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
akanthion
amlas
Anemone pulsatilla L.
anisotropic meterial
arabinulose
bar tracer
be entitled
beat it up!
Beavermouth
boorowa
burnlike
Cala Millor
carotico-clinoid ligament
carriage guideways
carriage insurance and freight
CGMMV
chart guide
cheilosporum cultratum multifidum
chemical agent detection paper
clock speeds
colleville
colorimetric
communications zone indicator
compensatory times
coordinability condition
country stores
crossing-junction box
cyanoterpenes
deks-
Delmarva
diopside(diopsite)
dispersion plating
elliptic cylindrical wave function
Fiorenzuola d'Arda
flavoring agent
forage crimper
Francisco Fernandez de Cordova
Gerskov
goldiwils
Gulfinishing
gypsum mortar
harbor check
hard over stop
haute ecole
i-schad
Inimutaba
irrefusable
Israeli law
jibers
kater
king cobras
kosovo war
lapsis
legitimization
LIVN
macrosmat
meconology
Menotrophins
Mod.L.
morther
mutomycin
new network
Oancea
OLC (outgoing line circuit)
ouachitite
overhead storage tank
pilwe
plain spoken
pulsatron
rabbit-wart virus
rackt
re-embroil
read ahead
real dollar values
recoil state
relay stations
repentances
San Elpidio a Mare
scarlet hat
sequenced program
shipowner lien
short-cavity dye laser
sims
sliminesses
stamped share
stop sb.'s mouth
strike the first blow
Taeniodonta
Tamari lattice
teaching(programming)
tetragonal disphenoid
the worst way
thioredoxin
truncated 2 SLS
trusted seed production
turn-wrest plow
unrecoverable application error
v.-c.
vestibular ganglion cell
white-tail
yard speed
Zerewitinoff reagent