SSS 2008-03-31_在线英语听力室_免费在线英语听力学习网站

(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Steve Mirsky, got a minute?

You are pulling the tape off the roll and it starts to tear, or you are moving wallpaper and it refuses to strip off in strips or in what may be the most infuriating case, literally¹, you are trying to unwrap a CD or DVD and you are confronted with shards² of plastic everywhere. Well, the universe has truly conspired³ against you. Because when it comes to tearing these layers, the laws of physics now show that that’s just the way it is. Physicists⁴ address the so-called wallpaper problem in the March 30th online edition of the journal Nature Materials. What happens is that when you tear things, you get triangles. Because of three properties of the adhesive⁵ materials being torn: the stiffness, the strength of the adhesion and how tough the material is to rip. When you pull on the strip, energy builds up where the tape or coating is still attached to the surface below. That energy can get released in two ways by unpeeling from the surface which you want, or by becoming narrower, ultimately making those annoying little triangles.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Steve Mirsky.

点击

收听单词发音

1 literally
adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实
参考例句：
He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。 Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 shards
n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )
参考例句：
Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。来自辞典例句 Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。来自辞典例句

3 conspired
密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )；搞阴谋；（事件等）巧合；共同导致
参考例句：
They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。 Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

4 physicists
物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )
参考例句：
For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。来自英汉非文学 - 科技 Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

5 adhesive
n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的
参考例句：
You'll need a strong adhesive to mend that chair. 你需要一种粘性很强的东西来修理那把椅子。 Would you give me an adhesive stamp?请给我一枚带胶邮票好吗？