VOA慢速英語:大麻有助于治療兒童癲癇（雙語）

Marijuana Helps Children with Epilepsy

大麻有助于治療兒童癲癇

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。

In the eyes of the United States federal government marijuana is an illegal drug. But almost half of the U.S. states have made marijuana use legal or at least a minor crime.

美國聯(lián)邦政府認(rèn)為大麻是一種非法藥物。但是幾乎一半的美國在合法制做大麻，或者至少說在未成年犯罪中涉及大麻。

People who support legalization of marijuana say some kinds of the plant offer extraordinary help for human health. For example, one kind of medical marijuana is reported to ease effects of epilepsy, a disease of the nervous system.

支持大麻合法化的人們稱，一些植物可以為人類健康提供特殊的幫助。例如，據(jù)報道稱，一種藥用大麻可以減輕癲癇的影響，癲癇是一種神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)疾病。

Rachael and Shawn Selmeski are happy that their baby girl, Maggie, can holdup her head. That is a normal mark of growth for a four month old child. But Maggie is two years old.

雷切爾和肖恩·塞摩斯卡(Shawn Selmeski)非常高興他們很小的女兒瑪吉可以抬起她的頭。這是一個四個月大的孩子的正常生長標(biāo)志。但是瑪吉已經(jīng)兩歲了。

Maggie’s father says that simple act is a huge step -- or what he calls a milestone -- for his special needs daughter.

瑪吉的父親稱，哪怕是這簡單的動作對瑪吉來說也是巨大的進(jìn)步了,對于他有著特殊需求的女兒，他稱這已經(jīng)是一個里程碑。

“They’re inch stones [[small steps]] in the big picture, but they’re milestones for our children, for our special needs kids.”

“對于其他所有的孩子來說，這些只是人生中的小點滴，但是對于我們有著特殊需求的孩子來說，這就是里程碑一樣的大事。”

Maggie has spent much of her life in the hospital. Shortly after birth, doctors found that Maggie has a rare form of epilepsy. Epilepsy can cause people to suddenly become unconscious. It also can cause violent, uncontrolled movements of the body called seizures.

瑪吉的大部分時間都是生活在醫(yī)院里。出生后不久，醫(yī)生就發(fā)現(xiàn)瑪吉患有一種罕見的癲癇。癲癇可以使得一個人濡染變得無意識，也可以引起暴力行為，不受控制的身體抽搐行為等。

Maggie’s kind of epilepsy can cause hundreds of seizures in a single day. Her parents hurried her to the hospital emergency room many times in the first year of her life. Doctors administered treatments and medicines to save her life. But Mr. Selmeski says these treatments also had other severe effects on his little girl.

瑪吉的癲癇可以在一天內(nèi)發(fā)作數(shù)百次抽搐。在她出生后的一年中，她的父母多次將其匆忙送入醫(yī)院急診室進(jìn)行治療。醫(yī)生通過治療和藥物來挽救其生命。但是塞摩斯卡先生稱，這些治療也會對他們的女兒產(chǎn)生嚴(yán)重的副作用。

“They drugged her up. She would sleep for 20 hours a day, and wouldn’t make a noise all day long. They sedated every part of her body.”

“他們給她喂麻醉藥，這樣她一天會睡20個小時，一整天都不出一點聲音。他們讓她整個身體都鎮(zhèn)靜下來。”

The Selmeskis wanted treatment with fewer of these unwanted side-effects. So they turned to a new kind of medicinal marijuana called Charlotte’s Web. Marijuana growers in the U.S. state of Colorado developed the plant.

塞摩斯卡希望治療中可以減少這些不必要的副作用，所以他們轉(zhuǎn)向去尋找一種叫做“夏洛特的網(wǎng)”的藥用大麻。很多大麻種植者們在美國科羅拉多州種植這種植物。

Doctor's Advice? Move to Colorado.

Marijuana is legal in Colorado but not in Tennessee where the Selmeskis lived. Maggie’s doctors could not order marijuana as a treatment. So, they urged the Semelskis to do something extreme -- head west.

在科羅拉多州的大麻是合法的，但是在塞摩斯卡先生居住的田納西州卻不是。瑪吉的醫(yī)生不能用大麻對其進(jìn)行治療，所以他們鼓勵塞摩斯卡去做一些極端的事情---搬到西邊去。

One year ago, the Selmeskis moved to Colorado. They began giving Maggie Charlotte’s Web marijuana mixed with olive oil three times a day. The Semelskis say Maggie’s condition improved immediately. She could digest food better. She began developing more muscle. And they say she began to smile more.

一年前，塞摩斯卡搬到了科羅拉多州。他們開始給瑪吉一天三次服用“夏洛特的網(wǎng)”大麻和橄欖油的混合物。塞摩斯卡稱，瑪吉的狀況明顯改善了很多，她可以更好的消化食物了，身體開始變得有力氣，并且開始笑得越來越多了。

Charlotte's Web contains very little of the chemical THC that gives marijuana users a high. But chemist Bryson Rast says that Charlotte’s Web is loaded with another chemical, cannabidiol, also known as CBD. The chemical cannabidiol is an anti-inflammatory, meaning it reduces pain and swelling in the body.

夏洛特的網(wǎng)這種大麻含有很少的四氫大麻酚化學(xué)成分，這種成分可以給服用大麻的人帶來快感。但是化學(xué)家布萊森·拉斯特稱，夏洛特的網(wǎng)這種大麻含有另一種化學(xué)成分——大麻二酚，也叫做CBD。這種化學(xué)成分是一種抗炎藥，也就是說，它可以減輕身體的疼痛和腫脹。

Edward Maa is a brain doctor. He says he would like to compare this high CBD medicinal marijuana to federally approved drugs for epilepsy. But, the only marijuana that he may legally study is old, or out-of-date.

愛德華·瑪阿是一位腦科醫(yī)生，他稱他愿意將這含有很高CBD成分的藥用大麻和聯(lián)邦政府批準(zhǔn)的用于治療癲癇的藥物進(jìn)行對比分析，但是他唯一可以合法研究的大麻已經(jīng)很舊，長時間不用了。

Mr. Maa says it is time for the federal government to support research into Charlotte’s Web. He says he does not care about the political effects or personal emotions around the medicinal marijuana debate.

瑪阿先生稱，是時候讓聯(lián)邦政府來支持對“夏洛特的網(wǎng)”的研究工作了。他表示他并不關(guān)心圍繞藥用大麻所進(jìn)行的爭論中的政治影響和個人情緒。

“I don’t care about the political implications or any of the emotional baggage that it carries. If it works, I’d like to be able to use it.”

“我并不在意它所攜帶的政治意蘊(yùn)和情感包袱，如果它真的有效果，我希望可以將它用于治療。”

Most parents will do just about anything to help lessen the suffering of their children. About two hundred families have moved to Colorado from other parts of the country just to get Charlotte’s Web for their epileptic children.

大多數(shù)父母會做任何事來幫助孩子減輕痛苦。僅僅為了使他們患有癲癇病的孩子獲得“夏洛特的網(wǎng)”，大約有200多個家庭已經(jīng)從其他地方搬到科羅拉多州。

The Selmeskis say they hope that growing interest and knowledge of marijuana’s medical value will lead to federal support for more research.

塞摩斯卡稱，他們希望隨著人們對大麻藥用價值的興趣和知識的不斷增長，可以使得聯(lián)邦政府可以支持對大麻進(jìn)行更多的研究。

And that’s the Health Report. I’m Anna Matteo.

這就是本期的美國之音慢速英語健康報道，我是安娜·馬泰奧。