英国语文第五册(双语):活生生的火炉(2)
Hence we see the reason why a very stout man, if deprived of food, can keep up his corporeal fires for a longer time than a slender one. Human fat is fuel laid away for use. It constitutes a hoard of combustible material upon which the owner may draw whenever his ordinary supplies are intercepted. Let all plump persons therefore rejoice. We offer them our hearty, perhaps somewhat envious, congratulations. They, at any rate, are prepared to stand a long siege from cold.
因此，我们就能知道，如果没有了食物，为什么强壮的人能比瘦弱的人维持更长时间。人体脂肪是留存待用的燃料。一旦人体得不到食物供应，就需要燃烧脂肪。胖的人这时候也会变得瘦弱。我们为他们高兴，或许很有一些羡慕和祝贺。他们至少已经具备了更能抵御寒冷的条件。
For the same reason, animals which hibernate, like the bear, jerboa, marmot, dormouse, bat, and others, generally grow plump before they retire into winter quarters. Upon their capital of fat they subsist during their lethargy, the respiration being lessened, the pulse reduced to a few beats per minute, and the temperature perhaps nearly to the freezing point. But when the season of torpor terminates, they issue from their caves and burrows meagre and ravenous, having burned up their stock of fuel; Bruin himself appearing to be anxious to defraud the perfumers of the unguent which is so precious in their eyes.
同样的原因，一些冬眠动物，比如熊，跳鼠，土拔鼠，睡鼠和蝙蝠等等，他们会在冬季到来之前会身体发胖。这些脂肪能维持他们在冬眠期间的生命。冬眠期间，他们呼吸减弱，脉搏每分钟只跳动几下，体温接近冰点。但是冬季一过，他们就会又饿又虚弱地从洞穴里出来，这时他们已经消耗光了储存的脂肪；布伦熊会急切地寻找香料商，这时他们眼中的美食。
But perhaps the most striking feature in this warmth-producing apparatus within us is the self-regulating power which it possesses. The fires on our domestic hearths decline at one moment, and augment at another. Sometimes the mistress of the house threatens to faint on account of excessive heat; sometimes the master endeavours to improve the temperature by a passionate use of the poker, with an occasional growl respecting the excessive cold.
但是或许我们体内这一产生热量的装置最显著的特征是其自我调节能力。我们体内的火会在某个时候降下去，在另一个时间点又升高。有时由于热量过高，人会昏厥过去；有时由于过度寒冷，我们又会急切地想要提升体温。
Were such irregularities to prevail unchecked in our fleshy stoves, we should suffer considerable annoyance. After a meal of very inflammatory materials, or an hour spent in extraordinary exertion, the gush of heat might throw the system into a state of high fever. How is prevented? In some of our artificial stoves, little doors or slides are employed to control the admission of air; in furnaces connected with steam-engines we may have dampers, which will accomplish the same purpose by the ingenious workings of the machine itself.
如果这种无规律现象在我们体内肆意盛行，那么我们肯定会极为困扰。每次吃完含高热量的食物或者剧烈运动一小时后，产生的热量会让人体进入高烧状态。如何防止这种现象的出现？有些人造火炉有小门会滑片来控制空气的流通；我们会在连接蒸汽机引擎的火炉装上气流调节器，这样，机器就能实现原来设定的目的。
But neither doors nor dampers, pokers nor stokers, can be employed in the bodily apparatus. If, on the one hand, our human fires should begin to flag from undue expenditure of heat, the appetite speaks out sharply and compels the owner to look around for fuel. Hunger rings the bell and orders up coal in the shape of savoury meats. Should the summons be neglected, the garnered fat, as we have seen, is thrown into the grate to keep the furnace in play.
但是人体内的火炉却既不能装上门和气流调节器，也无法配备拨火棍和司炉。一方面，如果我们的体内需要消耗过多的热量，我们就会胃口大开，不得不寻找食物补充能量。饥饿会敲起警钟，警告此时需要摄入可口的肉块。如果我们无视身体的要求，体内储存的脂肪就会开始消耗，以此提供热量。
