【thatll】iBT备考日志

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【听力---60-Second Earth---September 18, 2009】

How to Stop the Ongoing Loss of Species
Can the world tackle poverty and the biodiversity crisis at the same time? It better, David Biello reports

Species of plants, animals and other categories of living things are disappearing. And millions of people still live in extreme poverty. But is there a connection? For example, is the ongoing destruction of the Indonesian rainforest driven by the economic development of Indonesians? Or is the global demand for wood products to blame（be to blame）? Is it a combination? Or are there other factors that are more important?

The bad news is that answer isn’t clear. And the worse news is that the world's countries have not lived up to（履行） their pledge under the Convention on Biological Diversity to reduce the rate of species loss by 2010.

One reason for that failure: no one has agreed on what are true indicators of whether biodiversity is being preserved or lost. So argues Matt Walpole of the United Nations Environment Programme in this week's issue of the journal Science.

There’s a lack of good data from the front lines of the biodiversity crisis in the developing world. And even good data doesn't extend far enough back into time to make good judgments possible.

What is clear is that an approach that looks at both biodiversity and poverty is going to be needed. To give just one example of how the two can work together, producing more crops per acre can both help poor farmers and preserve existing forests.

Economist and Scientific American columnist Jeffrey Sachs argues in the same issue of Science that a new global treaty addressing biodiversity is needed—one that is paired explicitly to poverty alleviation. So that’s the challenge ahead: providing for the 9 billion humans expected to be alive in 2050 without destroying the world’s remaining wildlife.

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【听力---SSS---April 9, 2009 】

Women Smell Better Than Men
Research at the Monell Chemical Senses Center finds that women have keener senses of smell than do men, and that men's body odors are harder to cover up than are women's.

keen：
1 a : having a fine edge or point  : SHARP  b : affecting one as if by cutting  *keen sarcasm*  c : pungent to the sense  *a keen scent*
2 a (1) : showing a quick and ardent responsiveness  : ENTHUSIASTIC  *a keen swimmer*  (2) : EAGER  *was keen to begin*  b of emotion or feeling   : INTENSE  *the keen delight in the chase---F. W. Maitland*
3 a : intellectually alert  : having or characteristic of a quick penetrating mind  *a keen student*  *a keen awareness of the problem*;  also   : shrewdly astute  b : sharply contested  *keen debate*  c : extremely sensitive in perception  *keen eyes*
4 : WONDERFUL, EXCELLENT

A woman friend of mine recently commented about her guy: “He’s such a boy. His towels（毛巾） are stinky（发臭味的）. And he doesn’t seem to notice!” Well, maybe he can’t smell the stinkyness. According to recent research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, women have much sharper noses.

Scientists collected microdroplets of perspiration, and had men and women sniff the vials（小瓶）. According to both, the odors were equally rich. Subjects were then asked to rate odor strength when sniffing the sweat mixed one by one with 32 different fragrances（芳香）. Only two of the fragrances stopped women from smelling the sweat. But 19 fragrances successfully blocked it from male noses.

Body odor is special—the authors note that in previous studies men’s and women’s scent detection did not differ when it came to other aromas（芳香）. The researchers also concluded that men’s odor is harder to mask（=cover up） than women’s, regardless of who sniffs. Only a fifth of the fragrances could cover up male odor. But half of the scents masked female odor. The researchers suggest that for women there may be important biological information contained in male sweat. So maybe don’t wash those towels just yet（not just yet：表示还不是时候；还没有准备好，但马上就好）.

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【听力---SSS---April 10, 2009 】

Birds and Bugs Use Same Flight Manual
A report in the journal Science shows that seven different types of flying animals all turn using the same technique, and that those with similar wingspan-to-body-lengths need the same number of wing flaps.

Thrill-seeking（追求刺激的） stunt（特技） pilots spend years learning to perform maneuvers that birds and bees know how to do from birth. Now a new study in the journal Science shows that, although birds and bugs don’t go to flight school, it’s like they’re reading from the same manual when it comes to making turns.

maneuver：
1 a : a military or naval movement b : an armed forces training exercise; especially : an extended and large-scale training exercise involving military and naval units separately or in combination---often used in plural
2 : a procedure or method of working usually involving expert physical movement
3 a : evasive movement or shift of tactics b : an intended and controlled variation from a straight and level flight path in the operation of an airplane
4 a : an action taken to gain a tactical end b : an adroit and clever management of affairs often using trickery and deception

If you’ve ever watched a hummingbird（蜂鸟） or seen a bat chase after a moth, you know that critters（=creatures） that flap their wings to fly are amazing aerial acrobats（空中杂技演员）, capable of hovering near a flower or turning on a dime（dime单独表示一毛硬币，但是on a dime表示在很小的一个地方）. But how do they do it? And does the tiniest fruit fly use the same tricks as a hummingbird or a bat?

on a dime
1 : in a very small area *these cars can turn on a dime*
2 : INSTANTLY

The scientists studied videos of seven different kinds of winged beasts, from bluebottle flies to a cockatoo. And they found that they all used a technique called flapping counter-torque to recover from a turn. So, when a bird banks（转弯时倾斜飞行） right, its left wing moves faster on the downstroke（下行冲程） while the right is faster on the upstroke, which slows the animal’s rotation. And no matter what their size, critters with a similar wingspan to body length ratio, like a fruitfly and a hummingbird, need the same number of flaps to finish a turn. And you thought such aeronautical（航空学的） insights would remain hidden until pigs fly.

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【听力---sss---April 13, 2009】

Breathing Easy Thanks to the Great Oxidation Event
A report in the journal Nature reveals one of the reasons why Earth's atmosphere went from oxygen-poor to habitable 2.4 billion years ago--a drop in oceanic nickel killed microbes that produce methane.

The Earth’s original atmosphere would have been unpleasant—deadly（adj. 致命的） in fact—to any organisms that breathe oxygen. There wasn’t any. Not until about 2.4 billion years ago anyway. That’s the time of what scientists call the Great Oxidation Event. Now researchers believe they’ve found clues as to what may have caused the change. They published their report in the April 9 edition of the journal Nature.

Researchers analyzed trace elements（微量元素） in sedimentary rock from dozens of sites. Turns out nickel was 400 times more abundant（注意我们来看一下语法，在比较级里的more其实从词性上讲是一个副词，而400 times是一个表示量级的修饰语） in primordial（有出现了这个词，原始的） oceans than in today’s waters. Microorganisms called methanogens love nickel-rich water, and they release methane into the atmosphere. Methane prevents a buildup of oxygen.

Scientists testing the rocks saw that around 2.7 to 2.4 billion years ago, ocean-dissolved nickel dropped off. This corresponds to the Great Oxidation Event. Lack of nickel could have killed off methanogens and left room for algae and other life forms that release oxygen during photosynthesis.

Researchers don’t know exactly why nickel decreased—possibly because of the cooling and solidifying of the Earth’s mantle. But the nickel disappearance is one more clue about how the planet went from suffocating to a place where a terrestrial tetrapod（四足动物） could take a deep breath.

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【听力--- 60-Second Psych---September 16, 2009】

Detecting Digitally Altered Video
A study in Applied Cognitive Science finds that we're likely to believe a doctored video over own memories of an event.

doctor：
transitive verb  
1 a : to give medical treatment to  b : to restore to good condition  : REPAIR  *doctor an old clock*
2 a : to adapt or modify for a desired end by alteration or special treatment  *doctored the play to suit the audience*  *the drink was doctored*  b : to alter deceptively  *accused of doctoring the election returns*  *a doctored photo*
intransitive verb  
1 : to practice medicine
2 dialect   : to take medicine

The last few years have seen digitally altered photos land in numerous media outlets（媒介业务）. Modern technology is making it tough for even the expert to spot a fake. But imagine if a doctored image lands in court and even sways eyewitnesses, who had seen the event in question（考虑之中的，被谈论着的）?

Evidence from a study published in the journal Applied Cognitive Science shows that people will believe a videotaped version of an event, even if it differs from the reality they lived through.

Sixty subjects participated in a gambling game, where they’d make bets on getting the answer to a trivia question right. All subjects had another player seated next to them. Except the “other player” was really a researcher.

Later, a video of the gambling session was doctored to make it seem that the other player—the researcher—had cheated.

A third of the subjects were told that the person next to them MAY have cheated. Another third were told the player next to them was caught on camera cheating. And the rest were shown the fake footage of the other player cheating. Then all were asked to sign a statement only if they had seen the act of cheating take place.
Just 5 percent of the control group, who were merely told about the cheating,  signed the statement.

footage：
: length or quantity expressed in feet: as a : BOARD FEET b : the total number of running feet of motion-picture film used (as for a scene or subject); also : the material contained on such footage

Only 10 percent of the group who were told that the cheating had been caught by cameras—but did not actually see the video—signed the statement. But nearly 40 percent of those who saw the fake video signed. And another 10 percent signed after being asked a second time by the researcher.
With ever-new（一直更新的） digital tricks, we need to be aware that seemingly ironclad evidence may in fact be altered.  And find our way to the truth by employing one of our most valuable resources: a healthy skepticism.  

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一周科技图片精选



芝加哥大学古生物学家Paul Sereno正在给新发现的Raptorex暴龙的骨架上摆上脚爪。这只暴龙化石是在中国发现的，从外表和构造来说，都相当于一只迷你型君王暴龙。它的出现对现在的恐龙进化理论提出了挑战。
图: Mike Hettwer
相关阅读:
Fossil Find Challenges Theories on T. Rex


当发现号航天飞机在9月11号返回地球时，一个超音速热红外测量小组捕捉到了它的红外图像。该小组属于NASA Langley研究中心。这个小组用上千张再入数据绘制出了航天飞机加热模式的照片。上图是第一批图像中的一张。
图: NASA


研究者说，他们发现了一颗与已知其他陨星母体行星不同的玄武岩陨星，这表明陨星的来源不只是位于主内小行星带上的灶神星，而是多样的。澳大利亚西部沙漠上的研究者们一直在太空进行监测，他们锁定了一颗陨星的轨道，在其落入地球后找到了它，并对其成分进行了分析。在经过将近一个晚上的曝光之后，天空的星星们看起来成了弯曲的白色条纹。斜穿过它们的条纹就是“火球”。（译注：“火球”即指坠落的陨星）
图: 沙漠火球观测网



不同波长光束光子纠缠研究的新结果，也许能为未来量子计算机如何工作提供帮助。纠缠是量子信息处理的核心问题。量子信息处理过程中，其信息基本单元（这里是光子）可以同时处于两种状态。研究者称，实际系统将会包含一个有不同量子元件的网络，也许能够以不同的频率运行。
图: Science/AAAS



NASA的雨燕卫星拍到仙女座巨螺旋星系（M31）紫外射线照片。只有最热的恒星，通常也是最年轻和质量最大的恒星，才能发射出紫外线。紫外线也是一种电磁波，其波长比可见光中的蓝光要更短。天文学家可以从照片上找出仙女座星系正在形成的新恒星。仙女座星系距离地球大约250万光年，是银河系的双胞胎姐妹，因此也可以当做是银河系的自画像。在银河系，大部分变化过程发生在旋臂内，那里的重力将星际气体和尘埃压缩成新的恒星。


保护遗传学家正在使用DNA条码技术对喜欢迁徙的濒危海龟进行追踪。研究者说，DNA条码是一段很短的基因序列，能够对物种进行有效的辨别--即使用于抽取DNA的样本很微小或已经降解也没关系。一项新研究表明，这项技术可以应用在所有7种海龟上，并能对这种分布很广的古老动物进行基因结构上的分析。


NASA科学家称，月球探测轨道飞行器的发现表明，月球南极被阴影覆盖的陨石坑可能是整个太阳系最寒冷的地方。该飞行器是在六月份发射的，本周正式开始了为期一年的月球地图绘制任务。
图: NASA
相关阅读:
Lunar Craters May Be Chilliest Spots in Solar System



马头星云（亮色背景上的黑色区域）的组成部分是：
1) 致密的恒星
2) 黑洞
3) 分子云
4) 未知物质
相关阅读是Tierney Lab的天文学知识小测验。

图: T.A. Rector 和 Hubble Heritage Team
相关阅读:
Beautiful Universe Astronomy Quiz



研究人员正在研究等离子体表面的相互作用，以弄清楚磁约束核聚变是怎样控制热量发生的。在加州大学圣迭戈分校能量研究PISCES实验室的一项实验中，研究人员将一个热钨样本（1000摄氏度）暴露在高能重氦等离子体中。在太阳的中心，核聚变反应只需1500万摄氏度就能发生，但是地球上的压力比太阳低得多，因此需要更高的温度（大约1亿摄氏度）。
图: 加州大学圣迭戈分校


根据研究鲨鱼牙齿的新方法和秘鲁沙漠的新鲨鱼化石，大部分专家相信大白鲨并非从巨齿鲨进化而来，其祖先很可能是相对温和的马科鲨的近亲。
图: Greg Adams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
相关阅读:
In a Shark’s Tooth, a New Family Tree

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【听力---SSS---April 14, 2009 】

Nice Guy Gets Some Sugar
A study in the journal Nature found that yeast（酵母） that did a little extra work for their colony also got a little reward, in the form of access to a wee bit of（wee意为极小的） additional sugar.

Altruism poses a problem for the theory of “survival of the fittest.” If we help others at a cost to ourselves, nice-guy behavior should die out, because we are giving others a leg up in competition.

But a team at M.I.T. published a paper in Nature that shows one loophole（空子，漏洞） that gives the nice guy a benefit over exploiters. Their experiments were done with yeast. With no yeast emotions to take into account, scientists can get a clear biological look at the workings of benevolence（善心，善举）.

Yeast eat table sugar（蔗糖）, but they need to secrete an enzyme to break it down into simple sugars, like glucose, their preferred food. Through this process the simple sugars become freely available for other yeast to consume. So, the best strategy might be to never secrete the enzyme—just let your benevolent brothers do all the work.

Scientists showed, however, that the helpful yeast get special access to a small amount of the sugars produced. And this benefit outweighs the cost of helping their neighbors. Good to hear there’s something in it for the good guy, even if the guy’s just yeast. Let’s raise a beer to that.

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【听力---SSS---April 15, 2009】

Less Taxing BP Monitoring
M.I.T. researchers have developed an easily wearable blood pressure monitor that fits on the hand and can provide constant monitoring.

constant：
1 : marked by firm steadfast resolution or faithfulness  : exhibiting constancy of mind or attachment  *a constant friend*
2 : INVARIABLE, UNIFORM  *a constant flow*
3 : continually occurring or recurring  : REGULAR  *a constant annoyance*

It's April 15th. Like many people around the country, you might be feeling your blood pressure rise as you deal with everyone's favorite activity—filing taxes. Now there's good news if you want to know how bad your heart is suffering from the stress: M.I.T. researchers have built an easily wearable blood pressure sensor. It works around the clock to provide an accurate 24-hour read of blood pressure.

Some people have so-called white coat hypertension（白大褂高血压）—their blood pressure spikes（intransitive verb   : to increase sharply  *battery sales spiked after the storm*但是作为及物动词的时候就有区别） in the doctor's office. Also, there are natural changes in blood pressure over a day's cycle, and a one-time reading won't catch that.

The device doesn't use a cuff（袖口）, like the kind that cuts off the circulation in your arm at the doctor’s office. It sits over the wrist and index finger and measures the pulse at two locations, checking the velocity of the blood flow. The information gathered could assist doctors in figuring out the best medication, or even in telling a patient when during the day to take that medicine—or a deep breath. The device should be available to the public in a few years. In the meantime, many happy returns.

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【听力---SSS---April 16, 2009 】

Sugar Rinse Raises Performance
A study in The Journal of Physiology finds that just rinsing and spitting（ : to eject matter (as saliva) from the mouth  : EXPECTORATE） with drinks containing sugar or carbohydrate can improve endurance.

rinse：
1 : to cleanse by flushing with liquid (as water)---often used with out  *rinse out the mouth*
2 a : to cleanse (as of soap used in washing) by clear water  b : to treat (hair) with a rinse
3 : to remove (dirt or impurities) by washing lightly or in water only

Hard-training athletes boost their performance with a variety of popular sports drinks. These drinks do work. But not in the way you’d think. That’s according to research just published in The Journal of Physiology.

Researchers tested three drinks. One contained glucose, a sugar. A second had maltodextrin（麦芽糊精）, a tasteless carbohydrate. The third was plain water. All three were laced with artificial sweeteners until they tasted identically sweet.

lace：（其中一个词条）
a : to add a dash of liquor to b : to add something to impart pungency, savor, or zest to *a sauce laced with garlic* *conversation laced with sarcasm* c : to adulterate with a substance *laced a guard's coffee with a sedative*

Endurance athletes rinsed their mouths with one of the three drinks during a tough workout. Surprisingly, athletes that rinsed and spat out the glucose and maltodextrin performed 2 to 3 percent better than those who got the artificial sweetener. They said they didn’t feel like they were working any harder. Then they had their brains scanned by fMRI. The drinks that had real sugar and carbs lit up areas of the brain connected to pleasure and reward. But the fake sweet water did not.

So maybe experiencing pleasure helps override some of the challenge of the workout. And scientists say this means there are receptors in our mouth other than for simple taste, receptors that communicate directly with the brain. Kind of gives new meaning to the term muscle-head.

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【听力---SSS---April 17, 2009】

Iron Will to Live for Antarctic Microbes
A study in the journal Science shows that microbes have long survived under glaciers in Antarctica making do with（设法应付） nothing but sulfates and iron from the bedrock.

At Antarctica’s Blood Falls, the ice is stained red（被染成红色） by ancient, iron-rich water pouring out of subglacial lakes formed millions of years ago. The cascading（cascade：倾注，瀑布） water is extremely saline, has almost no oxygen and no real nutrients to speak of. But that hasn’t stopped life from finding a niche. According to a report in the April 17th issue of Science, a population of microbes has called the frigid place home for millennia.

Even though carbon-based nutrients are missing, these microbes thrive in pockets of water trapped under the glacier by making do with what they have—which is lots of sulfates（硫酸盐） and iron. The microbes use iron molecules that the glacier scours（冲刷出） from the bedrock to react with available sulfate, which lets the microbes then metabolize it into a useable form.

The report suggests this is one way life could have survived past eras when Earth was covered in ice. It also shows that life will spring up in the most unlikely places using some very clever chemistry. So when we’re looking for life on Mars, focus less on little green men and more on little red microbes.

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【听力---SSS---April 20, 2009】

Eating Healthfully at the New Yankee Stadium
The new Yankee Stadium has healthful food choices and encourages recycling.

The new Yankee Stadium has opened in the Bronx. I went to a game Saturday, and it’s a much friendlier place for anyone trying to eat healthfully and maintain some environmental awareness.

When I entered the park I stopped at the produce stand—the produce stand!—and bought a couple of fresh pears. Later I went to the Noodle Bowl stand, where for $8.50 I got a bowl of noodles, veggies and tofu. Tofu at the ballpark. The snack（小吃，快餐） was listed on the menu board at 240 calories. All the food choices have calorie counts posted now, so you can avoid, or still indulge in, the almost 1,100 calorie Moe’s Homewrecker Burrito at La Esquina Latina. I also had a caramel apple. Which as junk food goes is still pretty good.

Every few yards you find a trio of disposal cans. For regular trash, plastic and compost. Which you may actually have items for, with a produce stand on site. And which may eventually foster a garden in which more fresh vegetables take root, root, root for the home team（主队）.

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【听力---SSS---April 21, 2009】

Affirmations Improve Minority Student Grades
A study in the journal Science finds that an affirmation exercise improved the grades of African-American middle school students, and the effects lasted for at least another two years after the test period.

It sounds too good to be true–help kids feel good about themselves, and they’ll do better in school. But it apparently worked for African-American middle school students who engaged in a simple self-affirmation writing exercise. And the benefits extended well after the regimen ended. The results of the study appeared in the April 17th issue of the journal Science.

regimen：
1 a : a systematic plan (as of diet, therapy, or medication) especially when designed to improve and maintain the health of a patient b : a regular course of action and especially of strenuous training *the daily regimen of a top athlete*
2 : GOVERNMENT, RULE
3 : REGIME 1c

More than 400 black and white students took part in the research. Half of the students wrote about any neutral topic over the course of a year. The other half were asked to write about why they cherished certain values. The grades of African-American affirmation kids improved about a quarter of a point on a four-point scale, compared with the control group. And the lowest initial African-American performers upped their scores more than four-tenths of a point. Two years later, the scores continued to track higher among the group that practiced affirmations. White students who engaged in the affirmation exercise showed no improvement. A study author said that ethnic minorities feel particularly anxious that doing poorly could confirm other people’s negative expectations about them. And the affirmations may help alleviate those fears.

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【听力---SSS---April 22, 2009】

Ear Cells Actively Amplify Sound
A study in the journal Public Library of Science ONE reveals that the ear's hair cells（毛细胞） act like tiny motors and respond to sound by swaying and driving electrical currents that cause positive feedbacks, which amplify sound.

Just when you thought you’d heard everything, scientists have found that the reason you can hear everything—including things that are very quiet—is because your ears have tiny tubelike motors that mechanically amplify sounds.

You’ve probably heard that it’s the hair cells in your ears that allow you to hear. These cells sport tufts of spiky hairs that are like little molecular mohawks. When sound waves enter the ear these hairs vibrate, and that motion then gets translated into an electrical message that tells your brain that there’s something worth listening to. But the movement of those hairs is not passive, like tall grass swaying in the breeze. The electrical signals they produce feed back on the system, causing the hairs to tilt even more. It’s that so-called “flexo-electric effect” that basically boosts the audio signal and amplifies the sound, findings published in the April 22nd issue of the journal Public Library of Science ONE.

The scientists behind the study also note that the length of the hairs in different species explains why animals like bats can detect such high frequency sounds. It doesn’t, however, explain why your kids can hear their cell phone vibrate two rooms away, yet they never seem to hear a word you say.

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【听力---SSS---April 23, 2009】

Rare Designation May Not Be Well-Done
A study in the journal Public Library of Science ONE found that calling an endangered species "rare" may focus the kind of attention on it that could speed its demise.

Which would you rather see: a rare Nepalese gharial or a common vole? Even without knowing what these animals are, you might be more intrigued by the gharial, simply because it is rare. This is the conclusion of research published in the journal Public Library of Science ONE.

The researchers say that labeling endangered animals as “rare,” may harm the species, raising its value and so putting it at greater risk of being exploited within the illegal pet-trade, for either medicines or exotic zoos.

Scientists created a Web site where users could view images of either “rare” or “common” animals. When users clicked on one of the two options, up popped a progress bar showing the images in the process of downloading. But, irritatingly（使人生气地）, the download took a whopping（: extremely large;  also   : EXTRAORDINARY, INCREDIBLE） six minutes (although users did have the option to cancel). When the download finally completed, the images were designed not to show up!

Well, significantly more users chose the rare slideshow, waited for it to download and often tried again after it didn’t work. So, maybe to save the endangered gharial, we ought to just call it just a tired, ugly crocodile（鳄鱼）.

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【听力---SSS---April 24, 2009】

Metal Strengthens Silk's Mettle
A study in the journal Science shows that adding a bit of metal to silk makes the gossamer（ : extremely light, delicate, or tenuous） but strong-as-steel natural fiber even stronger.

When you think about silk, you probably think of gossamer fibers woven into（woven的原型就是weave） lustrous garments or decadently soft bedsheets. But silk is also prized for its strength. Mechanically speaking, silk fibers are as tough as steel. But in the April 24th issue of
Science, German researchers report that a dusting of metal makes silk even tougher.

tough：
1 a : strong or firm in texture but flexible and not brittle  b : not easily chewed  *tough meat*（质地牢固但不失弹性）
2 : GLUTINOUS, STICKY（粘的）
3 : characterized by severity or uncompromising determination  *tough laws*  *tough discipline*（严肃的不屈服的决心）
4 : capable of enduring strain, hardship, or severe labor  *tough soldiers*（吃苦耐劳的）
5 : very hard to influence  : STUBBORN  *a tough negotiator*（不受影响的，执着的）
6 : difficult to accomplish, resolve, endure, or deal with  *a tough question*  *tough luck*（难以处理棘手的）
7 : stubbornly fought  *a tough contest*（执着战斗的）
8 : UNRULY, ROWDYISH  *a tough gang*（喧嚷的）
9 : marked by absence of softness or sentimentality  *a tough critic*（尖锐的）

In nature, lots of insects and animals use a touch of metal to harden body parts such as jaws, claws, and stingers. So the scientists got to wondering whether they could take a similar tactic to make silk even stronger. Such reinforced fibers could prove useful for making really sturdy medical devices, like surgical sutures, or even artificial tissues like bone or tendon（筋，腱） or even arteries（动脉）.

The scientists used a process called atomic layer deposition to coat some spider silk with zinc, titanium（钛） or aluminum. In addition to covering the outside of the silk, some of the metals seeped into the material, incorporating into the structure of the fiber. And, it will probably come as no surprise that the fibers infused with titanium or zinc or aluminum are much harder to break than Original Recipe silk. As the old adage almost goes, O, what a stronger web we weave, when bits of metal to the silk we cleave.

金属让丝绸更坚韧

发表在《科学》（Science）杂志上的一项研究表明，往丝绸中加入一点儿金属可以让蛛丝一般但是坚韧如钢的天然纤维更加牢固。

当你想到丝绸的时候，你可能想到是那些织成华丽服饰的薄纱，或者是那些柔软奢侈的床被。但是丝绸也因其韧性而受到人们的青睐。从机械的观点来看，丝绸和钢铁一样坚韧。不过，来自德国的研究者们在4月24日的《科学》（Science）杂志上报道说，少量的金属使丝绸更加坚韧。

在自然界，许多昆虫和动物利用少量的金属使身体的某些部分（比如下颌、爪牙以及螯针）变硬。因此科学家们设想，是否可以采用类似的方法来使丝绸变得更加坚韧。这些强化纤维在制造真正牢固耐用的医疗器械方面会很有用，比如用于制造手术缝合线，或者甚至用于制造一些人工组织，比如骨头、腱以及动脉。

科学家们使用一种名为原子层沉积（atomic layer deposition）的方法把一些蜘蛛丝表面涂上锌、钛或者铝。这些金属除了覆盖蜘蛛丝的表面外，一些金属还渗入到蜘蛛丝的内部，与纤维结构形成一个整体。与“原味儿”的蜘蛛丝相比，那些注入了钛、锌或者铝的蜘蛛丝纤维更难于折断，这个结果将不会令人感到奇怪。这几乎正如一句古语所云“啊，我们仅仅把一点儿金属加入到丝绸中，就得到了如此更加强大的网”。

Vocabulary:

Strengthen：加强
Mettle: 勇气；毅力
Gossamer：蛛丝；薄纱
Fiber：纤维
Lustrous：柔软光亮的
Garment：衣服
Decadently：奢华地；堕落地
Prize：高度重视；珍视
Jaw：下颌；口部
Stinger：螯针；刺
Tactic：手段；战术
Sturdy：坚固的
Suture：缝合线
Artificial：人造的
Tendon：腱
Artery: 动脉
Deposition：沉积
Zinc：元素锌（Zn）
Titanium: 元素钛（Ti）
Aluminum: 元素铝（Al）
Seep:渗透
Incorporate: 吸收；使并入
Infuse：注入
Adage：谚语
Cleave: 劈开；紧贴；忠于

英语点滴：

1）Original Recipe指肯德基快餐里的“吮指原味鸡”。

2）文中最后一句话改编自英国诗人和小说家瓦尔特·司各特（Walter Scott）的著名诗句：

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave.
When first we practice to deceive!”
（啊，我们刚刚学会欺骗，就编织出如此混乱的丝网）