新西兰英语 674 Spinal cord injuries

 　　Many people who have an accident and break their back, never walk again. Your spinal¹ cord is inside your backbone². It sends messages to your brain. It is part of your nervous system which controls your movements.

　　In New Zealand, we have about one new spinal cord injury every 5 days. The Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland is trying to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

　　A group of 30 New Zealand runners is planning to run the New York marathon to raise money for spinal cord research. They are called the CatWalk team. They want sponsors to donate money for this research.

　　The New York marathon is on Sunday, November 4th. About 50,000 runners take part in the race. Right now, Hurricane Sandy has hit New York. The city has closed down. Underground trains and buses are not running, businesses have closed, and people are staying indoors where they hope they are safe. Will the city be back to normal for the marathon on Sunday?

　　Vocabulary

　　?spinal cord – it is inside the spinal column, inside the vertebrae (back bone).

　　?research – scientific study to find answers to problems

　　?cure – make sick people healthy again; mend the spinal cord so that people in wheelchairs can walk again

　　?sponsor – a person or organisation³ which gives money to help

　　?donate – give money

　　?marathon – 42km race

　　?normal – usual; back to normal is an idiom

　　?hurricane – a tropical cyclone⁴ with heavy rain and strong wind

　　Grammar

　　?The city has closed down – present perfect tense to show this began in the past and continues right now.

　　?Most of this text is in the present simple – the “timeless” present used for things that are true. There are 7 examples in the first paragraph.

　　Questions

　　1.What do you know about hurricanes?

　　2.Do you know of any success stories about people with spinal cord injuries?

　　3.The CatWalk team say they are running so that others can walk. What does this mean?

1 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。

2 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。

3 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

4 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。