时间:2019-02-16 作者:英语课 分类:英语听力文摘 English Digest


英语课

  Most people who hold babies know that the moment babies go to sleep, they seem to gain weight. Of course, a baby’s weight doesn’t really change when they fall asleep, so why does the limp, floppy 1 weight of a sleeping baby seem greater than it actually is?

A sleeping baby in your arms feels heavier because you must constantly adjust your own movements to compensate 2 for their floppiness 3. Your muscles work harder to carry a child who’s asleep, and your brain perceives this increase in work as an increase in the child’s weight, though, of course, the weight of the baby stays the same.

To picture this, think about carrying a twenty-pound bag of water. You would continually have to rearrange how you were holding that bag to make up for how the weight shifted due to the water sloshing around.

In a similar way, you must continually adjust how you are holding or carrying a sleeping baby because they aren’t able to control their own muscles to maintain a steady posture 4. Their inability to control their posture and movements makes them floppy, just like that bag of water.

Now, freeze your twenty-pound bag of water. Though it would be cold and slippery, it would feel lighter 5 because it is a solid weight that doesn’t require you to constantly make minute adjustments in order to carry it. This is how you perceive the weight of a conscious person.

Babies aren’t the only ones who seem heavier when they go limp. Dogs and cats also seem to gain weight when they go to sleep. And political protesters take advantage of this phenomenon by completely relaxing their muscles when police try to drag them away from a protest.

limp:无精神的

floppy:松软的

slippery:滑的



adj.松软的,衰弱的
  • She was wearing a big floppy hat.她戴了顶松软的大帽子。
  • Can you copy those files onto this floppy disk?你能把那些文件复制到这张软盘上吗?
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消
  • 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。
n.姿势,姿态,心态,态度;v.作出某种姿势
  • The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
  • He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣,摆出一副打架的架势。
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级
  • The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色,色调明朗了一些。
  • The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。
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acarological
Adepril
afro-marxist
AH-5158
Angelo R.
antarctic treaty party (atp)
Antiochus II Theos
aquatic ambulance car
autokinetic movement
azo-bordeaux
bagram
BBMV
Bethune
Biakété
bit spudding
booza
bracamonte
bractiform
burgaw
censoriously
cerussite
closed sequential scheme
compiled map
condensin
coprinus patouillardii
Corydalis taipaishanica
cost of other operating revenues
cryomedicine
cuoger telegram
discernment
divergent prism
donated account
error monitor
evidence rebutting an assertion
explosive charge
f-u-n
federal-funds
ferrugo
fever of children accompanied by fear
floribundine
francisella tularenses
functional pain
geonymy
grumps
Hedyotis hispida
high water level of spring tide
Hyperglycerolemia
influx angle
inside drill
invariant differential equation
irradiance ratio
Kueichouphyllum
lariviere
Lathyrus davidii
legality of the adventure
line drip signal
mad-dogged
maintenance after failure
massifies
Meyer's tests
minimum expected loss
nayim
normal moveout
norman
overnight
partial antigen
phase stability area diagram
pickup potentiometer
piece work programming
plane of disruption
polar glaciology
polyethylenimine
polygonal path
population exposure
powdered glue for wall paper
pressure-jet burner
pretiously
procurement division
pull.out
r.s.c
re-syntheses
reactive output
reactive step motor
residual anomaly
scattered refueling
segregated ballast tank
semifit
shavell
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sieve compartment
social thinking science
Stylovinidae
teetertottered
TESA
the sacred heart
thoriated filament
threshold luminescence
Traffic analysis.
Tuber melanosporum
underreporting nonsampling errors
vitruvian scroll
Zil lane