美国音标发音0到1（美音朗读和解析系列2-Experimenting）

首先祝大家圣诞快乐！今天这个新系列的灵感来自于一个我很喜欢的名叫“九月麻麻吃货群”的微信群以及我收到的一个圣诞礼物—一本叫做《Experimenting with Babies – 50 Amazing Science Projects You Can Perform on Your Kid》的书。

这本书言简意赅，用通俗易懂的语言解释了宝宝从新生儿（0 month）起到2岁（24 months）身上发生的各种变化，背后的科学研究以及相应的结论等，非常有趣。所以我决定开始这个新系列，每周朗读和解析一篇此类英文书的章节，同时献给英语学习者和同样热爱英语的妈妈们。

本文是第一个实验，“安抚的气味”。请点击收听。

Age range: 0-1 month Experiment complexity: Simple Research area: Sensory development

· THE EXPERIMENT

Sometimes when your baby gets upset, nursing, which has a calming effect, isn't an option (such as when Dad's on baby duty while Mom takes a nap or a shower). If you have stored breast milk to use for a bottle, try placing a few drops on a cotton cloth. Then place the cloth a few inches from your baby's nose.

On baby duty：值班照顾孩子

· THE HYPOTHESIS

The scent of the breast milk, to which your baby has been naturally familiarized through nursing, will have a soothing effect on her. She will cry, grimace, and flail less than a baby who has been exposed to an unfamiliar scent or no scent at all.

Grimace：意思是“a facial expression, often ugly or contorted, that indicates disapproval, pain, etc.”，也就是做怪相，像下图这样：

麦当劳的一个广告（commercial）里有一个紫色的小怪物就叫做Grimace：

Flail：意思是“To move vigorously or erratically; thrash about.”像下面这个宝宝一样：

有一种比较新的舞蹈门类叫做waacking，其中“arm flailing”是很基础也是最有标志性的一个动作：

· THE RESEARCH

In a 2005 study, newborns were split into four groups. Babies in the first group had been naturally familiarized to the scent of their mother's breast milk. The second group of babies were familiarized to a vanilla scent through repeated exposure. The other two groups were not familiarized to any scent.On the third day after birth, while getting blood drawn in a heel stick procedure, infants in the first two groups were exposed to the scents they had been familiarized toward (breast milk for the first group and vanilla for the second). Infants in the third group were also exposed to a vanilla scent-but for them, it was an unfamiliar smell. And infants in the fourth group were not exposed to any scent. The researchers found that the babies in the first two groups cried less and showed less distress after the heel stick procedure than the babies in the other two groups. They also found that babies in the milk condition exhibited fewer flailing movements.

Heel stick procedure: 新生儿足底采血，其实说是“足底”，更准确的部位如下图所示：

It should be noted, however, that infant formula does not appear to have the same effect as breast milk · at least not for breast-fed babies. In a 2009 study, newborns who were undergoing a routine heel stick procedure were exposed to the scent of their own mother's breast milk, another mother's breast milk, or formula. Only the infants exposed to the scent of their own mother's milk showed lower distress compared with a control group.· THE TAKEAWAYUsing familiar scents to calm your baby is a great tool to have in your quiver of soothing techniques. But don't let that be your only go-to move. Other effective ways to soothe your baby include skin-to-skin contact, nursing, shushing sounds, rocking movements, and mellow music.

Takeaway：这里可不是“外卖”的意思哟，它指的是“conclusions, impressions, or action points resulting from a meeting, discussion, roundtable, or the like”，简单来说也就是（上述分析介绍之后的）“总结”的意思，言外之意就是你“带回去消化”的东西。

Quiver：这可不是你熟悉的“颤抖”的意思，这里quiver做动词，指的是“a case for holding or carrying arrows.”，也就是“箭筒”的意思。这里作者用了一种诙谐的比喻说法，也就是对付宝宝“闹”这个难题，你需要有相应的武器—soothing techniques，而这些技巧就好比弓箭的箭一样，可以收纳到你的“箭筒”里。

Go-to move：“go-to”意思是“denoting a person or thing that may be relied on or is regularly sought out in a particular situation.”，这里指的是“经常用的”，主要在美式英语里比较常用。

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