时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(九)月


英语课

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute?


Baseball players sometimes cheat! One popular method has been to cork 1 the bat. You drill out some of the core of the bat, and replace the heavy wood with light cork. You can then swing the lighter 2 bat faster, and thus hit the ball further.


Of course, most ballplayers aren't physicists 3, so they don't realize that by making the bat lighter, they're reducing the collision efficiency. You swing faster, but get a limper contact. In theory, anyway.


So physicists led by the University of Illinois’s Alan Nathan tested corked 4 bats under controlled conditions. The doctored lumber 5 actually usually causes the ball to go less far, they found. The work appears in the online forum 6 the Physics arXiv. So for a power hitter to cork his bat is a bad idea.


But the researchers note that, ironically, a corked bat might result in more homers from non-homer hitters. Who can watch a pitch slightly longer before swinging, make up for the lost time with a faster swing and achieve more solid contact more often. So a corked bat is a bad idea for Sammy Sosa, who got caught using one. But a good idea for, say, Bucky Dent 7.


Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky.

 



1 cork
n.软木,软木塞
  • We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
  • Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。
2 lighter
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。
3 physicists
物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )
  • For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说,这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
  • Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。
4 corked
adj.带木塞气味的,塞着瓶塞的v.用瓶塞塞住( cork的过去式 )
  • Our army completely surrounded and corked up the enemy stronghold. 我军把敌人的堡垒完全包围并封锁起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He kept his emotions corked up inside him. 他把感情深藏于内心。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 lumber
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
6 forum
n.论坛,讨论会
  • They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
  • The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。
7 dent
n.凹痕,凹坑;初步进展
  • I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事,但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
  • That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大,用不着把它锤平。
学英语单词
aggraded valley
all-weather aircraft
Altendiez
Andreasen pipet apparatus
assheaded
attestation services
bar platform
bauernmarkt
bikky
box-style
bupleurol
C. t. T.
call sb to task
campanellae
capnographic
circuit changer
Clonmacnoise
cobalt hydroxide
Coipasa, L.de
colorado plateaus
colour distortion
conducted by
controlee
debelling
decarchy
diversionary landings
Dodsonville
eat sauce
eckhoff
electric shaft
elution constant
entry program
ethnology
external solution
extinction photometer
extrinsic motivation
feeding value
fibrous tunic of eyeball
fifty dollar bills
firewheel tree
galvanized nipple
gas-tight piston ring
glossist
gnawing animals
godina
green alder
heavy blur
high tension panel
hue expander
internal packaging
issuer register
Ixodes crenulatus
Kal'mius
Kayadibi
lime yard
linear carriage head-positioning actuator
long u
Macrorhamphosidae
Mae-chon
magneto strictive microphone
melatopoes
metaler
motor fiber
movable tool spindle
oceanic cartography
odontic
oil-fired power plant
ordinary water
orthotast
pirene
Plutus
popeness
present system
promulgation
propionitriles
QARs
reaction propeller
refrigerator compressor lubricant
rehidden
religion
Risley's rotary prism
schnozz
spirit of give and take
spoolers
Stahl No.1 ear
subcontinental lithosphere
subtractive-type interlacing
surface particle
taxable gain
team research
There's always a next time.
Tok Pisin
Tucuparé
tupistra viridiflora franch.
variable mike
velocity servo-integration gear
walgraves
wanakas
welding symbols
wilbur wrights
yadda
zahers