美国国家公共电台 NPR Report To Army Finds Blast From Some Weapons May Put Shooter's Brain At Risk

Report To Army Finds Blast From Some Weapons May Put Shooter's Brain At Risk

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

There's a new report out today that finds that people in the military may be putting their own brains at risk when they fire certain high-powered weapons. Here's NPR's Jon Hamilton.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE¹: They look like bazookas, and they're good at jobs like blowing up an enemy tank.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING²)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Rocket.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)

HAMILTON: But Paul Scharre, at the Center for a New American Security, says there's a downside to this sort of weapon.

PAUL SCHARRE: When you fire it, the pressure wave feels like getting hit in the face.

HAMILTON: Scharre should know. He was an Army Ranger³ in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he's a co-author of the center's new report, "Protecting War Fighters From Blast Injury." The report was commissioned by the Army. It looks at injuries caused by blast waves, pulses of high-pressure air that come from an explosion. The blast wave from a bomb can damage a person's brain without leaving any visible sign of injury. And Scharre says there's growing evidence that the blast wave from certain weapons can also affect the brain.

SCHARRE: If you're looking at a large antitank rocket that a soldier would carry on his or her shoulder, that's now a pretty large explosion, and it's happening right next to your head.

HAMILTON: Scharre says small studies have found that people who fire these weapons repeatedly can experience short-term problems with memory and thinking.

SCHARRE: If you're exposed to these weapons throughout the course of your military career, this might have some subtle and insidious⁴ long-term effect that doesn't materialize until later.

HAMILTON: Might. No one knows, and a definitive⁵ answer is years off. Even so, the report says military officials should make changes now. It recommends much wider use of devices known as blast gauges⁶. They're about the size of a wristwatch and are usually worn on a service member's helmet and upper body. Scharre says the gauges offer a way to quantify exposure to blast waves.

SCHARRE: Every service member who is in a position where he or she might be exposed to blast waves should be wearing these devices. And we need to be recording that data, putting it in their record and then collecting that data in a database for medical studies.

HAMILTON: The report also recommends reducing the number of times a person can fire certain weapons in a single day and over several days, and it suggests efforts to develop helmets that protect against blast waves. The report's findings are no surprise to Kyle Sims, a former Army medic who helped deploy⁷ the first blast gauges in Afghanistan. Sims says he realized something disturbing while studying brain damage in football players.

KYLE SIMS: Holy cow. It's not that one time that the guy got knocked unconscious. It's the 500 times the guy got hit prior to that that he didn't get laid out on a field.

HAMILTON: So repeatedly firing a heavy weapon might be as risky⁸ as being knocked out by a roadside bomb. Sims is most concerned about service members involved in training others to fire these weapons. He says one retired⁹ officer told him about a day when he'd been exposed to more than 100 blasts from antitank weapons.

SIMS: When he got done talking, I said, well, don't tell me. Let me guess how you felt. At the end of the day, you felt nauseous. You had a headache. You felt tired. All you wanted to do was go take some Motrin, lay down and go to bed. He's like, yeah. I was like, well, that's typical post-concussive symptoms there, buddy¹⁰.

HAMILTON: Sims says the military should treat blast waves like radiation. That means first measuring the exposure and then setting limits. An Army spokesperson said the military is reviewing the report and will offer a response and recommendations. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

4 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

5 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

6 gauges   

n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分

参考例句：

• A thermometer gauges the temperature. 温度计可测量温度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fuel gauges dropped swiftly. 燃料表指针迅速下降。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

8 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！