英语沙龙：地球为你移动了吗？

Did The Earth Move for You?

Eleven-year-old Angela was stricken with a debilitating¹ disease

involving her nervous system.

She was unable to walk and her movement

was restricted in other ways as well.

The doctors did not hold out much hope

of her ever recovering from this illness.

They predicted she’d spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

They said that few, if any,

were able to come back to normal after contracting this disease.

The little girl was undaunted.

There, lying in her hospital bed,

she would vow² to anyone who’d listen

that she was definitely going to be walking again someday.

She was transferred to a specialized³ rehabilitation⁴ hospital

in the San Francisco Bay area.

Whatever therapies could be applied⁵ to her case were used.

The doctors were charmed by her undefeatable spirit.

They taught her about imaging —

about seeing herself walking.

If it would do nothing else,

it would at least give her hope

and something positive to do

in the long waking hours in her bed.

Angela would work as hard as possible

in physical therapy and in exercise sessions.

But she worked just as hard lying there faithfully doing her imaging,

visualizing⁶ herself moving, moving, moving!

One day,

as she was straining with all her might to imagine her legs moving again,

it seemed as though a miracle happened:

The bed moved!

It began to move around the room!

She screamed out,

“Look what I’m doing!

Look! Look! I can do it! I moved, I moved!”

Of course,

at this very moment everyone else in the hospital was screaming, too,

and running for cover.

People were screaming,

equipment was falling and glass was breaking.

You see, it was the recent San Francisco earthquake.

But don’t tell that to Angela.

She’s convinced that she did it.

And now only a few years later,

she’s back in school.

You see, anyone who can shake the earth between San Francisco and Oakland

can conquer a little disease, can’t they?

1 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

2 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

3 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

4 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 visualizing   

肉眼观察

参考例句：

• Nevertheless, the Bohr model is still useful for visualizing the structure of an atom. 然而，玻尔模型仍有利于使原子结构形象化。
• Try to strengthen this energy field by visualizing the ball growing stronger. 通过想象能量球变得更强壮设法加强这能量场。