【英语时差8,16】分娩之痛

I’m glad we’re an intelligent species, but boy, that infant head feels mighty¹ large going through that narrow birth canal. And then, after all that, the baby comes out facing down and backwards², which means you’re helpless to assist it, or even to untangle it from the umbilical cord. According to evolutionary³ anthropologists, babies of the earliest humans had a fifty-fifty chance of coming out facing backwards. This was a result of humans learning to walk on two feet. As the pelvis became optimized⁴ for walking, the birth canal developed twists and turns that meant the baby had to rotate in order to keep its head and shoulders aligned⁵ with the widest part at all times. And then our brains got bigger, which meant more twists and turns.And backwards facing babies stupid？ But you know some of the earliest humans learned to compensate⁶ for the difficulty of giving birth by receiving assistance during childbirth, and that made a huge difference in terms of survival. Some anthropologists certainly think so and conjecture⁷ that human females who gave birth to backwards-facing babies, and females who had assistance because they felt particularly anxious about the birth, ended up doing better than females who didn’t. After all, if problems arise during labor⁸, having another person around can make the difference between life and death.

1 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

2 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

3 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。

4 optimized   

adj.最佳化的，（使）最优化的v.使最优化，使尽可能有效( optimize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We are often asked whether consumer Web sites should be optimized for beginners or intermediates. 我们常常被问到这样的问题：消费类网站究竟应该为新手而优化，还是应该为中间用户而优化？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• GOOGLE Advertising optimized sequence, greatly increasing the advertising effect. 优化了GOOGLE广告位排列顺序，大大增加了广告效果。 来自互联网

5 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

6 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。

7 conjecture   

n./v.推测，猜测

参考例句：

• She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
• This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。