DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Adaptive Eyecare

DEVELOPMENT REPORT – December 30, 2002: Adaptive Eyecare

By Jill Moss¹

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Health Organization estimates as many as one-thousand-million people around the world cannot see
correctly. About ninety percent of these people are in poor countries. They need corrective glasses for their eyes,
but cannot get them. This is partly because there are not enough trained eye doctors in most developing countries.
In addition, corrective eyeglasses cost a lot of money.

One man is trying to change this. Joshua Silver is a physicist² at Oxford³ University in Britain. He has created
eyeglasses that permit wearers to correct their own vision. The glasses are called adaptive glasses. The lenses of
the glasses are filled with a special fluid. A person can change the strength of the lenses by turning a small device
attached to the glasses.

The device changes the amount of fluid in the lenses. A person changes the shape and power of the lenses until
he can see most clearly. The whole process takes less than a minute.

The glasses do not correct for astigmatism⁴, or the abnormal shape of the eye. However, they improve the ability
of people to see close up and far away. Mister Silver estimates that the glasses can help about ninety percent of
the people who need to improve their vision.Mister Silver formed a company to research and develop the special
glasses six years ago. It is called Adaptive Eyecare. The goal of the company is to provide low-cost corrective
glasses to people in developing countries. Models of the glasses have been tested in Africa and Asia. Now, the
company is preparing to sell several hundred-thousand glasses to Ghana for about ten dollars each.

The Ghanaian government is seeking aid from the World Health Organization to help pay for the glasses. Mister
Silver expects the price of the glasses to drop once technology and manufacturing improve. However, he says the
glasses should not be a replacement⁵ for eye care or treatment for eye diseases.

If you have a computer, you can find out more about these special glasses at the Adaptive Eyecare Internet Web
page. The address is www dot adaptive dash eyecare dot com. (www.adaptive-eyecare.com).

Or you can write to the company at Adaptive Eyecare Limited, the Oxford Center for Innovation, Mill Street,
Oxford, oh-x-two, zero-j-x, United Kingdom.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.

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1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 astigmatism   

n.散光，乱视眼

参考例句：

• Maybe you fall asleep in class because of uncorrected astigmatism.也许你在课堂上睡觉是因为你的眼睛散光。
• Astigmatism can occur in addition to nearsightedness and farsightedness.散光可同时发生在近视和远视。

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。