Scientific American 60 Second Science听抄（有音频文件）

abstinentUID：137004

If you woke up this morning and the news paper headlines screamed “the mediore（meteor） headed for earth,” You （You'd）think “that’s not good”, and you’d probably be right. But sometimes a little cosmic bombardment can be just  what the doctor ordered. In a study published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers in Sweden say that 470 million years ago, mediore （meteor）shower might have boosted our biodiversity. The scientists were studying rocks from China and Sgand and Navia.（Scandinavia） And they were looking for two things, first they were counting the number of different clam-like species  they could find; second they were searching for chemicals that were carried here by  mediore rites（meteorites） --- achestraquomie （extrterrestrial chromite）, stuff like that. They found that the huge burst of  diversification coincides exactly with the time when mediores amilwild （a mile wide）were raining down on the planet.  But wait, didn’t they ask why the （an asteroid）wipe out of the dinosaurs?  Well yes, but without all those early impact promoting diversity, maybe there wouldn’t have been a dinosaur in the first place.  And if mediores have （hadn't）slammed the dinosaurs, mammals like gossmile（us might） never have made the scene.  So when it comes a space rock, one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor（flora）, and fall off （fauna）

meteor （发音）
meteorite --- 陨星
Scandinavia --- 斯堪的纳维亚
extraterretrial
chromite --- 铬铁矿,亚铬酸盐

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-21 01:03 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

12-20
The most practiced performers make little mistakes even after repeating something a thousand of （X）times. You could write off these solo （subtle）variation as just system noise, proved （proof）that muscles are （aren't）just machines. But California research team has a different idea. They proposed that such mistakes could be part of a try on air （trial and error）procedure that continue in（continually） improved performance. Their finding appear in the December 20th issue of the Journal Nature. The scientists were studying a bird’s song. Bangoly’s finches, like many birds, use jaunty ditty like this one to attract to mate. Each song is practiced untile it’s almost exactly the same every time. But the birds can still change their tune. Working with（X） one bird at a time, the researchers played some loud wide （white）noise every time when the bird sang a particular note. If the bird had been singing （happened to sing）that note lower, the scientists kept that noise coming; but if the bird sang that note higher, the noise would stop. Over time, the birds learned that higher is better, and they’d lock in the new pitch. If only the females who （would）take a liking into this melodious mistake, Bangoly’s finches might soon be singing a whole new song.

subtle（发音，b 的音是没有的）
write off ---  to lower the price or value of 贬低，depreciate
aren't （发音） ---- aren't 比 are 音重
continually （拼写）
white noise
a thousand times
trial and error procedure



[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-21 01:57 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

As we look back at 2007, it’s the time to judge the best books, the best movies and the best scientific discoveries. The procedures （prestigious）journal science came up with its breakthrough of the year in the December 21st edition. The ran-rurup （runner-up）was the discovery that skin cells can be manipulated to behave like embroymatic （embryonic）stem cells. The number one pick(？) --- human genetic variation. Scientists have been learning increasing amounts about how genes influence trades （traits）and diseases. At the same time, we hear about how little difference there is between us and our not-so-distant cousins --- chipsin （chimps and）gorillas. But these years researchers sequenced the genums （genomes）of thousands of individual people. They looked at variations in short stretches of DNA called Single Nuclear itied （nucleotide）poly-morphisms, or SNIPS（SNPs）. We each have millions of SNIPS rDNA（in our DNA）. Scientists discovered how much we vary from one another on a specic level, crucial info for understanding everything from who gets diabetes to who’s at risk for breast cancer, to maybe even why I can stand a  xx（can't stand cilantro）. For more information and breakthroughs of the year, go to sciencemag.org

runner-up --- 第二名
the number one pick --- （估计是第一名了）
embryonic
chimp --- 非洲黑猩猩
genome
nucleotide --- 核苷
polymorphism --- 多变性
(生物)单核苷酸多态性(Single nucleotide polymorphism)
cilantro --- parsley-like herb used as seasoning or garnish

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-25 08:52 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

This holiday season, many of us will take to the roads, which means many of us are also about to face rather unpleasant traffic jams. The most frustrating one seemed to occur for no reason at all. You’re stuck positive something catastraphic must have happened up ahead. Then for no apparent reason, the traffic clears. Now mathematicians from England’s university of Exiter believed they’ve solved the mystery. They modeled the effect of various highway events such as a truck slowly pulling out from a merge lane. If the truck’s approach causes the car behind to quickly drop below a certain speed, then the next driver back also hits his/her brakes. This continues in a braking chain that the authors call a backward travelling wave. It could stretch back miles. So it is not necessarily the volume of traffic but rather a sudden interuption in the flow that causes delays. The authors advise drivers to pay attention, and when necessary, brake gently and slowly. If you suddenly overreact and hit the brakes, you could be causing someone to grimace in frustration in a car many miles away.

这篇还不错，除了拼写错了1个；^_^
catastrophe, catastrophic

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-25 09:27 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

又是听着想吐血的一篇；看来以后要多练psych

Every year parents painstakingly crop （craft）new year gifts that are equal in quality and quantity for each child. And still every year they’re shocked when they’re forced to listen to hours of debate over “who got the better gift?”. According to the classic 1970s’ theory of parent-offspring conflict, children know that there was limited brasmile xxx （breast milk）and heritance （inheritance,其实意思一样）at the grade（grave）. So each child is programmed to warant （want）the line is shared（lion's share）. Parents on the other hand, strive to lavish attention equally among offspring in order to maxmize  survival of all genes. But new research from the university of Manchester found that parents distinctively （instinctively）favor the oldest sybling. At least, in …（Nicrophorus burying） beetle who shares the byprint（biparental） quality with us humans. Researchers found that the oldest offspring received the most girgitated （regurgitated）animal flesh from their parents. Researchers say that parents value the older growups （grubs）because they’ve established a better chance of survival, or the older syblings are simply stronger, and so xxx  （grab parental）attention. Eitherway, the researchers say, proof （it proves）that the familiar （familial）conflict is still alive and well. Did we really need any reminding?

Useful expressions
========
craft new year present
breast milk
parent-offspring conflict
heritance = inheritance at the grave 在墓地的遗产
lion's share 最大的一份
lavish 浪费的；慷慨给予
parental/biparental/multiparental
regurgitate -- 涌回；pour/rush back
                        feed through the beak（鸟嘴） by regurgitating previously swallowed food
grub --- [动]蛆
grab one's attention
familial 家族的；
either way = anyway


[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-26 13:49 编辑 ]

wgaggassi34UID：2279352

加油！:handshake

abstinentUID：137004

先谢谢楼上的；
You might not realize （it）but you were born with more brain cells than you know what to do with, or at least more brain cell connections. As you grow older through childhood to  （and）adlescence, you get rid of that connections that are（aren't）being used to store information in order to tell you which tie goes with that jacket. For years, researchers have known about this cellular pruning, but they didn’t know how it worked. Now scientists from the Standford university’s School of Medicine report that it’s the immune system that carries out this critical brain amidments（maintenance）. In fact, the same protein that helps get rid of uninvited bacteria also eliminates ununsed neuro connections. The findings appeared in the December 14th issue of the journal Cell. This routine celular amidment （maintenance）is important for normal brain development. Mice that’re missing this pruning protein wind up in disorganized abnormal radness（retinas）. And mice that’re prone to get glowghoma（glaucoma） make too much of the protein, particularly later in life. So connections in their radness （retinas）are destroyed when they shouldn’t be. Reining in this over cellers （overzealous ）pruning process could provide treatment for glowghoma or for other diseases where neuro connections are lost. But it probably won’t help you decide whether to go with the solid tie or the stripes.

maintenance（发音？好奇怪）
retinas 视网膜
glaucoma 青光眼
overzealous 过分热心的
cellular 细胞的

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-29 13:15 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

American Consumer Groups have expressed concern about the way pharmaceutical companies lavish gifts and speaking fees upon doctors. They say this may influence what drugs doctors may prescribe. But according to recent report that is published by the organization Consumers International, the situation in the developing world is even more extravagant. The study notes that the gifts from drug companies include schools fees, cars, even downpayments on homes. Consumers International says they document  that 50% of the drugs in the developing world are what they called irrationally prescribed. This means the drugs are unnecessary where they prescribed （in）doses that are too large or expensive drugs are prescribed in place of jenaricks (generics). And money spent on unnecessary medicine in poor countries has a much greater impact on overall health than say here in the US. The group worries these over-the-top gifts are at least partly the plane （to blame）. Plus they say this type of behavior violates written ethical policies of drug companies. Though （Those）same companies decline to be involved with the report when it was under development, now it’s been published the South Police and （self-policing） Regulartory （regulatory）Body of the Pharmaceutical Industry says it intends to deal with the issues.

generic --- 一般的东西
expensive drugs in place of generics
prescribe in dose that ...
be to blame
self-policing regulatory body

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-29 14:24 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

Even top Olympic swimmers can’t last too long under water, our brains need constant oxygen. So why can certain mamals dive under water for after （up to）90 minutes without blacking out? The original hypothesis was that they developed physical characteristic such as hyercarpolaria （higher capillary）density to deliver more oxygen to the brain. But this idea didn’t play out. So researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz turn their attention to the proteins discovered a few years ago. They are called neuro-globons （globin）and cyto-globons. They’re found in the brain and deliver oxygen to brain tissue much as himo-globon（hemoglobin） carries oxygen in the blood. In an article published online, in the Proceedings of Royal Society, researchers evaluated the quantity of the special oxygen-carrying proteins across 16 mamals species. The swimmers have significant higher levels, up to ten times as much as those who live on land. Researchers don’t know if certain annimals are born with higer brain globons or whether they develop over time. And they also wonder whether these proteins hold clues to brains health and aging. Whales are known to live as long as two centuries, perhaps these proteins play a part

总的说来这篇还比较好懂！ yeah!

for_up to （发音。。晕…… for after）
capillary  --- 毛细血管
globin --- 球蛋白
hemoglobin --- 血红蛋白
neuroglobin ---
cytoglobin --- 细胞球蛋白
black out --- 眼前一抹黑！
play out

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2007-12-30 00:09 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

大家新年快乐！
美梦成真！


================
12-31
Eating turkey makes you sleepy.
We only used 10% of our brains.
Hair and finger nails continue to grow after we die.
These are just three of medical mits （myths）busted in the December 22nd issue of the British medical journal. First turkey: tripped-fan（Tryptophan） and mino （an amino）acid which does increase sleepiness is usually blamed for post prandio （postprandial ）thanksgiving naps. It is found in turkey but in no greater amount than in other animal proteins. In fact, pork and cheese contain more. Our sleepiness on thanksgiving is probably caused by eating a huge meal and drinking a plenty of wine. As for our brains, that 10% belief originated more than a century ago. Advances in neuroscience and imaging show that we used far more than 10% of our grey matter. And the hair and nails? An optical illusion say the scientists. Our skin may recede after death, and so expose more of our nails and hair. The journal artical highlights these and other medical beliefs that even many physicians still accept. So even doctors need to accasionally update their knowledge of fact or susfiction.（versus fiction）

myths (发音，[mits])
tryptophan --- n. [生化]色氨酸
amino --- a. 氨基的
animo acid --- 氨基酸
postprandial --- 餐后的；
prandial --- 用膳的；正餐的；
fact versus fiction. （versus 经常用啊，就是老听不出来）

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2008-1-1 00:26 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

新年第一贴
Happy new year and don’t feel bad about taking today off, after all you’ve travaled far. And I’m not talking about the trip home from the party last night. According to an essay（NASA）, just by being on the planet Earth in the last year, you’ve zipped about 584 million miles around the Sun to get back where you were at an average speed of about 67,000 miles per hour. Again, not talking about the drive home last night. Of course the trip was not a perfect circle. As the Kepler showed, the Earth’s orbit is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two focal points. He also figured out that the planet goes faster when it’s at the perihelion near the Sun then （than）when it’s at aphelion --- it’s furthest distance, which would explain why summer seems to zip by except the seasons are （a）function of the tilt of the Earth excess （axis）, not its different distances from the Sun. And the Earth rotated 365 and a quater times during its sweep around the Sun. The tirp took 8,766 hours, or 31,557,600 seconds, or 525, 960 minutes just like this one.

NASA ---                                                                                                 National Aeronautics and Space Administration 美国国家航空和航天管理局
the seasons are a function of the tilt of the earth axis
focal point --- 焦点；
focal --- 焦点的；
take today off
Kepler
perihelion --- 近日点；
perigee --- 近地点；
aphelion --- 远日点；
apogee --- 远地点；
zip by

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2008-1-1 16:47 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

原文由几处错误！

If you don't subscribe to the Dutch Journal Entomology andExperimentalist at Oplecoda, you might have missed the news aboutfleas. The best way to get rid of a houseful of cat fleas is to reachfor the vacuum cleaner. The old uprigher （upright）isnot only lethal to adult bugs but it completely wipes out their young.Scientists from Ohio State University had set out to determine whatadditional measures might be needed to kill a bunch of hoovered-upfleas. Burning, freezing, poisoning, maybe even a good old fashion（fashioned） boots-dumping（stomping）.But it turns out that getting sucked into a vacuum bag does the wholejob. The researchers were so surprised by the results that theyrepeated the study several times. In each experiment, they sprinkledthe kitchen carpet with a hundred cat fleas, either adults orjuveniles. And they found the vacuum snoffed（snuffed） outpretty much all of them. What makes vacuuming so deadly is hard to say.The researchers admitted they didn't conduct postmortem among any ofthese deceast（deceased）. But they think it was the physical trauma of being sucked through the brushes that gave fleas a one way ticket to the kyton yard（chitin-yard）. Now if only scientists could come up with a safer way to vacuum the cat.

========
entomology --- 昆虫学
experimentalist --- 实践主义者
flea --- 跳蚤
vacuum （注意拼写，两个U）
upright --- （名词）直立的东西
lethal （注意发音，是[li:th..], 不是  [leth..]）
hoover --- 胡佛吸尘器；吸尘
hoovered-up
stomp --- 重踩，重蹋；
boot-stompting
get sucked into ...
sprinkle --- 洒；
snuff --- 1. sniff or smell inquiringly
            2. inhale audibly through the nose
postmortem --- 死后的；已故的；
decease --- 死亡
deceased --- 死亡的；
the deceased
chitin-yard --- （查无此词）

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2008-1-2 16:47 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

"The scientific community needs to be involved in promoting science education including evolution", so says the January issue of FASEB journal. FASEB is the Federation of American Societies for Experimental  Biology. 16 other organizations also signed onto the recommendation, including the National Academy of Science and the American Instituted （Institute of）Physics.  The article notes that the introduction of non-science such as creationism and intelligence design undermines fundamentals of science education such as using the scientific method,  understanding how to enrich （reach）scientific consensus, and telling scientific explanations for natural phenomena apart from non-science ones. The article included a survey of 1,000 likely USA voters. Those able to answer simple questions about "play tactonics"（tectonics）, proper antibioticues（antibiotic use）, and prehistory, were far more likely to support evolution education. Said journal editor Joe Wiseman the bottom line is that the world is round, humans evolved from an extinct species, and elva（elvis） is dead. This survey will wake up （is a wake-up）call for anyone who supports teaching information based on evidence rather than speculation or hope.

tectonic ---  1. the science of architecture  筑造学
                    2. the branch of geology studying the folding and faulting of the earth's crust 构造地质学
elvis --- Elvis Presley 猫王 （孤陋寡闻啊，猫王都不知道啊）
a wake-up call for
reach consensus

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2008-1-3 14:24 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

Elvis Presley is one of the world's most famous singers, an icon of music and pop culture. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1935, Elvis moved to Memphis with his family when he was 13. He was know locally for his singing talent and called himself "The Hillbilly Cat". In 1955, he signed to the recording label RCA.

This was the era of rock and roll, and Elvis Presley was a huge figure in this type of music. He was nicknamed "Elvis the Pelvis" due to his famous gyrations. When he appeared on television shows of the time, the cameras were not allowed to film Presley below the waist. He was managed by Colonel Tom Parker throughout his life. Parker also strictly controlled Presley's film career.

Elvis Presley starred in 33 films, the first of which was called Love Me Tender. Most of these films included Presley's singing, although he also tried some serious acting roles. Colonel Parker would not allow Presley to star in any films in which he did not have star billing. Critics panned most of the films, but the public, especially teenage girls, loved them. Box office earnings of his films reached 150 million US dollars (USD).

To date, Elvis Presley has sold over 1 billion albums worldwide. That is more than any other musical artist or group in the world. Presley has also had 18 #1 records on the Billboard chart. His first was Heartbreak Hotel in 1956, and his last was Suspicious Minds in 1969. He is only one of the very few artists who have been inducted into both the Country Hall of Fame and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The personal life of Elvis Presley did not detract from the adoration of his fans. He suffered from overeating and was said to be addicted to prescription drugs. He had two full face-lifts and rhinoplasty during the mid-1970s. His autopsy detected 10 different types of drugs in his blood and his weight was 260 lbs (118 kg). Presley died in 1977 with about 5 million USD in his bank account.

Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion in 1957 for 102,000 USD. It has 23 rooms and is surrounded by 13 acres. Graceland is now the second most visited house in America, beaten only by the White House.

Elvis Presley was known for his generosity. Friends, family and even total strangers often received presents from him. A favorite gift from Presley was one of his many Cadillacs. He once gave a poor woman a wheelchair, and when the woman's daughter admired Presley's car, he gave the car to the daughter.

Presley once said, "I want to entertain people. That's my whole life. To my last breath." In 1974, 89,000 people attended his concert for two days running. Elvis Presley is one of the world's most loved and admired singers. This was true before and even more so after his death.

[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2008-1-3 14:35 编辑 ]

abstinentUID：137004

In the 1980s psychologists and philosophy（philosopher）, James Flin noticed one of the most striking trends of the 20th century, that the IQ scores have increased by about 3 points per decade across the globe for as long as we have ^had recorded tests. In his recent book "What is intelligence", Flan continues to refind（refine） reasons for this increase and in doing so to debug（debunk） the idea that IQ measures genetically controlled quality, and that any racial differences are deterministic. Flan notes the very fact that there are significant generational gains in IQ, means that scores cannot be ruled by genetics. Flin found that the highest gains are actually not on sub-tests that measure vocabulary and arithmetic but  rather on tests with questions like "How are dogs and rabbits similar?". The kind of question that can lead to （illicit）different answers depending on one's life experience and culture. Flin says that are modern life are more cognitively demanding, and so we've acquired something he calls 'scientific spectacles'. Today we are more likely to answer using abstract categories like "Dogs and rabbits are mammals" rather than the more concrete like "Dogs and rabbits are pets.". The former by the way is considered the correct answer.

============
philosopher
debunk --- expose while ridiculing; especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas 揭穿；
deterministic
IQ measures genetically controlled quality
illicit --- 导出，诱出，引出；
modern lifes are cognitively demanding


[ 本帖最后由 abstinent 于 2008-1-3 15:29 编辑 ]