时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(五)月


英语课

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.


 


If you ever got picked on in the schoolyard, you might have wished for some sort of superpower, like unbeatable speed or maybe just the ability to completely disappear. Now scientists at the College of Wooster in Ohio say that you might have had a skill you didn’t realize: the uncanny ability to hear a bully 1 coming.


An earlier study found that women hear approaching noises sooner than their bigger, brawnier male counterparts. Perhaps, the scientists thought, the same would hold true for scrawny specimens 2 versus 3 the truly buff. So they had 50 volunteers listen to a tone that sounds like it’s moving toward them. The listeners pressed a button when it sounded like the tone arrived. The scientists then assessed each subject’s strength and cardiovascular fitness. And they found that the 98-pound weaklings banged their buttons quicker than the well-muscled, because they perceived the threatening sound as being closer than it actually was. The finding got a hearing May 21st at the meeting of the Acoustical 4 Society of America in Portland, Oregon. Such auditory overreacting, the scientists say, could be a survival mechanism 5. So that the meek 6, while waiting to inherit the earth, can avoid getting knocked onto it.


 


Thanks for the minute for scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.


 



1 bully
n.恃强欺弱者,小流氓;vt.威胁,欺侮
  • A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
  • The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。
2 specimens
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人
  • Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
  • The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 versus
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
4 acoustical
adj. 听觉的,声学的,音响学的
  • This system can set up acoustical resonances. 这种系统能产生共鸣。
  • The relevance of acoustical principles is by no means limited to sound and hearing. 声学原理并不仅仅适用于声音和听觉。
5 mechanism
n.机械装置;机构,结构
  • The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
  • The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。
6 meek
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的
  • He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
  • The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。
标签: SSS specimen
学英语单词
above-average
acetins
acute diseminated encephalomyelitis
alkaline steeping agent
antikamnia
apron lining
arenyte
Ashikaga Yoshiaki
atrioventricularia
base of pock
biofluid dynamics
black cochineal
block tie
bloominess
boom step
Buritanika Kokusai Daihyakka-jiten
bus architecture
cell fractionating
cells inclusions
chop ... down
Cispadane Republic
coke oven light oil
component nuclear precession magnetometer
consopiting
corn silk
easternizing
Exclusive Liability of Cargo Transportation Insurance
exotic bills
extructor
falling sphere method
feathers
filariacida
finite induction
gauge symmetry
get trapped
gravity-piston type corer
gwyndaf
harassment of occupier
hog-tooth spar
hopper-loading pipeline
Husillos
ice can grid
interrupt queue tail pointer
interrupted cutting
intrarole conflect
Kurosawa, Akira
local coordinates
lubrication procedure
malaricida
microfibrillar angle
microscalpel
mkk
modulation depth meter
natyashastra (india)
NetWire
nonspotted-halfbeak
NRZ-M
nut quads
offer to treat
ordinary piece rate method
organic pollutants
Oroslav
Ozias
pass into silence
patch level
preach to the choir
purely inseparable
radar set
Rapid Reaction Forces
rate of coal consumption
realism jurisprudence
replacement decisions
replicating forms(rf)
reservation demand
resin/montmorillonite nanocomposite
rhinoconjunctivitis
ricinolein
saddle tank locomotive
salimbenis
Seaca
seromucous gland
shallow pocket free settling classifier
ship abandoned
signifie
sissoos
stilboestrols
stone furuncle
stops short
strike-bound
subordinate conjunction
subsphere
Suffolker
symmetrical i/o unit
to keep tabs on
transferred revenue
trichoid sensillum
triple frontiers
ultimate cluster
us-sponsored
wantage
windshield rake
Zworykin