✦ 英文美文 · 第五辑 ✦

Did you know your body makes light? Yes, it is true. Scientists found that people shine a little. The light is too weak to see. But special cameras can catch it. Your face shines the most in the afternoon. Why? It is because your body is working inside. You are shining right now. You just cannot see it. Next time someone says you look bright, they may be right.

Trees cannot talk like us. But they still send messages. Under the ground, their roots connect with thin threads. Old trees send food to young trees through these threads. Sick trees can warn other trees. Some trees even share sugar with different kinds of trees. It is like a secret chat group under the forest. Next time you walk in the woods, remember: the trees are talking.

In Egypt, people found honey in an old tomb. It was 3,000 years old. They tasted it. It was still good. Honey never goes bad. Why? First, it has almost no water. Germs need water to live. Second, bees add a special thing to it. This kills germs. Third, honey is a little sour. Most germs hate that. So old honey is still good honey.

An octopus has three hearts. Two send blood to its breathing parts. The third sends blood to the rest of its body. When an octopus swims, the third heart stops. That is why they like to crawl. Swimming is too hard for them. Their blood is blue. This is because their blood uses a different kind of metal. If you meet an octopus, be nice. A creature with three hearts deserves respect.

Here is a fun fact. A banana is a berry. A strawberry is not. Why? Scientists have rules for fruit. A berry comes from one flower. A banana does this. A strawberry does not. Each small dot on a strawberry is its own tiny fruit. This sounds funny. But it is true. Science makes fruit fun. Look at your fruit bowl again. You may see it in a new way.

A flash of lightning is very, very hot. It is five times hotter than the sun. The sun is already super hot. But lightning is even hotter. The flash lasts only a blink. In that blink, it heats the air around it. The hot air grows bigger fast. It makes a big boom. That boom is thunder. So thunder comes from hot air. Next time you see lightning, remember: it is hotter than the sun.

Your stomach uses strong juices to break down food. These juices are so strong they can melt metal. So why does your stomach not melt itself? Because it has a thick wall of slime. The slime protects the stomach from the juices. But this wall wears out fast. So your body makes a new one every three days. You get a new stomach wall every three days. And you never feel it.

Far away in space, there is a strange planet. It is twice as big as Earth. Scientists think one third of this planet is made of diamonds. The planet is very hot. No one can live there. But think about it. If you could go there, you would be the richest person in the world. Of course, if diamonds were everywhere, they would not be special. Funny how far things become precious.

A sloth can hold its breath for 40 minutes. A dolphin can only do it for 10 minutes. How is that possible? When a sloth goes in the water, its heart slows down. It moves very little. So it needs very little air. A dolphin swims fast. It uses more air. So it runs out of air quickly. Sometimes, being slow is a superpower. The sloth shows us that slow and steady wins.

Venus turns around very slowly. One day on Venus takes 243 Earth days. But one year on Venus takes only 225 Earth days. This means one day on Venus is longer than one year there. Also, Venus spins the wrong way. The sun comes up in the west there. If you lived on Venus, your birthday would come before your first day ended. Time is strange on Venus.

When rain falls on dry ground, it makes a nice smell. This smell has a special name. In old Greek, it means the blood of the stone. The smell comes from two things. One is a juice from plants. The other is from tiny bugs in the dirt. Together they make that fresh smell we all love. Next time it rains, take a deep breath. You are smelling the sky meeting the earth.

Drop a cat upside down, and it will flip and land on its feet. Cats can do this in less than one second. They twist their front half one way and their back half the other way. They do not need wings. People learned this a long time ago. The secret is their bendy back and good balance. But please do not try this at home. Your cat did not sign up for your test.