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 Karen Hopkin. This will take just a minute.


What’s in a neck? Well, it’s a good place to hang a pendant or a tie. Or to rest your head. Now scientists say that by separating our heads from our bodies, the neck gave our brains a leg up in evolution. Their findings appear in the online journal Nature Communications.


Not all animals have necks. A fish's head is pretty much continuous with its body. And a fish gets around just fine. Nerves based in the fish’s brain instruct its fins 1 to move, and off it goes.


But something happened when our aquatic 2 ancestors first slithered onto the land. The source of the nerve cells that power the animals’ forelimbs shifted, from the brain down to the spinal 3 cord. That move allowed the body to grow more distant from the head, taking the arms with it. And so the neck was born.


That neck, say the scientists, was more than just a way to keep the head off the shoulders. The anatomical relocation improved dexterity 4 by leaving the arms free to move in new ways. And the resulting flexibility 5 helped shape the evolution of our heads and our hands, and how we can use them together to do all sorts of nifty things—like tie a perfect Windsor knot.


Thanks for the minute for Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin



1 fins
[医]散热片;鱼鳍;飞边;鸭掌
  • The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关,与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
  • Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句
2 aquatic
adj.水生的,水栖的
  • Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
  • We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。
3 spinal
adj.针的,尖刺的,尖刺状突起的;adj.脊骨的,脊髓的
  • After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天,就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
  • Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。
4 dexterity
n.(手的)灵巧,灵活
  • You need manual dexterity to be good at video games.玩好电子游戏手要灵巧。
  • I'm your inferior in manual dexterity.论手巧,我不如你。
5 flexibility
n.柔韧性,弹性,(光的)折射性,灵活性
  • Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
  • The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。
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学英语单词
additive primary colours
adiposis tuberosa simplex
Adobe Creative Suite
aleavement
amanitotoxin
An idle youth, a needy age.
anode-circuit detector
anvil faces
apodization
arc air gouging
archibenthic zone
armature copper loss
assistantships
atherton plat.
back-siphonage
be in the enjoyment of
Bidex
blood line
blue asbestus
Bunsen funnel
chitter
cinefaction
cold property
congenital atresia of ejaculatory duct
constant force method
Copanello
corrosion resistant plate
data smog
derivedly
disapprove
dress shield
Electrodiathermy
eyl
flotes
franj
great Solomon's-seal
haemorrhagic fever
hardware-software integrated design technique
Helipterum manglesii
heribert
hesperium
hoplostethus mediterraneus
i-boden
inner chiasma
intrapearlitic
ivory membranes
Kopanskaya
legislatour
lifebuoy flare
Lozovik
manhater
monochromatic filter
naval electronic warfare simulator
nonagriculturals
nonhydrazine
numerically-controlled bender
Olargues
on-line information service
opsonophagocytotic
oscillatoxanthin
outer regulator corrector
overall stroke volume
Palalankwe
parahawking
Pelobiontida
photoengrave
pokerfaced
prance
pressure-hull structure
primitive process
pro-slavery
processing mode
put the blame on
quadrature oscillator
quercetin
rami pectorales
registrarships
retag
Rhodiola megalophylla
rough material
Rulhieres, C.
screw-looser
semiarch
sex pheromone of Dendrolimus punctatus
shittin' me
show dog
slobodnik
speak without the book
stirer
strategic budget
strut-arm section angle
supervisor call program
synthetic food color
tectogenetic cycle
tenter mark
unavailing
universal bundle
verthandis
viguerie
whitesville
wire tip
yn