都說英語靠平時積累，這些文章你都看了嗎？

　　摘要：考研英語的學(xué)習(xí)是個日積月累的過程，從單詞到詞組，句型、語法、寫作等，是一環(huán)扣一環(huán)。編編為大家搜羅了各類美文，希望能幫助大家在簡單的日常中達到一個熟練記憶且靈活運用的程度。

　　?Innocent Fast Food Restaurant快餐無辜

　　A study by academics from the University ofCalifornia and Northwestern University claimed that "the causal link between the consumption ofrestaurant foods and obesity is minimal at best."

　　加利福尼亞大學(xué)和西北大學(xué)的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)"快餐食物和肥胖之間并沒有必然聯(lián)系"。

　　It argued that a tax on high-calorie food, asproposed by many health campaigners in the US andBritain, may therefore not be an effective way for governments to tackle the problem.

　　在英國和美國，眾多的健康人士建議對高卡路里食物征稅，但是這項研究卻表明這樣做也許并不是政府解決肥胖問題的有效途徑。

　　The study analyzed data compiled by the US Department of Agriculture on calorie intakearound the country. It found that people living closer to restaurants were not significantly morelikely to be obese than people living further away, indicating that easy access to restaurants hadlittle effect.

　　該研究分析了由美國農(nóng)業(yè)局統(tǒng)計的關(guān)于美國各個地區(qū)人們卡路里攝入量的數(shù)據(jù)。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)住在餐館附近的人并不比遠地方的人更加肥胖，這就意味著離快餐店近并不是造成肥胖的直接原因。

　　It also showed that while restaurant meals typically held more calories than home-producedfood, many customers often offset this by eating less throughout the rest of the day.

　　該研究同時還表明雖然快餐食物通常含有比家里自制的食物更高的卡路里，但是人們在吃完快餐食物之后往往會減少一天食物的攝入量，這樣副作用就抵消了。

　　Obese people who ate at restaurants, the study indicated,"also eat more when they eat athome."

　　研究表明，在餐館吃飯的肥胖人士在自己家里的時候往往也會吃得很多。

　　The US government estimates that about one in three Americans, or 100 million in total, areobese. Last month it was predicted that 75 percent of Americans would be overweight in 2020.

　　美國政府估計每一百個美國人中間就有一個肥胖者。上個月的一項調(diào)查預(yù)估到2020 年75%的美國人都會超重。

　　The problem is thought to cost Americans between $150 billion and $170 billion in annualmedical costs.

　　肥胖問題每年都會花費美國政府1500 億到1700 億美元的醫(yī)療費用。

　　The study's authors, Michael Anderson and David Matsa, wrote: "While taxing restaurant mealsmight cause bese consumers to change where they eat, our results suggest that a tax wouldbe unlikely to affect their underlying tendency to overeat."

　　該研究的作者，邁克爾·安德遜和大衛(wèi)·麥莎寫到，"盡管向高卡路里食物征稅可能改變?nèi)藗兊木筒偷攸c，但是卻不能改變他們潛在的過度飲食的習(xí)慣。"

　　?Smart Phone Application Tracks Mental Health智能手機應(yīng)用程序跟蹤心理健康

　　Military service is notoriously rough on a service member's mental health. According to some estimates, 30 percent of service members develop some type of mental health issue within four months of returning home after deployment.

　　當(dāng)兵對個人的心理健康會造成重大的負面影響。據(jù)估計，百分之三十的服兵役的人在退伍回家之后的四個月內(nèi)會或多或少出現(xiàn)一些心理疾病。

　　The military is spending more money than ever to address mental health issues within the ranks, and their latest attempt is a smart phone application called the T2 MoodTracker application, which helps service members keep track of their mental health after deployments.

　　部隊現(xiàn)在正花大代價來解決軍人們的心理健康問題。他們最新推出了一個叫做T2 情緒追蹤器的智能手機應(yīng)用軟件，這個軟件可以幫助退伍士兵時刻關(guān)注自己的心理健康問題。

　　The app works like a high-tech diary, allowing users to express emotions and behaviors that result from therapy, medication, daily experiences or changes happening at work or in the home.

　　這個軟件就好像是一本高科技日記，使用者可以把他們接受心理治療使用藥物之后的情感和行為記錄下來，也可以記錄他們在工作和生活中經(jīng)歷的一些事情。

　　The smart phone app isn 't supposed to be a pocket therapist, though. It serves more as an extremely accurate and timely record of a service member's mental health.

　　這款軟件并不能被當(dāng)做一個"隨身攜帶的醫(yī)生"。它只是用來及時而準(zhǔn)確地記錄退伍老兵的心理健康。

　　Perry Bosmajian is a psychologist with the National Center for TeleHealth and Technology, where this smart phone app was created. He says this smart phone app will yield much more accurate results on the psychological conditions of service members who have returned home.

　　皮埃爾·博斯馬吉安是這款軟件的設(shè)計者，他在國家遠程衛(wèi)生和技術(shù)中心工作。他說這款軟件能夠詳細記錄下退伍士兵的心理健康狀況。

　　"Therapists and physicians often have to rely on patient recall when trying to gather information about symptoms over the previous weeks or months," Bosmajian said. "Research has shown that information collected after the fact, especially about mood, tends to be inaccurate. The best record of an experience is when it's recorded at the time and place it happens."

　　"治療師和醫(yī)生都必須依靠病人的描述來獲取信息，判斷他們前幾個星期或者前幾個月里出現(xiàn)的一些癥狀"，博斯馬吉安說，"這些依靠回憶獲得的信息往往是不可靠的，特別是關(guān)于情緒的回憶。最好的辦法就是在情緒發(fā)生的時候?qū)⑺鼫?zhǔn)確地記錄下來。"

　　The app specifically tracks anxiety, depression, general well-being, life stress, post traumatic stress and brain injury. The daily expressions add up over time to produce a trend that can be observed by physicians and therapists.

　　這款軟件能夠詳細記錄下使用者的焦慮，抑郁，幸福感，生活的壓力，創(chuàng)傷后的壓力和腦部損傷。這些每天記錄下來的信息日積月累就可以形成一條曲線，治療師和醫(yī)生可以參考這條曲線所反映的心理趨勢。

　　The app has been downloaded more than 5,000 times since it became available on the Android Market a year ago. The app should be available for iPhone users some time next year.

　　這款軟件一年前在Android 市場上發(fā)布以來，已經(jīng)被下載了5000 次。明年也許就可以在iPhone 上使用了。

　　?Blood Type O May Be Barrier to Having A Baby研究發(fā)現(xiàn)："O型血"女性更不容易受孕

　　A study suggests that a woman's blood group could influence her chances of getting pregnant.

　　一項研究顯示，女性的血型可能會影響她受孕的機會。

　　Researchers who tested a group of women seeking fertility treatment found those with the blood type O appeared to have a lower egg count and poorer egg quality than others. By contrast those with blood type A seemed to have more and better quality eggs.

　　研究人員對正在尋求生育治療的一組婦女進行研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)"O型血"婦女的卵子數(shù)量要比其他血型的婦女要少，而且質(zhì)量也不如其他血型婦女。相反，"A型血"婦女似乎有更多、質(zhì)量更好的卵子。

　　The findings could lead to women with type O blood being advised to try for a baby earlier, but experts said more research was needed before such a step was taken.

　　這一發(fā)現(xiàn)可能會幫助"O型血"婦女接受建議，嘗試更多辦法，更早的懷上小孩。但是專家說在采取這樣的方式之前，還需進行更多的研究。

　　The lead author, Dr Edward Nejat, of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said his findings were based on women having fertility treatment at the Yale University and the Montefiore Institute in New York.

　　研究領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者、紐約阿爾波特?愛因斯坦醫(yī)學(xué)院婦產(chǎn)科系愛德華?奈加特教授說，他的調(diào)查是對正在耶魯大學(xué)和紐約蒙特菲奧里研究所接受生育治療的婦女進行研究而來的。

　　The study of 560 women, whose average age was just under 35, found that those with blood type O were more likely to have higher levels of "follicle stimulating hormone" (FSH) than those with type A.

　　接受調(diào)查研究的560位女性平均年齡在35歲以下，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)"O型血"婦女的卵泡刺激素（FSH）的數(shù)值比"A型血"婦女要高。

　　Fertility experts regard a high FSH level as a key indicator of having a low egg count. FSH is produced by the body to stimulate the follicles in the ovaries that produce eggs.

　　生育專家將卵泡刺激素的數(shù)值作為重要指標(biāo)來衡量女性體內(nèi)卵子數(shù)量，數(shù)值高則卵子數(shù)量少。卵泡刺激素由體內(nèi)產(chǎn)生，以刺激卵巢中的卵泡產(chǎn)生卵子。

　　As a woman's ovaries run out of eggs in her 30s and 40s, production therefore has to be stepped up to encourage more eggs. The presence of high levels of FSH indicates lower numbers of eggs.

　　處于30歲到40歲之間的女性，她們的卵巢可能就不再產(chǎn)生卵子，所以需要通過（其他方法刺激）讓其產(chǎn)生更多卵子。高數(shù)值卵泡刺激素則意味著更少的卵子。

　　The study found that women with blood type O were twice as likely to have an FSH level above 10 as those in any other blood group.

　　研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，"O型血"婦女體內(nèi)的卵泡刺激素數(shù)值很可能是其他血型婦女的兩倍，數(shù)值在10以上。

　　People with blood group A carry the A antigen, a protein on the cell surface, that is absent in people with O type.

　　"A型血"人群體內(nèi)攜帶A血型抗原、一種細胞表面的蛋白質(zhì)，這種蛋白質(zhì)在"O型血"人群中是沒有的。

　　?Background Music? It's Bad!背景音樂很糟糕

　　Studying for an exam while listening to music is not smart, because background music can impair your ability to perform memory tasks, new research has found.

　　最新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，邊聽音樂邊復(fù)習(xí)功課并非明智之舉：因為背景音樂會降低你完成與記憶力相關(guān)的任務(wù)的能力。

　　Study participants were asked to recall a list of eight consonants in the order they were presented. They did this while in five different sound environments: quiet surroundings; music they liked; music they disliked; changing state (a sequence of random digits); and steady state (a sequence of steady digits such as "3, 3, 3, 3").

　　參與調(diào)查者聽到8 個輔音字母，他們必須按照播放順序進行復(fù)述。他們聽的時候，分別處在5 種不同的背景聲音中：安靜環(huán)境、喜歡的背景音樂、不喜歡的背景音樂、數(shù)字不斷變化的響聲，數(shù)字不變的響聲（例如：3，3，3，3）。

　　The participants' recall ability was poorest when listening to music, regardless of whether they liked or disliked it, and in changing-state conditions. The most accurate recall occurred when participants performed the task in steady-state environments, according to the study published online in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.

　　結(jié)果顯示，無論他們喜歡還是不喜歡背景音樂，在播放音樂和數(shù)字不斷變化的聲音環(huán)境里，被調(diào)查者的記憶力都最差。該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)刊登在《應(yīng)用認知心理學(xué)》上，研究指出人在安靜環(huán)境下記憶力最好。

　　" The poorer performance of the music and changing-state sounds are due to the acoustical variation within those environments. This impairs the ability to recall the order of items, via rehearsal, within the presented list, " explained lead researcher Nick Perham, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, in a news release from the journal's publisher.

　　威爾士大學(xué)卡地夫?qū)W院的首席研究員尼克·珀罕在該期刊的新聞發(fā)布會上說："音樂與不斷變化的聲音影響了人們的表現(xiàn)，這是因為那些環(huán)境聲音變化會影響人們復(fù)述測試內(nèi)容的能力。"

　　"Mental arithmetic also requires the ability to retain order information in the short-term via rehearsal, and may be similarly affected by their performance in the presence of changing-state, background environments," he added.

　　"心算也需要通過練習(xí)在短時間內(nèi)記住信息的順序，因此也可能受到背景環(huán)境的影響，"珀罕補充道。

　　When performing a challenging mental task, do it in silence, Perham recommended.

　　珀罕建議人們應(yīng)該找一個安靜的環(huán)境來完成一項具有挑戰(zhàn)性的腦力勞動。

　　?Real Books Quicker to Read than E-books傳統(tǒng)書籍的閱讀速度勝過電子書

　　People can read traditional printed books a good bit faster than e-books on tablet computers, a new study has found.

　　根據(jù)一項最新研究，看傳統(tǒng)紙質(zhì)書的速度比在平板電腦上看電子書的速度要快。

　　The study tested peoples' pace of reading on two populare-reader tablets-Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle 2-as well as a standard PC monitor and a regular book.

　　研究將人們在兩種熱門的電子閱讀器--蘋果的iPad 和亞馬遜的Kindle2--上閱讀的速度進行了對比，還和在普通電腦屏幕上看書的速度以及看傳統(tǒng)紙質(zhì)書的速度進行了對比。

　　The 24 study participants read short stories by the author Ernest Hemingway, chosen "because his work is pleasant and engaging to read, and yet not so complicated that it would be above the heads of users," said Jakob Nielsen, who led the study for the Nielsen Norman Group.

　　24 名參與者應(yīng)邀參加實驗，實驗內(nèi)容是看海明威的短篇小說。該研究是尼爾森·諾曼咨詢集團發(fā)起的，研究的負責(zé)人雅各布·尼爾森說，選擇海明威的小說是因為"他的作品引人入勝，而又不晦澀難懂"。

　　On average, it took people more than 17 minutes to read the selected tales, which Nielsen wrote is "enough to get them immersed in the story" and is also "representative for many other formats of interest, such as whitepapers and reports."

　　參與者平均用了超過17 分鐘來看完選出的故事，17 分鐘的時間在尼爾森看來足以讓他們"沉浸到故事內(nèi)容當(dāng)中"。

　　To make sure people did not just skim the stories, the participants were given a reading comprehension tests afterward.

　　為確保參與者不會跳讀，在測試結(jié)束后參與者還要完成一套閱讀理解題。

　　Overall, the study revealed that people read text 6.2 percent slower on an iPad than on the printed page. With the Kindle, reading was 10.7 percent slower.

　　總的來看，在iPad 上看書比看紙質(zhì)書速度要慢6.2%，而用Kindle2 的速度則要慢上10.7%。

　　Nielsen noted that this difference between the e-readers was not statistically significant, however, so in the end the only fair statement is that "tablets still haven't beaten the printed book," Nielsen wrote.

　　不過尼爾森說，在各種電子閱讀器上閱覽的速度差別并不大。最后唯一合理的結(jié)論就是"電子書尚未完全打敗傳統(tǒng)紙質(zhì)書"。

　　Study participants also rated each reading implement from one to seven-with seven being the highest-and provided feedback as well.

　　參與者還被要求給每種閱讀工具打分--范圍為1 分到7 分--并給出反饋意見。

　　The default iBook app on the iPad used for the test took top prize, but just barely, scoring a 5.8. Amazon's Kindle, the close runner-up, ranked 5.7 and the regular book came in third by a hair at 5.6.

　　iPad 上使用的iBook 程序得分最高，不過也只得到了5.8 分。Kindle2 排在第二，得分為5.7 分，傳統(tǒng)紙質(zhì)書則為5.6 分。