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If you’ve ever had a garden or grown flowers in a window box, you’ve probably heard that you shouldn’t water your plants at high noon because their leaves might scorch1. Now a study in a journal called New Phytologist confirms that water droplets2 can focus sunlight to the point that it burns, a finding that applies to plants and to people.
Check any gardening blog and the question of whether water can burn comes up with some regularity3. But the problem had never been thoroughly4 tested. So scientists at Eotvos University in Budapest decided5 to do just that. And they found that the results depend on how hairy you are.
On leaves that are really smooth, like those from a maple6 tree, water doesn’t do much damage. But leaves that have tons of tiny hairs, like a fern, can hold spherical7 water droplets in focus above a leaf’s surface. Those drops act like mini magnifying glasses, focusing the sunbeams on an area that will subsequently fry.
And the same is true on you. Cooling off in the pool might seem like a stellar idea. But the resulting water droplets, propped8 up by your body hair, poolside, could turn you from lounger to lobster9.
—Karen Hopkin
1 scorch | |
v.烧焦,烤焦;高速疾驶;n.烧焦处,焦痕 | |
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2 droplets | |
n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 ) | |
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3 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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4 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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5 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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6 maple | |
n.槭树,枫树,槭木 | |
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7 spherical | |
adj.球形的;球面的 | |
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8 propped | |
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 lobster | |
n.龙虾,龙虾肉 | |
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