时间:2019-02-16 作者:英语课 分类:英语听力文摘 English Digest


英语课

  Most people who hold babies know that the moment babies go to sleep, they seem to gain weight. Of course, a baby’s weight doesn’t really change when they fall asleep, so why does the limp, floppy 1 weight of a sleeping baby seem greater than it actually is?

A sleeping baby in your arms feels heavier because you must constantly adjust your own movements to compensate 2 for their floppiness 3. Your muscles work harder to carry a child who’s asleep, and your brain perceives this increase in work as an increase in the child’s weight, though, of course, the weight of the baby stays the same.

To picture this, think about carrying a twenty-pound bag of water. You would continually have to rearrange how you were holding that bag to make up for how the weight shifted due to the water sloshing around.

In a similar way, you must continually adjust how you are holding or carrying a sleeping baby because they aren’t able to control their own muscles to maintain a steady posture 4. Their inability to control their posture and movements makes them floppy, just like that bag of water.

Now, freeze your twenty-pound bag of water. Though it would be cold and slippery, it would feel lighter 5 because it is a solid weight that doesn’t require you to constantly make minute adjustments in order to carry it. This is how you perceive the weight of a conscious person.

Babies aren’t the only ones who seem heavier when they go limp. Dogs and cats also seem to gain weight when they go to sleep. And political protesters take advantage of this phenomenon by completely relaxing their muscles when police try to drag them away from a protest.

limp:无精神的

floppy:松软的

slippery:滑的



adj.松软的,衰弱的
  • She was wearing a big floppy hat.她戴了顶松软的大帽子。
  • Can you copy those files onto this floppy disk?你能把那些文件复制到这张软盘上吗?
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消
  • She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
  • Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。
n.姿势,姿态,心态,态度;v.作出某种姿势
  • The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
  • He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣,摆出一副打架的架势。
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。
学英语单词
-oside
a stunt double
acoustic gramophone
ammonioleucite
anagyrine hydrobromide
anticalcineurin
Asgardians
BCB
bringin
closed image
constant-luminance system
contamination material
controlled thermal severity test
conveyer canvas
corneled
costantini
counion
direct relationship
dispersion orbit
double-flat
dumb piano
entomologized
eupholite
fascia of Camper
feeding pitch
firstest
float-level height
Frederick Loewe
goneoclin
grain-stirring device
grammaticizable
grid-tied
heart-searchings
hostile international law
HP evaporator
hydrocarbon-utilizing microorganism
hypersphyxia
incipient crack
instruction control unit
ipsative score
isoelastic temperature
jet of water
kick against sth
lamoha longirostris
Lemaireocereus
Levi Strauss & Co.
liquid adhesive
Lées-Athas
macadamed
medbots
metaptosis
mg/kg
modified stem
no-flow position
nominal justification rate
nomura securities
non-user
nonrestoring division algorithm
nuculana husamaru
o-dark-thirty
order siphonapteras
OVH
oxalate water solution
paleogeographic map
pelagic gear
permanent storage area
phenyl-isorhodanide
piddled
poddish
pot boil
potentiometric cell
raheja
Rajiformes
rapid fire pistol
regular longwall along strike
RO-03-8799
rotary knob
sachait (sakhaite)
Samora
scope vertical input
silylanize
sleeving
small audit
solid state reference electrode
square mean
steam-turbine for power plant
SUNAMCO Commission
temperature meter
the fabric of society
the spiritual self
theraflu
thick sauce
thyristor controlled inductor (tci)
TILF
tonemeter
traffic information radar
transport channel
Tuck.
twilight flash
Ulul Atoll
Windows Internet Naming Service
Yefremovka