英语听力文摘 English Digest 703 如何预测棒球比赛成绩？

Tips For Predicting Baseball Scores

If you’re a true sports fan, you’ve probably lost sleep wondering if jet lag affects the performance of your favorite teams.

You’re not the only one. To answer this important question, scientists analyzed¹ three years of major league baseball games to see if they could find a link between jet lag, and home field advantage.

They discovered that baseball teams playing at home won over half the time. However, if the visiting team had just traveled eastward², say, from L.A. to New York, the home team scored more runs. If the visiting team had just traveled west, this didn’t affect the point spread.

These findings support other studies that show that traveling east is harder on your body than traveling west.

Why? Well, your body is tuned³ to what are called circadian rhythms which determine things like when you fall asleep, and when you wake up. If you lived under a rock, your body’s natural cycles would be slightly longer than 24 hours.

However, exposure to factors like daylight, temperature, and other people fine-tunes your body’s cycles to your local time zone. When you travel, this tuning⁴ is thrown out of whack⁵, and it takes your body time to readjust. This adjustment is easier if you’re heading west because this lengthens⁶ your day in the natural direction of your internal clock. However, if you’re heading east, you’re compressing your day, and working against your internal clock, which makes adjustment more difficult.

While none of this bodes⁷ well if you’re a die-hard Dodgers⁸ fan, it may be worth remembering the next time you participate in the office pool.

1 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

3 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 whack   

v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• He gave me a whack on the back to wake me up.他为把我弄醒，在我背上猛拍一下。

6 lengthens   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In summer, the daylight hour lengthens. 夏天，白天的时间长。
• Summer lengthens (out) into autumn. 夏去秋来。

7 bodes   

v.预示，预告，预言( bode的第三人称单数 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待

参考例句：

• This bodes ill for the failure of the programme. 这是那项计划有凶兆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This bodes him no good. 这对他是不祥之兆。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 dodgers   

n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a crackdown on fare dodgers on trains 对火车逃票者的严厉打击
• But Twain, Howells, and James were jeeringly described by Mencken as "draft-dodgers". 不过吐温、豪威尔斯和詹姆斯都是被门肯讥诮地叫做“逃避兵役的人。” 来自辞典例句