【英语时差8，16】热瑜伽，夏季大流行

 It's one of the most oppressively hot and humid days of the year, and Joan Fessler is in a room where the heat is cranked up to 36.5 degrees. On purpose.

While everyone else is searching for ways to cool off, devotees of "hot yoga" spend class sweating through a series of stretches and poses in a room designed to be even hotter than Africa in the summer.

"It's difficult to explain.... You're so at peace. It's well worth the suffering," Fessler said after a recent workout at Bikram Yoga Baltimore, a studio in Cockeysville, Maryland.

In the Cockeysville yoga studio, instructors¹ crank up the temperature and keep the humidity level in the 30 percent to 40 percent range, which is ideal for Bikram yoga, a series of 26 postures⁴ and two breathing exercises.

About 20 people attended a recent noon class and within the first few minutes, everyone is sweating. It starts as beads⁵ of perspiration⁶ on foreheads. But most of them are drenched⁷ in sweat by the time the class members twist their arms and legs into the "eagle" pose.

Although it is known for being challenging, the Bikram style is helpful to those with joint⁸ problems and back pain.

"This kind of sweating is cleansing," an instructor² says. "Your body starts to crave⁹ it."oppressively  (adv.)   闷热地；难忍地on purpose   故意地；蓄意地devotee  (n.)   献身者；热爱者workout  (n.)   运动；练习to crank up   转动；提高humidity  (n.)   湿气；湿度posture³  (n.)   姿势；姿态perspiration  (n.)   流汗；汗drenched  (adj.)   浸湿的；湿透的to crave  (v.)   渴望；热望

1 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

2 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

3 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• 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。

4 postures   

姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场

参考例句：

• Modern consciousness has this great need to explode its own postures. 现代意识很有这种摧毁本身姿态的需要。
• They instinctively gathered themselves into more tidy postures. 她们本能地恢复了端庄的姿态。

5 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

6 perspiration   

n.汗水；出汗

参考例句：

• It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了，我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
• The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。

7 drenched   

adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。
• The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。