时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:初学者听力文摘精选


英语课

What Makes Dogs Such Great Sniffers?是什么让狗狗拥有极好的嗅觉呢?



Watch a dog greeting the world with its nose, or following invisible trails of scent 1, and you might wonder what you’re missing. In one study, dogs were able to smell a particular test scent a thousand times better than humans! What makes dogs such stupendous sniffers?

当看到一条狗用鼻子问候,或它正追寻着无形的味道时,或许想自己是不是丢了什么东西。一项研究发现,在闻某种特殊的气味时,狗的嗅觉要比人类强上千倍。到底是什么使得狗成为惊人的嗅探器呢?



Smell Receptors

嗅觉接受器



Like humans, dogs have special smell receptor cells lining 2 their noses. But dogs have about 20 times more of these cells than we do–and the differences don’t stop there!

像人类一样,狗在鼻子旁边有着特别的嗅觉接受器细胞。但狗拥有的嗅觉细胞是我们人类的20多倍,且差别不止这些。



From the receptor cells, information about smell travels along nerves to the olfactory 3 bulbs, the parts of the brain where information about smell is processed. Relative to the size of its brain, a dog’s olfactory bulbs are much bigger than most other animals. If the animal kingdom held a sniffing 4 Olympics, dogs and rats would probably battle for the gold, leaving the rest of us in the dust.

嗅觉信息从这些接收器细胞沿着神经被运输到嗅球,大脑中关于气味的信息在此处理。与动物的大脑尺寸相关,狗的嗅球比大多数其他动物要大的多。如果动物王国举行一场嗅觉奥林匹克赛的话,狗和老鼠很可能为冠军而战,其它动物就望尘莫及了。



Tongue Transportation

舌头传输



Another advantage dogs have is that the schnoz isn’t the only tool they use for smelling. When a dog licks your hand, or something less savory 5 found in the street, its tongue transports molecules 6 from that surface into its mouth. Just above the roof of the dog’s mouth is the vomeronasal organ, which gathers information on smell from the molecules the tongue delivers. Humans have vomeronasal organs, too, but compared to dogs, ours are very rudimentary.

狗的优势不仅在于它的鼻子。当一条狗添你的手,或添地上的一些不怎么好吃的东西时,它的舌头将水分子传输到它的嘴里。在狗嘴正上方的犁鼻器可用来收集关于舌头传过来的水分子的气味。人类也有犁鼻器,但与狗相比,我们的还处于初级阶段。



Although all dogs are stupendous sniffers, dogs bred for tracking such as beagles and bloodhounds are true professionals. There are also variations in individual dogs’ talents, and the dog’s diet and the type of scent all affect how well a dog can smell.

尽管所有的狗都是极好的嗅探器,在狗跟踪方面,如米格鲁猎犬和警犬是真正的专业人士。不同的狗也有不同的才能,狗的饮食和气味的类型会影响狗的嗅觉。



1 scent
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉
  • The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
  • The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。
2 lining
n.衬里,衬料
  • The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
  • Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。
3 olfactory
adj.嗅觉的
  • He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
  • Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现,凯勒推断,每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。
4 sniffing
n.探查法v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的现在分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说
  • We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了,一个劲地抽鼻子,打喷嚏。
  • They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了,呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
5 savory
adj.风味极佳的,可口的,味香的
  • She placed a huge dish before him of savory steaming meat.她将一大盘热气腾腾、美味可口的肉放在他面前。
  • He doesn't have a very savory reputation.他的名誉不太好。
6 molecules
分子( molecule的名词复数 )
  • The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
  • Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里,大分子裂变为小分子。
学英语单词
a pair of steps
adkinson
advanced annual survey
amplitide lopper
as-cast-finish concrete
aspirating burner
assignment key
Bader
body seam
BRIMEC
Bruehl receiver
Cardamine engleriana
carving-and-engraving decoration
casillo
catapults
channel oven
computation space
conduplicate cotyledon
constant ratio code
consumption price
Down in the doldrums
drinks
dub poetry
duddered
electrical computer
electrocapillarity
engine necelle
excellent pay and condition
family Geometridae
Fermi theory of weak interaction
flying kisses
FreeTDS
friand
grain diminution
guardia civil
halflings
hemangioma of palate
hexamethoxide
hongkong ear
Hume's
hunt someone down
hydowse
integral equation
it's a crying shame
jogging relay
kohonen
layout density
liquid-fired
magnetic navigation
Mansein
mapk
meltoryzine
Merlin
minimum critical volume
mosaic agate
multiplex terminal
myologist
non ideal gas
non rattling
open cell
ordinary practice
oscillating scan
pactory
pelligrini
perciformes
Pilizocarpeae
plasma desorption mass spectrometry
polyaddition resin
polymorphic sun light eruption
porous flow
previous generation
purolysis of refuse
Raczki
radiation fields
recitest
redbird flower
relieve themselves
remote digital loopback test
revenue service day
role - playing game
singlestranded DNA binding protein
Sprague's
squared error loss function
stationary grate bar
structure discrimination
Tamalelt
teamies
terminate contract before the date of expiration
Terminosporus
test tone peak deviation
testing pressure
theorem of parallel axes
Tingwon I.
Tiniroto
total treatment
under an alias
underflow locus
undisparaging
universal-joint bushing and ring spider
vena mediastinales
vibrator unit
Yakshur-Bod'ya