手机APP下载

您现在的位置: 首页 > 在线广播 > 科学美国人 > 科学美国人科学系列 > 正文

科学美国人60秒:假日狂欢使出生率激增

来源:可可英语 编辑:aimee   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet
  
  • This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
  • 这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。
  • In the United States, there's a holiday that goes hand in hand with romance...
  • 美国有一个假日和浪漫密切相关,
  • so much so that nine months later, there's a spike in the number of babies born.
  • 以致于9个月后出生婴儿的数量会猛增。
  • Valentine's day? Wrong!
  • 情人节吗?不对!
  • It seems that people in the U.S. and in other predominantly Christian countries have been having some very merry Christmases indeed.
  • 看来美国和其他主要基督教国家的圣诞节确实过得很愉快。
  • That's according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports.
  • 这是《科学报告》期刊上刊登的一篇研究所得出的结论。
  • Scientists have long wondered why, in Western countries, birth rates spike in September and early October.
  • 科学家长久以来一直想知道,为什么西方国家的生育率会在9月和10月初出现激增。
  • "The prevailing hypothesis for this phenomenon postulates that there is a biological adaptation to the solar cycles."
  • “这种现象的普遍假说是,假设人体内存在一种对太阳周期的生物适应性。”
  • Luis Rocha of Indiana University co-led the study.
  • 印第安纳大学的路易斯·罗查是该研究的共同领导者。
  • He notes that nine months before this baby boomlet is the winter solstice.
  • 他注意到,这种“婴儿潮”爆发9个月以前是冬至。
  • And when the days grow shorter and the night grows long, well, humans seem to turn to procreation for recreation.
  • 当白天越来越短而夜晚越来越长时,人类似乎转向以生育为乐。
  • "However this hypothesis was built on observations pretty much restricted to northern hemisphere countries and also culturally Christian countries."
  • “但这个假设建立在将观察基本限制在北半球国家和基督教文化国家。”
  • And some data suggested there might be something cultural going on.
  • 一些数据显示,可能某种文化正在发挥作用。
  • "So for instance in Israel, it was previously observed that communities associated with different religions have birth peaks at different times of the year."
  • “以以色列为例,研究人员此前已经观察到,不同宗教群体的生育高峰在一年中的不同时期到来。”
  • To try to separate the cultural from the biological, Rocha teamed up with Joana Goncalves-Sá of the Gulbenkian Institute of Science in Portugal.
  • 为了将文化因素与生物因素分离,罗查与葡萄牙古尔本吉安科学所的乔安娜·孔卡尔夫塞合作。
  • Together, they combed through data on a planetary level...comparing countries in the Northern and Southern hemispheres...
  • 他们一起梳理了全球范围的数据,对北半球国家和南半球国家进行了比较,
  • and countries with predominantly different cultures, in this case Christian and Muslim.
  • 还对文化存在较大差异的国家进行了比较,这项研究对比的是基督教和穆斯林国家。
  • But they didn't look at when babies are born.
  • 但是他们并没有研究婴儿的出生时间。
  • They looked to see when, during the year, people around the world Google the word "sex". Joana Sá:
  • 他们关注的是,在一年中,世界各地的人们何时会在谷歌上搜索“性”这个字。乔安娜·塞表示,
  • "What we found, first, was that Google...searches for sex on google...are a very good proxy for sexual appetite and sexual, offline sexual interest.
  • “我们发现,首先人们在谷歌上搜索‘性',是性欲和线下性兴趣的优秀代表。
  • And when we looked at close to 130 countries around the world,
  • 当我们观察全球近130个国家的情况时,
  • what we saw is that each country has a particular signature with peaks and valleys of interest in sexual content."
  • 我们发现每个国家在性内容方面都有独特的高峰和低谷时间。”
  • Sá says that those patterns were most similar for countries that shared a similar culture...
  • 塞表示,那些文化相似的国家,高峰和低谷的模式是最相似的。
  • "This means that if you live in a culturally Christian country, whether you live in the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere,
  • “这意味着,如果你生活在一个基础教文化国家,那无论你是居住在北半球还是南半球,
  • you are more likely to have an increase in sexual appetite around Christmas.
  • 你都更可能在圣诞节前后性欲高涨。
  • But if you live in a Muslim country, you are much more likely to conceive around Eid-Al-Fitr, than at a different, at another time of the year."
  • 但是如果你生活在穆斯林国家,与一年中其他时间相比,你更可能在开斋节前后怀孕。”
  • Now, if you're still wondering what's so special about these holidays...
  • 现在,如果你还想知道这些假期有何特别之处的话,
  • Rocha says interest in sex coincides with a particular mood...a finding he made with the help of Twitter.
  • 罗查的回答是,性兴趣和特定情绪相一致,这是他在推特的帮助下所得出的结论。
  • "We collected close to 50 billion tweets and showed that, independently of the geography and independently of the particular culture,
  • “我们收集了近500亿条推特,我们发现与地理位置和特定文化无关,
  • when we observed the surge of interest in sex we also observe the appearance of a particular mood
  • 当我们观察性兴趣的涌现时,我们也观察了特定情绪的出现,
  • that can best be classified as calm and happy and de-stressed mood
  • 这种情绪应该被划分为‘平静'、‘高兴'和‘放松',
  • that is maximized around Christmas for Christian countries and maximized at the end of Ramadan with Eid for Muslim countries."
  • 而在基督教国家的圣诞节前后以及穆斯林国家的开斋节结束时,这类情绪处于最大值。”
  • All of which makes the following year's holiday family gathering just a little bit bigger.
  • 这一切使下一年家庭聚会的成员数量略微扩大。
  • Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
  • 谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。


手机扫描二维码查看全部内容
=lnbaMu&+==

BhO.9-O0bd4&3rw

0U.wZ#9Yg((V6Zf

重点讲解:
1. go hand in hand with (两件事)密切相关地,同时并进地;
Industrial progress should go hand in hand with the development of agriculture.
工业的发展同农业的发展密切相关l0(B25k_doRfEu
2. team up with (与…)组队;(与…)协作;
The participants were encouraged to team up with others in the class to do the homework, and the entire team would get credit.
参入者会被鼓励与课堂上的其他人合作,去完成作业,这样整个团队都会获得奖励]^IanLf79]+-Equ(M
3. comb through 在(信息)中仔细搜寻;
Eight policemen then spent two years combing through the evidence.
之后8位警察花了两年时间搜寻证据X5F!ox-N6a8z!.l
4. coincide with (想法、利益等)一致,相符;
He gave great encouragement to his students, especially if their passions happened to coincide with his own.
他给予学生莫大的鼓励,尤其是当他们与自己志趣相投时aI]pP1hI-V)oK

;%G7Ybf)pjVrK9^

!nFn5%V.x~0Eg]#^7IOfn^4bH9]XP)HPYKVmf[J1-VH4MkSB!
重点单词   查看全部解释    
restricted [ris'triktid]

想一想再看

vt. 限制,约束 adj. 受限制的,有限的,保密的

 
appearance [ə'piərəns]

想一想再看

n. 外表,外貌,出现,出场,露面

联想记忆
previously ['pri:vju:sli]

想一想再看

adv. 先前,在此之前

 
hypothesis [hai'pɔθisis]

想一想再看

n. 假设,猜测,前提

联想记忆
observe [əb'zə:v]

想一想再看

v. 观察,遵守,注意到
v. 评论,庆

联想记忆
appetite ['æpitait]

想一想再看

n. 嗜好,食欲,欲望

联想记忆
evidence ['evidəns]

想一想再看

n. 根据,证据
v. 证实,证明

联想记忆
separate ['sepəreit]

想一想再看

n. 分开,抽印本
adj. 分开的,各自的,

 
encouragement [in'kʌridʒmənt]

想一想再看

n. 鼓励

 
hemisphere ['hemisfiə]

想一想再看

n. 半球

联想记忆

发布评论我来说2句

    最新文章

    可可英语官方微信(微信号:ikekenet)

    每天向大家推送短小精悍的英语学习资料.

    添加方式1.扫描上方可可官方微信二维码。
    添加方式2.搜索微信号ikekenet添加即可。