考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:我们有权选择结束自己生命吗?供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:我们有权选择结束自己生命吗?
British doctors move to end their opposition to assisted dying
英国医生们不再反对安乐死了
But the circumstances have provoked accusations of a stitch-up
但这种情况被人们指责为“暗箱操作”(这里的stitch-up是指“a matter that has been prearranged clandestinely”，也就是“预先暗中安排好的事”)
In the half-millennium since it was founded the Royal College of Physicians has seen plenty of squabbles, including the storming of its building in the 18th century over its exclusion of non-Oxbridge graduates, and a long battle over whether to admit women (which, after four centuries, it did).
自500年前创立以来，英国皇家内科医师学会已经多次引起争论了，包括18世纪因非牛津大学和剑桥大学毕业生不得入会而引发的争论，以及关于是否准许女性入会而引发的持久争论(在历经四个世纪的争论后终于为女性敞开了大门)。
The latest row is over one of the most fundamental medical questions of all: should doctors help willing patients to die?
最近的一次争论有关一个最基本的医学问题：医生是否应该帮助病人安乐死?
The college is surveying its 35,000 members on whether to back changes to the law on assisted dying, which is illegal in Britain.
目前，安乐死在英国是非法的，该学会正在调查其35000名会员是否支持修改这一法案。
Five years ago 44% of them voted against and 25% in favour (the rest were neutral). Under the rules then, the plurality of votes against changing the law was enough to carry the day.
5年前，44%的人投了反对票，25%的人投了赞成票(其余的人持中立态度)。根据当时的规则，反对修改法律者以相对多数票取得了胜利。
This time, the college has decided that a supermajority of 60% is needed for either side to win. Since neither the pro nor anti doctors are expected to reach this threshold, the organisation looks likely to default to a neutral stance.
这一次，学会规定各方只有票数达到60%这一绝对多数才算获胜。但无论是支持方还是反对方都不可能达到这种绝对优势，这样看来皇家内科医师学会更倾向于中立的立场。
This has provoked fury among medics who oppose assisted dying. Some have accused the college of a “stitch-up”. A former chairman of its ethics committee, John Saunders, has threatened legal action over what he called a “rigged” vote.
这激起了反对安乐死的医务人员的愤怒。一些人指责学会是在“暗箱操作”。该学会道德委员会的前任主席约翰·桑德斯认为投票被“人为操纵”了，并威胁称要采取法律行动。
Further inflaming the row is the presence on the college’s governing council of a handful of prominent supporters of Dignity in Dying, a campaign group which backs assisted suicide and which wants the college to take a neutral position on the issue.
进一步使争论激化的是学会管理委员会中少数几位知名的“尊严地死去”的支持者，“尊严地死去”是一个支持安乐死的活动团体，他们就这个问题希望学会站在中立的立场上。
The contretemps inside the college comes just as the question of assisted dying is back in the headlines. In November Noel Conway, who is terminally ill with motor-neurone disease, lost a Supreme Court bid to overturn the ban on assisted suicide.
学会内部的争论就如同安乐死这个问题一样登上了新闻的头条。去年11月，身患运动神经元疾病的诺埃尔·康威在最高法院关于解除安乐死禁令的诉讼中败诉了。
Earlier this month Geoff Whaley, an 80-year-old with the same condition, became the latest Briton to travel to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to end his life.
本月初，80岁患有相同疾病的杰夫·怀利成为了最后一位前往瑞士Dignitas诊所安乐死的英国人。
His last act was to release an open letter which castigated the British authorities for investigating his wife for helping him to make his final journey.
他在临终前发布了一封谴责英国当局调查他妻子的公开信，是他的妻子陪伴他走完了人生最后的旅程。
Despite the heightened pitch of campaigning, the matter is at an impasse. Judges have declined to rule on cases such as Mr Conway’s, insisting it is the job of Parliament, not the courts, to legalise assisted dying.
尽管争论已经进入了白热化阶段，但仍处于僵局之中。法官们拒绝就类似于康威这样的案件做出裁决，他们坚称安乐死的合法化应该由议会而不是由法院来决议。
Some eight in ten voters would like to see such a change. But it is more than three years since MPs debated an assisted-dying bill.
约有80%的选民希望看到安乐死的合法化。但就安乐死的议案，国会议员们已经辩论了三年多了。
Although that effort was overwhelmingly rejected, Dignity in Dying has said it will renew its efforts in Westminster given the stalemate in the courts.
尽管已经遭到了压倒性的反对，但“尊严地死去”组织表示，鉴于法院的僵局，他们将在议会那再次努力争取。
This has spooked some doctors. Several medics campaigning against the college’s poll pointed to other jurisdictions, such as Canada and California, that have recently introduced assisted dying.
这也吓坏了一些医生。一些反对学会的投票的医务人员指出，其他一些司法管辖区(例如加拿大和美国加州)最近已经引入了安乐死。
Shifts to neutrality by local doctors’ associations were cited by activists and politicians there as evidence that the medical profession was no longer opposed, helping to clear the ground for a change in the law.
当地一些医生协会向中立态度的转变被一些活动家和政治家用作医学界不再反对安乐死的证据，这也为法律的修订扫清了障碍。
Andrew Goddard, the college’s president, has pledged not to campaign for assisted dying should the college abandon its opposition. But this has not assuaged his critics.
学会主席安德鲁·戈达德承诺，就算不反对安乐死，学会也不会支持安乐死的。但这并没有平息人们对他的批评。
“Neutrality is not a position, it’s a cop-out,” despairs Amy Proffitt, a palliative-care consultant who opposes assisted dying.
艾米·普罗菲特绝望的说道，“中立不是一种立场，而是在逃避。”
The requirement of a supermajority was designed to prevent acrimony should the vote end in a wafer-thin margin for one side or the other. The results of the poll will not be known until March, but that hope already seems dashed.
要求获得绝对多数票才算获胜的目的就是为了防止在投票结束时双方因只有微弱的差距而继续争吵。投票结果将在3月份揭晓，但(有一方能胜出的)希望微乎其微。
[重难点词汇]
accusation [,ækju'zeʃən] n. 控告，指控;谴责
squabble ['skwɑbl] vi. 发生口角;大声争吵 vt. 弄乱 n. 争吵;口角
supermajority [,sju:pəmə'dʒɔriti] n. 绝对多数制
contretemps [kʊŋtrə'tɒŋ] n. (法)意外事故;窘困之事
castigate ['kæstɪgeɪt] vt. 严惩;苛评;矫正;修订
jurisdiction [,dʒʊrɪs'dɪkʃən] n. 司法权，审判权，管辖权;权限，权力
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