人體的十大奇異特徵(下)

s and Miles and Miles

5.連綿不絕

Inside every human body can be found 100,000 miles of blood vessels. Okay, some of them are really, really small and only a few are big enough to look impressive, but that is an awful lot of travelling that your blood has to do, especially when you think that each blood cell will travel all around your body about 75,000 times during its existence: one awful lot of mileage for something that only lasts about 120 days!

每個人的體內都有100，000英里長的血管，大部分的血管都非常細小，只有很少的一部分能用肉眼觀察到，然而，身體內的血液必須流經血管的每一處。此外，在血細胞的“一生”中，它將在你體內循環大約75000次，在短短的120天內，這是一個相當可怕的行程。

Enough to Make a Nail

4.足量鐵來產鐵釘

Each and every healthy adult person has enough iron dispersed through their bodies (in the red blood cells predominantly, but also in various organs, such as the liver, bone marrow and spleen) to make a small iron nail. It is estimated that a healthy person should have some 4 or 5 grams of iron is their systems while a 3-inch nail at the hardware store weighs in at a modest 3 grams. There are many other trace elements within the body and this has even been immortalised in the child-hood poem that was reworked by Terry Pratchett in his novel Wintersmith

每個成年人身體裏的含鐵量足夠生產一根鐵釘，這些鐵元素主要分佈在紅細胞內，少量分散於肝臟、骨髓和脾臟內。據估計，健康的成年人體內大約有4到5克鐵元素，而五金店裏一根3英寸的釘子大約是3克。當然我們身體當中還有其他種類微量元素，泰瑞·普萊契（Terry Pratchett）曾在他改編自兒童詩的小說中這樣寫過：

‘What do you need to make a man? Iron enough to make a nail, Lime enough to paint a wall, Water enough to drown a dog, Sulfur enough to stop the fleas, Poison enough to kill a cow, Potash enough to wash a shirt, Gold enough to buy a bean, Silver enough to coat a pin, Lead enough to ballast a bird, Phosphor enough to light the town, Strength enough to build a home, Time enough to hold a child, Love enough to break a heart.’

“長大我們需要什麼？足以鑄造一根釘子的鐵，足以噴繪一面牆壁的石灰，足以淹沒一隻小狗的水，足以殺死一隻跳蚤的硫磺，足以殺死一隻母牛的毒藥，足以清洗一件襯衫的草鹼，足以夠買一粒豆子的金子，足以給一個別針鍍上銀子，足夠壓垮一隻小鳥的鉛，足以照亮整個村莊的磷，足以支撐一個家庭的力量，足以撫養一個孩子的時間，足以拯救一棵受傷心靈的愛。”

the Strongest Muscle Is?

3.人體最強壯的肌肉是哪裏？

Contrary to romantic belief that the heart is and the feminist belief that the womb contains the most powerful human muscles the actual holder of that title is the masseter. If you put your hands on the sides of your face and switch between opening your mouth and biting down, clenching and flexing your jaw muscles, you are activating your masseters. Working the muscle as you feel its action will help you to understand the importance of the masseter as it is the muscle that pulls your lower jaw up, helping you chew through even the toughest food.

我們理想地認爲我們心中的信念纔是最堅定的，女權主義者們認爲子宮裏纔有最有力的肌肉，然而事實上咬肌纔是。把手放在臉的兩邊，上下咬動、磨牙或彎曲顎肌，以此來活動咬肌。感受咬肌的活動有助於我們理解其重要性。它能幫助我們牽拉下頜，讓我們咬動最堅硬的食物。

Ears – and Nose!

2.大耳朵和大鼻子

Your ears and nose never stop growing throughout your lifetime. This is why older people seem to have these features exaggerated and more prominent than younger people. It is not because of other bodily structures falling away (such as teeth falling out) although the visible effects of aging can exacerbate the appearance of noses and ears.

有生之年，我們的耳朵和鼻子會一直生長。因此，老年人的耳朵和鼻子比年輕人看起來更突出，不是因爲臉上別的器官退化了（諸如掉牙），也不是由年齡增長造成的，因爲這些變化造成的影響幾乎是微乎其微的。

nger than Steel!

1.人體骨骼比鋼硬

Ounce for ounce, human bone is stronger than steel. Of course, this does not mean that we can fling ourselves about with joyous abandon: in order to literally be as strong a man of steel we would have to weigh four or five times the amount we do now… Carrying that kind of weight would slow us down too much and place too much demand upon our systems, making us into strong, but inefficient and constantly fuel-hungry animals.

一盎司的人體骨骼比一盎司的鋼要硬。不過我們不能因此而隨意地折騰自己。不誇張地說，成爲一個強壯的“鋼鐵俠”，首先，我們的體重要比現在重四到五倍。那樣的體重會讓我們行動遲緩，並且對我們身體系統有更大的要求，同時我們可能會成爲一個強壯但卻無能並需要不斷補充能量的動物。

審校：晃晃 編輯：Candy 來源：前十網