1. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back.

　　[参考译文] 一些机构终于松了一口气，但是其他一些机构，包括教堂，倡导生命之权的团体和澳大利亚医学协会，尖锐地抨击这个法案，指责法案的通过过于匆忙。但是大势已定，不可逆转。

　　2. In Australia- where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their partother states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia.

　　[参考译文] 在澳大利亚--人口老龄化，延长寿命的技术和变化看的社会态度，这些因素都在发挥作用一一其他的州也会考虑制定相似的关于安乐死的法律。

　　3. There are, of course, exceptions. Small--minded officials, rude waiters, and ill mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.

　　[参考译文] 当然，例外是存在的。在美国，心胸狭窄的官员，粗鲁的传者，和没有 礼貌的出租车司机也并不少见。然而人们常常得出这样的观察意见，这 使得它值得被讨论一下。

　　4. We live in a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves.

　　[参考译文] 我们生活在一种药品(毒品)的医学用途和社会用途都很广泛的社会里：一片用来止头痛的阿斯匹林，一些用来社交的葡萄酒，早上自己提提神所喝的咖啡，一支用来定神的香烟。