suicide of a terminally ill person that involves an assistant who serves to make dying as painless and dignified as possible

Professor Stephen Hawking, the physicist, would consider assisted suicide if he felt he had nothing more to contribute to the world and was merely a burden, he has said.

物理学家史蒂芬·霍金教授表示，如果他觉得自己无法再对这个世界做出任何贡献，而仅仅是别人的负担，那么他会考虑协助自杀。

Voters in Zurich overwhemingly rejected on Sunday proposed bans on assisted suicide and 「suicide tourism」 -- foreigners traveling to Switzerland to receive help ending their lives.

上周日，苏黎世选民以压倒性多数投票否决了禁止协助自杀和「自杀旅游」的议案。不少外国游客前往瑞士「自杀旅游」，寻求帮助结束生命。

The Dutch government intends to draft a law that would legalise assisted suicide for people who feel they have 「completed life」 but are not necessarily terminally ill.

荷兰政府计划起草一项法案，让那些感到「人生完整」但不一定处在绝癥晚期的人可以合法进行安乐死。

The tenfold increase in the number of Britons who have joined Dignitas since 2002 will raise questions about the law that bans assisted suicide in Britain.

自从2002年以来，加入Dignitas的英国人已经增加了十倍，给英国禁止安乐死的法律出了难题。

Some people fear that relaxing the law on assisted suicide would lead to an increase in cases, and put people at risk of being pushed into taking their own lives.

有些人担心放宽安乐死法律会导致安乐死案例增加，使人们有被迫结束自己生命的风险。

But it is very easy to find lots of people who want abortions or physician assisted suicide because they are depressed, afraid, alone, in despair, and cannot see any good in their suffering.

但很容易找到不少这样的人，因为感到沮丧，害怕，孤独，绝望，在痛苦中看不到任何好处，而想堕胎或求医生协助自杀。

That's a far cry from the US approach, where assisted suicide is illegal everywhere except Oregon and Washington, and in those states available only to residents suffering from a deadly disease.

这与美国式的做法大不相同，美国除了俄勒冈州和华盛顿州，协助自杀都是非法的，而且在那两个州，法律只对患有某种致命疾病的居民有效。

It was the relish with which Dr Kevorkian courted controversy that provided the potency of the campaign for assisted suicide which occupied the last three decades of his life.

这一嗜好为他进行支持辅助自杀的活动提供了力量，但也招致了争议。他的最后三十年都在为支持辅助自杀而奋斗。

In surveys, more than 80% of Britons say assisted suicide should be legalised.

调查显示，超过80%的英国人认为安乐死应该合法化。

Mr Bretscher is against both proposals, and brings his own personal experience of assisted suicide to the campaign.

布雷·切尔反对这两个议案，他利用自己有关协助旅游的经历为这一活动进行了辩护。

The draft advice states that it should not be seen as a substitute for the guidance on the law on assisted suicide that patients seeking to end their lives have recently tried to obtain.

指导意见草案声明，在辅助自杀方面它并不可以替代有关法律规定，最近有些企图结束自身生命的病人试图使该项法律得到通过。

Record Numbers of Britons who are suffering from terminal illnesses are queueing up for assisted suicide at the controversial Swiss clinic Dignitas, the Observer can reveal.

据《观察家》透露，身患绝癥的英国人在备受争议的瑞士Dignitas医院轮候接受安乐死，人数已经创下记录。