时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:2015年Scientific American(六)月


英语课

A common response to seeing an ant in your house is to stamp on it. But if you crush a member of the ant species? , you might catch a hwiff of strange  smell, a smell that reminds some people of blue cheese, rancid butter or rotten coconut 1. In fact the smell is so noticable that the insect's common name is the odorous house ant, and many people call it the coconut ant. In an effort to figure out why people have these reations, researchers enlisted 2 visitors at an event called the North Carolina Bug 3 Fast. One hundred and forty-three volunteers smelled smashed ants and were asked to identify the scent 4 from four choices, blue cheese, rancid butter, rotten coconut or just other. All the websites overwhelmingly call the smell rotten coconut. Almost forty percent of the human judges picked  blue cheese and about twenty-five percent picked rotten  coconut, more than thirty percent went with  the choice of other. The scentists then analysed the chemicals responsible for the ant odor as well as the smelly chemicals in blue cheese, fresh coconut and coconut buried underground for three days. It turns out the chemistry of the ant scent is indeed similar to that of the blue cheese and rotten coconut, but not to fresh coconut. And researchers note that  the  penicillin microbes that turn coconut oil rancid are also involved in the production of blue cheese. The study is in the journal America Entomologist. The researchers also noted 5 that the most common right candidate as a prescription 6 for the ants' aroma 7 was cleaning spray, and one little girl told them that the ants, " smelled exactly like her doctor."



1 coconut
n.椰子
  • The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。
  • The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。
2 enlisted
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持)
  • enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
  • He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
3 bug
n.虫子;故障;窃听器;vt.纠缠;装窃听器
  • There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
  • The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。
4 scent
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉
  • The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
  • The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。
5 noted
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
6 prescription
n.处方,开药;指示,规定
  • The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
  • The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。
7 aroma
n.香气,芬芳,芳香
  • The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
  • The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。
学英语单词
abadi
abnormalizing
Adabaī Mahamoud
Adonias
aided laying
Air Pressure Relief Valve
allantoises
aneitensis
annul-
arachnopia
ball viscosimeter
basic assember program
behavioral relationship
belly-achings
bristlecone
cakepans
canvass for contribution
Capromycinum
caroticotympanic nerves
central angles
Cheggers
cocosoid
connecting screw rod
convertible currencies
cubiclizes
Cuenca
deficit reactivity
Diamond Jim Brady
dicapryloyl peroxide
distributed delay model
driven rod
Einhorn's disease
enzymoprivic
Eoligonodina
Erigeron L.
feed on animal's blood
fresh in someone's mind
fruit diameter index
galdosian
Gamtoos R.
greatest common factor
Hirst's phenomenon
homo soloenses
hook stud
hydrocephalies
increment mode display
inculpably
isolated operation
jamuna
jup
Kabara, L.
Korsakov's psychosis
L. C. L. bodizs
Lake of the Woods
laser pressure gauge
leze-majesty
liquid composite molding (lcm)
lithodes formosae
madrepore marble
magnetic bearing
make our point
manufacture out of whole cloth
megamera
mulcher stubble
net explosive weight
non-b
nondessert
northwest corner rule
onion-domed
ornitholeucism
Paloxin
Pearson's coefficient of meansquare contingency
phase-iii
pig-metal
pigginstring
preaching to the choir
PSAD
pyrola americanas
radial force
refrigerator cryopump
revolves around
saccharogalactorrhea
sadsack
sapo glycerinatus
sarc-
sheddest
shovel-crowding engine
shovelnose-ray
single-cycle forced-circulation boiling water
slot part
snow-jobbed
spankiest
Strongylus apri
super orthogonal code
tertiates
thass
thermobank defrost
tracies
trise
video-fax
wet shoots
Yangdi