毛发的奇迹The wonders of hair

Welcome to 6 Minute English, where today we introduce a hair-raising topic and six items of vocabulary.
欢迎收听六分钟英语，今天我们要谈论一个毛骨悚然的问题，以及六个相关的单词。
I’m Tim… So what’s hair-raising about today’s topic, Neil?Hair-raising means scary but also exciting!
我是蒂姆。今天的话题有什么毛骨悚然的呢？毛骨悚然是指令人害怕又兴奋。
We’re talking about hair – which may be exciting for some, but definitely won’t be scary.
我们要谈论毛发，对于一些人也许很兴奋，但绝对不会令人恐惧。
Hair-raising is a real thing, though, isn’t it? Our hairs do rise!
Hair-raising 确有其事，不是吗？我们的头发确实会增长！
Yes – Tim, they do. We get goose bumps when we’re cold, scared, or excited.
没错，蒂姆，头发会长。当我们冷，害怕或兴奋时，我们会起鸡皮疙瘩。
But other mammals do it better than us – Cats fluff up when they see other cats they don’t like.
但其他的哺乳动物比我们更明显。猫咪看到它们不喜欢的其他猫咪时会炸毛。
That’s true – We can’t fluff up because we don’t have enough body hair.
没错。我们不会炸毛因为我们没有足够多的体毛。
I suppose we used to be as hairy as gorillas – if you go back a million years or so.
我想我们过去就和猩猩一样毛发茂密，如果追溯一百万年或更远。
Do you know why we lost so much hair, Tim?
你知道我们为什么舍弃了那么多的毛发吗，蒂姆？
Isn’t it because it allowed us to sweat more easily? This meant we didn’t get so hot and tired – we could run faster and for longer – and catch more animals to eat!
是不是因为这样更容易出汗？也就是说我们不会很热很累，我们可以跑得更快更长久，可以抓到更多动物来吃。
That sounds like a good theory.But do you have a theory on how many hair follicles the human body has today?
这理论听起来不错。那你有没有理论关于如今人体有多少毛囊？
What’s a hair follicle?
毛囊是什么？
A hair follicle is the organ that produces a hair underneath the skin. Now answer the question, Tim. How many hair follicles does the human body have today?Is it …a) 500,000, b) 5 million or c) 50 million?
毛囊是一种器官，可以在皮肤下生长出毛发。现在回答问题吧，蒂姆。如今人体有多少毛囊？a) 50万， b)5百万，还是 c) 5千万？
50 million sounds about right.
5千万听起来是正确答案。
Did you know that men have more than women, Tim?
蒂姆，你知道男人比女人的毛囊多吗？
No, I didn’t – but it makes sense since men are usually hairier than women.
我不知道，但很有道理，因为男人比女人毛发多。
On their faces – but not necessarily on their heads!
脸上的毛发多，头上就不一样了。
Are you referring to the fact that men of a certain age can be follically challenged?
你是指男人到了一定年龄面临脱发问题吗？
If you’re follically challenged it means you’re losing your hair! Having little or no hair is called baldness.And if you’ve reached a certain age it means you aren’t young any more!
follically challenged 是指你慢慢掉发。头发很少或没有头发叫秃头。如果你到了一定年纪是指你不再年轻了。
Why is our hair so important to us, Neil?When we aren’t worrying about going bald, we’re busy shaving, waxing, plucking, and trimming the stuff. When I say we of course I’m referring to people in general. Not myself…
为什么头发对我们如此重要呢，尼尔？当我们不担心秃头时，我们一直忙着刮胡子，打蜡除毛，修理毛发。当我说我们的时候，我是指泛指人们，不是说我自己。
Well, a good head of hair indicates health and youth. And hair on your face – facial hair – shows when boys have reached manhood.
好的，一头秀发是健康和年轻的标志。你脸上的毛发，胡须，表示男孩步入成年期。
On the other hand, going grey or losing your hair shows you’re getting older.
另一方面，毛发变灰或脱落表示你在变老。
Hair today, gone tomorrow?
今天有头发，明天就掉了。
Bad joke, Neil!
这个玩笑一点都不可笑，尼尔！
Sorry! It’s true that hair on your head shows signs of aging – but this isn’t true of all human hair. Let’s listen to Ralf Paus, a leading hair loss researcher, talking about this.
抱歉，但确实头发是变老的标志，但并不是所有的人类毛发都是如此。我们听听研究脱发的首席研究员拉尔夫·保斯的看法。
The eyebrows get stronger usually in aging men, the hairs in your nose and in your ears get stronger– and what a miracle of nature that an organ – when the entire body is aging actually grows stronger.So we may even be able to learn from hair follicles how not to age.
年长的男性眉毛越长越粗，鼻毛和耳朵里的毛发也越长越旺。这是大自然的奇迹，整个身体正在老化，但这些却在增长。我们也许能够从毛囊中了解如何不老化。
Hmm. I’m not sure I would swap a good head of hair for thick eyebrows and nose hair. How about you, Neil?
我不确定我要用茂密的头发去交换浓密的眉毛和鼻毛。你呢，尼尔？
I agree! But let’s hear more from Ralf Paus about why some hair gets stronger as you get older.
我同意！我们继续听听拉尔夫讲述为什么一些毛发随着你年龄增长也在增长。
The hair follicle apparently knows some tricks that the other organs don’t know.So it’s continuously regenerating itself.It goes through a so-called hair cycle and part of that we know pretty well – and that is, these stem cells that it uses to regenerate cells.
毛囊显然知道其他器官不知道的把戏。所以它会持续不断地再生。它经历一个所谓的毛发周期，其中一部分我们很了解，即那些可以再生细胞的干细胞。
So a hair follicle can regenerate cells – or grow new cells to replace old or damaged ones.But if that’s only true for eyebrows, nose and ear hair, I am not that impressed!I want hairs on my head to be able to regenerate!
所以一个毛囊可以再生细胞，或者说生长出新的细胞代替旧的或破损的细胞。但如果只是对眉毛、鼻毛和耳毛是如此的话，我不会感动的。我想让我的头发再生！
The important thing here is that these cells in the hair follicle may help scientists discover a way to stop other organs of the body aging…OK, I’m now going to reveal how many hair follicles on average we have on our bodies. The answer is… 5 million.
这其中最重要的是，毛囊中的这些细胞也许可以帮助科学家们发现阻止其他身体器官老化的方法。现在我要揭晓人体内平均有多少毛囊了。答案是五百万。
Oh. So not 50 million then.
所以不是五千万了。
Don’t worry, Tim! It was a tricky question! Now let’s go over the words we learned today.
不要担心，蒂姆。这个题不好对付。现在我们回顾一下今天学到的单词。
Hair-raising means scary often in an exciting way.For example, That ride on the rollercoaster was a hair-raising experience!
毛骨悚然的是指既害怕又兴奋。例如，玩过山车是一个令人毛骨悚然的经历。
Next is hair follicle – the organ that produces a hair underneath the skin.
下一个单词是毛囊，是在皮肤下产生毛发的器官。
Scientists believe that stress can affect hair follicles.
科学家们认为压力会影响毛囊。
A number of things can affect hair follicles actually – age, disease, diet…
事实上还有很多东西对毛囊有影响，如年龄，疾病，饮食……
OK – but we haven’t got all day, Neil.So let’s move on to the next item. Baldness – which means having little or no hair on your head.
好了，我们不能一整天都说这个，尼尔。我们继续下一个词。秃顶，是指头上有少量头发或没有头发。
My grandfather is bald and he always wears a hat to cover his baldness
我的外公是秃顶，他经常戴帽子掩饰秃顶。
Nice example. Is your grandpa actually bald, Neil?
例子不错。你的外公真的是秃顶吗？
No – he has a fine head of hair. Now, if you are a certain age, it means you are no longer young. For example…
不是，他头发长得很好。如果你到了一定年龄就是说你不再年轻。例如……
All the people at the party were of a certain age…
舞会上所有的人都上了年纪。
How many of them had facial hair, Tim? That’s our next word, and facial means to do with the face.
其中多少人有胡子呢？这是我们下一个词，facial一词和面部有关。
None of the people at the party had facial hair.There’s your answer!
舞会上没有人留胡子。这就是答案。
That’s unusual, Tim. Lots of men have beards these days.
这太不寻常了。如今很多男性都留胡子。
OK – our final word for today is regenerate which means to grow again. You can talk about regenerating a range of things, for example…
我们最后一个词是再生，也就是再次生长。你可以说各种各样事物的再生，例如……
The council has plans to regenerate this part of the city.
参议会计划翻新该城市的部分地区。
Regeneration of parts of the city is in progress. – regeneration is the noun.
该城市部分地区的翻新工程正在进行。Regeneration是名词形式。
Well, it’s time to go now.But if today’s show gave you goosebumps please let us know by visiting our Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages and telling us about it!
今天的节目就到这里。如果今天的节目让你起鸡皮疙瘩了，请访问我们的Twitter， Facebook 和 YouTube 主页告诉我们。
Bye-bye!
再见！