《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit 18 残疾—我与ALS症

　　Unit 18
Disability -- My Experience with ALS
I am Stephen Hawking¹. People often asked: How do you feel about having ALS? The answer is, not a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing.
As a child I had never been good at ball games, and my handwriting was the despair of my teachers. In my third year at Oxford², I seemed to be getting more clumsy, and I fell over once or twice for no apparent reason. My family doctor referred me to a specialist.
The realization³ that I had an incurable⁴ motor neuron disease was a bit of a shock. Not knowing how rapidly the disease would progress, I was at a loss. The doctors told me to carry on with the research I had just started in general relativity and cosmology. After all, if I were going to die anyway, I might as well do some good. But I didn't die. In fact, although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I began to make progress with my research, and I got engaged to a girl called Jane Wilde. That engagement changed my life. It gave me something to live for. But it also meant that I had to get a job if we were to get married. I therefore applied⁵ for a research fellowship at Cambridge. To my great surprise, I got a fellowship, and we got married a few months later.
The fellowship took care of my immediate⁶ employment problem. I was lucky to have chosen to work in theoretical physics, because that was one of the few areas in which my condition would not be a serious handicap. And I was fortunate that my scientific reputation increased, at the same time my disability got worse. Up to 1974, I was able to feed myself, and get in and out of bed. Jane managed to help me, and bring up the children, without outside help. However, things were getting more difficult. In 1980, we changed to a system of private nurses, who came in for an hour or two in the morning and evening. This lasted until I caught pneumonia⁷ in 1985. I had to have a tracheostomy operation. Before the operation, my speech had been getting more slurred⁸, so that only a few people could understand me. However, the operation removed my ability to speak altogether. A computer expert in California heard of my trouble and sent me a computer program he had written. The program could be controlled by a switch, operated by head or eye movement. When I have built up what I want to say, I can send it to a speech synthesizer. This synthesizer is by far the best I have heard, because it varies the intonation⁹. The only trouble is that it gives me an American accent. However, the company is working on a British version.
I have had ALS for practically all my adult life. Yet it has not prevented me from having a good family, and being successful in my work, thanks to the help I have received from Jane, my children, and a large number of other people. I have been lucky, that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.

1 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

4 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

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 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。

7 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。

8 slurred   

含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱

参考例句：

• She had drunk too much and her speech was slurred. 她喝得太多了，话都说不利索了。
• You could tell from his slurred speech that he was drunk. 从他那含糊不清的话语中你就知道他喝醉了。

9 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。