2014年職稱英語考試時間為3月29日。小編為您整理職稱英語衛(wèi)生類教材中補全短文部分的文章及譯文，希望對您有所助益。

Why Do People Shrink?

Did you ever see the movie Honey,I Shrunk the Kids? It’s about a wacky dad (who’s also a scientist) who accidentally shrinks his kids with his homemade miniaturizing invention. Oops!____1_____

For older people, shrinking isn’t chat dramatic or sudden at all. It takes place over years and may add up to only an inch or so off of their adult height2 (maybe a little more, maybe less). And this kind of shrinking can’t be magically reversed, although there are things that can be done to stop it or slow it down.____2_____There are a few reasons. As people get older, they generally lose some muscle and fat from their bodies as part of the natural aging process. Gravity (the force that keeps your feet on the ground) takes hold3, and the bones in the spine, called vertebrae, may break down4 or degenerate, and start to collapse into one another5._____3____But perhaps the most common reason why some older people shrink is because of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis occurs when too much spongy bone tissue (which is found inside of most bones) is broken down and not enough new bone material is made.____4_____Bones become smaller and weaker and can easily break if someone with osteoporosis is injured. Older people — especially women, who generally have smaller and lighter bones to begin with — are more likely to develop osteoporosis. As years go by, a person with osteoporosis shrinks a little bit.

Did you know that every day you do a shrinking act, too? You aren’t as tall at the end of the day as you are at the beginning. That’s because as the day goes on, water in the disks of the spine gets compressed (squeezed)due to gravity, making you just a tiny bit shorter. Don’t worry, though.____5_____

詞匯：

gravity .地心引力,重力 vertebra 椎骨

degenerate 退化 osteoporosis骨質(zhì)疏松

spongy 松軟的,不結(jié)實的 disk 盤,板

compress 壓縮;濃縮 shrink 萎縮;縮小;使縮小

wacky /古怪的;瘋了似的 accidentally 意外地

oops 哎喲 magically 魔術(shù)般地

muscle 肌肉 spine 脊椎

注釋：

1.The kids spend the rest of the movie as tiny people who are barely visible while trying to get back to their normal size.這部電影接下來講的就是這些小得幾乎看不見的孩子們設(shè)法恢復(fù)原來身高的故事。

2.an inch or so off of their adult height：比他們是成年人時的高度縮小一英寸左右

3.take hold：生根;固定;確立下來;緊抓不放

4.break down：損壞,壞掉,出毛病

5.collapse into one another：萎縮在一起

6.end up：結(jié)束,告終

7.to begin with：原先,本來

練習(xí)：

A. They end up6 pressing closer together, which makes a person lose a little height and become shorter.

B. Once you get a good night’s rest, your body recovers, and the next morning, you’re standing tall again!

C. Over time, bone is said to be lost because it’s not being replaced.

D. Luckily, there are things that people can do to prevent shrinking.

E. The kids spend the rest of the move as tiny people who are barely visible while trying to get back to their normal size.1

F. But why does shrinking happen at all?

答案與題解：

1.E文章一開頭講到,在《親愛的,我把孩子們縮小了》這部電影中,一位古怪的父親不小心把自己的孩子們給縮小了,接下來的句子還應(yīng)該與這部電影有關(guān)。

2.F從第三段的第一句話可以判斷,此處應(yīng)為詢問原因的問句。

3.A前一句講,脊椎骨有可能退化并擠壓在一起,接下來應(yīng)選表明這種行為結(jié)果的句子。

4.C前一句講到,當太多松軟的骨組織壞掉并且沒有足夠的新的骨組織生成時,骨質(zhì)疏松就發(fā)生了。接下來應(yīng)首選表明這種現(xiàn)象結(jié)果的句子。

5.B此段講的是:一個人到了晚上的時候就不如他在早起的時候高,但他不必為此著急。接下來應(yīng)首選表明不必著急原因的句子。

譯文：人為什么會萎縮?

你看過《親愛的，我把孩子們縮小了》這部電影嗎?這部電影講了為古怪的父親(同時也是位科學(xué)家)用自己在家發(fā)明的縮小儀器不小心把自己的孩子給縮小了。哎喲!這部電影接下來講的就是這些小得幾乎看不見的孩子們設(shè)法恢復(fù)原來身高的故事。

對老年人來說，萎縮根本不是那么戲劇性或突然的。這要歷時很多年而且加起來也不過比他們是成年人時的高度縮短1英寸左右(可能略多一些，也可能略少一些)。這種萎縮不可逆轉(zhuǎn)，盡管我們可以做些什么來阻止或者減緩它的進程。但是人究竟為什么會萎縮呢?

有這么幾個原因，在人自然變老的過程中，通常會損失掉一些肌肉或脂肪。重力(即是讓你的腳能站在地面上的引力)發(fā)生作用，脊柱上的骨頭，也就是脊椎骨，可能出毛病或退化并開始萎縮在一起，最后脊椎骨相互擠壓，會使人減少一些高度并變矮。不過或許老人萎縮的最普遍的原因是骨質(zhì)疏松。

當過多松軟的骨組織(一般在骨頭內(nèi)部)壞掉而沒有足夠的新的骨組織生成時，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)骨質(zhì)疏松。長時間后，因為 得不到更新，人會損失一些骨頭。這時，骨頭會變得更小，更脆肉，如果患骨質(zhì)疏松的人受傷的話則很容易發(fā)生骨折。老人——尤其是女兒，她們的骨頭本來就較小較輕，因為更容易得骨質(zhì)疏松癥。隨著年齡的增長，骨質(zhì)疏松的人會略萎縮一些。

你知道你每天也都有萎縮的現(xiàn)象嗎?你在晚上時不如早上高。這是因為在一天當中，重力作用使脊柱塊中的水分壓縮了，這使你稍微矮了一些。不過你不必擔心。只要你好好休息一晚，等身體恢復(fù)以后，第二天早上你又高了。