新奇事件簿 压力会导致灰发

Scientists have discovered that stress is one factor in turning our hair grey, white or silver - at least, in mice.

科学家发现压力是导致头发变灰、变白或变银的一个因素——至少在老鼠身上是这样。

Stem cell biologists from Harvard University in the USA

来自美国哈佛大学的干细胞生物学家

conducted a series of tests on mice to ascertain¹ the effects of stress on the rodents².

在老鼠身上进行了一系列实验，以确定压力对老鼠的影响。

The scientists injected the mice with an ingredient found in chili³ peppers that gives them their heat.

科学家给老鼠体内注射了一种红辣椒成分，这种成分可以给老鼠提供热量。

The compound made the mice stressed.

这种化合物使老鼠感到紧张。

This caused a hair-colouring pigment⁴ in the mice to go into overdrive as a reaction to the stress and deplete⁵ colour-regenerating stem cells.

作为对压力的反应，老鼠体内的一种染发色素进入过度兴奋状态并耗尽了颜色再生的干细胞。

This caused the mice's hair to rapidly turn white.

这导致老鼠的毛发迅速变白。

Lead researcher, Professor Ya-Chieh Hsu, said: "The detrimental⁶ impact of stress that we discovered was beyond what I imagined."

首席研究员Ya-Chieh Hsu教授表示：“我们所发现的压力的有害影响超出了我的想象。”

People have wondered for centuries about the link between stress and greying hair.

几世纪以来，人们一直到想知道压力和灰发之间的联系。

It is believed that France's Queen Marie Antoinette's hair turned white the night

据悉，在十八世纪晚期法国大革命期间，法国玛丽·安托瓦内特王后

before she was beheaded during the French Revolution in the late-eighteenth century.

在被斩首的前一天晚上，一夜白头。

More recently, we have witnessed the locks of presidents and other world leaders quickly lose colour.

最近，我们看到总统和其他世界领导人的头发很快就变白了。

The strains of leadership seem to go to the roots of things, especially hair follicles.

领导力的紧张似乎深入到事物的根源，尤其是毛囊。

Professor Hsu said the loss of the pigment-regenerating stem cells cannot be reversed.

Hsu教授表示色素再生干细胞的损失是无法逆转的。

She said: "Once they're gone, you can't regenerate⁷ pigment any more. The damage is permanent."

她说到：“一旦消失，你的色素细胞就无法再生。这种损害是永久的。”

Worryingly, she hypothesised that stress could be responsible for accelerating the aging process.

令人担忧的是，她假定压力可能是加速衰老过程的原因。

1 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

2 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

3 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

4 pigment   

n.天然色素，干粉颜料

参考例句：

• The Romans used natural pigments on their fabrics and walls.古罗马人在织物和墙壁上使用天然颜料。
• Who thought he might know what the skin pigment phenomenon meant.他自认为可能知道皮肤色素出现这种现象到底是怎么回事。

5 deplete   

v.弄空，排除，减轻，减少...体液，放去...的血

参考例句：

• Most native mammal species have been severely depleted.大多数本地哺乳动物的数量都已经大大减少了。
• Elastic collisions deplete very little of the electron's energy.弹性碰撞中电子减少的能量非常少。

6 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

7 regenerate   

vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的

参考例句：

• Their aim is to regenerate British industry.他们的目的是复兴英国的工业。
• Although it is not easy,you have the power to regenerate your life.尽管这不容易，但你有使生活重获新生的能力。