A face peers over the edge several hundred feet above me. It is a grown man gripped by a morbid elation as he looks down on a sheer drop to the rocks, the beach — where I am standing — and the sea.

一个成年男子站在几百英尺高的悬崖边缘往下看，峭壁之下是巨石，是沙滩，还有大海，我站在下面，看着他沉浸在病态的喜悦之中。

What he can’t see from his perch is that he is resting on an overhang, a lump of chalk protruding over thin air and a very long drop. At any minute, the ground might simply give way, as this famous English beauty spot has had a habit of doing since time immemorial.

但他看不见自己正站于一大块向外突出的白垩岩上，巍巍高耸的峭壁之上空气稀薄，那块岩石随时都有可能垮塌，自古以来在这个著名的英国景点可没少发生这种事。

What happens next, though, is a more recent phenomenon.

接下来这个男人要进行一项如今风靡全球的活动。

Slowly a hand comes in to view and it is holding — what else? — a selfie-stick. Click. Moments later, the man has retreated back from the brink and moved on.

他慢慢地伸出了一只手，拿着一个什么东西？哦，自拍杆，咔哒！过一会儿他从悬崖边退了回去，继续上路了。

How much longer can it be before a new category is added to the list of verdicts available to a coroner? In addition to ‘accident’, ‘misadventure’ and ‘open’, there will soon be a new pronouncement: ‘death by selfie’.

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