VOA慢速英语2009-Health Report - Hands-Only CPR Is a Simpler Way

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

If a person's heart stops, would you know how to perform CPR? CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation¹, can save a life and reduce the risk of brain damage from loss of oxygen.

With traditional CPR, you give two breathes to force air into the lungs. Then you push hard on the chest thirty times. You repeat these two steps until the victim wakes up or medical help arrives.
　
A student practices traditional CPR in a training class

But people may worry about getting sick from blowing into a stranger's mouth. Also, the training is easy to forget, especially during an emergency.

And those without training may not do anything for fear that they will do something wrong. So in two thousand eight the American Heart Association² simplified its guidelines³.

The group now calls for hands-only CPR for adults who suddenly collapse⁴. Here is how it works⁵:

A person has collapsed⁶ unconscious on the ground. The victim has lost color in the face and does not appear to be breathing. These are signs of cardiac arrest. This is the time to begin CPR.

Place your hands, one on top of the other, on the center of the chest. Push hard and fast. Aim for a rate of about one hundred compressions each minute. Chest compressions keep the blood flowing to the brain, heart and other organs.

Guidelines from two thousand five said only untrained people should use hands-only CPR. Those with training were told to use traditional CPR. But now the heart association says everyone should use hands-only CPR unless they feel strong about their ability to do rescue breathing.

The guidelines were updated after three studies showed that the hands-only method was just as effective as traditional CPR. Scientists say enough oxygen remains⁷ in a person's system for several minutes after breathing stops.

But the experts say you should still use traditional CPR with a combination⁸ of breaths and compressions on babies and children. Traditional CPR should also be used for adults found already unconscious and not breathing normally⁹. And traditional CPR should be used for any victims of drowning or collapse from breathing problems.

These are all examples where CPR with mouth-to-mouth breathing may be more helpful that hands-only CPR. Because there are many of these cases, people should still learn CPR with mouth-to-mouth.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. You can learn more at americanheart.org/cpr. For a link, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 resuscitation   

n.复活

参考例句：

• Despite attempts at resuscitation,Mr Lynch died a week later in hospital.虽经全力抢救，但林奇先生一周以后还是在医院去世了。
• We gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and heart massage.我们对他进行了口对口复苏救治和心脏按摩。

2 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

3 guidelines   

n.指导方针，准则

参考例句：

• The government has drawn up guidelines on the treatment of the mentally ill. 政府制订了对待精神病人的指导方针。
• Planners seem a little uncomfortable with the current government guidelines. 规划师似乎不太接受现行的政府指道方针。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 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。

8 combination   

n.组合，合并，联合；

参考例句：

• He carried on the business in combination with his friends.他与朋友们合伙做生意。
• The materials can be used singly or in combination.这些材料可以单独使用也可以混合用。

9 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。