2009/10/28

"Mermaid girl" Shiloh Pepin dies at age 10 「美人魚女孩」希蘿.佩平辭世,得年10歲

◎魏國金

Shiloh Pepin, the little girl born with fused legs, has died at the age of 10.

出生時兩腿融合為一的小女孩希蘿.佩平已與世長辭,得年10歲。

Doctors thought Shiloh would only live for days after her birth, but her mother called her a "tough little thing."

希蘿出生後,醫師認為她僅能活幾天,但她的母親稱她是「堅強的小傢伙」。

Shiloh was born with "mermaid syndrome," also known as sirenomelia, and she only had one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and her legs were fused from the waist down.

希蘿出生時患有「美人魚症候群」,也就是併肢畸形症,而她只有一枚功能不完全的腎、沒有結腸或生殖器官,她的腿從腰際以下合併一起。

Some children with sirenomelia are able to have surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh was unable to due to the blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system that would have been severed. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one was in 2007.

一些併肢畸形症兒童能夠以手術分開雙腿,但希蘿因循環系統的血管從左到右交雜,恐遭切斷之虞而無法手術。她曾接受兩枚腎臟移植,最後一次是在2007年。

Her story was recently shown on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". Her mother said she came down with a cold earlier this month that quickly turned to pneumonia. Shiloh Pepin died at Maine Medical Center.

她的故事最近在「歐普拉秀」播出。她的母親說,本月初她感冒,迅速轉為肺炎。希蘿.佩平病逝於緬因醫學中心。

新聞辭典

fuse︰動詞,融合,熔接。例句︰In her richest work she fuses comedy and tragedy.(在她最精彩的作品中,她融喜、悲劇為一體。)fuse 作名詞為引信,保險絲。have a short fuse指動輒發怒。

from side to side︰從左到右。例句︰The ship was rolling from side to side in the stormy sea.(船在暴風雨的海面上顛簸搖晃。)

come down with︰片語,染上(病)。例句︰Several students came down with the H1N1 flu.(一些學生感染H1N1流感。)

No comments: