VOA慢速英语21014 捐赠到世界各地的美国医疗设备

 

AS IT IS 2014-11-18 US Medical Supplies Donated Overseas 捐赠到世界各地的美国医疗设备

Every year, American hospitals and medical centers are left with thousands of kilograms of medical supplies that never get used. Health care workers prepared the supplies for use by doctors when they operate on patients. But doctors found no need for them during the operations.

Unused medical supplies are often thrown away -- but not all of them. An aid group has been collecting such supplies for 25 years, and sending them to hospitals and medical clinics in developing countries. The program is called SHARE, or “Supporting Hospitals Abroad with Resources and Equipment.”

The medical supplies include towels, gloves and trays¹. They have been removed from boxes in operating rooms but never used. SHARE donates 5,000 kilograms of these reusable surgical² supplies from American hospitals every year.

The program is a project of student volunteers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. They collect the supplies and prepare them for shipping³ to medical centers in 24 countries.

The students say they are gathering⁴ only a small number of the unused materials. They report that 232 teaching⁵ hospitals in the United States could possibly give 900 thousand kilograms of opened but unused surgical supplies every year. They say these objects have a value of more than $15 million.

Eric Wan⁶ recently finished his studies at the Johns Hopkins medical school. He says SHARE only collects materials that foreign surgical centers request. He says the program does not want to create more waste in other countries.

“So that if they need it and they can use it and they know how to use it, then we can ship it to them. But if they can’t use it or they don’t have the capacity⁷ to use it, then we prefer not to send it to them because then it just sits there and becomes something that is just taking (up) space and it’s not used.”

SHARE works⁸ with aid groups already operating overseas. These charities include Operation Smile, the Neuro-Spinal Research and Human Development organization, and the Chiapas Project. These groups pay to transport and clean the supplies.

“And sometimes they’re used for emergency surgeries⁹ and sometimes they are not used for emergency surgeries. So our goal is that in the end, we save and improve lives.”

Information about SHARE was given to doctors who recently attended a meeting of the Clinical Congress¹⁰ of the American College of Surgeons in San Francisco. Eric Wan says SHARE hopes to increase the number of U.S. hospitals and medical centers that are giving their unused supplies to SHARE. He notes that, without the program, all of these supplies would be thrown away.  

Words in this Story

patient – n. a person who receives medical care or treatment

clinic – n. a place where people get medical help

collect – v. to get (things) from different places and bring them together

waste – n. a loss of something valuable that occurs because too much of it is being used or because it is being used in a way that is not necessary or effective

capacity – n. the ability to do something; a mental, emotional, or physical ability

1 trays   

n.盘子( tray的名词复数 )；托盘；文件盘；（各种用途的）浅塑料盒

参考例句：

• Winston and Syme pushed their trays beneath the grille. 温斯顿跟赛姆便把托盘推到铁栅下。 来自英汉文学
• Five trays of eggs would hatch out a huge number of silkworms. 三张蚕种，该可以采多少茧子呢？ 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕

2 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

3 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

6 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。

7 capacity   

n.能力，力量，接受力；容量，能量，容积

参考例句：

• She is employed by the president in an advisory capacity.她被总裁聘为顾问。
• This carriage has a seating capacity of 120 people.这节车厢定员120人。

8 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

9 surgeries   

n.外科手术( surgery的名词复数 )；外科诊所；门诊时间；（议员的）接待时间

参考例句：

• Doctor's don't want their surgeries full of people seeking medical solutions to their relationship problems.\" 医生们不希望诊室里挤满了为了夫妻关系问题来寻求医疗解决的人。” 来自时文部分
• Result: 9 patients with affective disorder presented after cardiac surgeries with CPB. 结果：仅体外循环组9人出现术后轻度情感障碍。 来自互联网

10 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。