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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
探索世界奥秘之Life Story(生命物语) Unit4
Everything that's alive and quite a few things that aren't, gives off heat. That's what you are looking at now. Every part of your body is burning up energy and creating heat as it goes about the business of being you. But the hottest bit of you is up here, your brain is burning up more energy than anything else in your body, almost a fifth of all the calories you eat and drink. And it uses up almost the same amount whether you are concentrating on something really difficult or just wondering whether to put the cat out, because day and night, your brain is challenged with the most difficult task it will ever face, keeping you alive.
Right now for instance, there are quite a few things on your mind, tonight's dinner for example. For starters, your brain is coordinating1 a major haulage operation.
Even though the route is usually downhill, food doesn't fall from your mouth to your stomach. When your brain tells you to swallow, it triggers waves of muscle contractions3. They squeeze things along in your esophagus at around 4 centimeters per second.
The first scheduled stop is the stomach. It's essentially4 a biological liquidizer. Its lining5 is covered in delicate folds which allow it to expand with each mouthful. Inside a mixture of enzymes6 and hydrochloric acid start to digest your food. And very probably your dinner is still in there, it churns away for about 4 hours. Soon it will be released into your small intestine7 and at a cue from your brain, bile will be added. This will help you break down fats. You will be carrying tonight's dinner for about 24 hours, so I hope you liked it. When it does finally leave you, it will take around 25 grams of dead cells from your gut8 with it.
But don't worry, you are constantly replacing cells from head to toe.
Your brain is managing the body's workforce9 of approximately 50, 000 billion cells and most of them don't last more than a few years. Cells are constantly dying and being replaced by new ones. Up to a billion new cells for old every hour. What this really means is that most parts of your body are in fact a good deal younger than you are. But remarkably10 these cells aren't replaced and they are particularly special. Each one has a natural tendency to twitch11.
words and expressions
haulage:The act or process of hauling.
拖拽的行为或过程
muscle contraction2:肌肉收缩
esophagus: The muscular, membranous12 tube for the passage of food from the pharynx to the stomach; the gullet.食道
lining:A covering or coating for an inside surface:衬里,内层
enzyme:Any of numerous proteins or conjugated13 proteins produced by living organisms and functioning as biochemical catalysts14.
酶:由活的有机体产生的各种蛋白质或蛋白质结合体的一种,起生物催化剂的作用
hydrochloric acid :盐酸
churn:搅拌, 搅动
small intestine:小肠
bile:胆汁
1 coordinating | |
v.使协调,使调和( coordinate的现在分词 );协调;协同;成为同等 | |
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2 contraction | |
n.缩略词,缩写式,害病 | |
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3 contractions | |
n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 );缩减;缩略词;(分娩时)子宫收缩 | |
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4 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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5 lining | |
n.衬里,衬料 | |
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6 enzymes | |
n. 酶,酵素 | |
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7 intestine | |
adj.内部的;国内的;n.肠 | |
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8 gut | |
n.[pl.]胆量;内脏;adj.本能的;vt.取出内脏 | |
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9 workforce | |
n.劳动大军,劳动力 | |
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10 remarkably | |
ad.不同寻常地,相当地 | |
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11 twitch | |
v.急拉,抽动,痉挛,抽搐;n.扯,阵痛,痉挛 | |
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12 membranous | |
adj.膜的,膜状的 | |
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13 conjugated | |
adj.共轭的,成对的v.列出(动词的)变化形式( conjugate的过去式和过去分词 );结合,联合,熔化 | |
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14 catalysts | |
n.催化剂( catalyst的名词复数 );触媒;促进因素;有感染力的人 | |
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