TIME Asia March 26,2007
神经生物学家长久以来坚信生命的前几年是大脑发育的一个关键时段－神经元之间以惊人的速度建立起联系，比如婴儿学习外部世界的过程。干扰了这个过程将造成永久性的损害。比如说，如果一个孩子在他六岁前都是瞎的，即使后来视力得到恢复，他们可能也只能看到光和暗。如果没有建立起正确的视觉线路，就没有办法产生图像，也就失去了视力。
forge:
To give form or shape to, especially by means of careful effort:达成，使形成：达成或使形成，尤指经过精心努力：
forge a treaty; forge a close relationship.缔结条约；结成亲密的关系
prodigious:
Extraordinary; marvelous:不可思议的；惊人的：
the young Mozart's prodigious talents.小莫扎特惊人的天赋
在印度的Ahmedabad，研究人员发现了一位被称为S.R.D的病人，一位32岁生活贫困的女佣, 生下来的时候伴随先天性白内障。在她１２岁那年，白内障被移除，１年后，S.R.D学会了看外面的世界。她的这个案例促使了科学家开始思考长久以来关于视觉的理论，12月的《病理学》杂志如是说。“敏锐的视觉有一段关键的培养时期”， Pawan Sinha，这篇论文的作者之一，也是MIT的神经生物学副教授，这么说道,“但是并没有一个关键的时期用来培养复杂的视觉能力”。
dirt-poor
Lacking most of the necessities of life.极贫困的：缺乏大部分生活必需品的
cataracts
Pathology Opacity of the lens or capsule of the eye, causing impairment of vision or blindness.【病理学】 白内障：眼球晶状体或眼膜的不透明，能引起视力损伤或失明
acuity
Acuteness of vision or perception; keenness.锐利，尖锐：视力或观察力的敏锐；敏捷
This insight had its genesis in 2002 when Sinha traveled to his native India, where nearly half a million children suffer from blindness that often could have been prevented with medical care. With funding rom the U.S National Institutes of Health, Sinha lauched Project Prkash (it means "light" in Sanskrit), an initiative to help expand eye care in India.
Sanskrit
An ancient Indic language that is the language of Hinduism and the Vedas and is the classical literary language of India.梵文：一种古印度语，为印度及吠陀经所用文字，也是印度的古典文学语言
Experiments with animals had shown that if you place a normal kitten, for example, in a completely dark chamber immediately after birth, the kitten will become irrevocably blind. As a result, doctors in developing nations are often reluctant to perform surgeries like cataract removals on children. The risks - infection, mostly - outweigh the meager rewards.
irrevocable
Impossible to retract or revoke:不能撤回的或不可废止的：
an irrevocable decision.不能撤回的决定
meager
Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.不足的，缺乏的：在数量、程度或范围上缺乏的；不足的
Evidently, though, nobody told the surgeons who operated on S.R.D. One year after surgery, her brain had learned to interpret visual information; she could recognize her family's faces and identify objects. And that's avery big deal. Dr Suma Ganesh, a pediatric opthalmologist at the Dr. Shrof's Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi, used to believe that operating on blind children past the critical perios was hopeless. But Project Prakash changed her mind. "Even if a blind kid, after an operation, manages to see up to three meters, it makes big difference," Ganesh says.
Opathlmologist
???
Since hearing S.R.D's story, the reserachers have analyzed 14 children and one adult treated at the hospital. All showed significant improvement within a year. While most underwent surgery, the adult - a 29-year-old man with congenital aphakia (an eye missing its lens) - just needed glasses. Eighteen months later, he was able to see.
congenital
Acquired at birth or during uterine development, as a result of either hereditary or environmental influences.See Synonyms at innate 先天的：由于遗传或环境影响在出生或出生前就获得的
aphakia
缺少晶状体, 无晶状体
Although the results are undeniable, it's still unclear what's going on in patients' brains. The researchers will start to investigate by taking pictures of the brain before and after srgery using functional magnetic resonance imaging scanners. Since the brain devotes roughtly 35%of its power to vision, they hypothosize that when this sense is compromised, others, like smell and tough, take over the visual-processing circuits. After surgery, they suspect, the sense of sight reclaims its territory inside the brain.
compromise
A concession to something detrimental or pejorative:危害：对于一些有害或恶劣情况的让步：a compromise of morality.道德的沦丧
reclaim
矫正
For S.R.D, alas, the recovery that neuroscientists had deemed impossible was also relatively short-lived. A few months ago, she died in a traffic accident - while taking her blind 9-year-old daughter to an eye clinic.
alas
唉
deem
To regard as; consider:认为；觉得：
deemed the results unsatisfactory.See Usage Note at as 认为结果不令人满意参见 as
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