论文部分内容阅读
学习小提示：本文发音清晰，语速平缓，适合跟读。这篇典型的科普介绍中出现了不少与感官器官相关的单词，有点难度，但也是个很好的单词积累机会，感兴趣的同学可不要错过哦！
Even a visit to the grocery store can 1)overload the senses. It’s noisy, bright and smelly.
The nose is working overtime. High up inside, 2)specialized nerves 3)dangle in the 4)airstreams. They detect chemicals in the air, and send an electrical signal to the brain which 5)interprets the signals as smells. The nerves are super-sensitive. Every smell is a new 6)sensation. The same goes for our hearing. Strange new world, strange new sounds.
Sound waves 7)vibrate the 8)eardrum. On the other side of the eardrum, these tiny bones – the 9)ossicles – vibrate in response. They are the smallest bones in the body, but without them we would never hear a thing. They use 10)leverages to 11)amplify vibrations, hitting the eardrum 22 times. The amplified vibrations now enter the inner ear, or 12)cochlear. It’s lined with 13)delicate hairs. When vibrations pass through, the hairs vibrate. At the base are the fragile hairs for high-frequency sounds; at the top, low-frequency hairs. Each one, 200 times thinner than a hair on our head. Over time, loud noises will damage these hairs, but at this age, they are perfect. Our hearing will never be this good again.
The story is different for eyesight. We are born with very underdeveloped 14)vision. Even at one month, the world is 15)blurred and mostly black and white. Every aspect of our vision is 16)rudimentary.
The eye muscles are 17)immature, keeping us from pointing our eyes where we want to. Inside the eye, the lens muscles still can’t focus, and the lens 18)flips the image it receives. All through life, we see the world upside down. The picture only gets 19)reoriented in our brains. Right now, the picture is on the 20)retina – the screen at the back of the eye. The retina has two types of cells: 21)rods and 22)cones, which 23)transform the light that hits them into electric signals. The cones detect color information; but because they are not developed yet, we see mostly in black and white during our first month. From the retina the signals travel along two thick nerves under the brain. At the back is where we process visual information. When the image arrives, the real challenge begins – our immature brains haven’t learned to interpret the data yet. That’s changing fast.
即使去一趟杂货店，也能使（婴儿的）感官吃不消。杂货店里声音嘈杂，灯光耀眼，充满了腥臭味。
鼻子总是超负荷工作。鼻子内部靠上的位置，有特殊的神经在气流中摇摆。它们检测出空气中的化学成分，并将电流信号发送给大脑，大脑则将这些信号确认为气味。这种神经极其灵敏。每种气味都是一种全新的感官刺激。我们的听力原理也一样。新鲜的世界，新鲜的声响。
声波使耳膜振动。在耳膜的另一侧，一些细小的骨头—听小骨—产生共振。听小骨是人体最小的骨头，然而没有它们，我们就听不到任何声响。它们使用杠杆作用原理使振动放大，以22倍的力量敲击耳膜。被放大的振动力传到内耳，即耳蜗。耳蜗内长有纤细的毛发。当振动声经过时，毛发就会产生振动—分布在底部的纤毛能感应高频声音，顶部的则能感应低频声音。每一根纤毛都比我们一般的头发细200倍。随着时间增长，噪音会逐渐损害这些纤毛，然而在婴儿时期，纤毛处于最佳状态。我们的听力再也不可能这么
好了。
对视觉而言，情况则完全不同。刚生下来时，我们的视力发育很不完全。即使到了一个月大时，我们看到的世界还是模糊不清，大部分情况下只有黑白两色。视力的各种功能尚未发育完全。
婴儿的眼部肌肉发育不全，使我们不能随心所欲地看东西。在眼睛内部，晶状体肌肉仍然不能聚焦，且晶状体会使眼睛接收到的图像倒转过来。在整个生命过程中，我们看到的世界都是上下颠倒的。图象到了大脑才被调整过来。现在，图象显示在眼睛后面的“屏幕”—视网膜上。视网膜上有两种细胞：杆细胞和锥细胞。它们把接收到的光感转化成电流信号。锥细胞检测颜色信息，不过由于婴儿期它们还没有发育完全，所以我们出生后第一个月里看到的基本还是一个黑白世界。从视网膜发出的电流信号沿着大脑下边的两条粗神经游走，其后部就是我们处理视觉信息的地方。当传输的图象到达后，真正的挑战才开始—我们未完全发育的大脑还没有学会解译数据呢。不过这种状况很快就会改变。
Even a visit to the grocery store can 1)overload the senses. It’s noisy, bright and smelly.
The nose is working overtime. High up inside, 2)specialized nerves 3)dangle in the 4)airstreams. They detect chemicals in the air, and send an electrical signal to the brain which 5)interprets the signals as smells. The nerves are super-sensitive. Every smell is a new 6)sensation. The same goes for our hearing. Strange new world, strange new sounds.
Sound waves 7)vibrate the 8)eardrum. On the other side of the eardrum, these tiny bones – the 9)ossicles – vibrate in response. They are the smallest bones in the body, but without them we would never hear a thing. They use 10)leverages to 11)amplify vibrations, hitting the eardrum 22 times. The amplified vibrations now enter the inner ear, or 12)cochlear. It’s lined with 13)delicate hairs. When vibrations pass through, the hairs vibrate. At the base are the fragile hairs for high-frequency sounds; at the top, low-frequency hairs. Each one, 200 times thinner than a hair on our head. Over time, loud noises will damage these hairs, but at this age, they are perfect. Our hearing will never be this good again.
The story is different for eyesight. We are born with very underdeveloped 14)vision. Even at one month, the world is 15)blurred and mostly black and white. Every aspect of our vision is 16)rudimentary.
The eye muscles are 17)immature, keeping us from pointing our eyes where we want to. Inside the eye, the lens muscles still can’t focus, and the lens 18)flips the image it receives. All through life, we see the world upside down. The picture only gets 19)reoriented in our brains. Right now, the picture is on the 20)retina – the screen at the back of the eye. The retina has two types of cells: 21)rods and 22)cones, which 23)transform the light that hits them into electric signals. The cones detect color information; but because they are not developed yet, we see mostly in black and white during our first month. From the retina the signals travel along two thick nerves under the brain. At the back is where we process visual information. When the image arrives, the real challenge begins – our immature brains haven’t learned to interpret the data yet. That’s changing fast.
即使去一趟杂货店，也能使（婴儿的）感官吃不消。杂货店里声音嘈杂，灯光耀眼，充满了腥臭味。
鼻子总是超负荷工作。鼻子内部靠上的位置，有特殊的神经在气流中摇摆。它们检测出空气中的化学成分，并将电流信号发送给大脑，大脑则将这些信号确认为气味。这种神经极其灵敏。每种气味都是一种全新的感官刺激。我们的听力原理也一样。新鲜的世界，新鲜的声响。
声波使耳膜振动。在耳膜的另一侧，一些细小的骨头—听小骨—产生共振。听小骨是人体最小的骨头，然而没有它们，我们就听不到任何声响。它们使用杠杆作用原理使振动放大，以22倍的力量敲击耳膜。被放大的振动力传到内耳，即耳蜗。耳蜗内长有纤细的毛发。当振动声经过时，毛发就会产生振动—分布在底部的纤毛能感应高频声音，顶部的则能感应低频声音。每一根纤毛都比我们一般的头发细200倍。随着时间增长，噪音会逐渐损害这些纤毛，然而在婴儿时期，纤毛处于最佳状态。我们的听力再也不可能这么
好了。
对视觉而言，情况则完全不同。刚生下来时，我们的视力发育很不完全。即使到了一个月大时，我们看到的世界还是模糊不清，大部分情况下只有黑白两色。视力的各种功能尚未发育完全。
婴儿的眼部肌肉发育不全，使我们不能随心所欲地看东西。在眼睛内部，晶状体肌肉仍然不能聚焦，且晶状体会使眼睛接收到的图像倒转过来。在整个生命过程中，我们看到的世界都是上下颠倒的。图象到了大脑才被调整过来。现在，图象显示在眼睛后面的“屏幕”—视网膜上。视网膜上有两种细胞：杆细胞和锥细胞。它们把接收到的光感转化成电流信号。锥细胞检测颜色信息，不过由于婴儿期它们还没有发育完全，所以我们出生后第一个月里看到的基本还是一个黑白世界。从视网膜发出的电流信号沿着大脑下边的两条粗神经游走，其后部就是我们处理视觉信息的地方。当传输的图象到达后，真正的挑战才开始—我们未完全发育的大脑还没有学会解译数据呢。不过这种状况很快就会改变。