【英语时差8,16】我们的心脏

 At the heart of the matter;" "she has such a big heart." English is full of such phrases that use the word heart.  

 

All of them stress the importance of the heart, and rightfully so since it is the most important organ we have--without it nothing in the body will work.

 

The heart is a muscle the size of your fist that's located in the center of the chest behind the breast-bone, or sternum. We generally say the heart is on the left side of the chest because about two-thirds of its mass is to the left of the sternum. Although it is often referred to as the seat of the emotions, its function really is to pump blood through the body.

 

The heart is two pumps in one: one on the right side, the other on the left side of the heart. The right side takes in blood from the body, and pumps it to the lungs. There the blood releases¹ carbon dioxide, and picks up oxygen. Then the left side of the heart receives the oxygen-rich blood back from the lungs and pumps it out to the rest of the body.

 

The familiar "lubb-dupp" sound of the heart is caused by valves² closing. There are four chambers³ in the heart, two atria which receive blood, and two ventricles which pump blood out of the heart. In these chambers there are four valves that regulate⁴ the flow of blood into and out of the heart.

 

When the ventricles contract to pump, two valves close; this makes the first sound. When the ventricles relax the other two valves close; this makes the second sound.

 

Repeating its "lubb-dupp" cycle over and over the heart pumps about nineteen-hundred gallons a day, at the rate of about five quarts a minute, for eighty years or more

 

1 releases   

v.释放( release的第三人称单数 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• Nuclear fission releases tremendous amounts of energy. 核裂变释放出巨大的能量。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Zemel says that when calcium levels are low, the body releases a hormone that helps squeeze the most out of every available milligram of the mineral. 泽莫尔博士说，当人体中的钙含量偏低时，身体里就会产生一种荷尔蒙，它能帮助肌体最大限度地吸收所摄入的钙。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 valves   

n.阀( valve的名词复数 )；真空管；（管乐器的）活栓；（心脏的）瓣膜

参考例句：

• The heart has valves to let blood flow in and out of it. 心脏有瓣膜控制血液流进流出。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The engineering gang fell earnestly to work on jammed valves. 轮机组都起劲地埋头修理堵塞的阀门。 来自辞典例句

3 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

4 regulate   

vt.管理，控制，调节，调校，调整

参考例句：

• This system can regulate the temperature of the room.这种系统能调节室内温度。
• They regulate the flow of water by the sluice gate.他们用水闸门控制水的流量。