欧美人天生爱吃汉堡由基因决定

欧美人天生爱吃汉堡由基因决定 欧美人天生爱吃汉堡 由基因决定 发布: 2011-8-03 08:58 作者: 国际在线 来源: 国际在线 查看: 0次【字体:变小 变大】 TAG: 休闲阅读 基因 轻松英语 轻松阅读 Our frozen ancestors of the Ice Age needed plenty of fat in their diets to keep warm – and it seems we might still be carrying their genetic torch。 在遥远而又寒冷的冰河时期，我们的祖先需要从食物中获取大量的脂肪，以用来保持温暖，不过生活在现代社会的人们似乎依旧继承者祖先们的这一。遗传 基因 For British scientists have discovered a DNA switch in the brain that they believe makes Europeans far more likely to binge on fatty food than those living in the East。 最近，英国的科学家们通过研究发现，人体大脑中的某种DNA作用之下，与生活在东方的人们相比，欧洲人更加热衷于高脂肪高热量的食物。 The researchers from Aberdeen University made their discovery after comparing the DNA of people with the genetic code of birds and mice。 英国阿伯丁大学的研究者们将人体的DNA与鸟类和鼠类的遗传代码进行比较之后，提出了这一发现。 They found a switch – a piece of DNA that turns genes on or off within cells – which controls the galanin gene。 他们发现了在细胞内部的一种―开关‖——一段DNA片段，它的―开启‖和―关闭‖直接控制着促生长激素神经肽基因。 This gene is switched on in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus and regulates appetite and thirst。 这种基因可以―开启‖人体大脑中被称为下丘脑的区域，并且调节食欲和是否口渴等感受。 The switch comes in different varieties. A weaker version was found in 16 per cent of Europeans – compared with 30 per cent of Asians studied。 不过这种―开关‖效应的强弱在不同人群的身上是有差别的。研究发现，有百分之十六的欧洲人身上发现了这种效果并不明显，而在亚洲人身上则有百分之三十的体现。 Dr Alasdair MacKenzie, who led the study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, said: ?The switch controls the area of the brain which allows us to select which foods we would like to eat and if it is turned on too strongly we are more likely to crave fatty foods。 主要这项研究的Alasdair MacKenzie博士说:―这项?开关‘控制着大脑的某个区域，这个区域让我们选择了自己喜欢吃的食物，如果?开关‘开启过于强烈，我们则更倾向于喜爱高热量高脂肪的食物。‖ ?The fact that the weaker switch is found more frequently in Asians compared with Europeans suggests they are less inclined to select such options。 ―事实上，与欧洲人相比，亚洲人的?开关‘效果体现更弱一些，这也就导致他们对于食物的选择。‖ ?These results give us a glimpse into early European life. A preference for food with a higher fat content would have been important for survival。 ―这些研究结果给我们提供了一个机会，一窥早期欧洲人的生活状态。在食物方面，高脂肪含量的食物是生存的重要保障。‖ 'The negative effects of fat and alcohol we see today would not have mattered so much then as life expectancies were between 30 and 40 years.' ―我们今天所看到的高脂肪和酗酒所导致的副作用可能在当时并不是一个问题，因为当时人类的寿命仅仅是在三十到四十岁之间。‖ The researchers say the study could pave the way for obesity treatments。 ―研究者称，研究结果能够为我们提供治疗肥胖症新的方法。‖ 上一篇文章 | 下一篇文章 北漂搬家不再愁 装进箱子里的家问世 发布: 2011-8-03 08:59 作者: 国际在线 来源: 国际在线 查看: 0次【字体:变小 变大】 TAG: 休闲阅读 轻松英语 轻松阅读 The room in a box: A crate idea that cuts moving time and storage in half 箱子里空间:一个很有创意的想法即能缩短移动的时间并且只需要一般的储存空间。 Magicians are famous for their use of boxes, from sawing their lovely assistants in half to making themselves disappear。 魔术师最有名的就是使用他们的箱子，拒掉一半他们可爱的助手的身体，自己也会消失。 But it may not take a magician or sorcery to furnish a room with just a box。 但是仅仅依靠一个魔术师或者一种巫术去用一个箱子来装饰房间大概是不可能的吧。 The Casulo is the brainchild of German designers Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlh?user。 Casulo是德国设计师Marcel Krings和Sebastian Mühlh?user的心血结晶。 The design duo came published the idea in 2007 in their dissertation at the K?ln International School of Design in Cologne。 这个设计想法在2007年发表于他们在德国科隆的科隆国际设计学院中的论文里。 Calling it 'a new concept for mobile living,' they named their design Casulo, the Portuguese word for 'cocoon.' 他们称之为―移动生活的新概念‖，他们把这个设计命名为Casulo，葡萄牙语里的意思是茧。 The Casulo contains everything needed for a bedroom: the bed, a desk, shelves an armoire, and several units of storage。 Casulo包括了卧室里需要的各种东西:一间卧室的床，一张桌，书架一个衣橱以及一些储物柜。 It was designed with the goal easing the more frustrating phases of moving - time, transport and reassembling furniture。 它被设计的理念在于减轻每个阶段移动的痛苦之处，时间，运输，并且可以重组这些家具。 The developers promise that no tools are necessary for breaking down or reassembling the Casulo, making it as easy to move in as it is to move out。 发明者承诺，不需要任何的工具来拆卸或者重组Casulo，它移动起来非常方便，搬进搬出都很方便。 From inside the box to a fully-furnished room, the job can be done in about seven minutes, as demonstrations show。 从这个箱子里面就可以得到一个设施齐全的房间，这项工作只需要七分钟就可以搞定，就像在做表演一样。 It can also store all of your bedroom furniture, in a fraction of the space。 同时它还可以储存你卧室里的所有的家具，而这仅仅只需要一点点空间。 Moving the Casulo, however, might be at least a two-person job, as each box weighs about 375 pounds。 但是移动Casulo可能需要至少两个人来做，因为每个小盒子重达375磅。 But manufacturers are aiming to bring the weight down to 330 pounds。 但是开发商还在努力将重量下降到330磅。 The Casulo is not yet available in stores, but the team of Krings and Mühlh?user is in talks to get it into production。 Casulo在商店里还未开始出售，但是Krings and Mühlh?user的团队已经在准备将其投入生产了。 经典古希腊神话中英双语(44):回声 发布: 2011-8-03 10:11 作者: Internet 来源: Internet 查看: 0次【字体:变小 变大】 Echo Echo was a nymph who talked too much(She was very fond of having the last words(One day she sPoke rudely to the great Hera，who said that for this offenceEcho should never use her voice again，unless to repeat what she hadjust heard，but since she was very fond of last words，she might repeat the last words of others(This was almost as bad as if Hera had changed her into a parrot(Echo was very much ashamed，and hid herself in the forest( Narcissus，a young man who had hair as yellow as gold an deyes as blue as the sky，——a very rare thing in Greece，where most people were very dark，——used to hunt in the forest where Echo was hiding(As she was looking out shyly from somecave or from behind a great tree，Echo often saw Narcissus，andshe admired him very much( One say Narcissus became separated from his friends，andhearing something rustle among the leaves，he called out，―Who's here,‖ ―Here，‖ answered Echo( ―Here I am(Come～‖said Narcissus. ―I am come，‖ said Echo;and，as she spoke，she came outfrom among the trees( When Narcissus saw a stranger， instead of one of his friendsas he had expected，he looked surprised and walked quickly away. After this， Echo never came out and allowed herself to be seen again ，and in time she disappeared till she became only a voice( This voice was heard for many，many years in forests and among mountains，particularly in caves(In their lonely walks，hunters often heard it(Sometimes it repeated the barking of their dogs;sometimes it repeated their own last words(Italways had a strange and sad sound，and seemed to make lonely places more lonely still( 薏姑是个说话太多的女神。她很喜欢重复说过的话。一天，她说话不慎触怒了伟大的赫拉，赫拉就说因为这样，以后薏姑永远不能再讲话，只能重复她刚刚听到的声音，不过既然她那么喜欢重复话，她可以重复别人所说的最后一句话。这个惩罚就像赫拉把她变成鹦鹉一样可怕。薏姑很羞耻就躲在树林里不敢见人。 那西塞斯是个头发像黄金一般黄，眼睛像天空一般蓝的少年——在希腊这是件奇事，因为大部分希腊人皮肤都很黑，——他时常在薏姑躲的林中打猎。当薏姑从洞里或树后胆怯地窥视外面时，她时常看见那西塞斯，很爱慕他。一天，那西塞斯在林里跟他的朋友分手了，突然他听到树叶里有沙沙的声音，他就叫―谁在这里,‖ ―这里，‖薏姑回答。 ―是我，来～‖那西塞斯说。 ―我来了，‖薏姑说，也就跑出树后。 那西塞斯看到出来的并不是他期待的朋友而是一个陌生人，他很惊讶，就很快地走了。 从此以后薏姑没有再露面也不让任何人看到，慢慢地她就消失，只剩下她的声音。 许多年在山间尤其是深洞里都能听到这种声音。猎人们独自在山里走时都能听到，有时候甚至模仿狗叫，有时候则重复猎人叫的后面几个字。它总是带着神奇忧伤的声音，似乎要使孤独的地方更孤单。 解压良方:发泄倾诉不如微笑应对 发布: 2011-7-15 07:45 作者: 英语点津 来源: 英语点津 查看: 308次【字体:变小 变大】 TAG: 休闲阅读 轻松英语 轻松阅读 There are days that leave the best of us feeling worn out and stressed。 But venting your frustrations is the worst thing you can do, according to scientists。 Instead, it is better to 'positively appraise' the cause of your stress with acceptance and humour as these are the most effective copin‎‎g strategies for people dealing with failures。 Researchers from the University of Kent had 149 students keep a diary for between three to 14 days。 Each day, the students detailed their most bothersome failure, the strategies they used to cope with the failure and how they felt at the end of the day。 Their coping strategies included using emotional or instrumental support; self-distraction; denial; religion; venting; substance use; self-blame; and behavioural disengagement。 Of these, using social support; denial; venting; behavioural disengagement; and self-blame coping had negative effects on satisfaction at the end of the day。 The more students used these coping strategies in dealing with the day's most bothersome failure, the less satisfied they felt。 In contrast, positive reframing or trying to see things in a more positive light; acceptance and humour coping had positive effects on satisfaction。 The more students used these coping strategies in dealing with failures, the more satisfied they felt at the end of the day。 Lead researcher Dr Joachim Stoeber believes that the findings will be of significant interest to clinicians, counsellors and anyone working on stress research。 He said: 'The finding that positive reframing was helpful for students high in perfectionist concerns is particularly important because it suggests that even people high in perfectionist concerns, who have a tendency to be dissatisfied no matter what they achieve, are able to experience high levels of satisfaction if they use positive reframing coping when dealing with perceived failures.' 生活中我们总会有感到筋疲力尽、压抑不堪的时候。 但科学家研究发现，发泄你的怨气是最糟糕的方法。 相反，你最好能―积极评估‖压力产生的根源，以接受和幽默的态度来面对，因为这是应对挫败的最有效策略。 肯特大学的研究人员让149名参与调查的学生记日记，为期3天到14天不等。 学生每天记录他们遭遇的最令人懊恼的失败、克服挫折的对策、以及一天结束时的感受。 他们的应对策略包括情感或物质支持、分散注意力、拒不接受、寻求宗教信仰、宣泄、使用药物、自我批评、以及行为解脱。 这些策略中，寻求社会帮助、拒不接受、宣泄、行为解脱、及自我批评会削弱一天结束时的满足感。 受访学生在应对一天中最令人烦恼的挫折时，这些策略使用得越多，他们越是感到不满足。 相比之下，积极地重新规划、尝试以更积极的眼光看待问题、容忍、幽默的处理态度会增加满足感。 学生在应对挫折时，这些策略使用得越多，一天结束时满足感越高。 首席研究员乔安希姆?斯德伯博士认为，该研究结果对临床医生、顾问以及压力研究工作者意义重大。 他说:―积极重新规划法对于极力追求完美的学生有帮助，这一研究结果很重要，因为研究表明，采用积极重新规划法应对可察觉的失败时，即使是完美主义者也能够获得较高的满足感，而通常这类人不管实现了什么，都觉得不满足。‖ 克服消极情绪的最好办 法 发布: 2011-7-26 06:49 作者: Internet 来源: Internet 查看: 233次【字体:变小 变大】 TAG: 休闲阅读 生活贴士 轻松英语 轻松阅读 There are days that leave the best of us feeling worn out and stressed. 生活中我们总会有感到筋疲力尽、压抑不堪的时候。 But venting your frustrations is the worst thing you can do, according to scientists. 但科学家指出，发泄你的怨气是最糟糕的方法。 Instead, it is better to positively appraise the cause of your stress with acceptance and humor as these are the most effective coping strategies for people dealing with failures. 相反的是，最好是以一种认同和幽默的方式积极的评价自身压力产生的原因，因为这是人们应对失败情绪的最有效的策略。 Researchers from the University of Kent had 149 students keep a diary for between three to 14 days. 肯特大学的研究人员让149名参与调查的学生记日记，为期3天到14天不等。 Each day, the students detailed their most bothersome failure, the strategies they used to cope with the failure and how they felt at the end of the day. 每天，学生们都会详细的记录下令人烦恼的挫败，这也是他们处理失败的策略，同时还会详细记录一天结束后的感觉。 Their coping strategies included using emotional or instrumental support; self-distraction; denial; religion; venting; substance use; self-blame; and behavioral disengagement. 他们的应对策略包括:运用情感支持或工具支持;分散自我注意力;拒不承认;宗教;宣泄;物质的使用;自责;行为脱离。 Of these, using social support; denial; venting; behavioral disengagement; and self-blame coping had negative effects on satisfaction at the end of the day. 其中，运用社会支持、拒不承认、宣泄、行为脱离、自责的方式会对每天结束时的满足感有负面的影响。 The more students used these coping strategies in dealing with the day's most bothersome failure, the less satisfied they felt. 越多的学生用这些方式来解决每天的小挫败，他们就越会觉得不满意。 In contrast, positive reframing or trying to see things in a more positive light; acceptance and humor coping had positive effects on satisfaction. 相比之下，积极的重塑或尝试以积极的视角去看待事物、认可和风趣的解决方法对自我满意度会有积极的影响。 The more students used these coping strategies in dealing with failures, the more satisfied they felt at the end of the day. 越多的学生使用这些方法来面对挫折，每天结束时就会越觉得满意。 Lead researcher Dr Joachim Stoeber believes that the findings will be of significant interest to clinicians, counselors and anyone working on stress research. 首席研究员乔安希姆斯德伯博士认为，该研究结果对临床医生、顾问以及压力研究工作者意义重大。 He said: 'The finding that positive reframing was helpful for students high in perfectionist concerns is particularly important because it suggests that even people high in perfectionist concerns, who have a tendency to be dissatisfied no matter what they achieve, are able to experience high levels of satisfaction if they use positive reframing coping when dealing with perceived failures.' 他说:―积极重新规划法对于极力追求完美的学生有帮助，这一研究结果很重要，因为研究表明，采用积极重新规划法应对可察觉的失败时，即使是完美主义者也能够获得较高的满足感，而通常这类人不管实现了什么，都觉得不满足。‖ He added that a helpful recommendation for anyone trying to cope would be to try to find positive aspects in the outcomes they regard as 'failures', and reframe these outcomes in a more positive way - for example, by focusing on what has been achieved, rather than on what has not been achieved. 他补充说，任何人面对这些挫折的一个有益的是在挫败的影响中找到他们认为积极有益的方面，以一种积极地方式去重塑这些结果，例如:将重心放在你获得了什么成就，而不是你没有实现什么成就。 'It's no use ruminating about small failures and setbacks and drag yourself further down,' he said. 他说，纠结于小的挫折和失败是没用的，这回是你自己萎靡不振。 'Instead it is more helpful to try to accept what happened, look for positive aspects and - if it is a small thing - have a laugh about it.' 相反，试图去接受发生的事情会更有益，寻找积极的一面，如果是小事情就微笑而过。 The study is published in the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping. 该研究发表在《焦虑、压力和应对》的期刊上。 This is the VOA Special English Education Report. Surveys of American teenagers find that about half of them do not get enough sleep on school nights. They get an average of sixty to ninety minutes less than experts say they need. One reason for this deficit is biology. Experts say teens are biologically programmed to go to sleep later and wake up later than other age groups. Yet many schools start classes as early as seven in the morning. As a result, many students go to class feeling like sixteen-year-old Danny. He plays two sports, lacrosse and football. He is an active teen -- except in the morning. DANNY: "Getting up in the morning is pretty terrible. I'm just very out of it and tired. And then going to school I'm out of it, and through first and second period I can barely stay awake." Michael Breus is a clinical psychologist with a specialty in sleep disorders. MICHAEL BREUS: "These aren't a bunch of lazy kids -- although, you know, teenagers can of course be lazy. These are children whose biological rhythms, more times than not, are off." Teens, he says, need to sleep eight to nine hours or even nine to ten hours a night. He says sleepy teens can experience a form of depression that could have big effects on their general well-being. It can affect not just their ability in the classroom but also on the sports field and on the road. Michael Breus says any tired driver is dangerous, but especially a teenager with a lack of experience. So what can schools do about sleepy students? The psychologist says one thing they can do is start classes later in the morning. He points to studies showing that students can improve by a full letter grade in their first- and second-period classes. Eric Peterson is the head of St. George's School in the northeastern state of Rhode Island. He wanted to see if a thirty-minute delay would make a difference. It did. He says visits to the health center by tired students decreased by half. Late arrivals to first period fell by a third. And students reported that they were less sleepy during the day. Eric Peterson knows that changing start times is easier at a small, private boarding school like his. But he is hopeful that other schools will find a way. ERIC PETERSON: "In the end, schools ought to do what's the right thing for their students, first and foremost." Patricia Moss, an assistant dean at St. George's School, says students were not the only ones reporting better results. PATRICIA MOSS: "I can say that, anecdotally, virtually all the teachers noticed immediately much more alertness in class, definitely more positive mood. Kids were happier to be there at eight-thirty than they were at eight." And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can read, listen and comment on our programs at 51voa.com. We're also on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty. Reporting by Julie Taboh, adapted by Lawan Davis