Born in Shiqian county in Guizhou province, 34-year-old Sun Xiaojun used to be the naughtiest student in class. This changed after he broke an ankle and was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, an inflammation of the bone, at the age of 9. His right leg later had to be amputated.
孫小軍今年34歲，出生于貴州省石阡縣，他曾經(jīng)是班里最調(diào)皮的學(xué)生。9歲時(shí)，孫小軍腳踝骨折，并診斷出患有骨髓炎，這是一種骨骼的炎癥，確診后的他再也不復(fù)往日那般調(diào)皮。后來，孫小軍的右腿不得不截肢。

His family spent all of their money for the operation. The young man then made the decision to study hard.
為了孫小軍的手術(shù)，家里人花光了所有的錢。孫小軍下定決心，要努力學(xué)習(xí)。

In 2006, Sun enrolled at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province, majoring in material forming and control engineering. In 2009, he won the opportunity to continue his studies at Japan’s Tohoku University. “I started to wear a prosthesis two years after I began studying in Japan. I had never worn one before, so it took quite a long time to get used to,” he said.
2006年，孫小軍考入了位于湖北省武漢市的華中科技大學(xué)，主修材料成型及控制工程。2009年，他獲得了去日本東北大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)深造的機(jī)會(huì)?！拔以谌毡緦W(xué)習(xí)兩年后開始穿假肢，因?yàn)橐郧皬膩頉]有穿戴過，所以要花很長時(shí)間才能適應(yīng)?！?/span>

The experience wasn’t very comfortable. He would sometimes fall over when he tried to walk fast, which made him feel awkward. In 2013, he came up with the idea of creating a smarter prosthetic that used robotics.
穿假肢的體驗(yàn)并不舒服，有時(shí)孫小軍想走快點(diǎn)就會(huì)摔倒，這讓他很尷尬。2013年，孫小軍靈感乍現(xiàn)，想到可以靠機(jī)器人技術(shù)制作智能假肢。

In 2018, he founded BionicM in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, to create inventions to help those with a disability. Sun’s robotic prosthetic knee earned him fame and won him the Red Dot Best of the Best award in 2020.
2018年，孫小軍在廣東深圳創(chuàng)立了健行仿生（BionicM），進(jìn)行幫助殘疾人的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造。孫小軍因機(jī)器人假肢膝關(guān)節(jié)聲名鵲起，并以此斬獲了2020德國紅點(diǎn)最佳設(shè)計(jì)獎(jiǎng)。

The biggest challenge in creating the robotic knee was how to coordinate between the body and the prosthetic. “Walking is an unconscious movement. It’s difficult to make prosthetics understand how that works,” Sun said.
制造機(jī)器人式假肢膝關(guān)節(jié)的最大挑戰(zhàn)，在于如何讓身體與假肢協(xié)調(diào)。孫小軍說，“走路是一種無意識(shí)的運(yùn)動(dòng)，很難讓假肢去理解走路的原理。”

Most artificial limbs on the market are made to work like bones and ankles. Sun’s invention, however, works like adding mechanical muscle.
市面上的大多數(shù)假肢都像骨頭和踝關(guān)節(jié)那樣發(fā)揮作用。然而，孫小軍的發(fā)明宛如給人裝上了機(jī)械肌肉。

“The prosthesis we’ve created has a mind of its own and allows people to move by sensing their intentions,” he said.
孫小軍說:“我們創(chuàng)造的假肢有自己的思想，通過感知人們的意圖，協(xié)助其移動(dòng)?！?/span>

“I myself use a prosthetic limb, and I’m also a researcher. There are about 4 million people in China with amputated lower limbs,” he added. “The cost of an ordinary prosthesis is around 60,000 to 100,000 yuan, unaffordable for most.”
“我自己既是穿假肢的人，也是一名研究人員。中國大約有400萬人截肢，”孫小軍補(bǔ)充說，“可是一條普通假肢的價(jià)格在6萬到10萬元之間，大多數(shù)人都買不起?！?/span>

Sun said most prosthetics are produced in Europe. “I didn’t start my company for the money, but to make a product that is useful to society. Amputees have a basic need to walk,” he said.
孫小軍說，大多數(shù)假肢都在歐洲生產(chǎn)?！拔覄?chuàng)辦公司不是為了錢，而是為了生產(chǎn)對(duì)社會(huì)有用的產(chǎn)品。截肢者有行走這種基本需求?！?/span>

According to Sun, the robotic knee his company produces is priced at around 300,000 yuan per pair, while similar products sold elsewhere average around 800,000 yuan.
據(jù)孫小軍介紹，其公司生產(chǎn)的機(jī)器人式假肢每雙售價(jià)約為30萬元，而其他地方銷售的同類產(chǎn)品平均售價(jià)約為80萬元。

Admitting that this is not ideal, he said that his robotic knees are still in small-scale production. He hopes that by raising more money, he’ll be able to expand production and make his devices more affordable.
孫小軍承認(rèn)這個(gè)售價(jià)并不理想，他說自己的機(jī)器人式假肢仍在小規(guī)模生產(chǎn)，希望通過籌集更多資金來擴(kuò)大生產(chǎn)規(guī)模，讓假肢的價(jià)格更實(shí)惠。

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》，詳情請(qǐng)見《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》高二865期