. What probably does “stiffen” (Line 4, Para.1) mean? • A. became more flexible • B. expanded • C. expired • D. became more harsh
• 2. According to Para.3, which of the following statements is NOT true? • A. Smoking is linked to the deaths of numerous Americans. • B. Smokers was reportedly spending more on health-care because they were richer. • C. I was hardly appreciative toward smoking as a casual pass-time. • D. Smoking can be a threat to non-smokers.
Reading Two
The Way to Save Millions of Lives is to Prevent Smoking
Legal Smoking Age
Bangladesh Mongolia Hong Kong India Macau Malaysia Singapore Taiwan South Korea Japan
15 16 18 18 18 18 18 18 19 20
preventable Vocabulary deied up international essential supporters disincentive
英语泛读教程3第三版 课文翻译(Text1--1-7单元)
UNIT 1 创造性思维的艺术约翰·阿代尔创造性对人类发展至美重要。
下面的文章里，约翰·阿代尔为求实的创造性思维者提供了一些颇有见地的见解和技巧。
创造性思维在今天的重要性不需要强调。
在你的职业中或工作领域,如果你能够发展提出新思想的能力,你就有竞争优势。
在你的个人生活中，创造性思维也能将你带上创新活动之路。
它可以丰富你的人生,尽管并非总是以你期待的方式。
人类创造力人类不可能凭空创造东西。
有一次，一位来宾极为仔细地参观了亨利·福特的汽车公司，然后见到了福特。
来宾心中充满了惊奇和崇敬，他对这位实业家说:“福特先生，25年前起家时几乎一无所有的人，不可能实现这一切。
”福特回答说，“这个说法可不太对。
每个人都是靠所有拥有的东西来起家。
这里什么都有——所需要的一切,它们的基本点和实质性的东西都已存在。
”潜在的材料，也就是可以做成或建构成某种东西的元素之成分或者实质的材料，都已存在于我们的宇宙。
你可能已经注意到,我们倾向于将创造性这个词用在与使用的原材料很不一样的产品上。
鲁宾斯的一幅名作，就是蓝色、红色、黄色和绿色的蠕虫般颜料在艺术家画板上的集合。
物质材料，对艺术家来说是颜料和画布;对作家来说是纸和笔——完全是次要的。
这里的创造，更多的是在大脑之中。
感知、思想和感觉都在一种观念或想象中结合起来。
当然，艺术家、作家或作曲家还需要使用技巧和技术，在画布或纸上把头脑中构想出来的东西塑造成型。
和普通意义上的创造性一样，创造性思维遵循同样的原则。
我们的创造性想象必须有可以加工的对象。
我们不能凭空产生新的思想。
如上面福特所说的那样，原材料都在那里。
有创造力的大脑在原材料中看到可能性和相关性,而创造力不强的大脑却看不到。
这一结论让我们大大地松了一口气。
你不用凭空构想新的想法。
作为创造性思维者,你的任务是将已经存在的想法或元素组合在一起。
如果最终把人们从未想过可以联系起来的想法或事物，用看似不可能却很有价值的方式组合起来，那人们就会认为你是创造性思维者。
英语泛读教程第三版3(主编刘乃银)Extra Passage 4
英语泛读教程第三版3（主编刘乃银）Extra Passage 4 Let us out from a fact. The same type of civilizations, or to use a more exact ,although more extended expression , the same society, has hot always inhabited the earth. The human race as a whole has grown, has developed, has matured, like one of ourselves. It was once a child, it was once man; we are now looking on at its impressive old age. Before the epoch which modern society has dubbed “ancient”there was another epoch which the ancient called “fabulous” but which it would be more accurate to call “primitive”. Observe then three great successive orders of things in civilization, from its origin down to our days. Now, as poetry is always superposed upon society, we propose to try to demonstrate, from the from of its society, what the character of the poetry must have been in those three great ages of the would primitive times, ancient times, modern times.In primitive times, when man awakes in a world that is newly created, poetry awakes with him. In the face of the marvelous things that dazzle him, his first speech is a hymn simply. He is still, so close to God that all his thoughts are joyful, all his dreams are visions. The earth is still almost deserted. There are families, but no nations; patriarchs, but no kings. Each race exist at its own pleasure; no property, no laws, no conventions, no wars. Everything belongs to each and to all. Society is community. Man is restrained in nought. He leads that nomadic pastoral life with which all civilization begin, and which is so well adapted to solitary contemplation, to fanciful reverie. He follows every suggestion, he goes hither and thither, at random. His thought, like his life, resembles a cloud that changes its shape and its direction according to the wind that drives it. Such is the first man, such is the first port. He is young; he is cynical. Prayer is his sole religion, the ode is his only form of poetry.This ode, this poem of primitive times, is Genesis.By slow degrees, however, this youth of the world pass away. All the spheres progress; the tribe becomes a nation. Each of these groups of men camps about a common center, ang kingdoms appear. The social instinct succeeds the nomadic instinct. The camp gives place these states of nations; the pastoral staff has already assumed the shape of a scepter. Everything tends to become stationary and fixed. Religion takes on a definite shape; prayer is governed by rites; dogma sets bunds to worship. Thus the priest and king share the paternity of the people; thus theocratic society succeeds the patriarchal community.Meanwhile the nations are beginning to be packed too closely on the earth’s surface. They annoy and jostle one another; hence the clash of empires-war. They overflow upon another; hence the migrations of nations-voyages. Poetry reflects these momentous events; from ideas it proceeds to things. It sing of ages, of nations of empires…1.In the above passage the primitive period is equated with the period called____.A. fabulousB. ancientC. medievalD. modern2. War, the author believes, results primarily from____.A. rule by kingB. patriarchal jealousiesC. the existence of a theocratic stateD. large, closely packed population3. The author draws an analogy between the growth of peoples into nation-states and the ____.A. development of poetic verse fromB. books of the Old TestamentC. great epochs in historyD. maturation of the human being from childhood to maturity4.Because of its unique character, a great interpreter of the periods of historyis_______.A.the national historianB. B poetryC. the biblical prophetD. storytellingKey: ADDB。
泛读教程第三册第四单元
In-reading
The Butt Stops Here
smoke-free second-hand chain fatal strict high health-care innocent discriminative medical
system restrictions fatality victim smoker smoking environment disease personnel policy
Text 1 The Marlboro Man Has Found Greener Pastures
1. The cigarette-selling cowboy may be under siege back home in the United States from lawmakers and health advocates determined to put him out of business, but half a world away in Asia he is prospering, his all-American mug slapped up on billboards and flickering across television screens. And Marlboro cigarettes have never been more popular.
Reading Two
The Way to Save Millions of Lives is to Prevent Smoking
Legal Smoking Age
Bangladesh Mongolia Hong Kong India Macau Malaysia Singapore Taiwan South Korea Japan
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寻找可以依靠的坚实臂膀在美国，越来越多的老人独居。
他们生病时处境通常显得很悲惨。
简·格罗斯在下面的文章中指出这些老年人的问题。
每次人们在医生办公室给格雷斯·麦凯比递来一份紧急情况联系人表格时，空格处总令她心中发怵。
对任何有配偶、伴侣或子女的人来说，这是个很简单的问题。
但是，75岁的麦凯比女士一直独居。
谁能和她一起渡过难关?情况最糟糕的时候，谁会关心她?这些曾是假设的问题。
但是现在，麦凯比女士视力越来越差，几乎完全看不见。
她一直有很多朋友，但从没请过谁为她负起责任，比如，接急诊室半夜来的电话，或因为她自己不能写支票而帮助付账单。
她在所有的朋友中，选定了一个心地善良、遇事不慌、有解决问题能力的人。
所以，她多次在空白处写止“夏洛特·弗兰克”，然后打电话说，“夏洛特，又把您写在单子上了，”于是，紧张时刻得到缓解。
麦凯比女士被一个鲁莽的司机撞倒在人行横道上，得了脑震荡，这时，年龄70岁，自己也独居的弗兰克女士在起居室长沙发上守了一夜。
麦凯比女士再也看不清标)隹字体时，弗兰克女士给她弄了一台电脑，把字体设置到最大，这样，她就能读报纸，从商品单定购货物。
“你会发现，有些好朋友成了至交，”麦凯比女士说，“夏洛克既实际又形象地告诉我要，抓住不放，我这样做了。
”无法统计出不同年龄生病或有残疾的独居者的数字，医院安排出院的人和家庭健康照料机构说，他们服务的明显无人照顾的独居者越来越多。
人口调查报告中，单人家庭，包括从未结婚者、离婚者和丧偶者，其数目明显增加。
2003年，近27％的美国家庭由独居者组成，高于1970年的18％，这些家庭注重的是不具有亲属的法律地位或社会地位的友谊。
人口统计学家警告说，生育高峰期出生的人老年化，疾病和残疾成为老年不可避免的必然结果，这将使独居者家庭队伍壮大。
美国医院协会资深副会长詹姆斯·本特利说，独居者属于最棘手的情况。
他说，任何病人或残疾人，在医院里和出院后都“需要有人负责照料他们”，但独居者在特别脆弱的时候，却是自己照料自己。
“病人不能同时想着两种角色，”他说，“但我们还没有一个好的机制来处理这个问题。
”医院里短期停留的病人增加，有时让不能自理的病人回家，这就使情况更糟。
本特利先生说，医院必须找些新方法，让这类病人对面临的问题有所准备，并说独居者必须“在生病之前想一想”自己有哪些组织起来的关系网可以访问。
他说，“如果我们等到出生高峰时期出生的人需要这些的时候才来考虑，因为他们人数太多，没有办法特别处理，这是我们现在就要思考的问题，否则，到时候绝对会一团糟。
”一些独居者需要帮助是因为暂时性的医疗难关，如膝关节置换手术，没人帮助不能洗澡或爬楼梯。
或者，问题可以是永久性的，但无生命危险，像麦凯比女士的视干视锥细胞退化导致视力减退。
她看不清四周，看见的东西似乎都蒙了一层薄棉纱，所以她的朋友陪她出去办事，帮助她处理文字材料。
其次是重大疾病，如癌症或帕金森氏疾病。
病员没有家人负责，谁在手术等候室里不睡觉地坐着?谁和保险公司讨价还价，知道每种药的剂量，或打电话告诉远方的亲人好的或坏的消息？确实，配偶或长大成人的子女不是抵抗疾病和死亡的保险。
但紧急情况联系人表格没有明显近亲可以填写的独居者，必须依靠从专职人员和朋友那里临时获得的支持。
独立多年之后，且不说请求帮助，就是接受帮助，到时候也可能不那么自然。
“也许他们至今还没有太多地提出要帮助，“克莉丝汀·诺林说道。
她是癌症康复中心的社会工作者，那里为癌症病人提供一系列免费服务。
她说，“这对他们有好处。
不过这是他们人生中的非常时期。
只要提出要求就帮他们感到轻松些，这是我们的工作。
”一个庞大的朋友圈子也许本身并不是答案。
比如，71岁的塔凯·罗伯塔·范·拉文，寡居了15年，女儿住在澳大利亚。
范·拉文女士有自己过去在《纽约之城》从事专门技术写作时的朋友，有读书俱乐部的朋友，有歌剧迷朋友。
现在这位高傲的女人患晚期卵巢癌。
多年来，多次复发、一次次治疗，朋友们主动陪她去化疗，但她不让任何人陪她达六个小时，尽管有人陪会分散注意力，令人愉快。
‟我告诉他们，我要留到紧急时刻用他们。
”她说，“但是，真的是因为接受帮助很难。
”一种新需要希望家人无条件的照顾肯定是首选，要放弃它很难。
芭芭拉·R，68岁，过去是大学教授，去年冬天诊断为乳腺癌，做肿块切除手术，等病理报告，进行放射治疗，这样的时候，她很想姐姐在自己身边。
芭芭拉说，“家人照顾你时，不讲条件，始终如一。
”但她知道姐姐腾不出手来，姐姐有一位患严重肺气肿的老年伴侣。
·他比我更需要她，·芑芭拉说，承认亲友另有更要紧的责任是独居者面对的严峻事实。
(芭芭拉要求不完全公布自己的身份，因为一些亲戚和同事不知道她生病。
)芭芭拉知道，自己进入类似的疾病世界时有许多优势。
她一直单身，有定期的社会活动，参加了一系列妇女组织。
她说：“友谊成了我生活的组织原则。
”但是，再要好的朋友也会被新层次的需要压垮，面对这种情况，她的目标是要确认·没有一个人不得不负担太重”。
她认为，这样做的最好方法，是让朋友完成其最擅长，最符合个人安排的任务。
当芭芭拉评估治疗方案时，她挑选患过癌症的朋友陪自己见医生。
在等待病理报告时，她选对艺术和戏剧有共同爱好的朋友来分散她的注意力，出去参观克里斯托在中央公园的艺术建筑：“门”，或者看戏剧汤姆·佩因》(无中生有)。
在肿块切除手术后，许多饭菜烧得好的朋友在冰柜储备了自制的汤，或给一屋子客人带来晚餐，把令人恐惧的一天变得几乎洋溢节日气氛。
一天晚上，芭芭拉感到特别不舒服，就打电话请一个邻居吃晚饭，，她喜欢这位邻居的处事不慌。
她们分享冰箱里的东西，共喝一瓶白福美白葡萄酒。
她手术那天，选了一个大学同学，在手术前和她不停地讨论最近一趟去塔斯马尼亚的旅游，此后又一起在休息室听外科医生宣布她的淋巴瘤是良性的。
芭芭拉最艰难的选择，是请手术后在家里过夜的人，这意味着在她的起居室长沙发上度过一个不舒服的夜晚。
一个提出帮忙的朋友肺部有毛病，同时还在照顾97岁的母亲，已经筋疲力尽。
另一个膝盖不好的朋友，姐姐在城外做癌症手术，刚刚回来。
芭芭拉知道，这时候不能心挂两头，如果这从这些朋友中选择，选中的人会同时牵挂另一个人。
于是，她打电话给一个熟人，是退休医生，芭芭拉最近参加的社区组织成员。
该组织所有成员都是女性。
所有的人都住在附近。
她们的目的是，在需要相互帮助的时候，如结肠镜检查后需陪伴回家时，提供帮助。
芭芭拉认为，这些新生的团体和自己那个被称为‟友谊曼陀罗·的关系网，是疾病和老年孤独者日益庞大的队伍的榜样。
她说，“我们的整个社会是围绕核心家庭组织起来的，在法律和文化上，友谊并没有太多的立足空间。
我们怎样超越它呢，我们怎样给自己创造一种社区，好使照顾变得更容易些呢?”危难中的帮助埃尔维亚·莫兰，37岁，十几岁时从厄瓜多尔移民过来后，一直靠自己。
所以，在她遭遇一次过早来到的健康难关时，表现了少有的勇气和开朗。
看她在扬克斯公寓里拖着腿靠助行器从起居室走向卧室，全神贯注地照镜子，那样子仿佛根本没有注意到被肌萎缩性侧索硬化症折磨的消瘦身躯。
相反，她酒窝闪闪发光，欣赏着刚洗过的头发，头发是最好的朋友克里斯蒂娜·马丁内斯吹烫的。
两个人用西班牙语咯咯地说笑，聊着天，就像两个女孩扮演发廊游戏。
马丁内斯女士说，她的朋友需要一个更好的造型刷来梳卷发。
但是莫兰女士已经非常满意。
“喔，克里斯蒂娜，我看上去很漂亮啊]”她说，”谢谢你，谢谢你！”莫兰女士说，如果没有马丁内斯女士，她会不知该怎么力、，大约20年前同住一栋大楼时，她认识了马丁内斯女士。
马丁内斯女士每天来看望，为莫兰女士准备她最爱的鸡汤，汤里放有洋葱、大蒜和酸橙。
她叠好送去洗的衣服，重新安放家具，好清理出一条安全通道。
在莫兰女士的残疾救助款启动之前，她借钱给莫兰女士。
去年冬天莫兰女士拿到诊断后，马丁内斯女士停止了寻找工作，打那以后，她拿不出来的是钱。
此时，她远离自己在哈莱姆的家，家中留下在餐馆工作的丈夫照顾他们三岁的女儿。
但是对于这两位女士，不存在通常区分朋友和亲属的界限。
“对我来说像姐姐，”莫兰女士说，“这世界没有别人心这样好。
”莫兰女士从韦斯特切斯特社区学院顺利毕业不久，就来了可怕的对疾病未来后果的预测，这使她后来失去化妆品厂的工作。
几个月的时间，她不能够独立行走。
手臂无力，口齿不清。
纽约长老会哥伦比亚医院的医生告诉她，不久她要靠呼吸机呼吸，靠营养饲管进食。
她说自己两个都不要，而让马丁内斯女士全权照料她的健康。
她在表格签名时，她的朋友哭了。
莫兰女士在美国没有亲人，她的母亲在厄瓜多尔申请签证来这里帮忙。
马丁内斯女士想让她的朋友搬得离自己的公寓近一点，但没能找到低于每月800美元的底楼或电梯房。
马丁内斯女士说，“我不想让她感到孤独和沮丧，她应该一直和她认识的人在一起。
”莫兰女士暂时能每周有一名护士、一名社区工作者、一名理疗师和一位职业治疗师上门查访。
每周五天，每天四小时还有一个助手来这里。
所有的帮助者都离开后，情况就变得令人担心，马丁内斯女士很想自己留下来过夜，但这是不可能的，因为家里有一个蹒跚学步的孩子和已经因她长期不在家而生气的丈夫。
一次，一罐沸水从手中滑下来，莫兰女士烫伤了手腕。
她没有叫任何人，而是大声地训斥自己“要勇敢!”，烧伤的地方抹了牙膏，这是她祖国的习惯。
还有一次，她的身体痉挛，送到医院时单身一人。
马丁内斯女士第二天在医院找到她，见她身上穿着脏兮兮的医院服，便去护士值班处要求给予照料。
但是，勇敢面对和专心照料，依然不能对付残酷的疾病。
春去夏来，莫兰女士别无选择，只能搬到韦斯特切斯特郡的护养院。
马丁内斯女士不熟悉轨道交通线路，英语也不好，她尽力从哈莱姆赶到瓦尔哈拉的护养院。
一次，在神秘的系列公交大巴上旅行了三小时。
另一次，她花80美元乘小汽车。
她丈夫的恼火变成了愤怒。
但这并没有阻止马丁内斯女士过来。
马丁内斯女士说，”埃尔维亚，她没有任何人，所以不管他说什么，我还是一直赶过来。
”就是现在，莫兰女士几乎不能说话，只能在轮椅上，她还是用自己所知道的唯一方法报答朋友的善良.。
“克里斯蒂娜不喜欢我哭，”她说，“所以我为了她尽力一直微笑。
”担心成为累赘去年10月，弗兰克·戴金对一种罕见的淋巴瘤化疗后反应有生命危险，在圣文森特曼哈顿医院重症监护室用子17天的呼吸器。
戴金先生想，如果他孤身一人，会为他做出些什么样的医疗决定，又是谁做出这些决定呢?不过，他的朋友卡罗尔凯莫维茨来照料他。
她就是应医生要求，打电话给他在内华达州的父亲说病危的那个人。
她就是同意神秘的医疗方案，然后又担心这些方案会使他送命的那个人。