to die to Sleep No More and by asleep we say to end the heartache and the
thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to tis a consummation devoutly to
be wish'd to die to sleep to sleep perchance to
dream aye there's the rub for in that sleep of
death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil
hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today are you ok I
hope so are you happy I hope so in today's
lesson we're going to talk about a subject which is for many people very
hard to accept death
there is a saying in English that goes all good things must come to an end this
phrase also covers our own lives just as we are born so shall we die it is an
unstoppable or inevitable process and for many humans it is one which causes a
great deal of distress but why is this so
humans are very special you and I have a unique ability of knowing that we are
alive we are self-aware our conscience tells us this during every waking moment
right now I know that I'm standing in a churchyard surrounded by tombstones and
graves I'm aware of this and I know it's happening
humans are sentient beings we learn more than just our basic instincts we gather
knowledge and we are able to feel a wide range of emotions such as happiness
sadness loneliness and fear
as we discussed in an earlier lesson fear is a very strong emotion and it can
control many parts of our existence we tend to be afraid of things that cannot
be fully understood our fear of the unknown is probably the strongest of all
our phobias humans are mortal we only have a certain amount of time in this
world the word mortal comes from the latin word mortalis which literally
means to die you see this word used in mortuary a place where dead bodies are
kept mortality the event of death or death on a large scale the mortality
rate from the flood is 20,000 a dead person can generally be described as a
corpse body or for deceased they can also be informally described as
a stiff although this term can cause great effects that sounds like a
squirrel I hope it's okay
Oh
after any animal dies it will begin to rot or decompose the cells will break
down and be absorbed for example into the ground
humans are organic we are made of living material so once we die so do all the
cells which make up our whole body
so what happens here after you die normally your body will be taken to a
cold place for storage such as a mortuary most large hospitals have a
more tree in them if your death can not be explained then someone will examine
your body on both the outside and inside this is called a post-mortem which means
after death this procedure can also be called an autopsy the person who carries
out the examination is called a pathologist or coroner the ceremony
following a person's death is called a funeral
these can be conducted very differently between countries and cultures the body
is placed in a wooden box called a coffin and then taken to a religious
place where a service normally follows after this event there are two options
the body can be buried underground in a grave or tomb or it can be burned in a
cremation ceremony these days this is done in a special building called a
crematorium
do you ever think about dying it's a funny subject isn't it I want to
die in my sleep like my grandfather not screaming and shouting like his
passengers Western cultures often make death into a humorous subject we make
jokes about dying and often laugh about it but why do we do this if we are so
afraid of it it is a well-known fact that humans tends to laugh at things we
do not fully understand humor can act as a kind of release for all of our worries
and anxieties it may seem like a strange thing to say but many of us have a deep
fascination for subjects connected with death and there is no better place for
demonstrating this than on our television screens take the news for
example this is CNN news
coming up tonight man dies after terrible accident we have exclusive
video pictures of when it actually happened these images will upset you so
be sure to stay tuned also coming up woman dies after terrible accident we
also have pictures and many descriptions at the moment it happened right here for
your curiosity and viewing pleasure don't go away the subject of death and
dying is often described as a taboo subject the word taboo means something
that must never be openly discussed or a topic which makes people feel
uncomfortable when talking about it it may seem strange to some people but
there are situations where a person wants to die they wish to end their life
we describe this person as suicidal they may try to kill themselves they want to
commit suicide taking your own life is illegal in some countries while others
allow it for certain situations for example if a person is dying from a
fatal or terminal illness
the belief of what happens after you die there is deeply between many groups of
people some believe that our life floats or spirit floats away to another place
some believe that we are reborn on earth as a different creature and some believe
that the feeling of being dead is the same as before we are born just a lot
long is it possible to be dead and scale alone well the answer to that
question is yes after a person dies they will usually be pronounced legally dead
this means that they have no chance of being brought back to life or
resuscitated however in other situations the heart can continue beating after the
brain has stopped functioning this is classed as brain death sadly there is no
chance of the person ever recovering this often occurs when a person is being
kept alive on a machine such as a ventilator a person can also be classed
as clinically dead this means that the blood supply has stopped flowing the
heartbeat and breathing has ceased and there is no visible sign of life this
type of death can be reversed and it is possible for a person to be brought back
to life if it is done quickly enough clinical death lasting longer than three
minutes will normally result in serious and irreversible brain damage it would
be fair to say that death is more of a process rather than just one definite
event
the theme of death has been used very often in many forms of literature the
playwright William Shakespeare and authors Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan
Poe at some point would use death as a way of studying the human condition and
our own morbid fascination with dying poetry's often read out at funerals and
a speech is normally given describing the life of the person who died this is
called a eulogy the word dead can be used in many ways instead of saying very
we can say the party was dead good this weather is dead cold your new hat is
dead cool as a way of showing emptiness or silence the room was dead everyone
had left the forest had a dead calm about it to show that something
electrical is not working or functioning the lights are dead I cannot get the TV
to work it is dead the batteries are dead they have no energy left there are
some idioms and phrases for death or dying pushing up the daisies to be dead
and buried pop your clogs to die croak to die suddenly he or she bought the
farm he or she has died fall off your perch or twig to drop dead
it is a fact of life that one day I will be dead and so will you
there is nothing we can do to stop this however we can make the most of our time
on this earth doing something useful with our time here can help others and
it also gives us a sense of purpose and our life some meaning you only live once
this is not a rehearsal life is like a big performance and once the curtain has
come down on it there will be no encore
that is all from me for today I wish you all good health stay in the pink we'll
live long and prosper thank you for watching me teaching you this is mr.
Duncan in England saying Tatar for now