时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(九)月


英语课

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute?


Baseball players sometimes cheat! One popular method has been to cork 1 the bat. You drill out some of the core of the bat, and replace the heavy wood with light cork. You can then swing the lighter 2 bat faster, and thus hit the ball further.


Of course, most ballplayers aren't physicists 3, so they don't realize that by making the bat lighter, they're reducing the collision efficiency. You swing faster, but get a limper contact. In theory, anyway.


So physicists led by the University of Illinois’s Alan Nathan tested corked 4 bats under controlled conditions. The doctored lumber 5 actually usually causes the ball to go less far, they found. The work appears in the online forum 6 the Physics arXiv. So for a power hitter to cork his bat is a bad idea.


But the researchers note that, ironically, a corked bat might result in more homers from non-homer hitters. Who can watch a pitch slightly longer before swinging, make up for the lost time with a faster swing and achieve more solid contact more often. So a corked bat is a bad idea for Sammy Sosa, who got caught using one. But a good idea for, say, Bucky Dent 7.


Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.

 



1 cork
n.软木,软木塞
  • We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
  • Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。
2 lighter
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级
  • The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色,色调明朗了一些。
  • The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。
3 physicists
物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )
  • For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说,这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
  • Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。
4 corked
adj.带木塞气味的,塞着瓶塞的v.用瓶塞塞住( cork的过去式 )
  • Our army completely surrounded and corked up the enemy stronghold. 我军把敌人的堡垒完全包围并封锁起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He kept his emotions corked up inside him. 他把感情深藏于内心。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 lumber
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
6 forum
n.论坛,讨论会
  • They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
  • The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。
7 dent
n.凹痕,凹坑;初步进展
  • I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事,但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
  • That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大,用不着把它锤平。
学英语单词
Acer mapienense
aead time
algebraic extension
algorithm error
anti-crocking agent
ANTI-S
Arran, Island of
arthrology
automatic parallel operation unit
Bakio-Basigo
balisse
Barrymore, Lionel
be well placed
branchiointestinal nerve
bring down the persimmon
brogdens
bug about/at
caliper brake
cdp stacked section
charno
clerk of the course
consent dividend
corporeity
counter-ion
cuprohydromagnesite
cut-off pulse height
dead lock condition
deferred profit on instalment sales
die carter
earth short-circuit current
elixations
euler cireterionphi-function
fagling
fast back style
federacin
fernene
filings
film circuit
freaking me out
fretsawing
garden balm
garrison house
harness eye
hawaii times
hydrobiontes
hyperbolize
imvr
inter-electrode leakage
interruptable
Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force
Juanita Doe
lais'
Lavardin
light-source quantum effeciency
local lighting
macrocycloalkene
makes account of
mapleton
mencs
menthol valerate
metalogue
motor wrench pipe dog
Nadtsy
Nalón, R.
necrotizing anterior scleritis
nonthinkers
OCTOMEINE
open a bank account
out-trail
overhead-under ground network
oxygen potential
Passaic
Pelsart Seamount
predisposition(to)
pseudocelebrity
pseudorotaxane
quiller-couches
repeating work
retransmit
rodrik
sanctuary game refuge
Sandvika
seelands
skull
soil lump
spotty steel
submit a tax return
sulkiness
system life
tenoun
thermodynamic energy
tort-reform
twin magnets
undreading
unprisonable
Uspeniya, Mys
variable bit rate
Winnipeg River
wolz
yousef
zivotas