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Head to the mountains, and if the steep trails don't slow you down, the thin air will. There's less oxygen up there—so strenuous¹ activity can leave you dizzy, out of breath…or worse. But even though you're beat, biochemical processes are already busy at work, acclimating² your body.

爬山，陡峭的小路不会减慢你的速度，但是稀薄的空气却可以。山顶部分空气稀薄——所以，剧烈的活动会让你头晕目眩，呼吸困难……或者情况会更糟糕。但是，即使你自己力不从心，但是体内的化学工作仍在紧张进行，使你的身体适应新的环境。

Scientists investigated those pathways in humans and mice. They found that exposure to low oxygen depletes³ stores of a red-blood-cell protein called eENT1. That's a good thing. Because now other substances that protect your body against low oxygen are free to rapidly accumulate and help the body adapt.

科学家用那些方式调查了人类和老鼠。他们发现，低氧的环境会大量消耗一种叫做eENT1红细胞蛋白质。这是一件非常有益的事情。因为，现在，保护机体对抗低氧环境的其他物质就会迅速积累，来帮助机体适应环境。

But here's the kicker—once the eENT1 protein goes away, it doesn’t come back. Meaning red blood cells kind of 'remember' their altitude exposure. And that means if you hit the mountains again soon enough, you can acclimate⁴ faster than you did the first time. The findings are in the journal Nature Communications.

但是，需要注意的是——一旦eENT1蛋白质消失，就不会回来。这意外着红细胞“记住”它们的高度感觉。如果下次再一次很快地到达了山顶，那么这次你的适应速度比上次要加快。该研究结果发表在《自然通讯》杂志上。

There is one caveat⁵. "In humans the red blood cell lifespan is 120 days." Study author Yang Xia, a biochemist with the UT Health Science Center in Houston. "So the longer you stay at sea level before you re-climb to high altitude, then such memory will gradually disappear." So unless you're a frequent mountain climber—there's really no shortcut⁶ to acclimatization. Then again, there's no shortcut to the summit, either.

但是有一个警示须知。“人类红细胞的寿命是120天。”该研究的作者夏阳是休斯顿健康科学中心的生物化学家。“再次爬上之前，你在海平面地上呆的时间越长，那么这种记忆也就会慢慢消失。”除非你经常爬山——否则没有适应高度环境的捷径。同样，也没有通顶峰的捷径。