跟讀練習: Why Do We Sneeze? - 通過影片學習英語口語

選擇練習模式

每種模式都會開啟全屏練習室。

27 句

如果句子過短或過長，請點選 Edit 進行調整。

Everyone, everywhere occasionally sneezes.

It’s something humans—and even some animals like cats, and dogs, and chickens —just do.

But why? Why do we sneeze?

If your answer is that it’s our nose’s way of getting rid of irritants and excess mucus, you’re right -- but only partly.

See, scientists have long thought that sneezing -- technically known as sternutation -- is a reflex.

When irritants—like dust, dander, germs, or pollen —get into your nose, your brain sends out a signal to get rid of it.

That same signal goes out if an excessive amount of mucus is hanging out in there too -- say, if you have a cold.

This signal triggers a deep breath, which you hold in your lungs for a moment.

While you’re holding your breath, your chest muscles clench and pressure builds.

Your tongue is forced to the roof of your mouth ... and you breathe out -- fast -- through your nose in the form of a sneeze.

That’s the old, short, and still correct answer to the question “Why do we sneeze?” But according to a paper published in 2012 in the journal FASEB, there’s a little more to it than that.

And it all has to do with cilia, the tiny, hairlike paddles that line our noses and sinuses.

In the study, a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania basically grew a tiny nose.

They took cells from the nostrils of several healthy adults and grew them in an incubator for a few weeks, until the cells formed the same type of lining that's in your sinus, complete with cilia.

Then, to mimic a sneeze, the scientists puffed air on the lining.

They noticed that the burst of air triggered the cilia—which look sort of like shaggy dog hair under a microscope—to kick into high gear, moving back and forth repeatedly for up to several minutes after the trick sneeze.

So, why were they so active for so long?

Any potential irritants would have been cleared out already.

Well, the triggered cilia were acting as a broom, basically resetting the entire nasal environment, not just the parts where there’d been irritating gunk.

Just like computers do, biologists think that our nose needs a reboot every once in a while… and its kinda-furry restart button is made of all those cilia.

But it turns out that not everybody’s sneezes actually reboot their nose.

In addition to looking at healthy folks’ cells, this same group of scientists took a peek at the cells of people suffering from sinusitis, which causes inflamed sinuses and general nasal discomfort—runny nose, nasal congestion, all that fun stuff.

They discovered that when they puffed air onto the tissue of the sinusitis sufferers, the cilia didn’t beat faster.

Meaning that chronic sinusitis might have to do with cilia that can’t properly reset post-sneeze -- and that knowledge might help researchers developing treatments for it.

Thanks for asking, and thanks especially to all of our patrons on Patreon who keep these answers coming.

If you’d like to submit questions to be answered, or get these Quick Questions a few days before everyone else, go to patreon.com/scishow.

And don’t forget to go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe!

下載應用

流利口語所需的一切

AI 發音評分逐句打分

音標練習掌握每個音

詞彙學習建立你的詞庫

詞彙遊戲邊玩邊學

掃碼

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

同頻道

FOR YOU

本課的詞彙與口語要點

這節 C1 級別的口語課以影片“Why Do We Sneeze?”為素材。影片中反覆出現的詞有：sneeze, cilia, nose, cells, irritants。這段影片共有 27 個句子、537 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 2:29。說話人語速較快，每分鐘約 216 個詞，會出現較多連讀和弱讀。只有 77% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，詞彙難度較高。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中最難的 15 個單詞，附發音和釋義：

單詞	發音	釋義
sneeze 動詞	/sniːz/	打噴嚏 /打噴嚏
cilium 名詞	/ˈsɪl.i.əm/	纖毛 /纖毛, 纖毛
sinus 名詞	/ˈsaɪ.nəs/	竇 /竇
sinusitis 名詞		鼻竇炎 /鼻竇炎
mucus 名詞	/ˈmjuːkəs/	黏液
reboot 動詞	/ˈɹiːbuːt/	重新啟動 /重新啟動
reset 動詞	/ɹiːˈsɛt/	重置
researcher 名詞	/ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/	研究員 /研究員, 研究者
biologist 名詞	/baɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪst/	生物學家 /生物學家
clench 動詞	/klɛnt͡ʃ/	咬緊 /咬緊, 攥緊 /攥緊
dander 名詞	/ˈdændə(ɹ)/	皮屑
incubator 名詞	/ˈɪn.kjuːˌbeɪ.tə(ɹ)/	保育器, 育嬰箱 /育嬰箱
irritate 動詞	/ˈɪɹ.ɪˌteɪt/	激怒, 刺激
nostril 名詞	/ˈnɒs.tɹɪl/	鼻孔, 鼻子眼
paddle 名詞	/ˈpædl̩/	槳 /槳

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	釋義
go out 動詞	出, 出口
turn out 動詞	原來 /原來

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 8 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 you're, can't, didn't。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

長單詞——注意重音位置: biologist /baɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪst/, incubator /ˈɪn.kjuːˌbeɪ.tə(ɹ)/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 sneeze, cilium, sinus 這類單詞。

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →

跟讀練習: Why Do We Sneeze? - 通過影片學習英語口語

選擇練習模式

下載應用

同頻道

What’s Ruining Our Ruins?

The Science Behind The Odyssey's Greatest Challenge

The Most Important Picture in the History of Science

Do Penguins Control the Weather?

Why Can’t We Have Unicorns?

Does Aloe Really Treat a Sunburn?

What's Really Behind The Adderall Shortage?

Ticks Can Spread An Allergy To… Red Meat?

The ONE Disease That Smoking Can Help Treat

How Onions ACTUALLY Make You Cry (And How to Stop Them)

推薦影片

Photic sneezing: IELTS LISTENING Vol 4 Test 4 Section 4 (IELTS Listening Recent Actual Test)

How do bees make honey?

Why don't you remember being a baby?

The Real Reason Why You Have Allergies

The Nervous System Explained Simply | Brain, Neurons & Signals

What Happens When Science Clashes with the Public?: Crash Course Scientific Thinking #7

The Unbelievable Science of How We Read

Why does every mammal get 1 billion heartbeats in their life?

The Worm with 4 Nobel Prizes

Why birds don't crash (and what humans can learn from them)

Why do we get Thirsty? | #aumsum #kids #education #science