A horrible way to die': how Chernobyl recreated a nuclear meltdown

“一种可怕的死亡方式”：《切尔诺贝利》是如何重现核灾难的

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The job of Daniel Parker, head of makeup and prosthetics, had no such light touches either. His task was to recreate the effect of radiation burns on human skin. Ask Parker what radiation does to the body and he is distressingly blunt. "You melt," he says. "The only way you can really describe it is putting salt on a slug. Tissue is breaking down. Skin just slips off. It'll just go. One day you move your arm and the skin will just fall off."    丹尼尔·帕克是化妆及假体特效设计部的负责人，他的工作也没有那么轻松。他的任务是要重现辐射灼伤在人体皮肤上产生的影响。要问帕克辐射会对人体造成怎样的影响的话，他的回答非常直白，令人不安。“你会融化。最恰当的形容是把盐放在鼻涕虫身上。（人体）组织正在分解，（患者）皮肤就脱落了。什么都没剩下。可能有一天，你只是动了动胳膊，你的皮肤就掉下来了。”

Surprisingly, Parker didn't look to photos of Hiroshima or Nagasaki victims for examples of radiation damage. He went instead to medical textbooks, and this allowed him to pioneer a technique for Chernobyl where he "layered" the skin: painting the actors' bodies with wounds, then putting a semi-translucent layer on top, giving the impression that sores are forcing themselves to the surface as the body degrades from within. The effect is dreadful to see. Yet, Parker was strict in saying these men must not be relegated to Hollywood "zombies", and he explains that the director made sure sympathy stayed with these characters: even as they lie rigid on the bed, gurgling and fading, they still speak, and a wife may still hold her husband's rotting fingers.        出人意料的是，帕克并没有选择从广岛或长崎（原子弹爆炸的）受害者的照片中，找寻能作为辐射损伤的案例。他研究了医学教科书，并开创了一种为《切尔诺贝利》设计的化妆技术，他将其称作给皮肤“分层”：首先在演员的身体上画上伤口，之后在上面放置一层半透明物质，用来模拟一种患者的身体已从内部开始分解，烂疮呼之欲出，即将爬满皮肤的效果。呈现出的效果是可怕的。然而帕克非常严谨，他说这些“患者”绝对不能降格成好莱坞的“丧尸”，他还解释说，导演要确保（观众）始终对这些角色表示同情：即使他们身体僵硬，躺在床上，发出临死前的咕噜声，变得不成人样，他们依旧能够说话，他们的妻子可能依旧握着她丈夫正在腐烂的手指。

"It's the worst way to die," says Parker. "Beyond anything you can imagine. The most horrible way to die. I think it's the worst, in line with medieval torture." What makes it particularly atrocious is that the victims were denied pain relief. In the latter stages of radiation sickness you cannot inject morphine, he explains. "The walls of the veins are breaking down."                                    帕克说：“这是最坏的死法，这种死亡方式你根本想象不出来。这是一种最可怕的死法。我认为它是最糟糕的，和中世纪的酷刑一样。”尤其残忍的是，受害者无法去缓解这种痛苦。帕克解释道：“在辐射病的后期，你不能注射吗啡来止痛。因为静脉壁已经破裂了。”

              重点词汇

meltdown/ˈmeltdaʊn/

n.（核电站核燃料的）熔毁；（尤指金融方面的）灾难

搭配短语：Fukushima's meltdown

搭配短语：a financial meltdown

prosthetics/prɑːsˈθetɪks/

n. 假体（人造的身体部份）；义肢

light touch

轻触（形容做事信手拈来、毫不费力）

例句：She has a light touch when it comes to playing the piano.

distressingly/dɪˈstresɪŋli/

adv. 令人苦恼地,令人担忧地

相关词汇：distressing（adj. 令人不安的，令人焦虑的）

distressing 搭配短语：some distressing news

distressing 搭配短语：a distressing experience

blunt/blʌnt/

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adj. 直率的；生硬的；直截了当的

词义拓展：blunt（adj. 不锋利的，钝的）

搭配短语：a blunt knife

搭配短语：a blunt pencil

例句：To be blunt, your work is horrible.

slug/slʌɡ/

n. 蛞蝓，鼻涕虫

tissue/ˈtɪʃuː/

n.（动物或植物的细胞）组织

词义拓展：tissue（n. 纸巾、手帕纸）

搭配短语：muscle tissue

搭配短语：tissue fluid

break down

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分解

词义拓展：break down（（机器或车辆）出故障）

例句：My car broke down.

词义拓展：（系统或关系）崩溃，瓦解；（讨论）失败

例句：Their marriage broke down.

例句：Proteins break down in the digestive system.

slip off

快速脱下（衣服）

例句：He slipped off his shirt.

例句：The silk shirt slips off the hanger.

semi-translucent/semi trænsˈluːsnt/

adj. 半透明的

词根词缀：semi-（一半）

semi- 相关词汇：semi-final

semi- 相关词汇：a semi-circle

词根词缀：translucent（adj. 半透明的）

相关词汇：transparent（adj. 透明的）

相关词汇：opaque（adj. 不透明的）

degrade/dɪˈɡreɪd/

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v. 降解，自然分解

词根词缀：de-（向下）

词根词缀：grade（级别）

词义拓展：降低…的身份；侮辱…的人格

例句：Some posts are offensive and degrade women.

例句：Plastics are not easy to degrade.

dreadful/ˈdredfl/

adj. 可怕的；糟糕的；惊人的

relegate/ˈrelɪɡeɪt/

v. 贬职；使降级；降低…的地位

例句：She was relegated to the role of assistant.

rigid/ˈrɪdʒɪd/

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adj. 僵硬的；固定的；不能弯曲的

词义拓展：rigid（adj. 死板的、顽固的）

例句：My mother is very rigid in her thinking.

gurgle/ˈɡɜːrɡl/

v.（婴儿）开心地咯咯叫

medieval/ˌmediˈiːvl/

adj. 中世纪（约公元600年至1500年间）的，中古时代的

atrocious/əˈtroʊʃəs/

adj. 残暴的；骇人听闻的

例句：He committed an atrocious crime.

morphine/ˈmɔːrfiːn/

n. 吗啡重点词汇

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