美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ukrainian soldiers benefit from U.S. prosthetics expertise but their war is different

Ukrainian soldiers benefit from U.S. prosthetics expertise¹ but their war is different

Transcript²

Oleksandr Fedun had been in the Ukrainian army for two years when he got hit last May.

"The enemy reconnaissance did their job and they mined the roads," he says.

He was driving the first truck in a convoy³. When he felt the explosion, Fedun says, he managed to swerve⁴ and block the road so none of his fellow soldiers would drive on into the mines. Then he started tying tourniquets⁵ on himself. Ukrainian medics saved him, but he lost both legs above the knee.

"Life doesn't stop at this," says Fedun, standing⁶ on two high-tech⁷, full-leg prostheses, as he tries to stay upright while passing a medicine ball back and forth⁸ with his physical therapist in Silver Spring, Md.

Eight months after his injury, Fedun was flown here to get fitted for the legs and learn to use them. An array of charities paid for his trip: the Future for Ukraine and Revive Soldier Ukraine got him to the U.S.; United Help Ukraine is paying for lodging⁹, transportation and support; Medical Center Orthotics and Prosthetics (MCOP) is fitting the prostheses and training him.

"The goal is to give him his life back," says Mike Corcoran, one of the founders¹⁰ of MCOP, and a prosthetics for over 30 years.

"We're giving them the equipment to live a normal life. They're tools, but they're not advancing him beyond what he lost," says Corcoran, leaning over a workbench covered in prosthetic feet.

Until just a few years ago, Corcoran says, his company was fully¹¹ occupied with American military amputees coming from nearby Walter Reed — and some of the legs given to Ukrainian soldiers were donated by U.S. veterans. They're computerized and battery powered, but they're rugged¹², says Corcoran, and they'll help Fedun gain the confidence to use them every day.

"These are computer-controlled knees that learn how he walks. They recognize if he's going to stumble, and the knee stiffens¹³ up. And then as he switches from walking slow to medium to fast, they keep up with him. It provides him the stability, because if he's unstable¹⁴ and falling, he's not gonna walk," says Corcoran.

Since Russia invaded a year ago, it's believed that thousands of Ukrainians have lost limbs in the war, though the government in Kyiv hasn't publicly confirmed the number killed or wounded. Corcoran says treating American military amputees was different — with a few exceptions, they were leaving war behind. The Ukrainians here don't have that option.

The three Ukrainian soldiers at MCOP in Maryland last month all said they want to find a way to return to the fighting

"My plan is just to go back to the war and kill the orcs," says Dmytro Sklyarenko, using the Ukrainian slur¹⁵ for Russian soldiers. Sklyarenko lost his right leg, high above the knee, to shrapnel from an artillery¹⁶ shell.

Others want to get ambulatory so they can bring some lessons learned to the Ukrainian army.

"I need to pass my experience to the other guys," says Ruslan Tyshchenko, who served 25 years in the army as a sapper — a combat engineer trained in defusing or setting up anti-tank mines. That's what he was doing last June 8, he says, when a Russian surveillance drone spotted¹⁷ him and gave targeting information to the same tanks Tyshchenko was laying mines for.

"I was almost done installing them when the tank turned toward me," he says.

The shell exploded near him and flipped¹⁸ him in the air. At first he didn't even know which way to run. Then his men started shouting, "Sapper! Sapper!"

When tried to get up and run toward them he found his legs were useless. Stabbing the ground with his commando knife, he dragged himself toward them for about 30 yards. Then his men reached him and started pulling him by the arms, not realizing that a heavy anti-tank mine was still attached and banging against his right leg, which was visibly broken. His left leg was gone.

Tyshchenko's amputation¹⁹ is so high up — above his left hip²⁰ — that doctors in Ukraine told him his only option was a wheelchair. That was about 20 surgeries, and seven months ago. Here in Maryland, he's learning to walk on a prosthesis, practicing with a safety harness that's hooked into a rail in the ceiling. That way when he falls he doesn't have to worry about hitting the floor.

Mike Corcoran says he wants these guys to win their war — and then have a normal life as civilians²¹.

"Eventually this war's going to end — no wars go on forever. And the reality of all of this is going back to work or doing something, his rehab and all that, it's a lifetime. Prosthetics will be part of his life for a considerable amount of time," he said.

Even now, with all the help and attention and positive energy — Tyshchenko says it's been hard to adjust even to the good news — that he can walk again.

"For half a year, you don't have a leg and you never believe you would walk. And finally, you can stand up on your own and you can walk — psychologically it's very hard to adjust to," he said.

Here in the states, near Walter Reed hospital, Tyshchenko says he's felt the support and respect that people have for severely²² wounded veterans. They act normal around him. That's something he's craving²³ — and his family have noticed, says his wife Iryna Tyshchenko.

"I see very clearly that he resists very much my sympathy and he wants me to treat him as a normal person living normal life, and that requires a lot of effort on my side. And in our family, I want nothing to change compared to what it was before the injury," she says, "I feel he needs that."

In Ukraine, she says, civilians don't really know how to do that yet, but as the war drags on, it's something they may be forced to learn.

1 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

4 swerve   

v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离

参考例句：

• Nothing will swerve him from his aims.什么也不能使他改变目标。
• Her car swerved off the road into a 6ft high brick wall.她的车突然转向冲出了马路，撞向6英尺高的一面砖墙。

5 tourniquets   

n.止血带( tourniquet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Can tourniquets be used in patients with sickle cell disease? 止血带能否用于镰状细胞病患者？ 来自互联网
• Fig. 1-1 A, Straight (rectangular) tourniquets fit optimally on cylindrical limbs. 图1-1A直（长方形）止血带最适合用于柱状的肢体。 来自互联网

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

10 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

13 stiffens   

（使）变硬，（使）强硬( stiffen的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Heating the foam stiffens it and forms it. 暖气泡沫stiffens它和形式。
• He stiffens in momentary panic. 他心里一阵惊慌，浑身不自在起来。

14 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

15 slur   

v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音

参考例句：

• He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
• The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。

16 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

17 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

18 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

19 amputation   

n.截肢

参考例句：

• In ancient India,adultery was punished by amputation of the nose.在古代印度，通奸要受到剖鼻的处罚。
• He lived only hours after the amputation.截肢后，他只活了几个小时。

20 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

21 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

22 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

23 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。