纪录片《饮食变迁》 第34期:下丘脑控制食欲

Sven is only this slim

斯文保持如此的身材

because of enormous¹ efforts

是因为他的家庭与医生

on the part of his family and his doctor.

付出了巨大的努力

What happened was that the operation to remove the tumour²

肿瘤摘除手术

somehow damaged his hypothalamus,

伤害到了他的下丘脑

an important nerve³ centre in the brain.

一个大脑中重要的神经中枢

Damage to his hypothalamus is

他的饮食习惯

what changed his eating behaviour.

因下丘脑的破坏而改变

Actually, we know that patients who have this tumour,

实际上 有这种肿瘤的病人

they don't die because of the tumour.

通常不会死于这种肿瘤

Most of them die because of the overweight that they develop.

而是死于由此引发的肥胖问题

Something in Sven's hypothalamus had to be keeping him hungry.

斯文下丘脑中的某些物质让他一直饥饿

Scientists knew that the hypothalamus

科学家知道 下丘脑

was involved in switching the appetite on and off.

与调控食欲有关

But decades of research had

但是几十年的研究并没有

brought them no closer to knowing exactly how.

让他们得知具体的调节原理

Then along came a big fat clue.

接下来的事 为此提供了重要线索

From the day it was born, this mouse had never stopped eating.

从出生那天起 这只老鼠从未停止进食

Researchers spent ten years

科学家花了十年的时间来

comparing this mutant mouse with other thin mice.

将这只基因突变的老鼠和其它瘦老鼠对比

And unexpectedly⁴, they found

出乎意料地 他们在

the answer in the fat cells of the thin mouse.

瘦老鼠的脂肪细胞中找到了答案

1 enormous   

adj.巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。

2 tumour   

n.(tumor)(肿)瘤，肿块

参考例句：

• The surgeons operated on her for a tumour.外科医生为她施行了肿瘤切除手术。
• The tumour constricts the nerves.肿瘤压迫神经。

3 nerve   

n.神经；勇气，胆量，沉着，果断

参考例句：

• Did he have the nerve to say that?他竟有脸说这话吗？
• He never got up enough nerve to meet me.他从没有足够的胆量来见我。

4 unexpectedly   

adv.未料到地，意外地；竟；居然；骤然

参考例句：

• The volcano unexpectedly blew up early in the morning. 火山一早突然爆发了。
• I had just put the dinner on when Jim walked in unexpectedly. 我刚把晚饭摆上桌，吉姆突然走进来。