美国国家公共电台 NPR Former NFL Player Tim Green Has A New Opponent — ALS

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Former pro¹ football player Tim Green was a well-known voice on this program in the '90s. He offered commentaries on a violent sport.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

TIM GREEN: My parents told me when I was a boy, if I was going to play the game of football, I had to expect to get hurt. How do you expect to get hurt, though? You can't.

INKSEEP: Recently, Tim Green announced he has ALS. We are hearing more about football players with that illness, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, Tim Green is doing what he can to raise awareness² and money to fight it. Here's NPR's Tom Goldman.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE³: I was one of Tim Green's MORNING EDITION producers, and I have this favorite memory. He was in D.C. for a game, and we went to dinner. He had a huge plate of pasta. And when we finished, the waiter came over and asked, anything else? Tim pointed⁴ to his clean plate and said, yeah, let's do it again. And that was him - one entree⁵ wasn't enough. One high-profile career wasn't enough. He's also a prolific⁶ author. And he works for two law firms. And ultimately, it wasn't enough for Tim Green to deal with ALS in silence.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Don't be sorry.

TOM BRADY: Let's beat this.

MATT RYAN: Let's beat this.

TIM GREEN: Good to see you.

GOLDMAN: Great to see you. It's great to see you.

I visited Tim at his lakeside home in upstate New York right after he helped launch the Tackle ALS fundraising website. We sat down in a room with a huge picture window. Outside, driving snow obscured Skaneateles Lake. As we talked, Tim was getting an infusion⁷ of a new drug that's been shown to slow the progress of what's currently a fatal disease. Tim launched the website last month when he went on "60 Minutes" and revealed his illness.

TIM GREEN: I got to a point where I couldn't hide anymore.

GOLDMAN: He first noticed the symptoms about five years ago - hands not strong enough to use nail clippers, words that wouldn't come out as fast as he was thinking them. A diagnosis⁸ in 2016 confirmed he had the disease that weakens muscles in the arms and legs and those that control speech, swallowing and breathing. Tim tried to keep it private. He didn't want people feeling sorry for him. But when he couldn't hide it anymore, his son Troy pushed him to go public.

TROY GREEN: What we said is, you either write your own history or someone's going to write it for you.

GOLDMAN: The history he's writing with Troy's help is positive and hopeful. They say ALS can be cured, it's just underfunded. His history certainly includes family. Tim and Illyssa have been married 29 years. They have five kids, and they're all incredibly close - literally⁹, says Troy.

TROY GREEN: My brother lives on the same lane as us. My little sister is at school. My little brother lives here. And then my older sister lives the furthest away. She's about a three-minute drive (laughter).

TIM GREEN: We're going to reel her in.

TROY GREEN: Yeah. You want to reel her in and get her closer, right?

TIM GREEN: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Tim Green celebrates.

GOLDMAN: Any Tim Green history has to include football, for better and worse. Tim says football gave him the disease. His eight years in the NFL in the 1980s and '90s as a defensive¹⁰ lineman were before protective rule changes and concussion¹¹ protocols¹². He had countless¹³ head collisions, most during practice. Researchers say repetitive head blows may play a part in causing ALS. The recent NFL concussion settlement acknowledged a link by including payouts to former players with the disease, including Tim.

I want to read you something...

In 1992, Tim wrote a commentary about a teammate who'd had enough of the physical toll¹⁴ and was retiring. The piece ended this way...

(Reading) Back at the locker¹⁵ room, I checked my protective neck panting and pumped some extra air into...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

TIM GREEN: ...(Reading) The padding of my helmet, like a gypsy gazing into a crystal ball. I looked at my own distorted reflection in the glossy¹⁶ black surface of my helmet. A smile let me know I was glad to be there, but there was nothing I could see that told me how long it would last.

GOLDMAN: Tim could articulate what many players couldn't. Why, I asked him, with his insights, would he play a sport that could permanently¹⁷ damage him?

TIM GREEN: Then, I had no idea.

GOLDMAN: A future with pain in his back, neck, his knees. He knew it was worth it. Football had been a passion since he was a kid. It taught him so much and let him vent¹⁸ anger and violence in an acceptable way. The love remains¹⁹ so strong that, even now, he's ambivalent²⁰.

TIM GREEN: Can I say getting ALS was worth it? I don't know. I don't know.

GOLDMAN: His two oldest sons played football. His 12-year-old, Ty, plays now. And it has split the close-knit Greens. Illyssa doesn't like it. Tim wants Ty to play if he wants to. Tim is his coach, and he limits hitting in practice. It is, he insists, a safer sport than it was. But there's a more complex reason behind his support. Troy says his dad doesn't want the illness to be a burden on anyone. So Tim doesn't want Ty not to play just because the game hurt him.

MERIT CUDKOWICZ: I do want to point out again that most people who play football don't develop ALS.

BRADY: Dr. Merit Cudkowicz from Massachusetts General Hospital treats Tim's ALS. She's researched the disease for 25 years. She thinks football probably is a factor that led to his illness, but not the only one. Cudkowicz says Tim's and other prominent people's involvement and publicity²¹ present a great opportunity.

CUDKOWICZ: Absolutely. I think this is a huge next step.

GOLDMAN: In raising needed money for research and treatment, she says, following the success of the highly publicized Ice Bucket Challenge a few years ago. Tim's other passion as a kid was writing, and he still does it every day. He can't type, so he has a sensor²² on his glasses that highlights letters. He then clicks a mouse and the letters show up on his laptop screen. He's working on a kid's baseball book and the fundraising, which lets him help others.

He says he's one of the lucky people with the disease. It's relatively²³ slow moving. I asked what keeps him positive. He recounts what he told Illyssa 12 years ago, when she was diagnosed with cancer. He told her she had great doctors, that she was going to beat the illness, which she ultimately did. And, he said, he didn't want her to wallow in fear and misery²⁴.

TIM GREEN: I said because we have a very good life. And if you have a good life, it's never long enough.

GOLDMAN: Outside the house, there's a sculpture of a lone²⁵ football player running, catching²⁶ a pass. Tim says it's an homage²⁷ to the game that let him buy, in his words, this amazing property and build a comfortable home. It's a home and a family in it that now mean even more than they have all along. Tom Goldman, NPR News, Skaneateles, N.Y.

(SOUNDBITE OF KIM ASPEN'S "FLOATING")

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 entree   

n.入场权，进入权

参考例句：

• She made a graceful entree into the ballroom.她进入舞厅时显示非常优雅。
• Her wealth and reputation gave her entree into upper-class circles.她的财富和声望使她得以进入上层社会。

6 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

7 infusion   

n.灌输

参考例句：

• Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
• Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。

8 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

11 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

12 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

13 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

14 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

15 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

16 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

17 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

18 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

20 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

21 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

22 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

23 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

24 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

25 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

26 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

27 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。