人教版英语选修第四册 Unit 4 Listening and Speaking

Did you know that every five seconds somebody in the world goes blind?

你知道吗？世界上每五秒钟就有一个人失明。

That’s about 45 million people.

这大约有4500万人。

What is worse is that about half of them do not need to be blind at all.

更糟糕的是，其中大约一半人本根本不该失明。

Do you know what a “cataract” is?

你知道什么是“白内障”吗？

It’s when the lens of your eye becomes more and more cloudy until eventually you can’t see anything.

它指眼球的晶状体变得越来越浑浊，直到最后完全看不见东西。

That sounds terrible but the treatment is usually possible.

这听上去很可怕，但通常可以治疗。

Cataracts can be removed and replaced by a special Perspex lens.

白内障可以被摘除，并用特制有机玻璃晶体替换。

This simple operation lasts about 20 minutes and by the next day the patient can see again.

这项简单手术大约持续20分钟，第二天患者就能重见光明。

Cataract treatment is not really a problem in developed countries, but in developing countries the situation is different.

白内障治疗在发达国家算不上难题，但发展中国家情况不一样。

There is less access to treatment, and it is more expensive.

当地很难获得治疗，而且费用高昂。

Because blind people can no longer work, they cannot pay for the operation, so they have no chance of seeing again.

失明的人无法工作，负担不起手术，也就没有重获光明的机会。

An Australian eye doctor named Fred Hollows was determined to find a way to reduce the cost of this operation.

澳大利亚眼科医生弗雷德·霍洛斯决心找到降低这项手术成本的办法。

After visiting Nepal in 1985, and a few years later the countries of Eritrea and Vietnam, he began training doctors in those countries to perform the operations.

1985年他走访尼泊尔，几年后又去到厄立特里亚和越南，开始培训当地医生做这项手术。

Then in 1992, he started the Fred Hollows Foundation, raising enough money to build two laboratories, one in Eritrea and one in Nepal.

1992年，他创立弗雷德·霍洛斯基金会，筹集资金修建两座实验室，一座在厄立特里亚，一座在尼泊尔。

The labs were completed in 1994, a year after his death.

两座实验室1994年完工，也就是他去世一年之后。

Perspex lenses produced in those labs were much cheaper, and they are now sold in over 50 countries.

实验室生产的有机玻璃晶体价格低廉，现已销往50多个国家。

The Fred Hollows Foundation now works to prevent blindness in more than 25 countries, and it has trained hundreds of local eye doctors.

如今该基金会在25个以上国家开展防盲工作，已经培训了数百名本土眼科医生。

Today, more than two million people have had their eyesight restored, thanks to the work of the foundation.

得益于基金会的努力，已有两百多万人恢复视力。

Fred Hollows spent his life in service to others.

弗雷德·霍洛斯一生都在为他人奉献。

He believed action was the answer to human suffering.

他相信行动可以化解人类的苦难。

He once said, “What we’re doing is giving these people the chance to help themselves. We are giving them independence.”

他曾说：“我们所做的，是给这些人自救的机会。我们给予他们独立。”

In my opinion, this is the best kind of volunteer work: helping others to help themselves. Thank you.

在我看来，这是最好的志愿工作：助人自助。 谢谢大家。

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