Brain-computer interfaces have come a long way(取得长足进步) quickly. The first successful decoding(解码) of vowel sounds from a neural implant(神经植入装置) was reported in 2009. In 2021 a team from Edward Chang’s lab at the University of California, San Francisco decoded the words and sentences of a patient who could not speak.(2021年，加州大学旧金山分校爱德华·张实验室的一个团队成功解码了一位无法言语的患者的单词和句子。)
脑机接口技术发展迅猛，短时间内已取得长足进步。2009年，研究人员首次报告成功从神经植入装置中解码出元音。2021年，加州大学旧金山分校爱德华·张实验室的一个团队成功解码了一位无法言语的患者的单词和句子。
A new paper by Dr Chang’s group, published in Nature Neuroscience, describes the passing of another milestone(里程碑). He and his colleagues have enabled two severely paralysed people to communicate with them, by means of an avatar, using both words and gestures.(他和同事让两名重度瘫痪者借助虚拟形象，通过语言和手势与他们交流。) That is an auspicious(吉利的，有前途的) result for the several million individuals around the world paralysed by strokes, traumatic injuries and degenerative(退行性的) illnesses such as motor-neuron disease(运动神经元病).
张博士团队在《自然·神经科学》上发表的新论文描述了又一个里程碑的跨越。他和同事让两名重度瘫痪者借助虚拟形象，通过语言和手势与他们交流。对于全球数百万因中风、创伤性损伤以及运动神经元病等退行性疾病而瘫痪的人来说，这是一个吉兆般的结果。
The group did this by implanting, through a small incision in the skull of each patient, an array of sensors that covered a large part of the motor cortex—the brain region responsible for controlling bodily motion.(该团队的做法是：在每位患者颅骨上开一个小切口，植入一组传感器，覆盖运动皮层的大部分区域——运动皮层是大脑中负责控制身体运动的区域。) This procedure took over two hours, in part because(部分原因是) the process for connecting the sensor array to a data-carrying cable is fiddly(繁琐的，难弄的). But the team are working on a short-cut(捷径), using a wireless device, that would reduce this to 40 minutes.
该团队的做法是：在每位患者颅骨上开一个小切口，植入一组传感器，覆盖运动皮层的大部分区域——运动皮层是大脑中负责控制身体运动的区域。这一手术耗时两个多小时，部分原因是将传感器阵列连接到数据传输线缆的过程十分繁琐。但团队正在研究一种捷径，使用无线设备，可将时间缩短至40分钟。