受到惊吓后，我们常会脱口而出“吓死我了”，可人真的会被吓死吗？

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.

美国北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市的一名男子因杀害了一名79岁老妇被以一级谋杀罪起诉，警方表示死者是被他吓死的。美联社报道说在抢劫银行未遂后为了躲避警察，20岁的劳瑞•怀特非闯进了玛丽•帕内尔的家中躲了起来。警察说他没有接触帕内尔，但是死者是因为恐惧引起的心脏病发作而死。这个逃犯要对老妇的死负责吗？检察官说他可以根据国家的所谓的重罪谋杀规定所述，当一个人在犯罪或者从比如抢劫这样的重大犯罪中逃跑时致另外一个人死亡的，要被追究谋杀罪——即使这种结果不是故意造成的。

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，从医学上来讲，一个人真的会被吓死吗？我们咨询了布莱汉姆神经科主任Martin A. Samuels和波士顿的妇女医院。

Is it possible to literally be scared to death?

人有可能真的会被吓死吗？

Absolutely, no question about it.

当然，这毋庸置疑。

Really? How does that happen?

真的吗？怎么会这样呢？

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.

身体有一种叫“战或逃反映”的自我保护机制，最初是卡农这样描述的，他是哈佛大学1906到1942年生理学系的系主任。在野外，如果一只动物处在危及生命的情境下，固有的神经系统会表现为心跳加快，肌肉里面的血液流量加大，瞳孔放大，消化变慢，以及在其他一些方面的表现。所有这些增加了随后打斗或者比如说从一个来势凶猛的美洲豹跟前逃脱的机会。这种系统也肯定帮助了原始人类。但是，当然，问题是在现代社会里很少利用“战或逃反映”。神经系统在这方面的反映有所下滑。

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

这种“战或逃反映”是怎样导致死亡的呢？

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.

自身的神经系统利用肾上腺素，一种神经传递介质或者说是化学信使，把信号传递在身体的各个部位以刺激“战或逃反映”。大量的这种化学物质是有毒的；对内脏（内部的）器官例如心脏，肺脏，肝脏和肾脏是有损害的。人们相信大多数的突发死亡都是由心脏受损引起的。几乎没有其他的器官会如此快的导致死亡。肾衰竭，肝衰竭是不会立即致人死亡的。

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