2007年VOA标准英语-Bionic Hand Changes Life of US Soldier

By Melinda Smith
Washington
10 August 2007
 

The lives of thousands of Iraqis and U.S. soldiers are changed forever when they lose arms or legs in roadside bomb attacks in Iraq.  When they return home, the wounded American military personnel are often fitted with the latest artificial limbs.  VOA's Melinda Smith has the story of one U.S. Army sergeant¹ who has adapted to a prosthetic hand straight out of science fiction.

Sergeant Arredondo has gained the use of an artificial left hand

Improvised² Explosive Devices, or IEDs, explode without warning, and when they do, their victims are killed, or maimed for life. 

Twenty-seven-year-old U.S. Army Sergeant Juan Arredondo was severely³ injured in 2005 when an IED exploded near his vehicle in Iraq.  He thought he was going to die.

"I told my soldiers, 'Say goodbye to my kids for me.  Tell them I love them'," he recalled.

Sergeant Arredondo was taken to an Army hospital where his life was saved, but not his hand.  He thought his life was ruined. "I was emotionally, physically⁴, and mentally just traumatized for a pretty long time.  I just didn't know what to expect.  I was worried about how am I going to take care of my wife and kids?"

Many soldiers in Sergeant Arredondo's condition would be sent to hospitals such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.  There soldiers are fitted with prosthetic hands, arms and legs. 

But a new, highly sophisticated bionic hand, recently invented in Britain, is now available. 

The artificial hand is controlled in the same way as a real hand: brain power and muscles

It looks and almost feels like a real human hand.  The patient's mind sends signals through muscles to little motors inside the prosthetic hand. Sergeant Arredondo is one of the first to use it.

Troy Farnsworth of Hanger⁵ Orthopedic Group fitted him with what's called the “I-Limb.”

"As soon as we put it on Juan, he smiled.  It was the 'wow' [exclamation of a pleasant surprise] factor."

Sergeant Arredondo can go shopping, use the bank's ATM, and drive a car.

Jessica Arredondo says the I-Limb has brought life back to her husband. "He's my 'superman’," she says.

1 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？

2 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 hanger   

n.吊架，吊轴承；挂钩

参考例句：

• I hung my coat up on a hanger.我把外衣挂在挂钩上。
• The ship is fitted with a large helicopter hanger and flight deck.这艘船配备有一个较大的直升飞机悬挂装置和飞行甲板。