时间:2018-12-11 作者:英语课 分类:万花筒2009年


英语课

If you know anyone who is deaf, then you know the cochlear implant 1 has offered hope and help for some people. This next story may be the equivalence where restoring sight is concerned. While the science is very different and very tricky 2, the promise here is enormous. Nothing short of restoring sight for those who don’t have it. We get our report tonight from our chief science correspondent Robert Bazell.

"We're, basically, you’re gonna see squares on this screen."

"OK."

Catherine Blake has been totally blind but can see again.

"Correct." (computer voice)

Not a lot.

"I was able to sort my clothes."

But enough to make a big difference in her life.

"That would be right.""I was able to actually point the moon out in the sky. These are the glasses that make everything work."

Blake's vision comes from a tiny TV camera mounted on her sunglasses. They send images to electrodes placed on the back of her eyes.

"Here it is."

For 20 years, Dr. Mark Quimi and his team at the University of Southern California have been working towards the amazing goal of restoring the vision to the blind. The challenges are immense.

"The key of this is not only the hardware but the software. How do you take an image from the camera and convert it into this neural 3 code, of this Morse code of the eye and then stimulate 4 the nerve cells in the retina.

But recently the team has achieved great improvement into the device, going from 16 electrodes to 60, enabling better sight. With this demonstration 5, Dr. Quimi shows me what the patients see. First is the total blindness.

"Could you tell which of my hand is moving?"

With the 16-electrode device, the patient sees nothing but rows of light. But they change with movement, allowing the patient to avoid hitting large objects. Next with the latest device, I make out Dr. Quimi.

"I can see tie and a face on top of it."

"Correct."

And then parts of an eye chart.

"F, maybe, yeah. Two Fs? Yeah, two Fs? T. O."

"That’s progress. The idea is that more electrodes and more sophisticated device, you can actually begin to read large letters."

Soon the glasses will go.

"The typical prototype…"

Armand Tanguay, an electrical engineer is developing cameras to be implanted directly in the eye lens.

"We think it’s a pivotal future generation step to be able to supply the best possible vision to the blind."

A system many scientists believe will restore better and better sight to millions like Catherine Blake.

"OK."

Robert Bazell, NBC News, Los Angeles.


 



1 implant
vt.注入,植入,灌输
  • 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。
2 tricky
adj.狡猾的,奸诈的;(工作等)棘手的,微妙的
  • I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手,你能帮我吗?
  • He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题,只做了个笼统的表述。
3 neural
adj.神经的,神经系统的
  • The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
  • The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。
4 stimulate
vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋
  • Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
  • Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。
5 demonstration
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
学英语单词
abdominal mass
additive for coal blending
almanah
Ammi majus
anterior inferior cerebellar artery
armipotents
army boots
atmospheric structure
batch refuse incinerator
chemical-bonded water
chondrichthian
Chorisia
clonus foot
colourimetries
complementary angles
debye-scherrer diagram
demerit point
doubletracking
dragon-root
ECMC
electric blower single-phase
elevator control effectiveness
elfin wood
evaporated film junction
experimental findings
external (thermal) efficiency
Flosculariidae
fossum
freight car operation efficiency
gell mann nishijima rule
glandulae circumanales
gyroscopic deflection
haase
have the weather gauge on
high head centrifugal pump
homostylous
hopefund
hydrophile-lipophile balance value
hypochlorite-orcinol tests
inner marker signal
islamiyya
isoheptyl alcohol
Jesus freak
jimmy caps
Ketofen
Keynesian macroeconomic theory
ladden
lagenophora lanata
leisurably
light-stained
low frequency furnace
maybelle
mimimum
morphogeny
motivos
multistory factory
nanogears
news-gathering
nibelungen
nonohmic
Nuculana
number of the chart
othematoma
pack rope
packetize
pancreas island cells
papicolist
parlow
penny gaff
please sir
pluckinesses
postobit
pre-operational stage
punditeers
radioprotectant
raw material control
schuchardt
seismic prospecting
setulae
silencer with volume expansion and pressure reduction
silkowitz
single-tooth cutter
Staraya Kalitva
starship
STNI
straw-breadth
stripe filter characteristic
style jumping
superficial layer of myocardium
synovitis of great toe
take the high hand
temperature sensitive mutants
theoretical criminal law
trimmimg data
underwriting year basis
utilization of debris
valve-out
Velmo
volume bottles
water quality goal
wildfowler
Wiron-U