CNN 2010-12-29

The heavy snow that's pounding the northeast, that's keeping the New York Giants from getting home. That's the second time this season that a team can stuck due to bad weather. What makes it worse than they're staying at a Wisconsin hotel is the team's loss to Green Bay yesterday.

Police are looking for the person who attacked an Arizona state lawmaker on Christmas Day. Here's what happened. Frank Pratt went in to check on his swimming pool store when someone came in, beat him up, knocked him unconscious and left him tied up. Pratt is hospitalized in stable condition.

And that actor who was seriously injured while performing an aerial stunt¹ in the Spider-man musical in New York is walking again. Thankfully. Christopher Tierney's father says Tierney wants to return to the show. He fell at least 20 feet during the Broadway show last week and had successful back surgery.

Well, you may not remember Connie Culp's name but you'll probably remember her incredible story. She was the recipient² of the very first face transplant in the United States.

Back in 2004 a shotgun blast robbed her of her identity. Breathing, eating, living, everything we take for granted was difficult for her. Then after years of waiting, Culp was matched with a donor³. A face donor.

Two years ago this month, eight surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic gave her a big piece of her humanity back and recently she met the family of her donor.

I spoke⁴ to Connie Culp earlier this morning.

Connie Culp joins us now from Pittsburgh.

Connie, thank you so much for joining us. I guess the question everybody wants to know is how are you doing? What is day-to-day life like for you right now?

It's ordinary like everybody else's. I'm doing really good right now.

Yes. I bet it feels…

I'm trying to stay warm like everybody else.

Yes, I'm sure. Not easy these days. You know one thing I definitely want to talk to you about is that I know that you recently met your donor family, the family of the woman who gave you your face, if you will. Tell me what that was like.

Oh, it was scary at first. We had a really good time. And they explained to me what happened to the wife. And they are just so sweet. I mean, she was a nurse in a rest home. And she was a donor from the beginning so yeah. It was easy for them to make the decision.

I know that she donated enough parts to help 50 people including yourself. And I know that you've said when they gave you that hug they held you so tight it felt pretty real, didn't it?

1 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

2 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。