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。
标签: SSS 托福听力
学英语单词
a shiv
acrchinum
adenomatous chondrosarcoma
agriculturalize
amberer
ananas
animal husbundary
assault charge
atmosphere
belt conveyor structure
benthosema suborbitale
bicriteria
biomas
break sb in
Bruchhausen-Vilsen
budworth
cacation
calspectin
centralization lubrication
certificate revocation list
clamation
coalgas
cost factors
cut into sth
cymosely
deformably
Dhron
diffusion boat
diospyros
drilling headquarter
Elaeagnus taliensis
electrogravimetry
envelope demodulation circuit
extra-occultation coronagraph
Faraday's laws (of electrolysis)
finishmold
flat-blade
formyl triiodide
free-stone
frizzells
frolik
fuel zone
genu valgum
Harxheim
hexosaminidase
Hornstedtia hainanensis
hydrodynamic reverser
hydrogen acetate
i love
independent data communication system
james murrays
Johann Mendel
judicial debate
Junosuando
l line
lake leopold ii
log blue
low amplitude
macrolanguage code element
manufacturing establishment
melanomacrophages
merseytravel
methyl green
michelman
microsatellite polymorphism
Mini PCI Express
mixing line (analysis)
MMB
Moho
molten carbonate fuel cell (mcfc)
muttsy
Natural gas processing plant
October Revolution
on-line handwritten chinese character recognition
one off pattern
open payable file
paracentesis capitis
photic hypersensitiveness
point pair
RDIF
ride quality
rub a lamp
screw-on tool joint
shadow cell
Silene trachyphylla
silk weaving
simulated roadway
sites of customs inspection
solvent extraction column
sowah
stand-alone word-processing system
stationary knockout grid
statistical sum
Stewartia longibracteata
stock class
tan-yards
temper tantrum
total throw
travel(l)ing salesman problem
tunnel effect (quantum leakage)
vebe apparatus
voicemailbox