VOA慢速英语2009年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Swearing as Pain Rel

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week, we will tell about new concerns about the H1N1 virus. We will also tell about a study of socially unacceptable words. And we will report on the recovery of what archeologists are calling the oldest musical instrument ever found.

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VOICE ONE:

Governments around the world have been taking steps to guard against the H1N1 influenza¹ virus, commonly known as swine flu. Health officials say the virus is especially risky² for pregnant³ women. If they become infected, especially after the first three months of pregnancy⁴, they can get very sick or even die.

Pregnant women face an increased risk even during outbreaks, or periods, of seasonal⁵ influenza. But the H1N1 flu has been affecting a younger age group than seasonal flu epidemics⁶.

VOICE TWO:
　
A pregnant woman receiving a seasonal flu shot in Dallas, Texas

The World Health Organization says pregnant women should take the antiviral drug Tamiflu as soon as possible after they show signs of being sick. The drug is also called oseltamivir.

The W.H.O. says treatment should begin immediately and not wait for the results of laboratory tests. The effects are greatest when given within forty-eight hours. But experts say the medicine could still do some good even if there is a delay.

VOICE ONE:

Since April, more than one thousand deaths have been reported from the H1N1 virus. But the virus has yet to show itself to be more severe than seasonal flu.

The World Health Organization has predicted that the virus will infect at least two billion people in the next two years. The WHO's Director-General, Margaret Chan, has expressed concern there is not a good process in place to produce enough vaccine⁷ against the virus.

VOICE TWO:

In the United States, there are now policies for the use of H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available. An advisory⁸ committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are five groups that should be vaccinated⁹ first.

These include pregnant women and people who live with or care for children younger than six months. They also include workers in health care and emergency services, and people between six months and twenty-four years of age.

The fifth group on the list is people twenty-five to sixty-four with chronic¹⁰, or long-lasting, health problems.

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VOICE ONE:

Dirty language. Curse words. Profanity. Swearing. These are all ways of describing words people consider socially unacceptable. But such words are commonly said after a painful injury. So, do they serve a purpose in reducing physical pain? That is what researchers at Keele University in Britain set out to discover.

Psychologist Richard Stephens wondered if using curse words truly helped people experiencing physical pain. To test the theory, he asked more than sixty college students to take part in an experiment.

VOICE TWO:

The students were asked to write down five words they might say after hitting their finger with a hammer. One of the words was chosen as their swear word. The students were also asked to choose five words they might use to describe another object: a table. These words were their control words.

The students were then asked to hold their hand in cold water for as long as they could. While holding their hand underwater, they were asked to repeat a swear word. Then they repeated the experiment using their control word instead.

VOICE ONE:

The researchers found a link between swearing and an increased ability to deal with pain. When students repeated a swear word, they were able to hold their hand longer in the cold water. On average, students using swear words were able to keep their hand in the water for about two minutes. Those using control words removed their hands after about one minute fifteen seconds. In addition, those using swear words said they experienced less pain than those who used control words.

The experiment showed that swearing caused people's heart rate to increase. It also found interesting differences between men and women. The heart rate of both men and women increased. Yet swearing had a greater effect on the women.

Researchers believe the increase in heart rate might demonstrate what they call the fight or flight response. They say this permits the body to experience or ignore pain better.

The results of the study were published in the journal NeuroReport.

VOICE TWO:

It is unclear to scientists exactly how swearing affects physical reactions to pain. Professor Stephens believes that swearing activates¹¹ a different part of the brain than normal language. He says more experiments on different kinds of pain are needed to better understand the effect of swearing.

The researchers note that swear words have existed for hundreds of years. They say their findings offer one reason why the custom of cursing may have continued for so long. Swear words are said with emotion. For that reason, says Mister Stephens, the more someone swears, the less of an effect the words have.

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VOICE ONE:

Finally, archeologists in Germany say they have recovered the oldest and most complete handmade musical instrument ever found. Tests show the instrument, a flute¹², is at least thirty-five thousand years old. The archeologists say its discovery helps show that early modern human beings in Europe had a complex and creative culture.

Art seems to have been important to these early humans. In recent years, the archeologists found examples of finely-cut statues in the same area as the flute.

Nicholas Conard from the University of Tubingen led the team of researchers. The team published its findings in Nature magazine.

VOICE TWO:
　
Bone flute from Hohle Fels

The researchers made their discoveries last year in two caves in southwestern Germany. The researchers say they found one nearly complete flute made out of bones from a bird -- the griffon vulture. They also found small pieces of three flutes¹³ made from ivory¹⁴.

Scientists agree that musical instruments are a sign of fully¹⁵ modern behavior and a complex form of communication. But they continue to debate the early evidence of music because few archeological objects exist to prove how music developed and spread. The group of now extinct¹⁶ humans known as Neanderthals did not leave clear evidence of being musical. But modern humans, or Homo sapiens, did.

VOICE ONE:

The bone flute is about twenty one centimeters long. The researchers estimate that, when it was complete, it measured about thirty-four centimeters. The flute has five finger holes.

Scientists can predict how this instrument might have sounded by studying a copy of a smaller bird bone flute found several years ago in the same area.

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This smaller flute has three finger holes and produces four main musical notes. By blowing sharply¹⁷ into the smaller flute, a player can make three more overtones. The researchers estimate that the five-hole flute would produce an even wider mix of notes.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Conard and his team also found broken pieces of three ivory flutes. They say the technology for making flutes out of ivory is much more complex than for making one out of bone. And, the professor suspects that early humans liked ivory flutes more because the instruments produced a deeper, richer sound. These flutes were cut from the naturally curved area of ivory from an animal -- the mammoth¹⁸.

Archeologists are able to estimate the age of these objects by dividing layers of dirt into time periods. The area where the flutes were found has been linked to the Aurignacian culture within the period of history known as the Upper Paleolithic. The Aurignacian culture began about forty thousand years ago and ended about twenty-eight thousand years ago.

VOICE ONE:

Radiocarbon test results from two laboratories show that the flutes are over thirty-five thousand years old. The people who used them were some of the first populations to arrive in and settle in Europe.

From this find and others made in the area, the researchers believe that music was important in the Aurignacian culture of southwestern Germany.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Dana Demange, Caty Weaver¹⁹ and Brianna Blake, who also was our producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

2 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

3 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

5 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

6 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

7 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

8 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

9 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

10 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

11 activates   

使活动，起动，触发( activate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Activates the window and displays it in its current size and position. 激活窗口，保持当前的大小及位置不变。
• Pulling out the alarm switch activates alarm and pushing it deactivates it. 闹钟的开和关是通过拔出和按入闹铃开关实现的。

12 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

13 flutes   

长笛( flute的名词复数 )； 细长香槟杯（形似长笛）

参考例句：

• The melody is then taken up by the flutes. 接着由长笛奏主旋律。
• These flutes have 6open holes and a lovely bright sound. 笛子有6个吹气孔，奏出的声音响亮清脆。

14 ivory   

n.象牙，乳白色；adj.象牙制的，乳白色的

参考例句：

• My grandmother has some jewelry made of ivory.我祖母有一些象牙首饰。
• It is carved from ivory.它是用象牙雕成的。

15 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

16 extinct   

adj.灭绝的，不再活跃的，熄灭了的，已废弃的

参考例句：

• All hopes were extinct.所有希望都破灭了。
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。

17 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

18 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

19 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。