VOA标准英语2011--Disabled Surfers Hit the Beach

Disabled Surfers Hit the Beach

Learning to surf would be challenging for anyone, most especially someone like Dana Cummings, who mastered the sport after losing his leg in a car accident.
Now, he shares his love of riding the waves with other people with disabilities.
AmpSurf, the California-based organization Cummings founded in 2003, has offered free surfing classes to hundreds of people, with the help of private donations and volunteers. This year, AmpSurf took its clinics to the East Coast for the first time.
During one lesson at a beach in Maine, Cummings instructs Matthew Fish, 27, who is visually impaired¹. Cummings puts Fish's hand on his shoulder, and leads him into chest-deep water, floating the surfboard next to him.
Fish starts out by lying on the board, with Cummings and a couple of volunteers wading² alongside. It only takes a few tries before Fish rises to his knees and rides a wave to shore.
"That was a thrill!" Fish says before giving it another go.
Cummings survived two tours of duty as a Marine³ during the 1990 Gulf⁴ War, only to lose his leg in a 2002 car accident. A software engineer after leaving the military, Cummings attitude toward life changed after the crash.
"I was just existing, not living," Cummings says. "It took me to lose my leg to get me to realize how precious life is and get off the couch and start living. I do more things now than I ever did before. Next week, I am going to compete in a contest in Hawaii."
His sense of daring is infectious, even for someone like Matthew Fish, who tries surfing despite vision that is so poor, he needs a cane⁵ to get around.
"I can see, like, the foam⁶, the white cap, and I can see the wave, but I can't really tell what form it is or if it's ride-able," Fish says. "I wiped out a couple times, but as I always say, if you don't fall once in a while you're not having enough fun."
More athletic⁷ programs - everything from skiing to soccer and basketball - are available to disabled people than ever before, but surfing classes are less common.
The 11 clinic participants have come here from all across the Northeast for the chance to ride the waves. One family drove six hours from New Jersey⁸. They are joined by more than 30 volunteers who have taken off from work to help Cummings.
Fifty-seven-year-old Brian Foss from New Hampshire was stricken by a neuromuscular disease early in life.
"I had polio in 1955, when I was two years old, the year the vaccine⁹ came out, actually. I missed it by a little bit," says Foss.
However, despite the weakness in his legs and his need for crutches¹⁰, he has fallen in love with downhill skiing, bicycling, and now surfing. "It's a sense of being able to fly, and a sense of freedom. You're not constrained¹¹ by gravity, almost."
AmpSurf's instructors¹², who are trained to work with people with disabilities, gave Foss the assurance to try surfing.
"These guys just kind of give you that confidence and make you believe you can do it," he says. "They're strong so I know that I can hang on them if I need to when I'm walking out. I know that I'm not going to get in trouble."
The youngest participant in the class Foss is participating in is six-year-old Shaun McLaughlin from Massachusetts, who was born without a right foot and started using a prosthesis before he could walk. Shaun starts out by practicing surfing on the sand before moving out onto the water.
"Most people with disabilities their whole life, everybody focuses on their disability, and we want them to see what they can do," Cummings says. "Who cares, you lost your leg, you're blind, whatever. Have fun. Just enjoy life. Take the most advantage of it as you can."
Cummings plans to develop more of an East Coast presence for AmpSurf. He and his staff expect to return to Maine, New York and New Jersey next year to train volunteers to become instructors, and to turn more people into surfers.

1 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。

3 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

6 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

7 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

10 crutches   

n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑

参考例句：

• After the accident I spent six months on crutches . 事故后我用了六个月的腋杖。
• When he broke his leg he had to walk on crutches. 他腿摔断了以后，不得不靠拐杖走路。

11 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

12 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。