2007-10-06, Baby sense - 婴儿的感官

Even a visit to the grocery store can overload¹ the senses. It's noisy, bright and smelly.

The nose is working overtime². High up inside, specialized³ nerves dangle⁴ in the airstream. They detect chemicals in the air and send an electrical signal to the brain which interprets the signals as smells. The nerves are supersensitive. Every smell is a new sensation.

The same goes for our hearing. Strange new world, strange new sounds. Sound waves vibrate the eardrum. On the other side of the eardrum, these tiny bones - the ossicles vibrate in response. They are the smallest bones in the body. But without them, we would never hear a thing. They use leverage⁵ to amplify⁶ the vibrations⁷, hitting the eardrum 22 times. The amplified⁸ vibrations now enter the inner ear or cochlea. It's lined with delicate hairs. When vibrations pass through, the hairs vibrate. At the base are the fragile hairs for high frequency sounds. At the top, low frequency hairs. Each one 200 times thinner than a hair on our head. Over time, loud noises will damage these hairs, but at this age, they are perfect. Our hearing will never be this good again.

The story is different for eyesight. We are born with very underdeveloped vision. Even at one month the world is blurred⁹ and mostly black and white. Every aspect of our vision is rudimentary. The eye muscles are immature¹⁰ keeping us from pointing our eyes where we want to. Inside the eye, the lens muscle still can't focus and the lens flips¹¹ the image it receives. All through life we see the world upside down. The picture only gets reoriented in our brains. Right now the picture is on the retina, the screen at the back of the eye. The retina has two types of cells, rods and cones¹² which transform the light that hits them into electric signals. The cones detect color information. But because they are not developed yet, we see mostly in black and white during our first month. From the retina the signals travel along 2 thick nerves under the brain. At the back is where we process visual information. When the image arrives, the real challenge begins. Our immature brains haven't learnt to interpret the data yet. That's changing fast.
 

1 overload   

vt.使超载；n.超载

参考例句：

• Don't overload the boat or it will sink.别超载，否则船会沉。
• Large meals overload the digestive system.吃得太饱会加重消化系统的负担。

2 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

3 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

4 dangle   

v.(使)悬荡，(使)悬垂

参考例句：

• At Christmas,we dangle colored lights around the room.圣诞节时，我们在房间里挂上彩灯。
• He sits on the edge of the table and dangles his legs.他坐在桌子边上，摆动著双腿。

5 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

6 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

7 vibrations   

n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动

参考例句：

• We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
• I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了，她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

9 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

11 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

12 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句