Recovery from Disaster：劫后余生

Over 65% of his body was severely burned. The leather motorcycle jacket saved most of his body, but didn’t save his hands. His helmet saved his life, but did little to save his face. While he was in a coma for two weeks, the doctors hid the one thing they feared would kill him once he woke up—and that was a mirror. They feared the shock of seeing himself after the accident with his badly burned, distorted new face just might be too much for him. The doctors were wrong; unbelievably, he endured the process. 他的身体有超过 65% 的面积严重烧伤。骑摩托车专用的皮外套保住了他的大半个身子，却没能保住他的双手;头盔救了他的命，却没能保住他的脸。在他昏迷的两周时间里，医生们把一样东西藏了起来，他们害怕一旦他醒过来它会要了他的命——这个东西就是镜子。他们怕他看到自己出事之后严重烧伤、已经变形的脸，会承受不住这个打击。医生们估计错了：他不可思议地挺过来了。

　　From that incident, Mitchell became passionate to share his story that you could look like amonster on the outside and still be a good person—warm, funny, and caring—on the inside. 通过这件事，米切尔变得乐于和别人分享他的故事：你可以外表像个丑八怪，内心却依然是个热情、幽默、关心别人的好人。

　　“Before I was paralyzed, there were 10,000 things that I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I lost, or focus on the 9,000 I have left, ” Mitchell states bravely. “在我瘫痪之前，我有 1 万件事可以做，现在只剩下 9000 件了，我要么成天想着我那已经失去的 1000 件，要么只想我这留下的 9000 件。”米切尔勇敢地说道。

　　Just when everything seemed to be smooth sailing again, the unbelievable happened. Back doing the hobby he loved—flying—Mitchell’s plane crashed when the wings iced up on takeoff. “It appears you will never walk again. It appears you’ll have to use a wheelchair for the rest of your life, ” whispered his doctor. 就在一切似乎又风平浪静的时候，一件不可思议的事情发生了。他重新捡起了他的业余爱好——飞行。可是起飞的时候，机翼结了冰，飞机坠毁了。“看起来你没法儿再行走了，看起来你要终身坐在轮椅上了。”医生小声说道。

　　“Why me? I laid in bed and wondered if there was anything left of my life, ” reflects Mitchell. There certainly was, despite what had happened. In the hospital, he met a pretty, young nurse who assisted him, named Annie Baker. A few years later, to everyone’s amazement but Mitchell’s, he married her. “为什么是我?我躺在床上，心想我这辈子究竟还有没有戏。”米切尔回忆道。当然还有，尽管发生了那么多事情。在医院里，他遇见了一位年轻漂亮的护士，她给了他帮助，她名叫安妮 · 贝克。几年以后，他娶了她，这让除了他自己之外的所有人大为惊讶。

　　Today, Mitchell is one of the world’s top motivational public speakers giving over 70 talks per year to audiences around the world. He has also been awarded the prestigious CPAE, Council of Peers Award of Excellence—the highest award for professionalism bestowed by the National Speakers Association. 现在，米切尔是世界上最的励志演说家之一，他每年要在世界各地做 70 多场演讲。他还获得了的 CPAE(同业者委员会奖)的奖励——这是演讲者协会颁发的很高成就奖。

　　Vocabulary

　　disaster n. 灾难

　　leather n. 皮革

　　motorcycle n. 摩托车

　　helmet n. 头盔

　　coma n. 昏迷

　　distorted a. 变形的

　　too much for 非…力所能及

　　incident n. 事件

　　Mitchell 米切尔

　　passionate a. 热情的

　　monster n. 怪物

　　paralyze v. 使瘫痪

　　dwell on 老是想着

　　state v. 说明hobby n. 业余爱好

　　crash v. 坠毁

　　ice up 结冰

　　takeoff n. 起飞

　　wheelchair n. 轮椅

　　reflect v. 深思

　　Annie Baker 安妮 · 贝克

　　to sb.’s amazement 令某人惊异的是

　　public speaker 演说家

　　prestigious a. 有威望的

　　CPAE 同业者委员会奖

　　peer n. 同辈， 同事

　　professionalism n. 职业水准

　　bestow v. 授予

　　the National Speakers

　　Association 演讲者协会