Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, is an eye condition that affects millions of people around the world. In the UK, it is the biggest cause of sight loss. It’s caused by a loss of the nerves at the back of the eye. Even though it affects only a tiny area around the width of a human hair, its impact is life-changing. Patients experience a blurring (模糊) of vision, initially at the center of their gaze, which expands and worsens as time goes on. Recognizing faces or watching television can rapidly become impossible.

“This is why it’s such a difficult disease to deal with for patients: It affects the best bit first,” explains Lyndon Da Cruz, a surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, UK. Because nerve cells don’t regenerate (再生), the body cannot heal the condition itself, however scientists at King’s College London and Moorfields are working on a new technique to implant stem cells into the back of the eye.

A trial has already been successfully tested on two patients, both of whom went from being unable to read at all even with glasses, to reading 60 to 80 words per minute with normal reading glasses.

Operating on the eye is always delicate, but the precision involved in inserting the stem cells is right at the edge of the ability of even the most talented surgeons. Therefore the team has been working with the University’s robotics department to create machines that can work with minute accuracy.

“It’s as if you cut the human hair 10 times and then you need to go with one of those tools in between those layers for two or three minutes stably while the patient is awake. And that’s not something that humans just can do. That’s where robots come in,”says Christos Bergeles, a robotics researcher at King’s.

Bergeles’ team has created a working model of an operating room equipped with a robotic arm that can translate the movement of a surgeon. For the moment, they operate only on model but one day they hope to be able to be restoring sight one cell at a time.

【小题1】How does AMD affect people’s health?

A．It prevents cells from healing.

B．It can make people go blind.

C．It causes nerve problems.

D．It can damage human hair.

【小题2】What’s the real difficulty in operating on the eye?

A．The precision needed in the operation.	B．Lacking the right stem cells.
C．The stable movement of the surgeon.	D．Cutting hair into very thin layers.

【小题3】What can we infer about inserting the stem cells?

A．It is a piece of cake for brilliant surgeons.

B．It can simply be carried out by a professional robot.

C．It is almost a mission impossible for any surgeons alone.

D．It can be done by a robotic arm translating a surgeon’s movement.

【小题4】What’s the main idea of the text?

A．A working model will be created to make a surgery.

B．A trial on two patients has successfully been tested.

C．The cause of sight loss has been found out to restore it.

D．Robots and stem cells can be combined to restore eyesight.