受到驚嚇后，我們常會脫口而出“嚇死我了”，可人真的會被嚇死嗎？

A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to elude cops after a botched bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into and hid out in the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn't touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was triggered by terror. Can the fugitive be held responsible for the woman's death? Prosecutors said that he can under the state's so-called felony murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person's death while committing or fleeing from a felony crime such as robbery—even if it's unintentional.

美國北卡羅來納州夏洛特市的一名男子因殺害了一名79歲老婦被以一級謀殺罪起訴，警方表示死者是被他嚇死的。美聯社報道說在搶劫銀行未遂后為了躲避警察，20歲的勞瑞?懷特非闖進了瑪麗?帕內爾的家中躲了起來。警察說他沒有接觸帕內爾，但是死者是因為恐懼引起的心臟病發作而死。這個逃犯要對老婦的死負責嗎？檢察官說他可以根據國家的所謂的重罪謀殺規定所述，當一個人在犯罪或者從比如搶劫這樣的重大犯罪中逃跑時致另外一個人死亡的，要被追究謀殺罪——即使這種結果不是故意造成的。

But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin A. Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

但是，從醫學上來講，一個人真的會被嚇死嗎？我們咨詢了布萊漢姆神經科主任Martin A. Samuels和波士頓的婦女醫院。

Is it possible to literally be scared to death?

人有可能真的會被嚇死嗎？

Absolutely, no question about it.

當然，這毋庸置疑。

Really? How does that happen?

真的嗎？怎么會這樣呢？

The body has a natural protective mechanism called the fight-or-flight response, which was originally described by Walter Cannon [chairman of Harvard University's physiology department from 1906 to 1942]. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, dilating the pupils, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from, say, an aggressive jaguar. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans, but the problem, of course, is that in the modern world there is very limited advantage of the fight-or-flight response. There is a downside to revving up your nervous system like this.

身體有一種叫“戰或逃反映”的自我保護機制，最初是卡農這樣描述的，他是哈佛大學1906到1942年生理學系的系主任。在野外，如果一只動物處在危及生命的情境下，固有的神經系統會表現為心跳加快，肌肉里面的血液流量加大，瞳孔放大，消化變慢，以及在其他一些方面的表現。所有這些增加了隨后打斗或者比如說從一個來勢兇猛的美洲豹跟前逃脫的機會。這種系統也肯定幫助了原始人類。但是，當然，問題是在現代社會里很少利用“戰或逃反映”。神經系統在這方面的反映有所下滑。

How can the fight-or-flight response lead to death?

這種“戰或逃反映”是怎樣導致死亡的呢？

The autonomic nervous system uses the hormone adrenaline, a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the visceral (internal) organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don't kill you suddenly.

自身的神經系統利用腎上腺素，一種神經傳遞介質或者說是化學信使，把信號傳遞在身體的各個部位以刺激“戰或逃反映”。大量的這種化學物質是有毒的；對內臟（內部的）器官例如心臟，肺臟，肝臟和腎臟是有損害的。人們相信大多數的突發死亡都是由心臟受損引起的。幾乎沒有其他的器官會如此快的導致死亡。腎衰竭，肝衰竭是不會立即致人死亡的。

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