SSS 2011-07-19
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(七)月
英语课
This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.
Medieval armor certainly looks heavy. And now researchers have demonstrated how the protection might have unwittingly put its wearers at a heavy disadvantage on the battlefield.
An armored combatant in the 1400s had between about 60 to 110 pounds of steel on his head and body. The scientists wanted to know how that weight affected 1 performance. They recruited battle experts from the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, in the U.K., who got into replicas 2 of four types of European armor.
The weighted warriors 3 then walked and ran on a treadmill 4 while the research team measured their oxygen intake 5. Wearing the armor turned out to be a much greater burden than carrying the same weight in a backpack. Because the distribution of weight in the armor requires the wearer to use more energy to swing his arms or move his legs. The scientists published the research in the journal Proceedings 6 of the Royal Society B.
Armor wearers also wound up taking short, shallow breaths rather than the deep breaths associated with regular exertion 7. The researchers say that the tight, metal shell may have made the soldiers feel safer. But being weighted down probably made it a long day for a knight 8.
Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber.
1 affected
adj.不自然的，假装的
- She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
- His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
2 replicas
n.复制品( replica的名词复数 )
- His hobby is building replicas of cars. 他的爱好是制作汽车的复制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The replicas are made by using a thin film of fusible alloy on a stiffening platen. 复制是用附着在加强托板上的可熔合金薄膜实现的。 来自辞典例句
3 warriors
武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )
- I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
- The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。
4 treadmill
n.踏车；单调的工作
- The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
- Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。
5 intake
n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口
- Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
- There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。
6 proceedings
n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报
- He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
- to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼