精美短文 第107篇:抽出5分钟 享受美好生活

Five Minutes to Spare抽出五分钟 No matter how busy you are, 无论你有多忙 you could spend five minutes, 你都可以抽出五分钟来: To answer the telephone 听一听电话 To read the morning paper 读一读早报 To talk with a neighbor 跟邻居谈一谈 To dispute with the laundryman about a mistake 跟洗衣工为一个错误争议一番 To watch new furniture being unloaded next door 看一看隔...

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每日小短文背诵 (21)沙尘暴(4)

Dust storms are one of the repercussions of humans messing around with Mother Nature. Although they are a natural phenomenon, dust storms have been occurring more often, at shorter intervals, and with greater force in recent years, and human activity is the cause. 沙尘暴就是人类任意破坏大自然,所造成的影响之一。沙尘暴虽是自然现象,但是近年来发生的频率却逐渐增加,间隔的时间也...

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每日小短文背诵 (10)啤酒(1)

Fermented beverages made from various types of grain appeared independently in different locations all over the ancient world from Africa to China. The word beer itself comes from a Latin verb meaning “to drink”, and the ancient Romans were certainly no strangers to the brew. However, because they considered it the drink of barbarians , the Romans generally pref...

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每日小短文背诵 (25)酒精对女性的影响(2)

One important finding is that the enzyme responsible for breaking down alcohol is less active in women. This means that more alcohol winds up in a woman’s bloodstream. Additionally, a woman’s higher ratio of body fat makes alcohol spread through her body more slowly. 一项重要的研究显示,女性体内分解酒精的酶不够活跃。这意味着有较多的酒精会进入女性的血液中,再...

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每日小短文背诵 (24)酒精对女性的影响(1)

Many people assume that women are more greatly affected by alcohol than men because they generally weigh less and have lower rates of drinking. While this is true, researchers have found other ways in which women are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. 许多人认为酒精对女性的影响比男性大得多,原因在于女性普遍体重较轻,而且喝酒的频率也较低。事实虽然如此,研究人员也...

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每日小短文背诵 (18)沙尘暴(1)

At first glance, dust storms do not seem very fascinating. Winds pick up fine particles from the ground, and then the air becomes thick with dust. What is interesting, though, is that dust storms can travel across the ocean, sometimes from continent to continent. Such dust storms are worth investigating. 乍看之下,沙尘暴似乎不怎么引人注意。地面的细沙被风卷起,空气中便充满厚...

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每日小短文背诵 (26)酒精对女性的影响(3)

This greater sensitivity to alcohol leaves women more prone to alcohol-related illnesses like cirrhosis of the liver and alcohol-induced brain damage. Other worrisome results show a correlation between heavy drinking among women and their rate of sexual victimization and domestic5 violence. While there have always been reasons for women to be careful when drinking alcohol, t...

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每日小短文背诵 (11)啤酒(2)

In ancient times, people who made beer lacked the means to preserve and filter it properly, so the drink was cloudy and turned bad quickly. It was medieval European monks who introduced scientific brewing techniques in an effort to produce a nutritious beverage to supplement their meager diets. 古时的啤酒酿造者缺少良好的保存方法及过滤工具,所以啤酒混浊而且容易变质,正是中世...

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每日小短文背诵 (3)啤酒节(3)

It is fair to say that the city of Munich was founded on beer. Christian monks established a settlement there in the ninth century and began to brew a tasty mixture of malt and hops which they probably used to help ” convert ” local inhabitants to their religion. The tiny village where they lived eventually became known as Bei den Mon chen, meaning “where t...

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每日小短文背诵 (20)沙尘暴(3)

Although traveling dust storms are nothing new, the dust now often contains chemical or metallic substances that contribute to respiratory illnesses and damage the environment. At present, a group of researchers in Asia is studying aerosol particles and their effects on the environment—and they have plenty of dust to work with. 虽然移动的沙尘暴没什么稀奇,但现在那些沙尘...

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每日小短文背诵 (1)啤酒节

How would you like to sip a glass of cold beer while sitting in the shadow of a Chinese pagoda surrounded by English gardens in the middle of a southern German city? It may sound unlikely, but that is what millions of visitors from around the world experience in Munich in late September and early October every year. They come to celebrate Oktoberfest, probably the largest p...

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每日小短文背诵 (7)慕尼黑(7)

Munich, then, is a city of fascinating contrasts. It has terrific museums, architectural treasures, and open-air shopping as well as space-age factories and world-class markets. If you could visit only one city in Germany, the capital of Bavaria would be a worthy choice. 由此可见,慕尼黑是一个极具迷人的有鲜明反差的城市。它有令人流连忘返的博物馆、建筑珍品,露天商场,也有...

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每日小短文背诵 (22)沙尘暴(5)

It is a fact that excessive herding of animals and exploitation of grasslands are responsible for the majority of dust storms. This means that dust storms are largely a result of human actions; in other words, they are controllable. 事实上,沙尘暴形成的主要原因是过度放牧及滥垦草原,这表明沙尘暴大多是人的活动所导致,也就是说,它们是可加以控制的。

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每日小短文背诵 (19)沙尘暴(2)

In April of this year, a dust storm that originated in China and Mongolia took a six-day journey across more than ten thousand kilometers of sea and open land to Arizona in the United States. The cloud was so dense that it seemed as if the sun were setting early. At least one person thought a volcano had erupted. 今年四月,源自中国大陆及蒙古内陆的沙尘暴,在六天中跨越了一...

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每日小短文背诵 (8)慕尼黑(8)

One of the world’s oldest stories, The Epic of Gilgamesh, is a lively tale of heroism and sacrifice from ancient Sumer. It also contains one of the earliest references to beer. In the story, a female friend of the hero changes a wild, primitive beast into a cultured human being by giving him seven cups of beer. 《吉尔伽美什史诗》是世界上流传最久的故事之一,栩栩如生...

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每日小短文背诵 (17)哈痒的科学研究(3)

Researchers did find a way, however, for people to tickle themselves. When volunteers activated a robot by remote control to tickle them after a short delay, the volunteers felt as if someone else were tickling them. It seems that the cerebellum sends a signal to disregard the forthcoming movement, then moves on to other things. Your brain “forgets” that you are...

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每日小短文背诵 (2)啤酒节(2)

The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 to celebrate the wedding of Prince Ludwig, who later became King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The celebration featured horse races, which were repeated the following year, and the festival became an annual event. Beer stands were introduced in 1818, and these were changed to the now-famous beer tents in 1896. The drink is a major feature of the...

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每日小短文背诵 (16)哈痒的科学研究(2)

A scientific study was recently done in England to determine whether or not people can tickle themselves. Volunteers were attached to a brain-scanning device and were tickled on their palms with a piece of soft foam. The participants’ brain scans were monitored while they were being tickled, and when they tickled themselves. It was found that during self-tickling, the ...

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每日小短文背诵 (12)啤酒(3)

The monks were not restricted to only brewing the beer, and consumption of it within the monasteries reached astonishing levels. One report from Belgium said that monks were drinking as much as five liters a day. Monastery breweries in Europe also ran their own pubs and enjoyed a tax-free status that came to be resented by the growing merchant class. 僧侣们不只局限在酿造啤酒...

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每日小短文背诵 (14)为什么会怕痒(2)

The part of the brain that is associated with tickling is the cerebellum. It monitors our movements, but ignores movements not perceived as a threat. For example, we do not notice our vocal chords moving when we speak, but we may jump if someone touches us on the shoulder. This selective perception is probably the reason why we cannot tickle ourselves. 脑部与怕痒有关的部位是...

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