(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
Neandertal walks into a bar. Bartender says, "Why the long, forward-projecting face?" Well, according to a new study, it helped the Neandertal air-condition the large volumes of oxygen he inhaled to support his active lifestyle. The work appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The bartender appears in many, many jokes.
Neandertals had a distinct facial appearance: heavy brows, big noses and a protruding upper jaw. And scientists have long wondered why that configuration. The foreheads, it appears, they inherited from their ancestors. But the jutting midface—that was an evolutionary innovation all their own.
Some scientists say it's so they could use those prominent front teeth for some serious chomping. Others say it gave their nasal passages the right size and shape to warm and moisten the cold, dry, Ice Age air.
To put the theories to the test, researchers constructed a set of 3-D simulations of the skulls of various humans. They included a Neandertal and an earlier Homo heidelbergensis as well as a handful of more modern noggins: males and females from Europe and Asia and an Arctic Inuit. And they digitally crash-tested the faces to see how they responded to the loads imposed by heavy biting.
Seems the protruding choppers of the Neandertal were not particularly well suited to forceful mastication. Some of the modern humans seemed to be more efficient when it comes to using less muscle to take a big bite.
Then the researchers modeled how air flowed through Neandertal nasal passages. And that's when things got interesting. The results indicate that Neandertals were better at heating and humidifying air than H. heidelbergensis. But so are us modern peoples—whether we hail from cold or hot climates.
Where Neandertals really stood out was in their ability to move large volumes of air through their nasal passages in and out of their lungs. That's a plus when you spend your days running down mastodons. Or running from other critters whose teeth are better adapted for biting action than yours are.
So if the bartender is still listening, that's why the distinctive Neandertal face.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
参考译文
这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。
尼安德特人走进一家酒吧。酒保问：“为什么你的脸又长又前凸呢？”一项新研究发现，尼安德特人因为其积极生活方式的需要，会吸入大量氧气，而这种脸型帮助他们调节所吸入的氧气。这项研究结果发表在《英国皇家学会学报：B辑》上。酒保出现在很多笑话中。
尼安德特人面貌独特：浓眉毛、大鼻子和突出的上颚。科学家一直想知道为什么会形成这种脸型。他们的前额好像是遗传自祖先。但是突出的面颊则完全是他们的演化创新。
一些科学家认为，这种面颊使他们得以用突出的门牙进行大量咀嚼。而其他人则认为，这使他们得以将鼻腔调整到合适的尺寸和形状，以温暖和湿润冰河时代寒冷又干燥的空气。
为了验证这些理论，研究人员建造了一套各个人种头骨的3D模型。模型包括尼安德特人、更早期的海德堡人以及少量现代人的头骨：来自欧洲和亚洲的男性和女性以及一名北极因纽特人。然后他们用数字方法对面部进行了碰撞测试，以了解面部对大力咬合带来的负荷如何反应。
看起来尼安德特人前突的牙齿不太适合强力咀嚼。而在使用较少肌肉大口咀嚼方面，一些现代人似乎效率更高。
随后研究人员模拟了空气通过尼安德特人鼻腔的过程。这时事情开始变得有趣了。结果表明，尼安德特人加热和加湿空气的能力优于海德堡人。我们现代人的这种能力也很优秀，无论我们来自寒带还是热带。
而尼安德特人真正脱颖而出的能力是将大量空气通过鼻腔吸入和呼出肺部。当你整天追逐乳齿象时，这会成为优势。或者在你逃离牙齿比你更适合咬合的其它生物时，这同样是优势所在。
所以，如果节目开始时提问的那个酒保还在听，这就是尼安德特人面部如此独特的原因。
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. put sth. to the test 使经受检验；对…进行试验；
Sooner or later, life will put the relationship to the test.
总有一天，生活会考验这种关系是否牢固。
2. a handful of 几个；少数；
A handful of onlookers stand in the field watching.
少数几个旁观者站在现场观看。
3. when it comes to 谈到；涉及；
Life in city cannot be compared with that in countryside when it comes to the natural environment.
就自然环境而言，城市的生活无法与农村的相比。
4. stand out 引人注目；显眼；
If you are different, you will stand out.
如果你与众不同，你将脱颖而出。
