[长难句突破]

After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia's Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die.

主体句式：Australia's Northern Territory became the first legal authority to ...

结构分析：本句开头是一个以after引导的时间状语从句。主句较长但结构比较清晰，其中句子末尾有一个以who引导的定语从句用来修饰patients。

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

主体句式：Oother states are going to ...

结构分析：本句的主干部分在第二个破折号之后，而两个破折号中间的是一个用where引导的定语从句，用来补充说明Australia。从句的主句较为复杂，是由三个并列结构组成的"an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes"，谓语是have played，宾语是their part。

[全文译文]

It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia's Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the group's on line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: "We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn't just something that happened in Australia. It's world history."

The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally III law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. 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. In Australia - where an aging population, life extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part - other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the US and Canada, where the right to die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.

Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death - probably by a deadly injection or pill - to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a "cooling off" period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54 year old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally III law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. "I'm not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I'd go, because I've watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks," he says.

凌晨3:45进行了最后的投票表决。经过半年的争辩和最后16个小时的国会激烈辩论，澳大利亚北部地区成为世界上第一个允许医生根据绝症病人的个人意愿来结束其生命的合法地区。这一法案是以15票对10票的无可争议的结果通过的。该消息几乎同时出现在互联网上。身处地球另一端的加拿大死亡权利协会执行主席约翰·霍夫塞斯在收到该消息后便通过协会的在线服务网站"死亡之网"发布了公告。他说："我们这一整天都在发布公告，因为这件事的意义不仅仅在于它是在澳大利亚发生的事情，而是因为这是将载入世界历史的一件大事。"

这一法案的深刻意义要得到人们的深刻理解可能还需要一段时间。澳北州通过的晚期病人权益法使得无论是内科医生还是普通市民都同样地力图从道义和实际意义两方面来看待这一问题。有一些人感到如释重负，而另一些人，包括教会，生命权利组织以及澳大利亚医学会成员都对这一决议进行了猛烈的抨击，并批评如此草率地通过决议。但是安乐死这一潮流已无法逆转。在澳大利亚，人口老龄化，延长寿命技术和公众态度的变化都发挥着各自的作用。其他州也将考虑制定类似的法律法规来处理安乐死问题。在美国和加拿大，死亡权利运动正在积蓄力量积极准备。观察家们正在等待着将产生的多米诺骨牌效应。

根据澳北州所通过的这项新法案，成年病人可以要求安乐死--可以是通过注射致死药剂或服用致死药片--来结束痛苦的煎熬。但此前病人必须经由两名医生诊断其确实已病入膏肓，然后病人再需经过7天的"冷静思考期"，才可签署一份申请证明。48小时后，病人安乐死的愿望才会得到满足。对于居住于达尔文市、现年54岁的肺癌患者利奥德·尼克森来说，这个法律意味着他可以平静地生活下去而无须整天惧怕即将来临的苦难折磨：因呼吸困难而在煎熬中痛苦地死去。"从思想上说，我并不害怕死，但我怕的是怎样死去，"他说，"因为我在医院看到过病人在缺氧时苦苦挣扎，用手抓他们的面罩时的情景。"