字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：Spaceflight Squishes Spacefarers' Brains / 宇航員的大腦變化

洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
 康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voa…/2017/20170220sa_health.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，
康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

中英文稿：
Time spent in zero G changes the body: Astronauts come home with bone loss and muscle weakness. But what happens in their heads? To find out, researchers examined MRI’s of astronauts’ brains taken before and after flight. They looked at 12 astronauts who spent two weeks on the shuttle crew and 14 who spent half a year on the International Space Station.
長時間處於零重力會使軀體發生變化：從太空歸來的宇航員會出現骨質疏鬆以及肌無力。但是這些宇航員的腦部會發生何種變化?為了找到答案，研究人員分別對飛行前以及飛行後宇航員的大腦進行了核磁共振成像。研究人員對太空梭組待了兩周的12位宇航員以及在國際空間站停留半年的14位宇航員進行了觀察。

What they saw is that the spacefarers’ gray matter appeared compressed…particularly around the front and sides of the brain and the area around the eyes. That’s probably due to a redistribution of cerebrospinal fluid, which is no longer being pulled down by gravity, the researchers say.
研究人員觀察到的結果是，宇航員的大腦灰質面積減少……尤其是大腦前側以及周圍的區域和眼睛周圍的區域。研究人員表明，這可能是由於沒有重力的推動，腦脊液的再分配出現了問題。

The exception to this compression is in a small area of the brain that controls the feeling in, and movement of, the legs. This region expanded in the astronauts—particularly the ones who spent six months circling the earth.
與大腦灰質面積減少相反的是，控制感覺以及腿部活動的大腦區域發生的變化。在宇航員的頭部，該部分區域擴大——其中環繞地球六個月的宇航員該區域特別明顯。

That change, the researchers say, could reflect the formation of new neural connections as the brain tries to adapt to the weightless conditions. The study is in the Nature partner journal Microgravity.
研究人員表明，這種變化能反應出，由於大腦要適應零重力的環境，所以形成了新的神經聯接。該研究結果發表在《自然》雜誌的合作夥伴《微重力》雜誌上。

The findings could have applications back here on terra firma. For example, we could learn more about treating the brain changes that take place in people who are on extended bed rest, with their feet elevated and thus higher than their heads.
該研究結果可以重新應用在地球上。例如，我們可以更多的瞭解如何治療那些長時間臥床休息、其腳被抬高、高於頭部的人群的大腦變化。

The brain change is yet another thing that future space travelers, like those that may someday head to Mars, should keep in mind. No matter what size that mind may be.
大腦的變化也是未來某一天會去火星的宇航員需要牢記的事項。無論大腦(想法)的大小。