受到驚嚇后，我們常會(huì)脫口而出“嚇?biāo)牢伊恕保扇苏娴臅?huì)被嚇?biāo)绬幔?/p>
A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to elude cops after a botched bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into and hid out in the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn't touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was triggered by terror. Can the fugitive be held responsible for the woman's death? Prosecutors said that he can under the state's so-called felony murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person's death while committing or fleeing from a felony crime such as robbery—even if it's unintentional.
美國(guó)北卡羅來(lái)納州夏洛特市的一名男子因殺害了一名79歲老婦被以一級(jí)謀殺罪起訴，警方表示死者是被他嚇?biāo)赖?。美?lián)社報(bào)道說(shuō)在搶劫銀行未遂后為了躲避警察，20歲的勞瑞?懷特非闖進(jìn)了瑪麗?帕內(nèi)爾的家中躲了起來(lái)。警察說(shuō)他沒(méi)有接觸帕內(nèi)爾，但是死者是因?yàn)榭謶忠鸬男呐K病發(fā)作而死。這個(gè)逃犯要對(duì)老婦的死負(fù)責(zé)嗎？檢察官說(shuō)他可以根據(jù)國(guó)家的所謂的重罪謀殺規(guī)定所述，當(dāng)一個(gè)人在犯罪或者從比如搶劫這樣的重大犯罪中逃跑時(shí)致另外一個(gè)人死亡的，要被追究謀殺罪——即使這種結(jié)果不是故意造成的。
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin A. Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
但是，從醫(yī)學(xué)上來(lái)講，一個(gè)人真的會(huì)被嚇?biāo)绬?？我們咨詢了布萊漢姆神經(jīng)科主任Martin A. Samuels和波士頓的婦女醫(yī)院。
Is it possible to literally be scared to death?
人有可能真的會(huì)被嚇?biāo)绬幔?/p>
Absolutely, no question about it.
當(dāng)然，這毋庸置疑。
Really? How does that happen?
真的嗎？怎么會(huì)這樣呢？
The body has a natural protective mechanism called the fight-or-flight response, which was originally described by Walter Cannon [chairman of Harvard University's physiology department from 1906 to 1942]. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, dilating the pupils, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from, say, an aggressive jaguar. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans, but the problem, of course, is that in the modern world there is very limited advantage of the fight-or-flight response. There is a downside to revving up your nervous system like this.
身體有一種叫“戰(zhàn)或逃反映”的自我保護(hù)機(jī)制，最初是卡農(nóng)這樣描述的，他是哈佛大學(xué)1906到1942年生理學(xué)系的系主任。在野外，如果一只動(dòng)物處在危及生命的情境下，固有的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)會(huì)表現(xiàn)為心跳加快，肌肉里面的血液流量加大，瞳孔放大，消化變慢，以及在其他一些方面的表現(xiàn)。所有這些增加了隨后打斗或者比如說(shuō)從一個(gè)來(lái)勢(shì)兇猛的美洲豹跟前逃脫的機(jī)會(huì)。這種系統(tǒng)也肯定幫助了原始人類。但是，當(dāng)然，問(wèn)題是在現(xiàn)代社會(huì)里很少利用“戰(zhàn)或逃反映”。神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)在這方面的反映有所下滑。
How can the fight-or-flight response lead to death?
這種“戰(zhàn)或逃反映”是怎樣導(dǎo)致死亡的呢？
The autonomic nervous system uses the hormone adrenaline, a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the visceral (internal) organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don't kill you suddenly.
自身的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)利用腎上腺素，一種神經(jīng)傳遞介質(zhì)或者說(shuō)是化學(xué)信使，把信號(hào)傳遞在身體的各個(gè)部位以刺激“戰(zhàn)或逃反映”。大量的這種化學(xué)物質(zhì)是有毒的；對(duì)內(nèi)臟（內(nèi)部的）器官例如心臟，肺臟，肝臟和腎臟是有損害的。人們相信大多數(shù)的突發(fā)死亡都是由心臟受損引起的。幾乎沒(méi)有其他的器官會(huì)如此快的導(dǎo)致死亡。腎衰竭，肝衰竭是不會(huì)立即致人死亡的。
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