英语听力文摘 English Digest 353、骨质疏松症

Osteoporosis
骨质疏松症

 

Today’s word is: osteoporosis!

Yep, osteoporosis. Now, you’ve heard this word before, and you know it has something to do with bones. But can you actually explain what it is?

The answer is straight-forward. It comes down to the fact that we human beings need calcium in our blood–it allows us to do all sorts of neat things, from contracting muscles to conducting nerve impulses. Where to get some calcium? Food is a good idea. But what if there isn’t always calcium-rich food to be had, as was probably the case for most of our long evolutionary¹ history?

Best to store some for a rainy day. Store it where? The skeleton works! Then, when the blood runs low on calcium, a signaling device called the parathyroid gland² can activate³ a process by which calcium is taken from the skeleton and put back into the blood.

Which is just what happens. This is a great short-term fix, but what about the poor skeleton? Eventually it will suffer from the loss of its own calcium–bones will become brittle.

What can we do? Two things. Help your body get more calcium by eating fatty fish and vitamin-D rich dairy products. Why vitamin D? Because that causes the small intestine⁴ to increase its calciumuptake, bypassing the need to grab extra from the bones. Under a doctor’s supervision, calcium tablets might also be helpful, along with the old standard–more exercise. Weight-bearing exercise helps keep bones strong and less likely to fall prey⁵ to the body’s own mechanisms⁶ in later age.

 

今天的词是：骨质疏松症！

是的，骨质疏松症。你以前听说过这个词，也知道它与骨头有关，但是你能解释它到底是什么吗？

答案很简单。它可以归结为一个事实，人类的血液里必须有钙，那样我们才能做各种事情，从收缩肌肉到神经冲动。钙从哪儿来呢？食物是不错的主意，但如果以后没有含钙丰富的食物，我们的后代应该怎么办？

我们要未雨绸缪，但是要储存在哪儿呢？骨骼上。那么，当流动的血液中钙含量过低，一个叫做甲状旁腺的发信号装置就会激活一个流程，致使骨骼中的钙流失到血液里。

那就是会发生的。这只是一种短期的修复，但是可怜骨骼怎么办呢？最后就会因缺钙，骨头会变得脆弱。

我们能做些什么？两件事。多吃富含脂肪的鱼和含有丰富维生素D的乳制品，帮助身体得到更多的钙。为什么是维生素D呢？因为它会使小肠增加它的钙摄取量，就不需要从骨骼中获取。在医生的监督下，钙片也可能是有用的，同时要多做运动。负重运动能够使骨骼强壮，在老年时期就不会为人体自身机制所折磨。
 

 Notes:

fall prey to    成为 ... 的牺牲品, 深受 ... 之害

例句:
The zebra fell prey to the lion.  
那斑马被狮子捕食。
 

 

1 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

2 gland   

n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖

参考例句：

• This is a snake's poison gland.这就是蛇的毒腺。
• Her mother has an underactive adrenal gland.她的母亲肾上腺机能不全。

3 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

4 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

5 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

6 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》