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
ACL - access control list
affect adjective checklist
Arthroascus
auxiliary plane of symmetry
blackwater r.
bring ... forward
butterfly-nut
Caprivi Reg.
carboned
cell type tube
collapsible containers
contra vat
Cyperus michelianus
cypraea eglantina
deflection machanism
defruiter equipment
detecting power
determinands
dog's letter
draw shot
earthed aerial
ectosarcs
eisen
electives
encl.
enter into commitment
essential bargaining problem
fargas
fifteenthly
fore distance indicator
formicans stupor
freely falling body
Fubini's theorem
Giglio Island
grocery bags
guideboat
Gómez Rendón
have dealing with
hitch wheel
hongkelin
hyperexcitement
ill health
imitative synkinesia
impact matrix
internal machine representation
karageorge
kolmogorov turbulence
labour-intensive
laccose
Madsenia
manual hoisting
microamp
mile-high club
Mono S cation exchanger
mumak
Muslimophile
niccin'
Nodapton
non loaded cable
noninsured
oil-firing boiler
palmar metacarpal artery (or large metacarpal artery)
parted pattern
pastureland water conservancy
pelletizing effect
polluting oil
prize ring
pteridium esculentums
rate of bearing variation
reappareled
rear-unloading vehicle
reciprocal spectrum
regiones plantares digitorum pedis
reset attachment
Rhipidistians
rock maple
Rubus hypargyrus
salve a sore
sea canal
sherwood andersons
slot(ting)
snorkel exhaust valve
sopental
sovereign status
squamous carcinoma of larynx
steepest descent method
stress-strain-history relation
surface-consistent static correction
teal oil
termination of procedure
theory-practice
three misthread defense
to bargain
total outflow
tromp and stomp
undog
up-bow
upper space law
usain
utilization time
xystos
zinc hydrosulfite (zinc dithionite)