A brave Indian boy①

by Ellen Manning/姜仲华（译）

□语篇导读

13岁的印度少年Santhosh在被确诊患上癌症之后，将诊断结果隐藏了起来。他对此是怎样考虑的呢？他后来又是怎样同病魔进行斗争的呢？读完下文，你将会找到答案，并且你也一定会知道他是一个怎样的人。

A brave 13-year-old boy hid his cancer diagnosis (诊断结果)from his parents as he was worried they“could not handle”the news that he might die.

The Indian boy is named only as Santhosh,and his grandmother had died of cancer.Santhosh said,“I don't want to tell anyone about my cancer.My mother knows I am sick but has no idea that I am suffering from cancer.”

But despite his efforts,Santhosh's father has since found out about his disease and is raising money online to fund a much-needed bone marrow(骨髓)transplant for his son,which will apparently cost around 1.5 million Indian Rupees nearly￡18,000.

Santhosh has to travel 500 km to hospitalfor each chemotherapy(化疗)treatment and go home the same day as his family cannot afford to rent a room in Bangalore.

But the boy is apparently still attending school,saying:”We have lost my grandmather to cancer and now it has attacked me.I hope I don't die so soon.I don't want to let my family down.”

He wants to continue studies and make his parents happy and he hopes cancer doesn't kill him like it killed his grandmother.

Santhosh has become very weak but he puts up a strong face for his family.He is a brilliant student and very good at sports as well,once a champion basketball player in school.

◆词语积淀

1.handle/'hændl/vt.处理；控制

2.effort/'efət/n.努力；努力的成果

3.despite/di'spait/prep.不管；尽管

4.hide from把……藏起来；不让知道

5.fund/fʌnd/vt.为……提供资金；n.资金；基金

6.apparently/ə'peərətli/adv.很显然；显而易见

◆典句赏析

1.She has no idea that I am suffering from cancer.她不知道我得了癌症。

(1)have no idea that...相当于don't know that...，表示“不知道……”的意思。又如：I have no idea when he will come back.我不知道他何时回来。

【即时尝试】这个病人不知道去最近的医院怎么走。

(2)suffer from是固定词组搭配，表示“罹患（……病）；遭受……之苦”的意思。

【即时尝试】他现在热得难受。

2.His family cannot afford to rent a room in Bangalore.他的家庭在班加罗尔租不起一间房子。

afford是动词，表示“负担得起（……的费用）”的意思，常用结构：afford(to do)sth.又如：He can't afford to buy a new car.他买不起一辆新的小汽车。

【即时尝试】那时候，他太穷了念不起书。

3.Santhosh's father has since found out about his disease。从那以来，Santhosh的父亲就已经弄清楚了他的病情真相。

(1)since是副词，意思是“从那以来；此后”。since用作副词时，常用于现在完成时。

【即时尝试】从那以来，我就一直没见过她。

(2)find out是“弄清楚；查明白（……的真相）”的意思，有及物和不及物两种用法。

【即时尝试】我会设法查明是谁把窗户打坏了。

译文助读

一个勇敢的13岁印度男孩，悄悄地将自己患上癌症的诊断结果藏了起来，他不想让他的父母知道此事，因为他担心他们可能接受不了他会死于癌症的消息。

这个印度男孩，名字就叫Santhosh，他的奶奶也死于癌症。Santhosh说：“我不想把我患有癌症的消息告诉任何人。虽然我妈妈知道我生病了，但是她并不知道我患了癌症。”

尽管他在努力着，但是他的爸爸还是知道了他的病情，并且一直在网上进行筹款，为他的儿子准备一笔骨髓移植的基金。很明显，这个手术大约需要150万印度卢比，约合1.8万英镑。

每次化疗，Santhosh都得赶到500公里外的医院去，然后当天就回家，因为他们家在班加罗尔租不起一间房子。

但是这个男孩显然一直在坚持上学，他说：“癌症已让我们失去了奶奶，而它现在又来袭击我了。我不希望我很快就死去，我也不想我的家人心情不好。”

他想继续学习，想让他的父母开开心心；他不希望他像奶奶一样被癌症夺去生命。

现在，Santhosh的身体已经很虚弱了，然而他一直能坚强地昂首面对家人。Santhosh是一个很棒的学生，在体育方面也很擅长，他曾经是学校的篮球冠军运动员。