2007年VOA标准英语-Experimental Procedure May Let Injured Player W

By Carol Pearson
Washington
13 September 2007
 
American professional football player Kevin Everett fractured his neck during a game, 9 September 2007.  He remains¹ sedated² and in intensive care. It is too early to tell if Everett will recover fully³. The doctors who rushed to his aid tried an experimental technique that may save his life and even allow him to walk again.  VOA's Carol Pearson has more.

It seemed like just another football play, a charge by the Buffalo⁴ Bill's Kevin Everett, except for an accident.

In a collision with another player, Kevin Everett, falls to the ground.  His fellow players knelt down to pray as Everett was carried off the field on a stretcher. After surgery, a team doctor offered somber⁵ words.

Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, team doctor says, "I told Kevin that the chances of a full neurologic recovery were bleak⁶."

Dr. Barth Green

The collision crushed Everett's third vertebra into his fourth, severely⁷ damaging his spinal⁸ cord. Neurosurgeon Barth Green was called in to help.  He is with the world's largest spinal cord injury research center --the University of Miami's Project to Cure Paralysis⁹.  Because of quick action and an experimental procedure, Dr. Green says there is now hope. "I think Kevin will be walking some day soon because of this."

Doctors lowered Everett's body temperature within minutes of his injury, preventing the injury from getting worse.

"What they did is they took an athlete that was injured 15 minutes earlier, and they lowered his body temperature within minutes of his injury, and they were able to protect his spinal cord from permanent damage. That was never done before," Dr. Green said.

This technology did not exist 12 years ago, when actor Christopher Reeve was injured. Reeve was paralyzed after falling off a horse.  Afterward¹⁰, he raised money -- and awareness¹¹ - for research on spinal cord injuries.

"Scientists are already talking about the day when having a spinal cord injury will not result in paralysis," Reeve once said, though he did not live to see that day.

But the foundation he created provides funding for the University of Miami's Project to Cure Paralysis. "Christopher Reeve used to say it's what you do after the accident that matters. That early intervention¹², to know exactly how to treat the patient is critically important," said Peter Wilderotter, the foundation's president.

As of Wednesday (12 September), the Buffalo Bills' web site said Kevin Everett's injury is still potentially lethal¹³, and it is too early to predict the outcome.

But if Everett does walk again, it will be the result of dedicated¹⁴ medical research.

1 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。

2 sedated   

v.使昏昏入睡，使镇静( sedate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's sedated,but she's probably scared out of her mind. 她很安静，但是她可能已经吓疯了。 来自电影对白
• Are you telling me the porn actually sedated you? 你是要告诉我，那毛片的确让你镇静下来吗？ 来自电影对白

3 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。

4 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

5 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

6 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

7 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。

8 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

9 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

10 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

11 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。

12 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

13 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

14 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。