当美的祭司，死于对美的追求：一支美容针背后的时代之问

关于"美"的故事。

a story about 'beauty'.

但它的结尾，

But its ending

并不美丽。

is not beautiful.

故事的主角，

The story's protagonist

叫坎德尔·阿舍尔。

was named Kendal Ascher.

他今年，

He was,

五十六岁。

fifty-six.

如果你对美妆行业，

If you know anything

有所了解，

about the beauty industry,

就会知道，

you'll know

他绝非等闲之辈。

he was no ordinary figure.

他是全球美妆巨头，

He was, at the global beauty giant

雅诗兰黛集团的，

the Estée Lauder Companies,

一位资深高管，

a senior executive,

执掌着，

in charge of

集团最顶级的，

the group's most elite

那一批奢侈品牌——

luxury brands —

海蓝之谜、

La Mer,

汤姆·福特美妆、

Tom Ford Beauty,

祖·玛珑、

Jo Malone,

柏丽来诗……

Frédéric Malle …

这些光是听名字，

brands whose very names

就让人心动的牌子，

make hearts flutter —

背后，

behind them all,

都有他的身影。

his hand was there.

从一名普通的，

From an ordinary

销售代表做起，

sales rep,

到执掌一方的，

to a commanding

集团高管，

group executive,

他在雅诗兰黛，

at Estée Lauder he served

一干，

for

就是二十五年。

twenty-five whole years.

可以毫不夸张地说，

It's no exaggeration to say

他的一生，

his whole life

都奉献给了，

was devoted to

一个字——

one word —

"美"。

'beauty'.

他比这世上，

More than almost

绝大多数人，

anyone else in the world,

都更懂得，

he understood

如何变美，

how to become beautiful,

如何，

how

留住青春。

to hold on to youth.

然而，

And yet,

命运，

fate

却开了一个，

played

极其残忍的玩笑。

an exceptionally cruel joke.

这样一位，

Such a man,

站在"美"的金字塔顶端的人，

standing at the summit of beauty's pyramid,

最终，

in the end,

却倒在了，

fell

对"美"的，

in the pursuit

追逐之中。

of 'beauty' itself.

今年年初，

Early this year,

他毫无征兆地，

with no warning,

突然离世。

he suddenly passed away.

起初，

At first,

死因成谜。

the cause was a mystery.

直到这个星期，

Not until this week

纽约的首席法医，

did New York's chief medical examiner

才正式公布了，

officially announce

那个，

the conclusion

让整个行业，

that shook

为之震动的结论。

the entire industry.

他的死，

His death

源于，

stemmed from

一次再寻常不过的，

an utterly ordinary

美容注射。

cosmetic injection.

那串专业的医学描述是：

The clinical wording was:

"在美容注射后，

'following a cosmetic injection,

因异物造成肺栓塞，

a pulmonary embolism of foreign material,

进而导致，

leading to

急性呼吸衰竭。

acute respiratory failure.'

翻译成大白话，

In plain words,

就是：

it means:

他打了，

he received

我们俗称的"美容针"，

what we commonly call a 'beauty injection',

也就是，

that is,

往皮肤里，

the kind of filler

填充的那种针剂。

injected into the skin.

本应安稳地，

The filler, which should have rested

停留在皮肤里的填充物，

safely within the skin,

却在极小概率下，

in a tiny-probability event,

误入了，

strayed into

他的血管。

his blood vessels.

这些微小的"异物"，

These minute 'foreign bodies'

就此踏上了，

thus set out on

一条致命的旅程。

a fatal journey.

它们随着血流，

Carried by the bloodstream,

一路奔涌，

they surged along,

最终，

and finally

卡在了，

lodged

他的肺部，

in his lungs,

像一个个塞子，

like so many plugs,

死死堵住了，

sealing off, dead,

生命的通道。

the passages of life.

他先是感到，

He first felt

一阵突如其来的头晕，

a sudden wave of dizziness,

随后，

and then,

呼吸，

his breath

迅速地，

swiftly

离他而去。

left him.

据报道，

According to reports,

他最后的时刻，

his final moments

是在丈夫的怀抱里，

were spent in his husband's arms.

度过的。

Spent there.

官方，

Officials

将这场悲剧，

ruled this tragedy

定性为，

to be

一场意外。

an accident.

讲到这里，

At this point,

我必须停下来，

I must pause

郑重地，

and say,

说明一点。

in all seriousness, one thing.

我并不是想，

I am not trying

吓退任何人。

to scare anyone off.

事实上，

In fact,

这一类的美容注射，

this kind of cosmetic injection,

在绝大多数情况下，

in the vast majority of cases,

都是安全的。

is safe.

仅仅在美国，

In the US alone,

每年的注射量，

the number of injections each year

就超过，

exceeds

五百五十万次。

5.5 million.

像他这样的，

Fatal accidents

致命意外，

like his

是极少数中的，

are the rarest

极少数。

of the rare.

但"极少数"，

But 'extremely rare',

终究，

after all,

不等于"零"。

is not the same as 'zero'.

正如一位整形医生，

As one plastic surgeon

所坦言的：

candidly admitted:

风险虽然罕见，

though the risk is rare,

却真实存在，

it truly exists,

严重时，

and at its worst

甚至可能，

may even

导致失明。

cause blindness.

任何一次，

Any act

将异物，

of sending foreign matter

送入身体的行为，

into the body

都不存在，

carries no

百分之百的安全。

one-hundred-percent safety.

说到这里，

Speaking of this,

我想和你，

I want, with you,

聊聊更深的一层。

to talk about a deeper layer.

我们正身处，

We are living

一个，

in an age

前所未有地，

that exalts 'beauty'

推崇"美"的时代。

as never before.

社交媒体上，

On social media,

是一张张，

it's face after

精致无瑕的脸。

flawless, polished face.

变美，

Getting beautiful

似乎，

seems

成了一种，

to have become

新的"刚需"。

a new 'necessity'.

追求美，

To pursue beauty,

本身，

in itself,

没有任何错。

is not wrong at all.

它是人，

It is humanity's

对美好，

most instinctive longing

最本能的向往。

for what is lovely.

但阿舍尔的故事，

But Ascher's story

像一面镜子，

is like a mirror,

照出了，

reflecting

这场盛大追逐，

the shadow behind

背后的，

this grand

那一丝阴影：

pursuit:

当我们，

when we

不断地，

ceaselessly,

向外，

outward,

向脸上，

onto our faces,

去做"加法"时，

keep 'adding',

是否，

have we

也曾认真地，

ever seriously

算过，

done the

那道，

'subtraction'

关于风险的，

of

"减法"？

risk?

在"更美"，

Between 'more beautiful'

和"无恙"之间，

and 'unharmed',

那条，

that

看不见的界线，

invisible line —

我们，

where,

究竟，

exactly,

该划在哪里？

should we draw it?

节目的最后，

At the end of the show,

我想把两个问题，

I want to leave you

留给你。

with two questions.

第一，

First,

为了变得更美，

to become more beautiful,

你愿意，

the price

付出的代价，

you're willing to pay —

上限，

what is its

是什么？

ceiling?

第二，

Second,

如果有一天，

if one day

"美"，

'beauty'

需要你，

required you

用健康，

to trade your health,

甚至安全，

even your safety,

去交换，

for it,

你，

would you

还会，

still

义无反顾吗？

go without hesitation?

这两个问题，

These two questions

没有标准答案。

have no standard answer.

但是它们，

But they

值得你，

are worth your

慢慢地想。

thinking about slowly.