八个鲜为人知的科学常识误区
2010-08-11 01:44:25   来源：看英语   评论：0 点击：

　　Animals can predict natural disasters
　　动物能够预知自然灾害

　　There is no evidence that animals possess a mysterious sixth-sense allowing them to predict natural disasters. Their keen senses of smell, hearing, and sharp instincts alone are enough to send them scattering for the hillsides during a hurricane or tsunami. And even so, animals often die during natural disasters, so if they do have some sort of sixth sense, it's not worth much.

　　说动物拥有神秘的第六感，可以预知自然灾害，这是没有根据的。单是敏锐的嗅觉、听觉以及强烈的本能就足以使它们在飓风或海啸来袭时往山坡上四散逃逸。即便如此，动物们还是常常会在自然灾害中丧生。这样看来，即使它们真的有什么第六感的话，那也并不是什么太了不起的东西。

　　The Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure visible from space
　　中国的长城是从太空中用肉眼能看见的唯一人工建筑

　　There are several variations on this folkloric statement, and they're all false. Astronauts can spot the Great Wall from low earth orbit, along with plenty of other things like the Giza pyramids and even airport runways. But they can't see the Wall from the Moon.

　　这种在民间广为流传的说法有好几个不同版本，但却都是错的。宇航员可以在近地轨道上看见长城，同时还能看见其他很多建筑，比如吉萨的金字塔，甚至还有飞机跑道。不过，从月球上是无法看见长城的。

　　A dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's
　　狗嘴比人嘴干净

　　Despite a habit of licking things no human would dare, Fido's mouth is often touted as scientifically more sterile. Truth is, oral bacteria are so species-specific that one can't be considered cleaner than the other, just different.

　　狗有舔东西的习惯，回去舔一些无人敢舔的东西。尽管如此，还是经常有人这样吹嘘：从科学的角度来说，狗嘴里的细菌更少。事实是，口腔里的细菌种类千差万别，你只能说它们各不相同，却不能说谁比谁更干净。

　　Humans use only 10 percent of their brains
　　人类只利用了自身大脑的十分之一

　　This media darling has been around for at least a century. Fortunately, it's just not true. MRI(magnetic resonance imaging) clearly demonstrates--with fancy colors no less--that humans put most of their cerebral cortex to good use, even while dozing.

　　这一论断深受各类媒体追捧，少说也已经流传了一个世纪。还好，这不是真的。磁共振成像清楚地显示——这些图像竟然还是五颜六色的呢——人类很好地利用了自身大脑皮层的大部分，即使在打瞌睡的时候也是如此。