VOA标准英语2015--研究人员开发拟真人腿

Researchers Develop Artificial Legs That Mimic¹ Real Ones 研究人员开发拟真人腿

When we walk, most of us don't give the process a second thought. Tiny electrical signals contract the leg muscles to help the joints² move. All of it is controlled by our brains.

Researchers have been working on developing artificial legs that mimic this natural leg movement.

Terry Karpowicz, who is testing one such robotic leg at the Rehabilitation³ Institute of Chicago, said it "allows me the opportunity to flow down the stairs and not really think about the process of what the next step is.”

The motorized limb harnesses electromyographic (EMG) signals generated by the upper leg muscles.

“We pick them up with tiny antennas⁴ called electrodes," said Levi Hargrove of the Rehabilitation Institute, who led the research that produced the device. "When the electrodes touch the skin you can detect the EMG signals, and we pick those signals up and decode⁵ them.”

The knee and ankle are thus motorized to replicate⁶ normal movement. “With this prosthetic leg, the power pushes you along," Hargrove said. "It can push you up and out of a seat. It can push you up stairs or slopes.”  

At the University of Linz in Austria, professor Hubert Egger has just unveiled the first prosthetic leg that can send feelings to the brain like a real leg. Surgeons rewired an amputee's remaining nerve endings from his foot to tissue in the thigh⁷.

Sensors⁸ are fitted to the sole of the prosthetic foot and linked to artificial stimulators connected to the stump⁹. The device also allows the person wearing it to feel the ground.

Program participant Wolfgang Rangger said that with this artificial leg, he can tell what kind of surface he's walking on, and in winter, he no longer slips on ice.

Egger is trying to find a way to reduce the cost of his prosthesis so more people can benefit, including those in developing countries.

The participants in both programs expressed a renewed sense of wholeness. Hailey Danisewicz, who took part in the Chicago study, said that "this is the closest I've gotten to having two legs again. What we're working on in this lab is eventually going to change the lives of amputees everywhere. I mean, it's great."

The study conducted at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

1 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

2 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

3 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

4 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

5 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

6 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

7 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。

8 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

9 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。