VOA常速英语2019--科技使视障人士又见光明

A Blind Man is Given a Second Chance at Sight

Jason Esther Hazen thought he’d never again be able to see light or movement after a car accident left him blind. But with the flick¹ of a switch, his world suddenly grew brighter. I still can’t put it into words. I mean, from going… from being able to see absolutely nothing, it’s pitch black, to all of a sudden seeing little flickers³ of light move around. Well, it’s not normal sight. Esther Hazen has an easier time navigating⁴ the world around him. Being able to tell where a doorway⁵ is, being able to tell where the sidewalk begins or ends or where the crosswalk is are all extremely meaningful events that can help these people regain⁶ some form of independence. Here’s how it works. A small generator⁷ is implanted into the brain. Then a video camera on a pair of sunglasses sends signals to a processing unit, then back to the glasses that communicates wirelessly⁹ with the implant⁸. This stimulates¹⁰ a pattern onto the visual cortex of the brain and allows users to detect movement and patterns of light. We basically have the video camera in the video processing unit, functioning or performing the functions of what the eye normally does. Esther Hazen is one of two people in the US testing this technology. There’s little white dots on a black background. It’s like looking up at the stars at night. The technology called Orion is manufactured by a company called Second Sight. It’s being tested at the UCLA Medical Center and the Baylor College of Medicine. As he learns what each flicker² of light represents, Esther Hazen is helping¹¹ this technology become more useful. Someone moving across the room, walking past me or walking away from me or it’s a light against the wall, it was just amazing to have some form of functional¹² vision again. Esther Hazen can now sort his laundry and do other everyday activities he once couldn’t do. Crossing the road is much easier and much safer for me, because I can look down and just follow the white line on that’s painted on the road. The researchers believe this technology could one day aid people with a wide range of visual impairments from glaucoma and diabetes¹³ to those who lost their vision or were born blind.

在一场车祸使杰森·埃斯特·哈森失明后，他以为自己再也无法看到光或事物的移动了。但随着按下开关，他的世界突然变得明亮起来。我至今仍然无法组织好语言表达这件事，我的意思是……从完全看不到任何东西，漆黑一片，到突然能够看到有一点闪光在移动。这并不是正常人的视力，但是有了这种视力加持，埃斯特·哈森能更轻松的生活。能够辨别门口在哪里，能够辨别人行道的起点或终点，或者人行横道的位置，这些都是非常有意义的，可以帮助这些人重新变得独立起来。它的工作原理如下。将一个小生成器植入大脑，然后一副太阳镜上的摄像机会将信号发送到处理单元，之后在再返回到与植入物无线通信的眼镜上。这能够给大脑的视觉皮层一种图案刺激，并允许用户检测到运动以及光的图案。基本上，在视频处理单元中有摄像机，它们能够正常完成其功能或完成眼睛正常工作的功能。在美国共有两个人测试这项技术，埃斯特·哈森便是其中之一。黑色背景上有小白点，就像晚上仰望星空一样。这种技术被称为Orion，是由一家名为Second Sight的公司制造的。这种技术目前正在加州大学洛杉矶分校医学中心和贝勒医学院进行测试。随着他不断了解到每一个闪光代表什么，埃斯特·哈森正在帮助这项技术变得更加有用。我能感觉到有人在房间里走来走去，从我身边走过或离开我，我也能感知到靠墙的一盏灯发出的灯光，能够再次感受到视觉功能真是令人惊叹。埃斯特·哈森现在可以整理自己的衣物，还可以做他曾经无法做到的其它日常活动。过马路对我来说容易多了，也安全多了，因为我可以往下看，只要沿着道路上画的白线走就行了。研究人员相信，这项技术有朝一日可以帮助各种视觉障碍的人，包括由于青光眼或糖尿病导致的患者以及天生失明患者。

1 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

2 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

3 flickers   

电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fire flickers low. 炉火颤动欲灭。
• A strange idea flickers in my mind. 一种奇怪的思想又在我脑中燃烧了。

4 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

5 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

6 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

7 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

8 implant   

vt.注入，植入，灌输

参考例句：

• A good teacher should implant high ideals in children.好教师应该把高尚理想灌输给孩子们。
• The operation to implant the artificial heart took two hours.人工心脏植入手术花费了两小时。

9 wirelessly   

不用电线的，用无线电波传送的

参考例句：

• I heard it on the wireless. 我是从无线电收音机里听到的。
• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio. 收音机里有许多无线电线路。

10 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 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。

12 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

13 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。