Three months later the verdict was official: he was going to be paralyzed from the waist down.

verdict 是名词，来自拉丁语 ver（真实的）和 dictum（陈述），字面意思是"真实的陈述"。在法律语境中指"（陪审团作出的）裁决、判决"，也可以泛指"正式的决定或结论"。