VOA标准英语2011--Concussions Impact US Teen Athletes

Concussions² Impact US Teen Athletes

There are an estimated 300,000 sports-related traumatic brain injuries in the United States each year. A national study by a major pediatric research center of young athletes 15-to-24 years old reveals that sports are second only to motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury to the brain. And concussions represent 10 percent of all high school athletic⁴ injuries.
Alarming statistics
Every year, more than 60,000 U.S. high school athletes sustain a concussion¹, a type of brain injury that can be caused by a blow to the head or even the upper body. While most of them occur during a game or practice of American football, concussions can also happen in just about any other contact sport. This includes soccer, lacrosse, baseball and even wrestling.
Dane Harlowe, 17, is an award-winning athlete at Annandale High School in the state of Virginia. He has been wrestling since he was six years old.
This past February, Dane sustained a concussion when his opponent head butted⁵ him during a regular match almost immediately after the start of the match. The impact left him dazed.
"I kind of backed up a little bit and I told the ref I needed a time out," he says.
Dane's father Dennis Harlowe, a former wrestler⁶ himself, was at the match. He knew something was wrong when he saw his son laying face down on the mat with his arms by his side while his opponent was working him.
"I'm looking and wondering ‘Why is this continuing, obviously something is wrong,' and when Coach Sholders said, ‘There's obviously something wrong, stop the match,'The ref blew the whistle and stopped it and it actually turned out to be the end of the match."
Importance of athletic trainers
Luckily for Dane, Annandale High School employs a certified⁷ athletic trainer. Alison Lane quickly evaluated Dane for signs of concussion, which can include confusion or fogginess, inability to think straight, a headache, nausea⁸, dizziness and feeling off balance.
After testing the young wrestler, she determined⁹ that he did indeed have a concussion.
Lane says she's very pleased with how her high school handles the prevention and treatment of injuries.
"We do a pre-screening where we do a baseline cognitive¹⁰ test where we have the athletes sit down and take a 20-minute test to see how they think cognitively¹¹ when they're healthy, so that when they do get injured and they do sustain a concussion, we can then go back and compare it. That gives us some objective data to use when we're evaluating and deciding whether an athlete is ready to go back to play."
Rest is best
Dane was instructed to take time off from his sport and his studies to give his brain a chance to recover. He was tested again a short while later to make sure he was healed.
"I'd go down to the training room every day after school and they'd make me ride the bike and do pushups and sit ups and jumping jacks¹² just to see if any athletic activities would give me a headache or make me dizzy or something. And then they would make me take the on-line concussion test, and I did that for two and a half weeks," he says.
Professional athletes who get concussions should also take time off, but many do not, preferring to get right back in the game. The repeated head trauma³ they suffer can lead to a disease called Chronic¹³ Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. Symptoms - which may take years to appear - can include memory loss, aggression¹⁴, confusion, erratic¹⁵ behavior and depression...and can lead to substance abuse and suicide.
Media attention has focused on a number of former professional football players who developed CTE - Dave Duerson, who played for the Chicago Bears for 11 seasons, shot himself to death in February. Seven years after retiring from his National Football League (NFL) career, Shane Dronett took his own life at the age of 38.
Raising awareness¹⁶
But concussion-related injuries at the high school level have not attracted as much interest. In fact, only 42 percent of high schools have access to certified athletic trainers who can evaluate an athlete immediately after an incident.
And that's a problem, says certified athletic trainer Marjorie Albohm, president of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA). "I call this truly the neglected population. We provide the best medical care for our elite¹⁷ highest-level athletes, internationally, and forget those millions of kids that are out there, unsupervised medically."
Albohm says coaches and parents need to be less demanding of young athletes, schedule less competitive play and be extra vigilant¹⁸ about injury symptoms.
Her organization is working with the National Football League to try to raise public awareness about the dangers of concussion and encourage new safety laws.

1 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

2 concussions   

n.震荡( concussion的名词复数 )；脑震荡；冲击；震动

参考例句：

• People who have concussions often trouble thinking or remembering. 患脑震荡的人通常存在思考和记忆障碍。 来自互联网
• Concussions also make a person feel very tired or angry. 脑震荡也会使人感觉疲倦或愤怒。 来自互联网

3 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

4 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

5 butted   

对接的

参考例句：

• Two goats butted each other. 两只山羊用角顶架。
• He butted against a tree in the dark. 他黑暗中撞上了一棵树。

6 wrestler   

n.摔角选手，扭

参考例句：

• The wrestler tripped up his opponent.那个摔跤运动员把对手绊倒在地。
• The stronger wrestler won the first throw.较壮的那个摔跤手第一跤就赢了。

7 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

8 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

11 cognitively   

参考例句：

• Cognitively,man,the subject of cognition,must classify and categorize the objects. 从认知学角度来看 ，作为认知主体的人对于认知对象必须进行分类和范畴化。 来自互联网
• Cognitively, reference can be studied along with information processing of human mind. 从认知的角度看，要研究人类思维的信息处理过程。 来自互联网

12 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

13 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

14 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

15 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

16 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

17 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

18 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。