15,000 miles for stem cell couriers干細胞運輸者的“萬里長征”路

陳麗

主題語境：慈善 篇幅：357詞 建議用時：7分鐘

Heroes Monica and Bryan had only just trained as couri?ers （遞送員） for the charity Anthony Nolan when the coronavi?rus broke out. But they were determined to volunteer to deliverstem cells to cancer patients， inspired by their daughterHelens brave battle with her illness and meeting the selflessstem cell donor who came to her rescue.

Monica， 67， said，“I couldnt bear the thought that otherfamilies standing by a hospital bed were told the transplantcouldnt go ahead because the stem cells couldnt get through.”

Helen was diagnosed （診斷） with Hodgkins Lymphomain 2010. The diagnosis was all the more terrifying as a close family friend had lost theirteenage son to the disease a decade earlier， but at first the doctors comforted Helen andsaid she was likely to make a full recovery.

The doctors said Helens age and fitness worked in her favour. They said she would?have six months of treatment and she would be fine. But within months of finishing hertreatment， Helens cough returned and scans revealed a shadow on her chest. Further inves?tigations confirmed the cancer was back.

The doctors used up all treatments except a stem cell transplant from a donor. Thank?fully， a matching donor was found on the Anthony Nolan stem cell register and Helen hadher transplant in March 2014. This time Helen made a good recovery. She wanted to con?tact her donor， but strict anonymity （匿名） rules prevent patients meeting their donors fortwo years after the transplant.

As soon as she was allowed， Helen made contact with her donor Ben Potts， from Kent.They quickly became friends and she invited him to her wedding in September 2016.

After that， Monica and Bryan decided to support Anthony Nolan and volunteered tobecome stem cell couriers when they retired and returned to England.

The couple made three deliveries a week at the peak of the pandemic. Theyve nowcovered 15，000 miles. Henny Braund， Anthony Nolans chief executive， said，“Over thelast year our volunteer couriers have showed just how committed they are to giving peoplewith blood cancer a second chance of life.”

Reading

Check

1. What inspired the couple to volunteer to deliver stem cells？

A. The pains of cancer patients.

B. Their daughters experience.

C. The outbreak of the coronavirus.

D. The donors selfless devotion.

2. How did the doctors feel at Helens condition at first？

A. Confident. B. Terrified. C. Desperate. D. Embarrassed.

3. What prevented Helen meeting her donor for two years？

A. She did not make a full recovery.

B. The donor refused to be contacted.

C. They arranged a later time to meet.

D. She had no idea who saved her life.

4. What is the text mainly about？

A. A charitable organization.

B. A girl fighting against cancer.

C. A couple delivering stem cells.

D. A successful stem cell transplant.

Language

Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

I couldn't bear the thought that other families standing by a hospital bed were told thetransplant couldn't go ahead because the stem cells couldn't get through. 一想到其他家庭站在醫(yī)院的病床旁，被告知移植無法進行，因為干細胞無法送達，我就無法忍受。

【點石成金】本句是一個復合句，that引導的是一個同位語從句，用于解釋名詞thought的具體內(nèi)容；because引導的是一個原因狀語從句。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

break out 暴發(fā)

be likely to do 很有可能做

make a full recovery 完全康復/恢復

go ahead 發(fā)生；進行

get through 到達

be diagnosed with 被診斷患有……

use up 用完

make contact with 與……取得聯(lián)系

be committed to 忠誠于；致力于