PBS高端访谈:仿生肢体帮助实现梦想

AMNA NAWAZ: From Star Wars to 1970s TV shows, the promise of a bionic limb was always the stuff of science fiction. Now it's real. From PBS station WGBH in Boston, Cristina Quinn introduces us to a woman who's helping¹ local researchers perfect the technology.

CRISTINA QUINN: Morgan Stickney approaches physical therapy at Spaulding Rehab like everything in life, with her eyes on the prize.

MORGAN STICKNEY, Swimmer: I like to treat P.T. and O.T. as if it's a workout. So I go down there and give it my all.

CRISTINA QUINN: She's a pre-med student, an elite² swimmer, and a one-time Olympic hopeful. But she has suffered for years from an extremely rare vascular³ disease that went undiagnosed. It restricts blood flow to lower limbs, resulting in brittle⁴ bones.

MORGAN STICKNEY: I was trying to take my classes on opioids because I was suffering in so much pain. All my bones in my feet were dying. So, I couldn't walk.

CRISTINA QUINN: Facing amputation⁵, she learned about an experimental surgery happening at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The Ewing amputation, named after the first patient to undergo the procedure, reconnects the muscles and nerves that communicate with the brain. It's a major advancement⁶ compared to a standard amputation, which severs⁷ these connections, says surgeon Matthew Carty.

DR. MATTHEW CARTY, Brigham and Women's Hospital: When a patient with a standard amputation thinks about moving their ankle, which is no longer there, for example, they only get half the information. And so the brain searches for a way to process that incomplete equation.

CRISTINA QUINN: The Ewing amputation closes the loop, so, when an amputee puts on a prosthetic limb, the brain knows exactly where that leg is, because the muscles and nerves are still intact.

DR. MATTHEW CARTY: And the idea is that, once they have healed, when they fire off those muscles and think about moving their ankle, their body basically thinks it's moving a biological ankle still.

CRISTINA QUINN: Carty has been working with researchers at the MIT Media Lab, who are developing what is essentially⁸ a bionic leg. And Stickney, who underwent A Ewing amputation a year-and-a-half ago, is among the first to help MIT researchers test it out. She's moving a robotic ankle just by thinking about it. It's a potential game-changer for anyone who uses a prosthetic limb. But for Stickney, the immediate⁹ payoff off of the surgery was being pain-free and returning to competitive swimming. Months after her amputation, Stickney won two national championships and was living in Colorado training for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. But a few months later, the rare vascular disease affected¹⁰ her other leg.

MORGAN STICKNEY: I was recovering in the cold tub, and I got out and hopped¹¹ three steps, and my foot fractured.

CRISTINA QUINN: Stickney has since become the first person to undergo a bilateral¹², or double, Ewing amputation. She's part of a small, but growing group of pioneers helping perfect this new technology. In the meantime, though, she's already thinking about restarting her training regimen.

MORGAN STICKNEY: Nothing will stop me from getting in the pool. My goal is to go to the 2024 Paralympic Games. I will be in a different classification this time. But that doesn't change anything. I'm going to be working just as hard in the pool, if not harder.

CRISTINA QUINN: Proving loss can fuel one's competitive spirit. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Cristina Quinn in Boston.

阿姆纳·纳瓦兹：从《星球大战》到上世纪70年的电视秀，仿生肢体一直是科幻里会出现的东西，但现在成真了。下面请听我台驻波士顿记者克里斯蒂娜·奎恩向我们介绍一位帮助当地研究人员完善这项技术的女性。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：摩根·斯蒂克尼在波尔丁康复所里接触的物理治疗法就像家常便饭一样，她关注的是奖品。

摩根·斯蒂克尼，游泳运动员：我很喜欢运动疗法和作业疗法，就好像是一种锻炼一样。所以我会去那里并全身心参与其中。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：摩根·斯蒂克尼是医学预科的学生，也是一名优秀的游泳运动员，曾经是奥林匹克的种子选手。但是多年来她一直忍受着一种极为罕见的血管病，现在医学上暂未找到原因。这种病会限制血液流动到下肢，导致脆骨症。

摩根·斯蒂克尼：我当时想尝试上上跟阿片类药物有关的课，因为我太疼了。我脚部的所有骨头都是死掉了，所以我不能走路。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：在面临截肢的时候，摩根了解到了波士顿布莱根妇女医院的一种实验外科。尤文截肢是以做该手术的第一位病人名字命名的，这种截肢可以将肌肉和跟大脑交流信号的神经重新连接起来。这种截肢跟一般的截肢相比是一种重大进步，因为一般的截肢会切断这种联系，外科医生马修·卡蒂如是说道。

马修·卡蒂，布莱根妇女医院：对于做了一般截肢的病人来说，如果他们要移动踝关节但踝关节已经不在了，那么他们就只能获得一半的信息。于是大脑会寻找一个处理不完整等式的方法。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：尤文截肢会关掉这个闭环，当被截肢者带上假肢的时候，大脑就会准确的知道腿部在哪里，因为肌肉和神经依然是完整的。

马修·卡蒂：这个想法是——等它们治愈之后，等肌肉能正常运作并思考移动踝关节的时候，他们的身体基本上就会觉得脚踝还在动。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：卡蒂一直跟MIT媒体实验室的研究人员合作，后者正在研发仿生假腿。斯蒂克尼1年半之前曾接受过尤文假肢，他是第一批帮助MIT研究人员做测试的人之一。她是通过移动机械脚踝来进行思考的。这对于所有使用假肢的人来说都是巨大的成果。但对斯蒂克尼来说，这次手术立竿见影的成效是免去了疼痛，让她得以重返竞争性的游泳比赛中。在昨晚截肢数月后，斯蒂克尼获得了国家锦标赛奖项，留在科罗拉多，为2020东京残奥会做训练。但几个月后，罕见血管病影响了她的另一条腿。

摩根·斯蒂克尼：我在冰冷的桶里做康复，我出来之后，跳了3步，脚就折了。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：在那之后，斯蒂克尼就成为第一个做过双腿尤文截肢的人 。她跟一小群先锋者一样，助力将这项新科技变得更完美。而现在这些先锋者的数量也在不断变多。不过，与此同时，她已经在思考重启训练了。

摩根·斯蒂克尼：什么都无法阻止我对游泳的热爱。我的目标是参加2024残奥会。这一次，我的参赛类别就不同了。但这并不会改变什么。我依然会更加努力的。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：怅然若失会激人奋进。以上是克里斯蒂娜·奎恩从波士顿发回的报道。

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 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。

3 vascular   

adj.血管的，脉管的

参考例句：

• The mechanism of this anomalous vascular response is unknown.此种不规则的血管反应的机制尚不清楚。
• The vascular changes interfere with diffusion of nutrients from plasma into adjacent perivascular tissue and cells.这些血管变化干扰了营养物质从血浆中向血管周围邻接的组织和细胞扩散。

4 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

5 amputation   

n.截肢

参考例句：

• In ancient India,adultery was punished by amputation of the nose.在古代印度，通奸要受到剖鼻的处罚。
• He lived only hours after the amputation.截肢后，他只活了几个小时。

6 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

7 severs   

v.切断，断绝( sever的第三人称单数 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• He shut his eyes to the severs reality. 对于这严峻的现实，他是闭着眼睛不肯看的。 来自《用法词典》
• It practically severs the Mediterranean. 实际上是将地中海分开。 来自辞典例句

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

12 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。