环球英语 — 118：Miracle Boy

　　Voice 1
Hello. I’m Rachel Hobson.
Voice 2
And I’m Marina Santee. Welcome to Spotlight¹. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
“I was going across the street. I thought I could beat the car. But I was wrong.”
Voice 1
Ricky Barker was thirteen [13] years old. He was riding home on his two-wheel bicycle. He saw a car coming. He believed he could cross the street before the car did. He was wrong.
Voice 1
The car was travelling at eighty kilometres per hour. It hit Ricky. And it threw him nine meters in the air. He landed head first. His head and neck hit the side of the road. The bone at the base of his head became separated from the bone at the top of his back. His head remained in the correct position - but it was only skin and muscles that held it there. Ricky lay on the ground. But no one moved him or touched him. This was very important. Moving an injured person can cause great damage. Only trained medical workers should move an injured person. Ricky said:
Voice 3
“If someone had moved me or touched me in some way, then I may not be talking to you right now. I may be dead”.
Voice 1
An ambulance arrived to take Ricky to hospital. The medical workers tried hard to save him. He was seriously injured. He needed machines to help him breathe. He could not talk. And he could not move his body. In fact, Ricky went into a deep sleep - a coma². At the hospital the doctors did not know if they could save him. People with injuries like Ricky’s usually die.
Voice 2
Kim Manwaring was Ricky’s main doctor. Dr. Manwaring is a brain surgeon. He was concerned. He did not know if an operation would help Ricky. Tests showed that the coma was not Ricky’s only problem. Even if he awoke, he would have no movement or feeling from the neck down - he was paralyzed³. The doctor feared he would remain that way forever. But then he saw something that gave him hope. Ricky was still in a coma. But Dr. Manwaring saw a small movement in Ricky’s arm. He knew that this meant the brain and spinal⁴ cord⁵ still had some connection. An operation could possibly help. Dr Manwaring and his team decided⁶ to operate.
The doctors connected Ricky’s skull⁷ to his backbone⁸. They used long rods⁹ made of titanium metal, fixed¹⁰ to the bones with titanium bolts¹¹. The rods bridged the break at the top of Ricky’s backbone. The operation went well. Thirty-six [36] hours after the operation Ricky surprised the doctors. He began to move his right leg. Ten days later he moved his left leg. And to communicate he would open and close his eyes. Soon after that he started writing. And finally he started speaking.
The doctors told Ricky he had survived an extremely serious injury to his head - internal¹² decapitation. Ricky said:
Voice 3
“The doctors started to explain things to me. But I had no idea what they were talking about. And then I understood. Decapitated is head cut off. Internal is inside. So head cut off in my body. OK.”
Voice 1
Usually when people suffer an internal decapitation they die. But Ricky survived. And he wanted to continue with his normal life. His dream was to go to his middle-school graduation. Graduations are important events. Students receive official papers for their studies. The next year he would enter high school. So he wanted to be at his graduation ceremony. Dr. Manwaring said:
Voice 4
“From the first minute Ricky talked, he said, ‘Please help me get to my graduation.’”
Voice 1
But this was not going to be easy. He had only six weeks! He could not do it on his own. The day of Ricky’s graduation came. He was still in a wheel-chair. But the medical workers from the ambulance came to help him. They drove him to his graduation ceremony in an ambulance. It was a time that no one will forget - Ricky graduating from school with his friends! But after the ceremony he had to go back to hospital. He needed to recover completely. Ricky still did not know if he would ever walk again. He was not going to give up! He made up his mind - he would walk again!
Ricky spent three months in hospital. During this time he became stronger. On the day he left the hospital, he got up from his wheelchair. And he walked without much help at all. The doctors and hospital workers were so happy.
Voice 2
Dr. Manwaring was especially happy. It was his technology that helped save Ricky’s life. Manwaring is not only a doctor. He is also an inventor. He built a laboratory¹³ in his house. Here he invents medical tools. He has invented five important tools. One of these tools helped to save Ricky’s life. This tool is called the microneedle. It is long and thin. But the end of it is the size of one molecule¹⁴. This small tool is very exact. It causes less bleeding and damage than a bigger tool.
This microneedle uses electric charges to cut through body skin, tissue¹⁵ and muscle. It is also perfect for cutting around nerves¹⁶. Doctors used this needle on Ricky. So Ricky did not bleed very much - and his body healed¹⁷ faster. Ricky got better much quicker because of Dr. Manwaring’s microneedle.
Voice 1
A year later Ricky was still healing¹⁸. By then he was in high school. He still could not move his left arm. At night he needed a machine to help him breathe. But he was able to climb steps and to run. Many people called Ricky the ‘Miracle Boy’. Ricky was very thankful for his life. A television reporter asked Ricky what he learned¹⁹ about life from his experience. He told her:
Voice 3
“I learned that you only have one life. And that there is a God.”
“I am here. I am alive. I am happy with that.”
Voice 2
Ricky’s thankfulness has helped him to be happy. He refused to let his accident stop him from living a normal life. In fact Ricky wants to work with other people that have injuries to their backbones²⁰. He wants to offer encouragement. He said:
Voice 3
“I would say to others do not give up. Continue. Take times of sadness and anger, and turn them into willpower to continue”.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

3 paralyzed   

adj.瘫痪的

参考例句：

• He is paralyzed as the result of a would-be assassin's bullet years ago. 几年前有人对他行刺未遂，但子弹使他瘫痪了。
• But the very imminence of the emergency paralyzed his invention. Good! 常言说得好，急中生智，可汤姆这回却束手无策，对，就这么办。

4 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

5 cord   

n.绳，线；纺织品；小电线；腱

参考例句：

• I wear a safety cord all the time.我一直带着安全绳索。
• I pulled the cord,and I felt a strong jerk.拉住绳索，我强烈的恐惧。

6 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。

7 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

8 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

9 rods   

竿( rod的名词复数 )； 杆； （责打人用的）棍棒； 手枪

参考例句：

• The wheels of the toy car were fixed on metal rods. 玩具车的轮子固定在金属棒上。
• A typewriter in which the characters are situated on type rods. 一种打字机，其字符安装在字模棒上。

10 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

11 bolts   

n.毛边书 名词bolt的复数形式

参考例句：

• Bolts of all kinds became the rage at the market. 各种腰带成了抢手货。
• The door is secured with bolts. 门已闩稳当了。

12 internal   

adj.内的，内部的；国内的，内政的

参考例句：

• He is talking to Tom on the internal telephone.他正在内线电话上与汤姆交谈。
• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。

13 laboratory   

n.实验室，化验室

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a laboratory.她捐款成立了一个实验室。
• Our laboratory equipment isn't perfect,but we must make do.实验室设备是不够理想，但我们只好因陋就简。

14 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

15 tissue   

n.组织；薄纱，薄纸，手巾纸

参考例句：

• As we age we lose muscle tissue.肌肉组织会随着我们日趋衰老而萎缩。
• Athletes have hardly any fatty tissue.运动员几乎没有什么脂肪组织。

16 nerves   

n.神经紧张 vt.鼓起勇气

参考例句：

• What he said at the meeting strung her nerves up. 他在会议上的发言使她的神经很紧张。
• At the end of a day's teaching, her nerves were absolutely shattered. 教了一天课，她精疲力竭。

17 healed   

v.（使）愈合( heal的过去式和过去分词 )；治愈；（使）结束；较容易忍受

参考例句：

• The surgeon healed the soldier's bullet wound in the leg. 医生治好了那位士兵腿部的枪伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The doctor applied an unguent to the wound,which speedily healed it. 医生给伤口涂了些油膏，伤口很快就愈合了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 healing   

n.康复，复原adj.有治疗功用的v.（使）愈合( heal的现在分词 )；治愈；（使）结束；较容易忍受

参考例句：

• miraculous powers of healing 神奇的治病能力
• She seems to have a vocation for healing. 看来她具备治病救人的才能。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

20 backbones   

n.骨干( backbone的名词复数 )；脊骨；骨气；脊骨状物

参考例句：

• Why do hummingbirds and gorillas both have backbones? 为什么蜂鸟和大猩猩都有脊骨？ 来自辞典例句
• Simply adding bandwidth to the Internet backbones is not an answer. 只是简单的在互联网骨架上增加带宽是应付不了的。 来自互联网