VOA常速英语2019--VR技术用于手术可奇妙缓解疼痛

Twelve-year-old Tyler Milliken never thought he could play basketball or even walk again after an accident that almost destroyed his leg. I had nine surgeries. A vehicle similar to this one flipped¹ with Millikan’s leg caught in the wheel. His ankle was just hanging on by some tendons. His pain was crazy. Milliken received this unexpected treatment for his pain from the doctors at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford. It kept my mind off of all the pain. The hospital’s Sam Rodriguez says VR is commonly used here as a way to distract young patients from pain and anxiety. Patients use VR for surgeries and during procedures from wound care to blood draw. We see instances where kids can go from using lots of medications like narcotics² and benzodiazepines to not need anything with just a virtual reality distraction³ based intervention⁴. These VR games are different from traditional screen based video games, says Luke Wilson of Mighty⁵ Immersion⁶, the company works with hospitals to develop VR games for patients. We make sure that you can control the entire game with just your head movements. And we make sure that they’re re-orientable, so that the patient, whether they’re lying down or sitting up can enjoy them. VR is also an easy way to keep the patient from seeing what could be visually disturbing procedures. The games never end so the patient can play until the procedure is finished. This is a tool that can and has transformed potentially traumatic experiences at the hospital into more positive ones, and has helped many young patients take fewer pain medications or even avoid general anesthesia for minor⁷ procedures while at the hospital.

12岁的泰勒·米利肯从未想过自己还能打篮球，他甚至以为自己连走路都无法做到了，因为他曾经历过一次事故，导致左腿几乎废掉。我做过9次手术。跟这一辆大小相近的车翻过去了，而米利肯的腿就卡在车轮里了。他的脚踝被一些肌腱缠住了。他疼的要命。米利肯的疼痛得到了意外的治疗，治疗他的是美国斯坦福大学医学中心露西帕卡德儿童医院的医生。我再也不觉着疼了。该医院的萨姆·罗德里格斯说，虚拟现实（VR）在这里应用广泛，这是一种分散年轻病人注意力的方式，让他们忘记疼痛和焦虑。病人们使用VR来做手术，还会在伤口护理以及抽血等流程中使用到VR。我们看到过许多实例，很多孩子一开始要用大量的药物，比如麻醉剂和苯二氮卓类药物，到后来，这些孩子不需要用任何药物，只需要使用VR来转移注意力即可。这些VR游戏跟要在屏幕上玩儿的传统视频不同，Might Immersion公司的卢克·威尔逊如是说道。该公司跟许多医院合作来为病人研发VR游戏。我们会确保玩家只需要移动脑袋就能操控整个游戏。此外，我们还会确保游戏可以重新定向，这样一来，病人无论是躺着还是坐着都能享受游戏的快乐。VR还可以提供便捷，让病人不会看到引起不适的治疗流程。这些游戏永远不会结束，可以一直玩儿到手术结束。这是一种工具，可以改变并已经改变医院病人可能存在的创痛感受，把其变成积极的感受。这种方式已经帮助很多年轻的病人接受了没那么疼痛的治疗，甚至帮助他们避免了在医院做小手术时的全身麻醉。

1 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

2 narcotics   

n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 )；毒品；毒

参考例句：

• The use of narcotics by teenagers is a problem in many countries. 青少年服用麻醉药在许多国家中都是一个问题。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Police shook down the club, looking for narcotics. 警方彻底搜查了这个俱乐部，寻找麻醉品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

4 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。

5 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

6 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。