听力文摘：有三个心脏的家伙

You Gotta Have Hearts

你必须得有的心脏

When it comes to weird¹ sea-creatures, octopuses³ are hard to beat. There's the well-known ink-squirting defense⁴ system, the bird-like beak⁵, and the eight tentacles⁶ with their double rows of suckers.

说到怪异的海洋生物，那就的非章鱼莫属了。因为他们有闻名的喷墨防御系统，有像鸟儿一样的嘴巴，以及八条带着两行吸盘的触角。

What's less well known is that octopuses have more than one heart. They have three, to be exact, each one crucial to maintaining the robust⁷ blood pressure that allows octopuses to be active hunters and powerful swimmers.

没那个为人所知晓的是，章鱼不只有一个心脏。确切的说，它们有三个！每一个对于章鱼拥有强健的血压都至关重要，因为它们能让章鱼成为敏捷的猎手，成为游泳健将。

Human hearts have two main jobs. One is to pump blood to the lungs, where it dumps carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen. The second is to distribute freshly oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

人类的心脏有两大功能。一是将血泵到肺中（肺是排除二氧化碳，吸收氧气的地方）；二则是将新鲜的含有氧气的血液传输到身体的其它部位。

Making sure enough blood gets to the lungs is so important, in fact, that two of the human heart's four chambers⁸ are reserved solely⁹ for that task.

事实上，确保有足够的血进入肺部是很重要的，而这个任务是由人类心脏的4个腔中有两个来单独完成的。

Octopus² hearts solve the circulation problem a bit differently. They have one main heart, called the systemic heart, and two smaller hearts located near their gills. The two smaller hearts perform the same task as the right side of the human heart.

章鱼的心脏解决这个（血液）循环问题就有点不一样了。它们有一个主心脏叫系统心脏，还有两个心脏要小点且位于腮附近。这两个小点的心脏（的功能）就跟人心脏的右边部分功能是一样的。

They pump blood to the gills where it dumps waste and loads up on oxygen, then pump the oxygen-rich blood back to the main heart. The main heart then pumps the refreshed blood through the octopus's body.

它们将血泵到排除废物收集二氧化碳的腮里，在将含有丰富氧气的血液泵回到主心脏。主心脏接着就会将焕然一新的血液泵到章鱼的身体。

Besides having three hearts, the octopus circulatory system differs from the human system in one other way. Human blood contains the protein hemoglobin, which helps it absorb oxygen and causes its red color. The blood coursing through the three hearts of the octopus is blue, thanks to a different protein called hemocyanin.

除了有三个心脏外，章鱼的循环系统在另一方面也和人类的不一样。人类的血液含有含蛋白质的血红蛋白，它会帮助吸收氧气，并使血液呈红色。血液流经章鱼的三个心脏就成了蓝色，这多亏了一种叫血蓝蛋白的蛋白质。

Octopuses are rather shy, so despite their blue blood they are not exactly kings of the sea. But there's no denying that they've got a lot of heart.

章鱼是很害羞的，所以尽管它们有蓝色血液，却并不能使之成为真正的海洋之王。但毫无疑问它们是“太有心”了！

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

3 octopuses   

章鱼( octopus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snails and octopuses are molluscs. 蜗牛和章鱼是软体动物。
• Limpets, snails and octopuses are mollusks. 帽贝、蜗牛和章鱼都是软体动物。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

6 tentacles   

n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛

参考例句：

• Tentacles of fear closed around her body. 恐惧的阴影笼罩着她。
• Many molluscs have tentacles. 很多软体动物有触角。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

8 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

9 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。