美國一項研究顯示，女性通過腋下氣味識別生物性相關信息的能力很可能更強。

　　(1) Researchers found it was difficult to mask underarm odour when a woman was doing the smelling, but quite easy to do so when it was a man.

　　(1)研究人員發現，用其他氣味來蒙蔽女性對腋下氣味的識別是比較困難的。相比之下，男性則更好蒙騙。

　　They speculate that a woman's highly attuned smell radar might help her select a mate.

　　研究人員由此猜測，女性敏銳的嗅覺可能有助于她們選擇適合自己的伴侶。

　　The study, by Philadelphia's Monell Center, appears in Flavour and Fragrance Journal.

　　由費城蒙尼奧研究中心組織的這項研究成果已經在《香料與香味雜志》上發表。

　　In the study, women and men rated the strength of underarm odours, both alone and in conjunction with various fragrances.

　　參與試驗的女性和男性分別用鼻子去聞兩組腋下氣味，一組是獨立的腋下氣味，另一組是腋下氣味與其他多種香味混合而成的氣味。

　　The fragrances were selected to test their ability to block underarm odour through a method known as olfactory cross-adaptation.

　　研究人員利用嗅覺交到主應的方法來測試他們辨別腋下氣味的能力。

　　This occurs when the nose adapts to one odour, and then also becomes less sensitive to a second odour.

　　采用這種測試方法是因為一旦鼻子對第一種氣味適應之后，它對第二種氣味的判斷靈敏度就減弱了。

　　Sniffed alone, the underarm odours smelled equally strong to men and women.

　　當男女在聞獨立腋下氣味的時候，男女的辨別能力旗鼓相當。

　　But when fragrance was introduced, only two of 32 scents successfully blocked underarm odour when women were doing the smelling.

　　但是當腋下氣味中混合了其他香味的時候，32種氣味中只有兩種腋下混合氣味讓女性無法成功識別。

　　In contrast，19 fragrances significantly reduced the strength of underarm odour for men.

　　與之相比，19種腋下提合氣味成功蒙騙了男性的鼻子。

　　Lead researcher Dr Charles Wysocki, a behavioural neuroscientist, said: "Taken together, our studies indicate that human sweat conveys information that is of particular importance to females.

　　研究小組的首席研究員、行為神經科學家查爾斯·維索斯基博士表示，綜合實驗結果，人類汗腺分泌的氣味所傳達的信息對于女性尤為

　　重要。

　　Not only were women better smellers than men, but male odours were harder to block than female odours.

　　不僅女性的嗅覺比男性敏銳，而且男性的體味比女性的更難隔離。

　　Underarm odours from the two sexes did not differ in how strong they smelled. However 19% of the fragrances successfully reduced the strength of male underarm odour, compared to over 50% for the female equivalent.

　　男女腋下體昧的強度其實并無差異。但是，男性香水能有效地減弱男性腋下19%的氣味，而女性香水則能掩蓋超過50%的體味。

　　(2) Dr Leslie Knapp, an expert in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said there were good evolutionary reasons why a woman's ability to detect body odours should be more acute could literally be an effective way to sniff out a suitable mate.

　　(2)劍橋大學生物人類學專家萊斯利-納普博士表示，女性辨別體昧的能力之所以更強是因為進化的原因，因為這樣女性就可以更有效地聞出適合自己的伴侶。

　　She said: "Women perhaps need to be more discriminating when they choose who to mate with to produce offspring, as they invest more than males in the reproductive process.

　　她說:"女性可能在選擇與之生育后代的伴侶時需要更有效地識別能力，所以她們在繁衍過程中具備了優于男性的某種能力。"

　　"Men don't need to be so choosy，they have lots of sperm, and can reproduce with lots of females, but once a woman reproduces with a partner she is tied up for nine months."

　　"男性不需要如此的謹慎，他們有許許多多的精子，他們可以和許多女性生育后代。而一旦女性懷孕，她們需要經歷9個月的忍耐。"

　　Dr Knapp said there was evidence that odour gave a hint about genetic make-up. She highlighted HLA genes involved in the immune response.

　　納普博士說，有證據表明，體味同時也會發出一個人基因組成的信號。她強調，人類白細胞抗原基因就與免疫功能相關。

　　(3) She said in evolutionary terms it was desirable for a women to mate with a man whose genes were different from hers, as this was likely to produce more robust offspring.

　　(3)她表示，從進化的角度來說，女性若能和與自己基因組合不同的男性結合是很好的選擇，因為那樣他們的下一代很可能更健康。

　　四六級句型講解

　　1. Researchers found it was difficult to mask underarm odour when a woman was doing the smelling, but quite easy to do so when it was a man.

　　本句是一個復合句。 found后面是省略了引導詞的賓語從句，作found的賓語。其中it是形式主語，真正的主語是后面的不定式短語to mask underarm odour。后面兩個when分別引導兩個時間狀語從句。

　　語法重點：賓語從句，時間狀語從句

　　2. Dr Leslie Knapp, an expert in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said there were good evolutionary reasons why a woman's ability to detect body odours should be more acute could literally be an effective way to sniff out a suitable mate.

　　本句是一個復合句。 an expert...Cambridge是Dr Leslie Knapp的同位語。 Said后面是省略了引導詞的賓語從句，充當said的賓語。其中why引導限制性定語從句，修飾reasongs。 as引導原因狀語從句

　　語法重點：同位語，賓語從句，定語從句，原因狀語從句

　　3. She said in evolutionary terms it was desirable for a women to mate with a man whose genes were different from hers, as this was likely to produce more robust offspring.

　　本句是一個復合句，said后面是省略了引導詞的賓語從句，充當said的賓語。其中it是形式主語，真正的主語是后面的不定式短語to mate with a man. whose引導定語從句，修飾man. as引導原因狀語從句。

　　語法重點：賓語從句，形式主語，定語從句，原因狀語從句

　　四級閱讀理解美文：木乃伊曾患心臟病

　　Researchers said they found evidence of hardening of the arteries in Egyptian mummies dating as far back as 3,500 years, challenging longstanding assumptions that cardiovascular disease is mainly a malady of modern societies.

　　研究人員表示，他們在3500年前的古埃及木乃伊身上發現了動脈硬化的證據，駁斥了人們長期以來的一種觀點，即心血管疾病基本上是現代社會才有的。

　　(l) A team of heart-imaging experts and Egyptologists examined 22 mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo in a CT scanning machine, looking for evidence of calcium buildup that could indicate vascular disease.

　　(1)一個由心臟成像專家和埃及古樹學者組成的團隊用CT設備對來自開羅埃及古物國家博物館的22具木乃伊進行了檢查，尋找指示肌體患有心血管疾病的鈣沉積現象。

　　They were able to identify the hearts, arteries or both in 16 of the mummies, nine of whom had deposits of ca1cification. (2) An analysis determined the deposits were either definite or probab1e evidence of atherosclerosis，the condition that leads to heart attacks and strokes.

　　他們在16具木乃伊身上辨別出了心臟或動脈，也有的兩者都得到了確認。其中9具存在心血管的鈣化現象。 (2)一份分析報告稱，這些鈣化是動脈硬化癥的明確或可能證據，動脈硬化會導致心臟病和中風。

　　"Not only do we have atherosclerosis now, it was preva1ent as long as 3,500 years ago," said Gregory Thomas, a cardiologist and imaging specia1ist at University of Ca1ifomia, Irvine, who was principal investigator of the study. "It is part of the human condition."

　　負責此次調查的加州大學心臟病及成像技術專家格里高里·托馬斯說，不止我們現代人有動脈硬化癥，這種病早在3500年前就很常見了;它一直是人類健康狀況的組成部分。

　　The research was presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association scientific meeting here. A report is a1so schedu1ed to appear in Wednesday's issue of the Journa1 of the American Medical Association.

　　本周二在美國心臟協會召開的會議上通報了此次調查。定于周三出版的美國醫學協會期刊刊登相關研究報告。

　　Heart disease is the wor1d 's 1eading killer, and it is increasing1y common in developing countries such as China, India and in Latin America. The growing prevalence of the disease is often attributed to urbanization, fast-food diets, smoking and sedentary 1ifesty1es characteristic of Western societies.

　　心臟病是人類的頭號殺手，而且它在中國、印度及拉丁美洲等發展中國家越來越常見。心臟病發病率攀升的現象往往被歸咎于城市化、快餐飲食、吸煙以及久坐不動等西式生活方式。

　　Evidence of disease was found in seven of eight mummies determined to be age 45 or older, and in two of eight believed to be under 45.

　　在8具死亡時年齡大于等于45歲的木乃伊身上，有7具發現了動脈硬化的跡象，剩下8具年齡不足45歲的木乃伊也有2具有此病征。

　　Where did it come from? Researchers don't know for sure. But they noted that the mummies had all been members of upper-class Egyptian society, and their diets included meat from cattle, ducks and geese. (3) In addition, because there wasn't refrigeration，salt was commonly used to preserve meat and fish, raising the possibility that some of these Egyptians had high blood pressure. Whether anyone was obese couldn't be determined by the scans, but tobacco wasn't part of the pharaohs' lifestyle.

　　那么病因何在呢?研究人員目前尚不確定。但是他們指出，這些木乃伊生前都是埃及社會上層人士，他們的飲食包括牛肉、鴨肉和鵝肉。(3)此外，由于沒有冰箱為食物保鮮，保存魚類和肉食的辦法往往是鹽漬，加大了這些埃及人罹患高血壓的可能性。通過CT掃描無法得知這些法老們中有誰生前肥胖，不過，在那個年代他們肯定是不抽煙的。

　　The researchers couldn 't be determined whether any among the group of Egyptians had actually died of cardiovascular disease.

　　研究人員也無法確定這些法老當中是否有人真正死于心血管疾病。

　　四六級句型講解

　　1. A team of heart-imaging experts and Egyptologists examined 22 mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo in a CT scanning machine, looking for evidence of calcium buildup that could indicate vascular disease.

　　本句是一個復合句。本句主句是A team of heart-imaging experts and Egyptologists examined 22 mummies...,from the the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo介詞短語作后置定語，修飾mummies。in a CT scanning machine介詞短語作狀語。looking for...disease現在分詞短語作目的狀語。其中that引導限制性定語從句，修飾calcium buildup。

　　語法重點：介詞短語作定語，介詞短語作狀語，分詞短語作狀語

　　2. An analysis determined the deposits were either definite or probab1e evidence of atherosclerosis，the condition that leads to heart attacks and strokes.

　　本句是一個復合句。determined后面是省略了引導詞that的賓語從句，充當determined的賓語。其中either...or...連接兩個并列的結構。the condition是atherosclerosis的同位語，that引導定語從句，修飾 condition。

　　語法重點：賓語從句，并列結構，定語從句

　　3. In addition, because there wasn't refrigeration，salt was commonly used to preserve meat and fish, raising the possibility that some of these Egyptians had high blood pressure.

　　本句是一個復合句，主句是salt was commonly used to preserve meat and fish，其中to preserve meat and fish不定式短語作目的狀語。because引導原因狀語從句。raising the possibility...pressure現在分詞短語作結果狀語。其中that引導同位語從句，解釋說明possibility。

　　語法重點：不定時短語作狀語，原因狀語從句，分詞短語作狀語，同位語從句