11月18日英语：心大！印度航空机窗裂缝用胶带封

Retirement is bad for mind 
研究：提前退休无益大脑

While retiring ahead of schedule may be easier on the body, a new set of research has found that it may not be so beneficial for the mind. The study, conducted at Binghamton University, finds that early retirement can accelerate the usual rate of cognitive decline among the elderly. 
尽管提前退休会让你的身体更加轻松，但一项新的研究发现，提前退休可能对大脑不是那么有益。由宾汉顿大学开展的这项研究发现，提前退休会加速老年人认知能力的衰退。

The research team analyzed China's new rural pension plan, as well as China's most recent Retirement Longitudinal Survey, in order to investigate the effects of early retirement and pension benefits on individual cognition among adults over the age of 60. After going over all of the data, the research team noted a clear trend: individuals receiving pension benefits were experiencing much more rapid mental decline than their counterparts still in the workforce. 
为了研究提前退休和养老金福利对60岁以上老年人个体认知的影响，研究团队分析了中国的新型农村养老保险和中国最新的退休纵向调查。在查阅了所有的数据之后，研究团队注意到了一个明显的趋势：领取养老金的个人所经历的智力下降速度比仍在工作的人快得多。

The most prominent indicator of mental decline among retirees was delayed recall, a trait widely considered to be an accurate predictor of dementia. Surprisingly, females seemed to experience even sharper mental decline after retiring early.
退休人员智力下降最显著的特征是记忆延迟，这一特征被广泛认为是痴呆症的准确预测指标。令人惊讶的是，女性在提前退休后似乎智力衰退更严重。

重点词汇

1、 retiring ahead of schedule = early retirement

提前退休；内退

2、counterpart

英 /ˈkaʊntəpɑːt/  美 /ˈkaʊntərpɑːrt/

n. 副本；配对物；极相似的人或物

3、prominent

英 /ˈprɒmɪnənt/  美 /ˈprɑːmɪnənt/ 

adj. 突出的，显著的；杰出的；卓越的

VR helps to slash pain
虚拟沉浸可以缓解疼痛

Patients suffering from chronic pain could find ease by becoming virtually immersed in scenes of icebergs, frozen oceans and sprawling icescapes, a study has shown. As well has having a distracting effect, researchers from Imperial College London think immersing patients in virtual reality (VR) may trigger the body's own built-in pain-fighting systems, calming the discomfort. 
一项研究显示，慢性疼痛患者可以通过虚拟沉浸在冰山、冰封海洋以及广袤冰原的景象中获得藉慰。英国帝国理工学院的研究人员认为，让患者沉浸在虚拟现实中不仅可以分散注意力，可能还会激发人体固有的镇痛系统，从而缓解不适感。

A team, led by Dr Sam Hughes from the MSk Lab at Imperial, found that ongoing pain was reduced following VR immersion, and that sensitivity to painful stimuli on the skin was also reduced. However, the same effect was not seen in people who looked at still images of the polar environment, showing that immersion is the key factor.
帝国理工学院MSk实验室的萨姆•休斯教授带领的团队发现，在沉浸于虚拟现实环境后，持续存在的疼痛得以减轻，人体对皮肤上痛苦刺激的敏感度也有所降低。然而，在观看北极环境静态画面的人身上却没有获得同样的效果，这表明沉浸是关键因素。

The team now plans to further investigate the pathways involved in the VR dampening effect, including whether a dosing regimen would work such as 30 minutes, four times a day and if the effects would be cumulative or remain temporary.
该团队现在计划进一步研究这种虚拟现实镇痛效应起作用的途径，包括研究每次30分钟、每天4次的治疗方法是否奏效，以及这些效果是累积性的还是暂时性的。

重点词汇

1、chronic

英 /ˈkrɒnɪk/  美 /ˈkrɑːnɪk/ 

adj. 慢性的；长期的；习惯性的

2、immersed in

沉浸于；全神贯注于，专心于；把…浸入水中

3、sprawling

adj. 蔓延的，杂乱延伸的

v. 伸开四肢坐、躺或倒下；蔓延，杂乱无序地拓展（sprawl 的现在分词）

4、built-in

英 /,bɪlt 'ɪn/  美 /,bɪlt 'ɪn/ 

adj. 嵌入的；固定的

n. 内置

5、cumulative

英 /ˈkjuːmjələtɪv/  美 /ˈkjuːmjəleɪtɪv/ 

adj. 累积的

Jet tapes over window crack
印航班胶带封机窗裂缝

An airline in India that taped over a crack in one of its airplane windows has insisted that safety is its "utmost concern". Passenger Hariharan Sankaran noticed the taped crack onboard Spicejet flight SG8152 from Mumbai to Delhi. 
印度一家航空公司近日用胶带封住了飞机窗户上的裂缝，并坚称安全是他们"最关心的问题"。乘客哈里哈兰•桑卡兰在乘坐从孟买飞往德里的香料航空公司SG8152航班时，发现飞机窗户上有个裂缝用胶条给封住了。

He shared a picture of the cracked window on Twitter, asking: "Isn't it a major safety concern?" Spicejet later said that the crack was on the "inner flexi pane and was fixed the same day". "The purpose of the inner pane is to protect the window from scratches. The inner pane doesn't carry structural pressurization loads," it added. Airtight plane windows are essential onboard an aircraft to help maintain the correct air pressure inside the cabin. 
他在推特上分享了一张窗户破裂的照片，问道："这难道不是一个重大的安全隐患吗？"香料航空公司随后表示，裂缝是在"内层弹性玻璃上，当天就修好了。内层玻璃的作用是保护窗户免受刮伤。内窗不承担结构加压负荷。"密封的飞机窗户是飞机上保持机舱内气压正常的关键。

At more than 10,000 ft, passengers would be unable to breathe due to the lack of oxygen in the air without pressurized air. Last year, a 43-year-old woman died when she was partially sucked out of a broken window following an engine explosion onboard a Southwest Airlines flight.
在超过1万英尺(约合3048米)的高空，如果不对空气增压，乘客将因为氧气不足而无法呼吸。去年，一名43岁的女性在乘坐西南航空公司的航班时，由于客机引擎爆炸，导致机窗破裂，半个身体被吸出窗外，不幸遇难。

重点词汇

1、 tape over （sth）

把……周围用胶带封住

2、pressurization

/ˌpreʃərɪˈzeɪʃn;/ 

n. 增压；气密；压力输送

3、airtight

英 /ˈeətaɪt/  美 /ˈertaɪt/ 

adj. 密闭的，密封的；无懈可击的

Pills erase bad memories
新药助人删除糟糕记忆

Scientists are developing a pill that could help you forget bad memories - and they have just tested it on 60 heart-broken people. Dr Alain Brunet's memory manipulation study at the McGill University in Quebec, Canada, hopes to bring about a pioneering technique for the easing of painful memories. 
科学家正在研究一种能帮助人们忘掉糟糕记忆的药物，他们刚刚针对60名极度悲伤的人们进行了试验。阿兰•布吕内博士在加拿大魁北克麦基尔大学进行的记忆操控研究，有望成为缓解痛苦记忆的开创性技术。

Propranolol, a non-expensive blood pressure drug, is believed to stop proteins in the brain from re-storing the memory in the way it did before, meaning some details of the memory are lost. Dr Brunet believes propranolol can dull the emotional pain associated with the memory, and could be taken at any point after the event.
廉价降压药"心得安"被认为会阻止大脑中的蛋白质像以前那样重新存储记忆，因此记忆的一些细节会丢失。布吕内博士认为，"心得安"能够减轻与记忆相关的情感痛苦，并且可以在痛苦事件发生后的任何时间服用。

重点词汇

1、pioneering

英 /ˌpaɪəˈnɪərɪŋ/  美 /ˌpaɪəˈnɪrɪŋ/ 

adj. 首创的；先驱的