英语听力文摘 English Digest 281、胀着肚子饿死

 

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　　The Bloated Look of the Starving
饥饿性水肿，脂肪和肌肉丢失而使细胞外液体增多,组织张力降低,皮肤失去弹性。快要饿死的人，都是肚子大大的。
It’s one of the most painful aspects of starvation to witness: the stomachs of children who are dying appear ridiculously swollen¹. It’s as if the body plays an unbelievably cruel joke on itself, causing the starved to resemble people whose bellies² are large from over-eating. Is there a connection?   In fact the two instances — starvation and overeating —   only resemble each other in a superficial way. The belly³ of an over-eater looks the way it does due to a build-up of fat cells, also present on other areas of the body. The starvation belly  stands out in painful relief against emaciated⁴ arms, legs, and face, and will appear more taut⁵ and inflexible⁶

　　That’s because the belly on a starving person has nothing to do with fat. Rather, it is often the result of Protein Calorie Malnutrition⁷, or PCM. PCM means a healthy number of calories are being eaten — say in the form of rice — but with a severe deficiency in protein. This is often the case in third-world countries where meat and fish are rare or too expensive for many. Even in a healthy state, the blood vessels⁸ and organs leak fluids a little. This is generally no problem, as the lymphatic system removes the excess, and a little fluid cushioning the organs is a good thing. In PCM, however, the lymphatic system can’t keep up with the leakage⁹, and the stomach area begins to bloat with its own waste fluids. Add to this the likelihood of a swollen liver, which is another result of PCM, and you wind up with the terrible irony¹⁰ of a person on the verge¹¹ of starvation looking weirdly¹² similar to an overeater.

1 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

2 bellies   

n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童

3 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

4 emaciated   

adj.衰弱的，消瘦的

参考例句：

• A long time illness made him sallow and emaciated.长期患病使他面黄肌瘦。
• In the light of a single candle,she can see his emaciated face.借着烛光，她能看到他的被憔悴的面孔。

5 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

6 inflexible   

adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的

参考例句：

• Charles was a man of settled habits and inflexible routine.查尔斯是一个恪守习惯、生活规律不容打乱的人。
• The new plastic is completely inflexible.这种新塑料是完全不可弯曲的。

7 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

8 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 leakage   

n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量

参考例句：

• Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor.大片地区都被核反应堆的泄漏物污染了。
• The continuing leakage is the result of the long crack in the pipe.这根管子上的那一条裂缝致使渗漏不断。

10 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

11 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

12 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。