several years later, i heard that jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. while trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination . the robbers panicked and shot him.共3页1 23

note
thereafter adv. 其后，从那时以后 gunpoint n. 枪口 safe n. 保险柜
slip off 忘记，遗漏 combination n. 开启号码锁的号码组合

luckily, jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma （创伤，外伤）center. after 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

i saw jerry about six months after the accident. when i asked him how he was, he replied, "if i were any better, i'd be twins. wanna see my scars?" i declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

note
trauma n. 外伤，损伤 surgery n. 外科，手术室 intensive adj. 透彻的
fragment n. 碎片，断片 decline (to) v. 拒绝

"the first thing that went through my mind was that i should have locked the back door," jerry replied. "then, as i lay on the floor, i remembered that i had two choices: i could choose to live, or i could choose to die. i chose to live."

"weren't you scared? did you lose consciousness?" i asked.

jerry continued, "the paramedics were great. they kept telling me i was going to be fine. but when they wheeled me into the emergency room and i saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, i got really scared. in their eyes, i read, 'he's a dead man.' "i knew i needed to take action."

"what did you do?" i asked.

"well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said jerry.

"she asked if i was allergic to anything. 'yes,' i replied. the doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. i took a deep breath and yelled, 'bullets!'