大學(xué)英語精讀第二冊UNIT 6. The Making of a Surgeon

A famous surgeon tells about the importance of self-confidence from his own experience.

The Making of a Surgeon

    How does a doctor recognize the point in time when he is finally a "surgeon"? As my year as chief resident drew to a close I asked myself this question on more than one occasion.
    The answer, I concluded, was self-confidence. When you can say to yourself, "There is no surgical patient I cannot treat competently, treat just as well as or better than any other surgeon" - then, and not until then, you are indeed a surgeon. I was nearing that point.
    Take, for example, the emergency situations that we encountered almost every night. The first few months of the year I had dreaded the ringing of the telephone. I knew it meant another critical decision to be made. Often, after I had told Walt or Larry what to do in a particular situation, I'd have trouble getting back to sleep. I'd review all the facts of the case and, not infrequently, wonder if I hadn't made a poor decision. More than once at two or three in the morning, after lying awake for an hour, I'd get out of bed, dress and drive to the hospital to see the patient myself. It was the only way I could find the peace of mind I needed to relax.
    Now, in the last month of my residency, sleeping was no longer a problem. There were still situations in which I couldn't be certain my decision had been the right one, but I had learned to accept this as a constant problem for a surgeon, one that could never be completely resolved - and I could live with it. So, once I had made a considered decision, I no longer dwelt on it. Reviewing it wasn't going to help and I knew that with my knowledge and experience, any decision I'd made was bound to be a sound one. It was a nice feeling.
    In the operating room I was equally confident. I knew I had the knowledge, the skill, the experience to handle any surgical situation I'd ever encounter in practice. There were no more butterflies in my stomach when I opened up an abdomen or a chest. I knew that even if the case was one in which it was impossible to anticipate the problem in advance, I could handle whatever l found. I'd sweated through my share of stab wounds of the belly, of punctured lungs, of compound fractures. I had sweated over them for five years. I didn't need to sweat any more.
    Nor was I afraid of making mistakes. I knew that when I was out in practice I would inevitably err at one time or another and operate on someone who didn't need surgery or sit on someone who did. Five years earlier - even one year earlier - I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had had to take sole responsibility for a mistake in judgment. Now I could. I still dreaded errors - would do my best to avoid them -- but I knew they were part of a surgeon's life. I could accept this fact with calmness because I knew that if I wasn't able to avoid a mistake, chances were that no other surgeon could have, either.
    This all sounds conceited and I guess it is - but a surgeon needs conceit. He needs it to encourage him in trying moments when he's bothered by the doubts and uncertainties that are part of the practice of medicine. He has to feel that he's as good as and probably better than any other surgeon in the world. Call it conceit - call it self-confidence; whatever it was, I had it.


NEW WORDS

    surgeon
n.  doctor who performs operations 外科醫(yī)生
    self-confidence
n.  自信心
    making
n.  means of gaining success 成功之道
    resident
n.  住院醫(yī)生
    conclude
vt. arrive at a belief or opinion by reasoning 得出結(jié)論
    surgical
a.  of, by, or for surgery  外科的；手術(shù)的
    competently
ad. with the necessary skill  稱職地；勝任地
    competent
a. 
    near
vt. approach; come closer to
    emergency
n.  sudden and dangerous happening needing immediate action 緊急情況；急癥
    encounter
vt. be faced with (difficulties, danger, etc.); meet unexpectedly 遭到；意外地遇見
    dread 
vt. fear greatly 畏懼
    critical
a.  important at a time of danger and difficulty 緊要的；關(guān)鍵性的
    particular
a.  belonging to some one person, thing, or occasion 特定的
    case
n.  instance of disease or injury 病例
    infrequently
ad. seldom; not often
    relax
vi. become less tense 放松
    relaxation
n.
    residency
n.  the last stage of a doctor's training at a hospital 高級專科住院實(shí)習(xí)（期）
    constant
a.  happening all the time; unchanging  不斷的；始終如一的
    resolve
vt. solve 解決
    resolution
n. 
    considered
a.  carefully thought out  經(jīng)過深思熟慮的
    dwell
vi. live (in a place) 居住
    bound
a.  very likely; certain 一定的，必然的
    sound
a.  correct; based on good judgment 正確的，合理的
    confident
a.  sure of oneself and one's abilities 自然的
    confidence
n. 
    handle
vt. manage, deal with 處理
    butterfly
n.  蝴蝶
    abdomen
n.  belly 腹（部）
    anticipate
vt. see beforehand 預(yù)期
    anticipation
n. 
    sweat
n.  汗
vi. 流汗
    stab
n.  thrust made with a pointed weapon 刺；戳
    belly
n.  肚，腹部
    puncture
vt. make a small hole in (sth.) with sth. pointed 刺穿
    compound
a.  having more than one part 復(fù)合的
    fracture
n.  break in a bone 骨折
    compound
n.  復(fù)合性骨折
    inevitably
ad. unavoidably 不可避免地
    inevitable
a. 
    err
vi. make mistakes; do wrong
    operate
vi. perform a surgical operation 動手術(shù)
    surgery
n.  外科；外科手術(shù)
    sole
a.  unshared; one and only 唯一的
    responsibility
n.  責(zé)任；責(zé)任心
    avoid
vt. escape; keep or get away from 避免
    conceited
a.  having too high an opinion of oneself 自負(fù)的
    conceit
n.  too high an opinion of oneself
    trying
a.  hard to endure or bear; very difficult  難受的；惱人的
    bother
vt. annoy, trouble  煩擾，麻煩
    uncertainty
n.  uncertain condition; doubt


PHRASES & EXPRESSIONS
 
    draw to a close
    come to an end 結(jié)束
    live with
    learn to accept (sth. unpleasant); tolerate 學(xué)會；適應(yīng)；容忍
    dwell on
    think, write, or speak a lot about 老是想著；詳述；強(qiáng)調(diào)
    (be) bound to (do)
    (be) certain to (do) 一定..., 必然...
    in practice
    (醫(yī)師,律師等) 在開業(yè)中;在實(shí)踐中
    butterflies in the stomach
    feelings of nervousness 忐忑不安
    open up
    cut open 切開,給...開刀
    in advance
    ahead of time 預(yù)先,事前
    at one time or another
    sometime or other 早晚
    sit on
    delay taking action on; do nothing about 拖延;擱置


PROPER NAMES
   
    Nolen 
    諾蘭(姓氏)
    Walt  
    沃爾特(男子名 Walter 的昵稱)
    Larry 
    拉里(男子 Lawrence 的昵稱)