Tick. (1) Tick. Knowing your body clock(2)

滴答滴！了解你的生理时钟

PART 2

In fact(1) our bodies may contain(2) two, three or four internal(3) biological clocks(4) behind(5) everything we do. Follow(6) your own clock, experts say, and you can lead(7) a much healthier, slimmer(8), more productive(9) life. You might even predict(10) the timing of your own death. Wouldn’t that be convenient(11)? “We are so different biologically(12), biochemically(13) from one time of day to another that it makes a difference in almost everything throughout(14) our lifetime(15),” says Michael Smolensky, who is at the forefront(16) of a new scientific concept(17) that explores(18) what effect(19) time of day has on the human body. It’s called “chronobiology,” (20) and Smolensky, a professor of environmental sciences, runs the Chronobiology Center at the University of Texas in Houston.

Vocabulary

1. in fact　事实上 2. contain (v.) 包含﹔容纳 3. internal (a.) 内部的 4. biological clock　生理时钟 　biological (a.) 生物的﹔生物学的 5. behind (prep.) 在…背后 6. follow (v.) 跟随﹔听从﹔遵循 7. lead a ~ life　过着~的生活 8. slimmer (a.) 较苗条的 9. productive (a.) 生产性的﹔收获多的 10. predict (v.) 预测﹔预言 11. convenient (a.) 方便的 12. biologically (adv.) 就生物上而言 13. biochemically (adv.) 就生物化学而言 14. throughout (adv.) 贯穿﹔从头到尾 15. lifetime (n.) 终身﹔寿命 16. forefront (n.) 最前线﹔最前方 17. concept (n.) 概念﹔观念 18. explore (v.) 探测﹔探索 19. effect (n.) 影响﹔作用﹔效果 20. chrono-　与“时间”有关的 biology (n.) 生物学

专家表示，事实上，在我们做的每件事背后，身体里可能包含两个，三个，或四个内部生理时钟﹔专家还说，如果你遵循你的时钟，就可以过着更健康、更苗条、更有生产力的生活，你甚至可能可以预测自己的死亡时间，那不是方便许多吗？ 麦可?斯莫伦斯基表示：「就生物学而言，我们是如此的不同，生物化学在一天中的不同时间发挥不同的作用，终其一生左右我们的一举一动。」斯莫伦斯基正置身于这个科学新概念的最前线，这个新学科主要在探索一天当中不同时间对人体造成的不同效应。 这门新学科称做「时间生物学」，而斯莫伦斯基，是环境科学的教授，在休斯敦德州大学主持时间生物学中心。

A few years back, scientists wanted to test the toxic(1) effects of some cancer drugs on mice(2). They took mice and to one half of the group they gave a toxic dose(3) of the drug in the evening. The other half got the same dose in the morning. The researchers were startled(4) to discover(5) that while the lethal(6) dose had no effect on the evening group, for the mice who got the drug in the morning, the outcome(7) was quite(8) different. Smolensky says when it comes to body clocks, the same kinds of things hold true(9) for mice as for men.

Vocabulary

1. toxic (a.) 毒性的﹔有毒的 2. mice (mouse的复数) 老鼠 3. dose (n.) 一剂药物 4. startled (a.) 受惊吓的 5. discover (v.) 发现﹔找到 6. lethal (a.) 致命的﹔危险的 7. outcome (n.) 结果 8. quite (adv.) 相当﹔很 9. hold true　适用﹔有效

几年前，科学家想要测试某些癌症药物的毒性作用，他们在晚上给一群老鼠中的半数服用毒性药剂，其余在早上给药，研究人员惊讶地发现，毒性对晚上那组完全没有影响，而早上那组，则是完全不同的结果。 斯莫伦斯基表示，生理时钟对人类与老鼠同样适用。

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