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    Children Who Don't Feel Pain

    本篇生词：

    suspect vt. 疑心，猜疑

    Mr. and Mrs. Waters have two children. Their son, Paul, is two years old, and their daughter, Victoria are like most other children. But in one way they are very unusual. They almost never cry. They don't cry because they don't feel pain.

    Paul Waters is like most two-year-olds. He runs and plays, and sometimes he gets hurt. But Paul doesn't know that he is hurt because he doesn't feel pain. He falls in the park and hurts his knee, but he gets up and continues running. He picks up a knife in the kitchen and cut his hand, but he doesn't stop playing with the knife. His parents have to watch him every minute. Often they have to tell him, "Paul, stop playing. You're hurt."

    Mr. and Mrs. Waters learned that Paul didn't feel pain when he was six months old. He had stomach problems, so his mother took him to the doctor. The doctor was afraid to touch Paul's stomach, it will hurt him," the doctor said, " I don't think so," Mrs. Waters said. "Paul almost never cries. I think he doesn't feel pain." The doctor touched the baby's stomach. Paul's mother was right. The baby didn't cry. Later, when Paul was well, doctors did several tests. In one test, they put 60 small needles in Paul's neck, but Paul didn't cry. He didn't feel any pain.

    Two years later, Mrs. Waters had a baby girl. "Will this baby have the same problem?" Mrs. Waters asked the doctors. "No," the doctors answered. "Paul's problem is very, very rare. Only four or five people in the world don't feel pain. Your daughter will probably be fine."

    The Waters named their daughter Victoria. Soon they suspected that Victoria, like Paul, didn't feel pain. She cried only when she was hungry. She never cried when she was hurt. Sometimes, for example, Paul hurt her. Paul was like many big brothers.Sometimes he hit the baby's arm or hit her in the stomach. The baby just looked at Paul and smiled. Mr. and Mrs. Waters were worried. They took Victoria to the hospital for tests. After the test the doctors told them, "Victoria doesn't feel pain, either."

    Sometimes people tell Mr. and Mrs. Waters, "Your children don't cry? That's unusual!" "Yes," Mr. and Mrs. Waters say. "We have very unusual children."