英语听力文摘 English Digest 100、婴儿睡觉时体重在增加吗？

　　Most people who hold babies know that the moment babies go to sleep, they seem to gain weight. Of course, a baby’s weight doesn’t really change when they fall asleep, so why does the limp, floppy¹ weight of a sleeping baby seem greater than it actually is?
A sleeping baby in your arms feels heavier because you must constantly adjust your own movements to compensate² for their floppiness³. Your muscles work harder to carry a child who’s asleep, and your brain perceives this increase in work as an increase in the child’s weight, though, of course, the weight of the baby stays the same.
To picture this, think about carrying a twenty-pound bag of water. You would continually have to rearrange how you were holding that bag to make up for how the weight shifted due to the water sloshing around.
In a similar way, you must continually adjust how you are holding or carrying a sleeping baby because they aren’t able to control their own muscles to maintain a steady posture⁴. Their inability to control their posture and movements makes them floppy, just like that bag of water.
Now, freeze your twenty-pound bag of water. Though it would be cold and slippery, it would feel lighter⁵ because it is a solid weight that doesn’t require you to constantly make minute adjustments in order to carry it. This is how you perceive the weight of a conscious person.
Babies aren’t the only ones who seem heavier when they go limp. Dogs and cats also seem to gain weight when they go to sleep. And political protesters take advantage of this phenomenon by completely relaxing their muscles when police try to drag them away from a protest.
limp:无精神的
floppy:松软的
slippery:滑的

1 floppy   

adj.松软的，衰弱的

参考例句：

• She was wearing a big floppy hat.她戴了顶松软的大帽子。
• Can you copy those files onto this floppy disk?你能把那些文件复制到这张软盘上吗？

2 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

3 floppiness   

松弛

参考例句：

4 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

5 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。