VOA标准英语2010年-Service Dogs Help War Wounded

New film highlights unique relationship, PTSD, mental illness

David Byrd | Washington, DC 18 May 2010

The U.S. military uses dogs to help troops on sentry¹ duty and bomb-sniffing patrols. But dogs are also proving their worth off the field of battle by helping² wounded soldiers recover.

A new documentary focuses on one of these service dogs and the many lives he has touched.

Emmy-award winning actress Glenn Close produced the piece. She's best known for her many roles in film and on television - from the obsessive³ lover in "Fatal Attraction," to her latest role as high stake litigator Patty Hewes in the FX television series "Damages."

But now Close has taken on the new role of activist⁴. She's focused on removing the stigma⁵ of mental illness. The 22-minute documentary, "Pax," is part of her efforts.

Bill Campbell, an Iraq war veteran, says Pax helps him cope with symptoms of PTSD.
Making a difference

Bill Campbell, an Iraq war veteran with a 100 percent disability due to concussive brain injury, received a beautiful yellow Labrador called Pax.

Pax was trained by Laurie Kellogg at Bedford Hills Women's Correctional Facility. The fact that Pax came into Bill Campbell's life made his life once again possible.

Close lives near the New York state prison, and volunteered there with a writing rehabilitation⁶ program. Bedford Hills is also home to the nonprofit Puppies Behind Bars, in which inmates⁸ raise and train service dogs. One of its programs is called Dog Tags, specifically to assist wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Glenn Close says when she learned that Sgt. Bill Campbell - the first veteran to receive a Dog Tag dog - was returning to the prison to meet the inmate⁷ who trained Pax, she had to capture that moment. There wasn't time to hire a film crew so she and her assistant, filmmaker Sarah Harvey, grabbed their personal video cameras and headed to the prison.

"We just were there and we just did it. We had basically no huge plan," says the actress. "But then it became so affecting and really important as far as recognizing a wounded veteran like Bill Campbell and the dog that really has saved him and the inmate that trained the dog.  And what programs like this do for the inmates, it was something that we said 'you know, let's make it into a documentary."

Sgt. Campbell with Pax, wife Domenica (left) and Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton (right)

That meeting between Sgt. Campbell and Pax's trainer, Laurie Kellogg, is the climax⁹ of the film.

Special bond

"He [Pax] gave me back pieces of myself that I forgot even existed," says Kellogg. "And when he left me and they told me he was going to you, Bill, I sat on my floor and cried. And I realized that by giving me Pax and taking him from me, they had given me the greatest gift anybody had ever given me in my life. That he restored my soul."

After the documentary's premiere in Washington, Bill Campbell's wife, Domenica, said that Pax helps her husband in multiple ways - including when Sgt. Campbell struggles with the hyper-vigilance that is one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder¹⁰.

"We'll go into a restaurant for instance and previously¹¹ it was, 'Where can I sit with my back to a wall? Where is my clearest vantage point?'" says Campbell. "Now when we go in it's, 'Which table has the least crumbs¹² under it? Where is going to be a good place for Pax to be?' So that's been a really helpful thing."

But helping wounded veterans with PTSD or brain injury is not the only thing the Puppies Behind Bars program has done.The film shows how training the dogs has transformed the prison inmates as well.

Helping the war effort

Puppies Behind Bars founder¹³ and director Gloria Gilbert Stoga says that she had no idea how many inmates, guards and officials were touched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There's a sense in the whole prison community [that] everybody, via these dogs, is doing something for the war effort," says Stoga.

"There's a buoyancy in prison now, it sounds like an oxymoron, but there's a buoyancy in prison now because a lot of people have a stake in helping our war wounded."

Dr. Joan Esnyara, president and founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society in Arlington, Virginia, says the bond between service dogs and their handlers makes the animals uniquely qualified¹⁴ to deal with PTSD symptoms, including dissociative episodes, or flashbacks.

"Dogs that are very bonded¹⁵ to their handlers can witness when, if you are looking into someone's eyes and 'the lights go out' metaphorically¹⁶ speaking. The dogs pick up on that," she says. "They know that their owner has just dissociated and a lot of them will just spontaneously nudge their owners to try to kind of get them back to consciousness."

Bridge to understanding

Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton is the director of the Defense¹⁷ Centers for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. She notes that, while soldiers like Bill Campbell and others wage war, healers like Pax and those working with wounded veterans provide hope.

Actress Glenn Close hopes "Pax" will change the public's image of mental illness, including PTSD.

"And the hope that Pax has given to you Bill and now all of us becomes the bridge, the bridge to be able to connect," says Sutton. "Perhaps if we had a Pax, we could refocus on what is really important: the relationship, the love, being kinder than necessary. For every one of is fighting some sort of battle."

Mental health is a very personal issue for Glenn Close. Her sister and her nephew struggle with different mental disorders¹⁸. 

The actress says she hopes "Pax" can change the public's image of mental illness, including PTSD. And she hopes her celebrity¹⁹ and advocacy will help the thousands struggling with mental disorders realize they are not alone.
 

1 sentry   

n.哨兵，警卫

参考例句：

• They often stood sentry on snowy nights.他们常常在雪夜放哨。
• The sentry challenged anyone approaching the tent.哨兵查问任一接近帐篷的人。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

6 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

7 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

8 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

10 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

13 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

14 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

15 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

16 metaphorically   

adv. 用比喻地

参考例句：

• It is context and convention that determine whether a term will be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 对一个词的理解是按字面意思还是隐喻的意思要视乎上下文和习惯。
• Metaphorically it implied a sort of admirable energy. 从比喻来讲，它含有一种令人赞许的能量的意思。

17 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

18 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。