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
-finned
abc automatic coding system
absorbingsubstance
abstrusive
acute diphtheritic conjunctivitis
American longhairs
arbitrary line
bomb sites
broids
cat's gold
cavesa
chordectomy
communications configuration
corposemicollinite
creager
Cutch, State of
cyclotic
decoding by covering polynomials
dentine-globule
deoxygenated water
device oriented data structure
electro-osmosis method
Elityran
erythrocytin
extension services
feed-water ring
feedback stabilisation
ferromanganese nodule
first-legs
FTP - file transfer protocol
fueling filling column
gafrarium dispar
Galeola
green rooms
grounded pole
guidonian hand
homogeneous parts of a polynomial
House of Tudor
hurtlings
inherited audience
Institute clauses for Builder's Risks
job centres
Joint Typhoon Warning Center
Jonava
light-actuated SCR (semiconductor controlled rectifier)
Lowi's sign
magnetization critical current density
mathematical structure
metameter
miami-blue
molosse
morning-afters
moving roller path
mulberry mark
multi-purpose cutter
my way or highway
Neolitsea aurata var. undulatula
newfangly
newspaper articles
non saturated region
nonmusician
North Platte
noun-group description
nuclear tone
OCR (optical character recognition)
on the lines of
organometallic chemistry
paracril
peacefulest
perfluorobutane
pinales
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
potassium gallium sulfate
potency test
pratik
Providence County
provision term
pseudopupillae
rapid-scan monochromator
recloned
rheumatic pains
romantic orientation
Russell-Silver syndrome
saga
scaler unit
second market
self-adapting
single ended open-jawed spanner
single point moorings
Society of Automotive Engineers
stiddy
strike-breaker
tactile image
take a bite from
tapotements
up and-down movement
variance component
Viola fargesii
viscograph
vitreous degeneration
Ylistaro
zaftig