安第斯山脉

You get some idea how dependent we are on oxygen

你明白了我们如何依赖氧气

when you see how it affects something as basic as human reproduction.

你会看到氧气影响一些比如人类繁殖这类基本事情

This is the village of Aruya, perched high in the Andes.

在阿鲁亚，有一些乡村栖息于安第斯山脉

It's one of a string of villages in this area

这是这里一连串的山村中的一个

that are some of the highest in the world.

有些是世界上最高的村庄

Many are close to 10,000 feet above sea level.

许多乡村海拔超过四千米

Andean peoples have lived here for generations.

安第斯人民在这些高海拔地区开垦了超过一千年

But when the first Spanish colonists arrived,

但是当第一批西班牙人到来的时候

they faced a problem, they couldn't have children.

他们要面对不少切实问题他们没有孩子

Baby after baby miscarried.

一个接一个孩子都流产了

It took almost 50 years

花了五十年的时间

before any of the immigrant Spanish women gave birth.

才有西班牙移民生下小孩

The problem may have been a lack of oxygen.

问题可能在于空气太稀薄

The newly arrived Spanish, like most people,

新来的西班牙人，大多数人

were used to breathing air at sea level, which is 21% oxygen.

过去都在含有百分之二十一氧气的海平面呼吸

But up here, the oxygen levels are effectively almost halved.

但是在这里，氧气水平几乎只有一半

The An deans had adapted to deal with this

安第斯人适应了这一切

but the Spanish struggled.

但是西班牙移民很顽强

重点讲解

1、dependent

依靠的;依赖的

The local economy is overwhelmingly dependent on oil and gas extraction.

当地经济过于依赖石油和天然气的开采。

Up to two million people there are dependent on food aid.

那里有多达 200 万人口依靠食品援助。

取决（于…）的;有赖（于…）的

The results you get from weight training are largely dependent upon how you use those weights and what type of exercise programme you follow.

举重训练的效果在很大程度上取决于如何使用那些举重器械以及遵照何种锻炼方案。

The treatment of infertility is largely dependent on the ability of couples to pay.

对不孕不育的治疗很大程度上视乎夫妇的经济能力。

2、effective

有效的;能产生预期效果的

The project looks at how we could be more effective in encouraging students to enter teacher training.

该项目着眼于我们如何能够更加有效地鼓励学生参与教师培训。

Simple antibiotics are effective against this organism.

一般的抗生素能够有效对抗这种微生物。

实际的;事实上的

They have had effective control of the area since the security forces left.

自从安全部队撤离后，他们实际上控制了该地区。

a restructuring that would have resulted in an effective increase on one of their most popular excursion fares.

原本会使他们最热门的一条短途旅游线路的费用出现实质性上涨的调整

（法律、协议等）生效的，起作用的

The new rules will become effective in the next few days.

新规定将在几天后生效。