AS IT IS 2015-12-24 Soldier Does One Last Good Deed

AS IT IS 2015-12-24 Soldier Does One Last Good Deed

This is What’s Trending Today.

Army veteran donates organs

The video shows a long walk down a hospital hallway. A man on the hospital bed is unconscious. The sound of a machine is heard in the background. The machine is keeping him alive.

People line the hallway. A man in a uniform leads the group. Many salute¹ the patient, Army Sergeant² Matthew Whalen. Many cry. A woman says, “I love you,” before she chokes on her tears.

Whelan, 35, suffered a brain hemorrhage on Saturday.

That means an artery³ in his brain broke and flooded that area with blood. The blood killed his brain cells, and doctors said Whalen would never recover.

When this happens, a person is considered what is called “brain dead.” The body can no longer breathe on its own.

But other organs can be saved while the body is attached to a respirator. Whelan’s family decided⁴ to donate his organs to veterans who need them. Those organs will be transplanted⁶ into the bodies of veterans who would die without them.

Whelan served four combat⁷ tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His wife, Hannah, is also a veteran. They have three young children.

An honor guard led the walk down the hospital hallway to the operating room. Whalen’s story and the video of him being moved to surgery received more than 6 million views after it was posted on Facebook on Tuesday.

A friend posted the video on Facebook and said: “In his final act on Earth, it is only fitting⁸ that he gave his life and in return saved two others.”

Other people are trying to raise money to help the family. So far, they've raised more than $40,000 in donations in just the first day.

One-Armed college basketball player scores

Zach Hodskins is a basketball player at the University of Florida.

He is not a big star.

He probably won’t play in the NBA.

And most of the time, he does not get to play in games for the university’s team.

But on Tuesday night, the Gators had a big lead late in the game.

That is when the back-up players like Hodskins usually get into the game.

That is normal.

But what is different about Hodskins is that he was born without most of his lower arm on his left side.

Hodskins got into the game with less than 50 seconds to play.

With 35 seconds to go, he drove toward the basket and scored the first basket of his college career.

Today, everyone is trying to find out more about Zach Hodskins.

One Twitter post about Hodskins by the sports network ESPN received almost 40,000 tweets and favorites.

Words in This Story

hemorrhage – n. a condition in which a person bleeds too much and cannot stop the flow of blood

artery – n. any one of the tubes that carry blood from the heart to all parts of the body

respirator – n. a medical device that helps people breathe

transplant⁵ – v. a medical operation in which an organ or other part is removed from the body of one person and put into the body of another person

unconscious – adj. not awake especially because of an injury, drug, etc.

1 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

2 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

3 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。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 transplant   

n.移植的器官或植物；v.使迁移，使移居

参考例句：

• Some plants do not transplant well.有些植物不宜移植。
• Several of the patients had received kidney transplant.病人中有几位已接受了肾移植手术。

6 transplanted   

vt.移植（transplant的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Surgeons have successfully transplanted a liver into a four-year-old boy. 外科医生成功地给一个四岁的男孩移植了肝脏。
• A group of farmers were transplanted to the island by the government. 一批农民被政府迁到这个岛上居住。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 combat   

n.战斗，斗争，格斗；vt.与...斗争，与...战斗

参考例句：

• The police are now using computers to help combat crime.警方现在使用电脑打击犯罪活动。
• A reporter interviewed the combat hero.记者访问了这位战斗英雄。

8 fitting   

n.[pl.]设备，家具，配件，试穿；adj.适合的

参考例句：

• I'm going to a fitting tomorrow.明天我要去试穿新衣。
• The President's address was a fitting end to a bitter campaign.总统的讲话为一场激烈的竞选运动适时画上了句号。