听力文摘：骨质疏松症

Osteoporosis

骨质疏松症

Today’s word is: osteoporosis!

今天的词是：骨质疏松症！

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?

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？

The answer is straight-forward. It comes down to the fact that we human beings need calcium¹ 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 evolutionary² history?

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？

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 gland³ can activate⁴ a process by which calcium is taken from the skeleton and put back into the blood.

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。

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 brittle⁵.

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。

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 intestine⁶ to increase its calciumuptake, bypassing the need to grab extra from the bones. Under a doctor’s supervision⁷, 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 prey⁸ to the body’s own mechanisms⁹ in later age.

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。

1 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

6 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。

7 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

8 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。

9 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》