时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(五)月


英语课

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.


 


If you ever got picked on in the schoolyard, you might have wished for some sort of superpower, like unbeatable speed or maybe just the ability to completely disappear. Now scientists at the College of Wooster in Ohio say that you might have had a skill you didn’t realize: the uncanny ability to hear a bully 1 coming.


An earlier study found that women hear approaching noises sooner than their bigger, brawnier male counterparts. Perhaps, the scientists thought, the same would hold true for scrawny specimens 2 versus 3 the truly buff. So they had 50 volunteers listen to a tone that sounds like it’s moving toward them. The listeners pressed a button when it sounded like the tone arrived. The scientists then assessed each subject’s strength and cardiovascular fitness. And they found that the 98-pound weaklings banged their buttons quicker than the well-muscled, because they perceived the threatening sound as being closer than it actually was. The finding got a hearing May 21st at the meeting of the Acoustical 4 Society of America in Portland, Oregon. Such auditory overreacting, the scientists say, could be a survival mechanism 5. So that the meek 6, while waiting to inherit the earth, can avoid getting knocked onto it.


 


Thanks for the minute for scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.


 



1 bully
n.恃强欺弱者,小流氓;vt.威胁,欺侮
  • A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
  • The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。
2 specimens
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人
  • Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
  • The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 versus
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
4 acoustical
adj. 听觉的,声学的,音响学的
  • This system can set up acoustical resonances. 这种系统能产生共鸣。
  • The relevance of acoustical principles is by no means limited to sound and hearing. 声学原理并不仅仅适用于声音和听觉。
5 mechanism
n.机械装置;机构,结构
  • The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
  • The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。
6 meek
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的
  • He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
  • The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。
标签: SSS specimen
学英语单词
a tidal wave of crime
a twopenny halfpenny affair
Abel-beth-maachah
additive rate
after hours value
alnicoes
ammonium mucate
Amphibicorisae
anemia of myxedema
angle shot
antitechnologist
application valve pin
as suwar
ashen-faceds
at stake
auto-releaser
automatic spray washer
baaron
be immersed in
Bendazle
BRL-17421
Bukuishi
Bull Moose Party
cholesteatoma
civil commotion
close to tears
confirmation order
Corona Borealis Cluster
culhaven
D line
data bucket
digital scale
diphosphoinositides
dissatisfied customer
dognap
don't give me that
dorbank
drug-administration
elbow meter
entropy of the endomorphism
epencephala
flindosies
Gauss model
get off lightly
globe pliers
Gouves
Helmholtz-Lagrange theorem
hime
horizontal strip borer
Hyalellidae
hydaticus vittatus
ilesa
incapacitative
incidental inclusion
interests of the whole
international debt
kinara
metigate
molybdenum(iv) fluoride
monosized
morn
multihead automatic arc welding machine
non-educational
NZ claw type coupling
open systems interconnection architecture
ovatus crataegarius
overwinds
pachylaelaps squamosus
panel filling
Parisier-Parr-Pople method
phosphorin
pipe-to-soil potential
pododynamometer
Pooftas
prayering
Pseudaspidodera
rawa
saaddine
secondary test
secured loan
semiconductor thermoresistance
shrugged
Signal Needle Code
slipper spurge
sociology of leisure
speed-in
spruemaster
strength of joint
structural retrieval
sundel
thermoluminescent dosimetry
toughened polystyrene resin
tracheloplasty
transonic wing design
transverse carpal ligament
trim joist
unbuttonings
Viscum monoicum
voice band
Wakuya
Walpeup
yucca