读者文摘:奇迹生还的男孩(2)

They had to send him somewhere with more advanced imaging equipment—

他们必须要把泽维尔送到一家影像设备更加先进的医院-

Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, about 40 minutes north of the family's home in Harrisonville.

密苏里州堪萨斯城的儿童慈善医院，距离他们在哈里森维尔的家大约40分钟车程。

To prevent Xavier from moving his head, hospital staff put a plastic cervical collar on his neck, and they wrapped his entire head in white gauze to help stabilize¹ the skewer².

为了防止泽维尔移动他的头部，医务人员在他脖子上放了一个塑料颈圈，他们用白纱布包裹了他的整个头部，以帮助固定尖杆。

The only thing left exposed besides that mud-caked metal rod was his mouth.

除了那个粘着泥土的尖杆，唯一露出来的就是他的嘴。

At Children's Mercy, doctors performed a computed³ tomography (CT) angiogram to see whether the skewer had pierced one of his major blood vessels⁴.

在儿童慈善医院，医生们给他做了计算机断层血管成像检查，以确定尖杆是否刺穿了他的一条主要血管。

They were amazed to find that it had barely missed every vital artery⁵ when it penetrated⁶ his head.

他们惊奇地发现，刺进了他的头部的尖杆，竟然勉强地漏掉了每一根重要的动脉。

It was like the proverbial threading of a needle, only with life-and-death consequences.

这就像众所周知的穿针引线一样，只是它会带来生或死的后果。

But there was a wrinkle. Metal shows up on CT scans as vivid white, without defined edges.

但有一个问题。在CT扫描中，金属显示为清晰的白色，没有明显的边缘。

If the skewer had any kind of bend, a sharp edge, or a gap, then pulling it out now would be rolling the dice⁷, as it could catch on an artery and rip it open.

如果尖杆有任何弯曲，尖锐的边缘，或缺口，那么现在把它取出来就是后果未知，因为它可以绊住动脉并撕开它。

The only other way to get a clear picture of the skewer was with biplane angiography—a process that gives doctors a crystal clear three-dimensional view inside the vascular⁸ system.

唯一能清楚地看到尖杆的另一个方法是用双平面血管造影，这一过程能让医生清楚地看到血管系统内部的三维图像。

It is performed using highly specialized⁹ equipment that only some hospitals have.

它需要使用只有某些医院才配有的高度专业化的设备。

One of them, the University of Kansas Hospital, was just five miles away.

五公里外的堪萨斯大学医院就配有这种设备。

An ER doctor got on the phone with KU to describe the case they were about to transfer.

一位急救室的医生打电话给堪萨斯大学医院，向他描述了他们要转院的情况。

It was now around 7:30 p.m. Xavier had been impaled¹⁰ for six hours.

当时已经是下午七点半了，泽维尔已经被刺伤了六个小时了。

Koji Ebersole, MD, an endo-vascular neurosurgeon at KU, was playing tennis when his cell phone rang.

医学博士科吉·埃伯索尔是堪萨斯大学的血管内神经外科医生，电话打过来的时候，他正在打网球。

At the side of the lighted court, he took the call from another KU doctor telling him about a boy who had been impaled by a large metal skewer.

在灯火通明的球场边，科吉接到另一位堪萨斯大学医院医生的电话，被告知一个男孩被一根大金属棒刺穿了。

Dr.Ebersole looked at the photograph from the hospital on his phone. Whoa, he thought. He'd never seen anything like it.

埃伯索尔医生看了看手机上医院发来的照片。哇，他想。他从来没遇到过这样的情况。

The poor boy was lying on a gurney with a huge spike¹¹ sticking about nine inches out of his face.

这个可怜的男孩躺在轮床上，一根巨大的钉子从他的脸上伸出大约九英寸。

1 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

2 skewer   

n.（烤肉用的）串肉杆；v.用杆串好

参考例句：

• I used a skewer to make an extra hole in my belt.我用扦子在腰带上又打了一个眼儿。
• He skewered his victim through the neck.他用扦子刺穿了受害人的脖子。

3 computed   

adj.[医]计算的，使用计算机的v.计算，估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He computed that the project would take seven years to complete. 他估计这项计划要花七年才能完成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Resolving kernels and standard errors can also be computed for each block. 还可以计算每个块体的分辨核和标准误差。 来自辞典例句

4 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

6 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

7 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

8 vascular   

adj.血管的，脉管的

参考例句：

• The mechanism of this anomalous vascular response is unknown.此种不规则的血管反应的机制尚不清楚。
• The vascular changes interfere with diffusion of nutrients from plasma into adjacent perivascular tissue and cells.这些血管变化干扰了营养物质从血浆中向血管周围邻接的组织和细胞扩散。

9 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

10 impaled   

钉在尖桩上( impale的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She impaled a lump of meat on her fork. 她用叉子戳起一块肉。
• He fell out of the window and was impaled on the iron railings. 他从窗口跌下去，身体被铁栏杆刺穿了。

11 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。