a,mother,s,nightmare

篇一：A Mother's Place

A Mother's Place 母亲的位置

by Donna Gamache 唐娜?加玛科

Dorothy feels that she is getting old and doubts her place in the family. Now she wants to move out and start a new life. Why does she want to live by herself? Will she really leave her son and daughter-in-law? Read the following story for the answers.

多萝西觉得自己老了，开始怀疑起自己在家里的位置。现在她想搬出去住，开始新生活。为什么她要一个人生活？她真的想离开儿子和儿媳吗？阅读下面这篇文章，找找问题的答案。

The rain still fell in a silent gray sheet when Dorothy opened her bedroom curtains to peer outside. "Another gray day, gray and gloomy," she muttered, though really the rain was more than welcome after last year's drought.

多萝西掀起卧室窗帘，看看窗面，天灰蒙蒙的，雨还在无声无息地下着。“又是灰蒙蒙的天,又阴又暗，”她喃喃自语道。实际上，去年的干旱后，这雨是大受欢迎的。

"Old and gray and gloomy, just like me," she added to herself,

though it wasn't exactly true. Her hair wasn't completely gray, and she was only in her mid-fifties, middle-aged really, she knew. And usually she acted younger than her years, if anything. She could still do all the work she'd ever done － keep the house going, plant and weed the garden, drive the truck when needed － though maybe she wasn't as speedy at some tasks, as she once was. And Tim, her son, did suggest a couple of years ago, that she needn't bother to drive the tractor anymore. But that was because it wasn't really necessary, anyway, it wasn't because she was getting old. So why, all of a sudden, did she feel old?

“老气横秋，灰不溜秋，郁郁寡欢，象我一样，”她对自己又说了这些，然而事实并非如此。她的头发并未全白，只有五十多岁，实际还是中年 -- 这一点，她自己也清楚。她平日的行为举止，远远看不出实际年龄 -- 无论从哪方面都看不出。她象过去一样能干 -- 忙家务,在花园里种花、除草，开着拖拉机帮忙干农活 -- 尽管有些事情她做起来不如以前那样利索。她的儿子蒂姆两三年前就建议她不必再开拖拉机了。不过那是因为确实没有必要，而不是因为她老了。那她为什么会突然觉得自己老了呢？

"Blame it on the rain," she muttered. But, watching through the window as Tim hurried through the downpour from pig barn to cattle shed, she knew the answer. She'd known it last night, of course,

after the blow up with Jenny, Tim's wife.

“都怪这场雨，”她嘟囔着。可是，当她透过窗户，看到蒂姆冒着大雨匆匆从猪圈跑到牛棚时，她就知道是为什么了。当然，昨晚与蒂姆的妻子詹妮吵架过后，她就知道了缘由。

Oh, it hadn't been a real blow up, just an argument over where to plant the garden. Jenny wanted it close to the house, so she could work there once the baby was born. Dorothy argued that the closest garden patch needed fallowing. They'd left the decision to Tim, who sided with Jenny, and Dorothy stumped off to bed at 8.30 p.m., feeling old and lonely, and missing Steve as she hadn't missed him for a long time.

哦，那也不是真的吵架，只不过是争论花园该建在哪儿。詹妮想让花园靠近住房，孩子出生后她也能兼干些活儿。多萝西认为，屋子旁边的那块园地应该空着。她俩让蒂姆作最后决定，结果蒂姆支持詹妮。于是多萝西晚上八点半就气冲冲地上床了，感到苍老无力，孤立无助，从来没有这么想念过史蒂夫。

Steve － Dorothy's husband － had died ten years ago, when Tim was just twenty. Tim had quit his agriculture course at the university and come home to work the farm, toiling like a Trojan to pay off the debts his father left. Dorothy worked alongside him, in the beginning,

until he proved himself; then gradually she relinquished more of the work to him and concentrated on her garden and flowers, and the housework.

史蒂夫——多萝西的丈夫——十年前去世了，那时蒂姆年仅二十岁。蒂姆中断了大学的农学课程，回到农场干活。他象特洛伊人一样辛苦地工作，偿还父亲欠下的债务。最初多萝西和他一块干，一直干到他能完全上手；于是，她就逐渐把更多的农活交给蒂姆做，自己专心伺弄花园，种些花草，操持家务。

Things didn't change much when Tim married Jenny two years ago. Dorothy wondered, in the beginning, how the arrangement would work out, for she stayed in the house and Jenny just moved in. It couldn't have been easy for Jenny, Dorothy knew that, to move into your mother-in-law's house and let her run your life.

两年前蒂姆结婚了，但情况并没有多大改变。刚开始，多萝西还在想如何安排才算妥善，因为她呆在家里，詹妮又搬来住。多萝西知道：对詹妮来说，住到婆婆家，还让婆婆来掌管自己的生活，不是一件容易的事情。

But there hadn't been much change, really. Everybody adapted. Jenny worked at the potato plant in town, and kept her job. Dorothy surrendered some of the house work to her, and occasional meals,

but she still did most of the day-to-day household running. Jenny either worked days, or slept, depending on her shifts at the plant. Most often she worked nights and slept until four or so.

但是他们婚后，一切真的并没有多大的改变。每个人都适应了。詹妮婚前在镇上的土豆加工厂工作，婚后还继续在那里上班。多萝西主动把一部分家务活让詹妮做，偶尔还让她做几顿饭，但是家里大部分的日常家务仍由她自己操持。詹妮白天有时上班，有时睡觉，得看她在厂里上什么班。大多数时候她上夜班，白天她一直睡到下午四点左右。

The washing was still Dorothy's responsibility, and the garden work and the flower beds. She still drove dinner out to the fields for Tim, and sometimes she drove the truck, during harvest or spring work. She wasn't ready to retire yet!

洗洗刷刷仍是多萝西的事，还有整理园子和花坛的活。她照旧开车到田里给蒂姆送饭。秋收或春耕时她有时候还开卡车。她还没准备退休呢！

"But it looks like I'll have to," she murmured, turning away from the window to dress. "Last night was just the tip of the iceberg. The rest will show up soon." Things were changing now. Tim and Jenny's baby was due in two months, and last week Jenny stopped working

篇二：是仁爱母亲还是冷血杀手-

是仁爱母亲还是冷血杀手?

Frances Inglis为严重瘫痪的儿子注射过量海洛因致其死亡。出于常情，人们想从她的脸上看到痛苦，但却失败了。她空洞、率直的凝视和紧闭的双唇让人们无功而返。尽管知道摄像机对自己并不友善，这位略显憔悴的57岁女性还是顺从地接受了记者的拍照要求。

It is natural but futile to examine the face of Frances Inglis for signs of the torment that led her to give her severely disabled son a fatal injection of heroin. Her blank, straight forward gaze and compressed lips tell us nothing. They are the features of a resigned, slightly careworn 57-year-old woman who has been asked to pose for an official photograph, knowing the camera will not be kind.

这，就是已被定罪为杀人凶手的面孔。她曾两次试图让自己22岁的儿子汤姆“彻底解脱”。然而，第一次尝试却以失败告终。杀人未遂获保释后，被禁止探视儿子的她又冒充汤姆的姑妈进入了位于英格兰东南部的赫特福德郡的私人疗养院。 And yet this is the face of a convicted murderer. She twice tried to put her 22-year-old son, Tom, beyond suffering. Her first attempt to kill him failed. On bail for his attempted murder and banned from seeing him, she entered his nursing home in Hertford shire by posing as his aunt.

带着偷来的注射器和价值200美元的海洛因，她用氧气瓶、轮椅堵住病房门，还在门锁处涂上强力胶为自己争取更多时间。

Armed with a stolen syringe and ￡200 worth of heroin, she barricaded herself in his room with an oxygen cylinder and a wheelchair and poured strong glue into the lock to buy herself time.

“我拿起针管为他注射，抱着他，告诉他这一切都将过去。”在位于英国伦敦老贝利街的中央刑事法庭上，她向陪审团缓缓道出整个过程。“心中怀着对儿子的爱”，由于不忍儿子不断遭受病痛的折磨，她选择用致命性注射来终结爱子的生命。虽坚信此举"出于仁慈"，她也承认知道自己的所作所为触犯了法律。 "I took the syringe and injected him and held him and told him everything would be fine," she softly told an Old Bailey jury. She gave the lethal injection "with love in her heart" and from a conviction that he was being tortured by constant pain. She believed she was performing an "act of mercy", but she also admitted knowing that what she did was against the law.

Frances Inglis最终被判无期徒刑，至少入狱9年。公众对此的强烈反感反映了人们对母子情深的本能理解。她之所以这样做是因为坚信其他抉择更加残忍：因为所有维持生命的机制都被切断，她只能眼睁睁地看着他慢慢死于饥渴--她假定这些都获得了高等法院的允许。

The wave of public revulsion at Frances Inglis's life sentence, of which

she must serve at least nine years, reflects an instinctive understanding of the fierceness of that bond. She believed the alternative was crueller: watching him die slowly of hunger and thirst as his life-support mechanism was switched off - assuming that this had been allowed by the high court. 然而，却有一些麻烦的因素证明这起悲剧并非协助性自杀--汤姆所患并非不治之症。

But there are troubling elements to this tragedy that puts it in a different category from assisted suicide. Tom did not have a terminal illness.

是他那因悲痛而绝望、时常歇斯底里的母亲自己解读他的状态，相信自己所做的一切都是为了他好。

It was his mother, desperate and at times hysterical with grief, who interpreted his state and believed she was acting in his best interests.

当Inglis夫人（当时正在学护理学）被告知脑损伤的儿子没有病痛时，她反问：“他们怎么知道？”据称，她不相信英国罗姆福Queen's Hospital一名医生对汤姆病状的乐观预断，称自己所看到的只有儿子的“恐惧、痛苦与不幸”。

When Mrs Inglis, who was doing a nursing diploma, was assured that her brain-damaged son was not in pain, she asked: "How do they know?" She is alleged to have refused to believe an encouraging prognosis from one of the doctors at Queen's Hospital, Romford, and to have seen only "horror, pain and tragedy" in his condition.

同理，我们也会问，她又怎么知道？他真的毫无康复的希望么？她又如何凭借母亲的直觉坚信昏迷的儿子“身处地狱”呢？2007年，汤姆从救护车上摔下后仅10天，她便对他的痛苦坚信不疑，并到邻居家中寻求帮助要用海洛因结束他的生命。

Equally, we might ask, how did she know? Was there absolutely no hope for his recovery? By what extension of a mother's intuition could she measure her comatose son's "living hell"? Yet so certain was she of his agony that only 10 days after Tom was injured by falling from an ambulance, in 2007, she turned to a neighbour to ask for help in finding heroin to kill him.

很明显，Inglis夫人的家人都很支持她。不仅如此，他们还鼓励她勇敢起来。“所有爱他、和他亲近的人，”汤姆的哥哥艾利克斯说：“都不认为这是凶杀。”然而，陪审团却不得不这样做。

Significantly, all her close family have supported Mrs Inglis. More than that, they have called her courageous. "All of those who loved and were close to Tom," said his brother, Alex, "have never seen this as murder." The jury, however, was forced to do so.

她被宣判谋杀罪成立,这项罪名理应被判处强制性终身监禁。而在这起案件中，她仅仅被判处入狱9年。按照以往的量刑标准，谋杀罪最少被判15年。Brian Barker法官的最少9年已经是某种程度的法外开恩，但却并不表示宽容。

She was convicted of murder, for which the mandatory sentence is life. In her case, nine years in prison. Against the usual tariff, which starts at 15 years for murder, Judge Brian Barker's minimum of nine years may reflect a degree of temperance but it does not reflect mercy.

她并非邪恶之人，没有危害社会。维护法规的Barker法官断然表示：“不管你有天大的理由，你也不能无视法律夺走他人的生命。”他理解她的“苦衷”，但更有力地称她的犯罪行为是“蓄意的”。在杀人凶手面前，法律没有宽大仁慈的一面，法官亦然。伦敦Common Serjeant法院的 Barker法官决定保守宣判此案。

She has not been proved evil and she is not a danger to society. Judge Barker, upholding statute, put it flatly: "You cannot take the law into your own hands and you cannot take away life, however compelling you think the reason." He acknowledged her "unhappiness" but more forcefully described her "calculated and consistent course of criminal conduct". The law relating to murder may have no room for leniency, but judges do. Judge Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, decided to exercise it sparingly.

对Inglis夫人的宣判不能也不应被视为阻止人们善意地保护病症晚期的亲人，也并非向社会“传达”法律禁止人们结束亲友痛苦生命的信息。然而，由于当今社会对辅助性死亡的法律条文含糊不清、争议不断，人们如此解读此事也在情理之中。

Mrs Inglis's sentence cannot, should not, have been about protecting the terminally ill from well-intentioned relatives or "sending messages" to the public that they are not empowered to end a loved one's agonising life. But in the present muddle and controversy over the law on assisted dying, it is not surprising that this is how it was read.

英国慈善组织“死的尊严”认为，考虑到她慈悲的动机，她不应被判为凶手。“我们当然不能宽恕她触犯法律。” “死的尊严”负责人Sarah Wootton说：“尽管我们知道她此举是出于爱与怜悯。我们只是希望政府能重新关注法律委员会2006年的报告。报告中提出我们有必要复审一下这些案件是如何审判的，是不是该对'安乐死'进行详细答辩。”

The organisation Dignity in Dying believes it is "inappropriate" for Mrs Inglis to be tried for murder, given her compassionate motivation. "We absolutely don't condone breaking the law," said Sarah Wootton, chief executive, "despite it being clear that Mrs Inglis was motivated by love and compassion. We are calling for the Government to revisit the Law Commission's 2006 report which found that a review was necessary into the way these cases are tried and whether there should be a specific defence of 'mercy killing'."

英国《每日电讯报》宗教栏目编辑George Pitcher指出，在这一点上我们需要格外谨慎。安乐死的概念可能引发一场噩梦--“有些人的生命将注定低于其他人；健康的人将决定那些有缺陷或处于疾病末期的人的寿命；而?亲人?一旦身体不便，成了家人的负担便很可能被不怀好意的亲属们吞噬。”

As George Pitcher, The Daily Telegraph's religion editor, points out, we need to be cautious. The concept of mercy killing, he argues, could introduce a nightmare world "in which some lives are deemed inferior to others, in which the able-bodied determine the lifespan of the disabled and terminally ill… and in which 'loved ones' potentially can be despatched by wicked relatives when they become inconvenient and burdensome."

篇三：A mother's love(妈妈的爱)

A mother's love Love is a very good thing in our life, everywhere have love. The warmest is the mother of love. My mother tall and thin, with beautiful curls, treats people always very kind, very friendly. Daughter is mother treasured flesh and blood. Mother is very kind to me, always very concerned about me, love me，every day I dressed very beautiful. Buy clothes, always carefully Labradors, clap thy skirts, flip collar, clothing shoulder keeps asking me "good-looking? Like?" Mother buy pieces of new clothes: the "lucky draw Hugh bo clothes", the English textbook drama "crown garment" and the "five fuwa evening PK garment"... Wore the colourful. Mother sent me into the classroom study, is very concerned about my study. I get good grades, the performance good, mother will be a thumbs-up praise me; When I do something wrong, mom won't scold me, but will patiently give I speak the truth, tell me later can't make the same mistake again. So considerate mother is the best mother in the world，I think mom is my most close most close, from time to time in mind singing that song will people sing them, kind touching song: There is only the mother good...

浣江小学 六（5） 陈钰烨

篇四：英语总结

词汇结构 25% EX. 4-6

第一册

第七课 第4题

1. The first-aid instructor the correct way to bandage a wound.

2. How can you accept the defeat so

3. Although she has a wealthy background, she would like to earn enough money to be financially.

4. You should

5. Twelve people the jury in a law court to listen to the facts about a crime and to decide whether the person accused is guilty.

6. It’s the money that

7. A good teacher should stimulate students to come up with ideas and inventions.

8. With the rapid development of the economy, our of life has changed greatly these years.

9. She studied almost for the big test, more than 12 hours per day for nearly a month.

10. Mr. Selby is seriously ill and has been transferred to care.

第七课 第5题

1. Our English class is conducted a twice-a-week .

2. The farmers have rich farmlands.

3. Scientists have longthat lung cancer is associated with smoking.

4. Although vitamins health, you cannot skip the traditional health measures like exercising and having a low-fat diet.。

5. I work best , while he can get nothing finished without help from others.

第七课 第6题 1. He has made an agreement with his business associate to share the profit 2. China’s ethnic minorities less than 7 percent of its total population.

3. A researcher has shown that viruses can be forced to4. He won the lottery and became wealthy overnight, which changed his whole 5. The developers, working on electronic replacements for ink and paper, hope the new “electronic ink” will books and newspapers.

第八课 第4题

1. Friends visit him

2. She an old friend unexpectedly in the theatre.

3. 4. I to take the opposite point of view. You may disagree if you wish

5. Our problem was lack of time to review the details of our plan .

6. I can’t the exact details of the report. It was much too long.

7. Can anything a mother’s love and care?

8. The class was not in my major so I had only a few 9. He was

10. She is most that you can’t come to her birthday party.

第八课 第5题

1. The first day in the small town was a nightmare, but it was 2. They had been married for a long time but gradually until they separated.

3. The prince and the princess got married and lived happily .

4. Before the football game the teammates to wish each other success.

5. Did he eventually finding a new apartment closer to the campus?

第二册

第一课 第4题

1. The groupone of its members to be their spokesperson.

2. Wage increases are being kept to a depression. 。

3. The engineering profession now has many 4. Now that you're 13 you should have more sense of .

5. Students usually as Art, Drama, English, Music, etc.

6. We need to make sure that we 7. Congress is considering measures to the sale of cigarettes.

8. College courses should be designed to survive in modern society.

9. The local government $1.1 million so that the old theatre could be taken down and

rebuilt.

10. For his achievement in the medical field, the Mayor

第一课 第5题

1. The organization provides information on health issues to the public .

2. advanced.

3. I'd like to say a word or two 4. In response to your advertisement in the Bedfordshire Reporter, I am writing to post of secretary.

5. Our company is t a 50% increase in production this year.

第二课 第4题

1. I'm absolutely sure that this dress is a cheaper of the one we saw in that department

store.

2. The bookshelves were crowded with books and scientific .

3. If you want to open a file,

4. To their disappointment, the thieves were by the police at the moment they were

entering the bank.

5. During World War II, many6. They've updated a lot of 7. Despite 8. After a lot of part-time jobs, John finally got a9. In your report, you should give a description of the whole incident.

10. Companies publish

第二课 第5题

1． At the age of 29, he a commercial property business.

2． While she was tidying up the living room, she 3． My doctor 4． He hired private investigators to his future business partner.

5． She only

第二课 第6题

1. She is now concentrating on a 2. When I went for my first3. Police insisted that Michael did not follow the correct 4. We organized an of recent book upon constant requests form the readers.

5. The newspaper publishes a of a leading sportsman every week.

第三课 第4题

1. Company loyalty made him turn down many 2. Miller's 3. His that he had nothing to do with the affair was greeted with some suspicion.

4. There are good novelists, 5. The shops are well stocked with food, clothing and other consumer .

6. Something is worrying me, but I can't exactly what it is.

7. She had a clear ”

(转 载 于:wWW.smHAida.cOM 海达范文网:a,mother,s,nightmare)

8. The agency is more with making arty ads than understanding its clients.

9. The dead soldier was identified only by his uniform and personal 10. Food and clothing are the bare

第三课 第5题

1. This meeting gives us a chance to and have a good look at our problem.

2.

her 3.

4. For advice, they one of the school's most experienced teachers.

5. The central services of the BBC

第三课 第6题

1. You will spend lots on clothes if you always follows the 2. We were very sympathetic with the sufferings of the flood 3. They are going to make an important decision that will the company’s future.

4. The essential 5. The

第四课 第4题

1. The driver gave a 2. It was reported that 41 people were killed in a plane in the Himalayas last week.

3. The ship's captain radioed that it was in 4. The skaters moved over the ice with a smooth, effortless .

5. The bomb was taken away and the soldiers 6. They were on their way to the Shropshire Union Canal when their car was involved in a 7. The Central Bank 8.

9. 10. The of the world's forests concerns everyone in some way.

第四课 第5题

1. Marta 2. The cost of the house may be lower than we first thought; but it will still be

beyond our reach.

3. The struggle between the drug company and the Government over prices finally a

satisfactory settlement.

4. He was said to have been bright at school and most certainly 5. As soon as I was , I began to have second thoughts about leaving.

第四课 第6题

1. The are paid to do all the work on the ship.

2. You’d be a fool not3. The horse up when it heard the gun shot.

4. The general election, originally for 29th September, is to be postponed until

December.

5. The flower show by the presence of the Queen.

完形填空

1.Famous universities are located all over the world, and they attract students from all over the world, too. Oxford and Cambridge are the two oldest universities in Britain with a history of Oxford

a state on the east of America. MIT began in 1861 and is located in another e, Massachusetts. Stanford is a famous university in California. In 1891, Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford wanted to eatablish a university in the west young men and young women could5.

gest campuses in America today. 

Harvard is the oldest university in America 7. of American history. Students attending Harvard have more than 40 areas of public policy, to9. e a few. First year students, called freshmen, are required to live on campus. Sophomores and upper classmen can choose off campus living in an There are many activities students can participate in from music to sports to student government.

2. What kind of job are you looking for? The classified ads are a good place to begin a for employment. They are a great resource to learn about what companies look for in employees and requires skills worth developing. Being able toone’s strengths, effectively communicating with , having a desire to learn more about the, and displaying enthusiasm can sometimes make up for inexperience. As you look at the pictures, think about the differentwaiter and a farmer may not need higher education for their pursuits, but it helps. Secretarial work requires less education than being a teacher or a doctor, but each job is important in society.

While becoming a teacher requires a of four years study at a university, teaching entails constant learning. Understanding deeply the subject matter being taught and discovering the of students are just two areas of for teachers. Many studies continue to research how to effectively teach and how to teach students to effectively learn. In one way or another, we are all teachers.

3.Many products for sale seem to scream at us, "Buy me! Buy me!" Advertising is a big business in our world with many products for our attention. Think of the last time you bought clothes. You probably noticed the of colors, patterns, fabrics and brands you could would you like to have today or what kind of computer do you want? Advertisers are skilled in the art of making their products look the best to appeal to our senses. But products aren't always what they seem. Sometimes advertising is deceptive and as we must be careful about what we choose to buy. It is important to learn to products and identify our purpose in purchasing the things we need.

But the good thing about aadvertising is that it hepls people to and refine their choices.

In the United States, the Ad Council creates timely public service messages to the nation. Their purpose is to raise awareness of public problems that citizens can to. Inspiring ads cause individuals to take action and even save lives. in America, for example has been reduced over the years because of the creative Public Service advertisements that the council "Please, please don't be a litter bug, 'cause every 'litter bit' hurts." Many families have taught their children to place litter in the trash can in response to this catchy phrase, which has affected generations as each succeeding generation has taught their children not to litter.

篇五：cai7

The videos are littered across YouTube---of teens glamorizing risky stuns. "car surfing" on top of cars, "ghost riding" with no one behind the wheel and "skitching" - riding a skateboard pulled by a moving vehicle. A variety of terms for a wide range of dangerous and potentially deadly activities.

"An injury even at those slow speeds can result in significant neurologic disability and even death." According to a CDC report between 1990 and 2008, 58 people died in car surfing accidents alone. Another 41 were injured.

Injuries and deaths from ghost riding and skitching have never been counted "It feels like I'm in a dream. I can't believe this has happened."

Craig Doolittle's son Cody lost control of his skateboard after hitching a ride on the back of his friend's SUV in Aug.

"He pendulumed. The skateboard went forward and he just swung down and cracked his head open."

Cody Doolittle, 18, died at the hospital later that day.

There are cases like Caleb Potter, who survived his skitching accident, but suffered a traumatic brain injury.

"It was a mess, a mother's nightmare."

Caleb was hospitalized for six months. Blind in one eye, deaf in one ear and leaves a shell of his former self.

"We miss our son, the way he was before."

Potter misses his life. "Before I was sick and messed up. Much better to feel healthy and happy."

"There has to be more education out there to reach kids in this age bracket to let them know that it's not a joke.

Caleb's mother Sharyn now works to raise awareness to keep other families from suffering a similar tragedy. Susan Koeppen, CBS news, New York.

(CBS News) There is a surprising new report on autism. The Centers for Disease Control now estimates 1 in 88 children has a disorder on the autism spectrum. That's up 23 percent from just two years ago. The rate for boys is now 1 in 54. CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller looks into what's behind the increase in Thursday's report.

The CDC's latest survey suggests autism is epidemic. It was an unexpected finding to Dr. Gary Goldstein, President of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, who studies the disorder.

"That's a pretty enormous number and I was sort of surprised that it's continuing to increase at this rate of over 20 percent," he said.

In fact, the new numbers would indicate an extraordinary situation -- that the rate of autism has doubled in just six years.

Dr. Coleen Boyle of the CDC oversaw the study. "No matter what the number is," she said, "there's one thing for certain, and that is that more children are being identified with autism."

CDC sees autism up 25 percent

In 2008, the CDC studied the medical and educational records of over 300,000 8-year-olds in 14 states. They were looking for a diagnosis or symptoms of autism spectrum disorder or ASD.

ASD refers to a group of symptoms including a profound inability to communicate, mental retardation, and other developmental disorders from mild to severe. Diagnosis can be complicated and subjective.

"The people who are making the observations are more attuned to autism and more likely to describe these symptoms," said Goldstein.

The CDC acknowledges that the surge is due in part to increased awareness. The cause of autism remains a mystery.

Some of the clues may be found in studying families like the Otts. Twelve-year-old Brock Ott was diagnosed at age five.

"I act normal now," he said. "If you got me when I was young, I'd stare into space and then I'd talk to you while I'm staring into space. You'd be talking to me and I'd be staring here and I'd still be talking to you."

"So things have gotten better?" asked Miller.

"A lot better," said Brock.

At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers look for changes in the brain after birth, and even during pregnancy. That's why Brock's sister, Vianna has been monitored since she was born.

So far, she's a typical three-year-old. But given the rise in cases, her mother Naidona is anxious for answers.

"When I have grandchildren, is it going to be 1 in 2?" she asked.

Naidona's son Brock has gone through extensive therapy in specialized schools before he saw improvement. Next year, new guidelines are expected to change the definition of autism. That could drastically reduce the number of children being given the diagnosis, particularly those kids with mild autistic traits like Brock.

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