靠眨眼上大学 瘫痪母亲的励志人生

 　　A mother left unable to walk or talk after suffering a massive stroke has defied the odds¹ to complete a university degree - by blinking.

　　一位母亲在一次严重的中风后失去了走路和说话的能力，然而她却通过眨眼拿到了本科学历。

　　Dawn Faizey Webster was left with locked-in syndrome² after the attack in 2003, two weeks after her son Alexander was born.

　　道恩·费儿兹·韦伯斯特2003年生下儿子亚历山大两周后就患上了闭锁综合症。

　　The condition is where a patient is fully-aware and awake - but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis³ of nearly all muscles in the body, except for the eyes.

　　闭锁综合症的患者意识完全清醒，但几乎全身瘫痪，不能行动或进行口头交流，仅有眼部可以活动。

　　Incredibly, the former teacher, then 30, discovered she could still communicate through her eyes and tiny head movements.

　　不过，当时30岁还在教书的韦伯斯特却奇迹般地发现她仍然可以通过眼部和轻微的头部动作进行交流。

　　She has now achieved a 2:2 degree in Ancient History and written an autobiography⁴ - all thanks to a specialised laptop that translates her eye movements into text.

　　她拥有一台特殊的笔记本电脑，可以把她的眼部动作翻译成文本。在这台电脑的帮助下，她古代史的平均分达到了70分以上，而且撰写了一本自传。

　　Ms Faizey Webster, now 42, worked three-hours a day on the degree, nudging buttons either side of her head to move the cursor on the screen and blinking to register the letters.

　　韦伯斯特今年42岁，每天学习三个小时。学习时，她通过轻推头部两侧的按钮来移动屏幕上的鼠标，通过眨眼键入字母。

　　Six years on, she has completed the course with honours and is now hoping to tackle a Masters in History of Art.

　　她在六年中以优异的成绩完成了课程，现在她希望能继续攻读艺术史硕士学位。

　　Ms Faizey Webster said: 'When I passed my degree, I was so pleased and proud of myself. I had achieved my goal that I had for six years been striving for.

　　韦伯斯特表示：“当我获得学士学位后，我非常高兴，并且为自己感到骄傲。我实现了六年以来一直追求的目标。”

　　'No matter what obstacles were in my way, such as getting pneumonia⁵ twice and other lesser⁶ illnesses, I was determined⁷ to reach my goal.

　　“不管遇到什么困难，是得了两次肺炎或是什么其他疾病，我都决心要完成我的目标。”

1 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

2 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

3 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

4 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

5 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

6 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

7 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。