Why Onions Make You Cry
Trilobites By JOANNA KLEIN September 12, 2017
為什麼洋蔥總是讓你流淚
JOANNA KLEIN 2017年9月12日
感謝Bluce學英語外刊精讀筆記互享群102號所做筆記
Trying to figure out why humans cry is exhausting. We cry about death, violence, breakups, abandoned puppies, sweet kisses and words charged with all kinds of meanings. We don’t cry when we should, and we cry for no reason. But let’s take a moment to appreciate the clarity of crying while cutting onions.
譯文
弄清人類哭泣的原因是件麻煩事。我們因為死亡、暴力、分手、被遺棄的小狗、甜蜜的吻和飽含各種意思的言語而哭。我們在應該哭的時候不哭，卻又會毫無來由地哭起來。不過在這裡，我們先好好珍惜一種原因很清楚的哭泣——切洋蔥時的流淚。
筆記
charge with:
【釋義】(phr.) 使充滿；使飽含；裝滿
·His speech was charged with emotion.
他的發言充滿了激情。
appreciate:
【釋義】vt. to recognize how good someone or something is and to value him, her, or it欣賞；賞識；鑑賞；重視
·to appreciate good wine 品嚐好酒
·to appreciate deeply(或greatly, keenly, sincerely, very much) 極為欣賞
clarity:
【釋義】n. the quality of being clear and easy to understand 清楚明瞭；清晰易懂
There has been a call for greater clarity in this area of the law.
人們要求這個領域的法規應該更加明確一些。
【同義詞】“清楚明瞭；清晰易懂”釋義下的同義詞
transparency
take a moment：花一些時間
Onions make us teary because a reaction in the onion releases a chemical called lachrymatory factor, or LF, that irritates our eyes. Simply peeling an onion won’t make your eyes water. But if you chop, cut, crush or smash one — boohoo. The onion’s cells break open, allowing two normally separated substances to combine. Linked together like pieces of a puzzle, they become a potent chemical weapon.
譯文
洋蔥讓我們哭是因為它會釋放一種叫催淚因子（lachrymatory factor，簡稱LF）的化學物質，刺激我們的眼睛。單純只是剝開一個洋蔥並不會讓我們流淚。但是如果你去剁、切、搗或壓它——嗚嗚嗚。洋蔥的細胞會破開，讓兩種通常分開的物質混合起來。這就像連成了猜字謎裡的一個詞，它們會成為一種強大的化學武器。
筆記
teary:
【釋義】adj. with eyes full of tears 哭泣的，悲傷的；易流淚的
·But there was no teary-eyed goodbye when Smith returned to England, as the Disney film depicts. 但是，當史密斯船長重返英國時，他們告別時也非迪斯尼電影裡的淚漣漣。
·Ms. Li, 38, her petite frame dressed in a pink nightgown, spoke softly and stared at the ceiling with teary eyes. 李女士，38歲，身形瘦小，穿著一件粉紅色睡衣，柔聲訴說，淚眼一直盯著天花板。
lachrymatory:
【釋義】adj. relating to or prompting tears催淚的；淚的
factor:
【釋義】n. genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity 【生物化學】因子，要因
irritate：
【釋義】v. excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus （在生理上）刺激，使興奮
·Wear rubber gloves while chopping chillies as they can irritate the skin. 剁辣椒時戴上橡皮手套，因為它們會刺激皮膚。
potent：
【釋義】 adj. having a strong physiological or chemical effect e.g. "a potent toxin"; " potent liquor"; " a potent cup of tea" (藥、酒等)有效力的；有效驗的；烈性的
同義詞： strong stiff
lachrymatory factor:
背景知識
洋蔥中的催淚因子（lachrymatory factor, LF）主要是由一類烷基半胱氨酸硫氧化物（ACSO）經一些特殊的酶作用而產生的[1]。最早的時候，人們一直以為催淚因子只是由蒜氨酸酶單獨作用產生，直到2002年日本學者發現洋蔥中還存在另一種關鍵酶的作用——催淚因子合成酶（lachrymatory-factor synthase）[2]。這種酶也影響洋蔥催淚因子的產生。
allowing 在這裡作現在分詞，與邏輯主語 “the onion” 為主動關係，表示動作同時進行：
The onion’s cells break open, allowing two normally separated substances to combine.
“It turns into a gas. It hits your eyes, and then it hits your sensory nerves in your eyes and causes them to tear up,” said Josie Silvaroli, an undergraduate at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio who helped describe how these pieces fit together, structurally speaking, in a paper published in July in the journal ACS Chemical Biology. “It’s similar to
tear gas.”譯文
“它會變成一種氣體，衝擊你的眼睛，然後衝擊眼中的感覺神經，導致流淚，”在俄亥俄州凱斯西儲大學(Case Western Reserve University)讀本科的喬茜·席爾瓦羅利(Josie Silvaroli)說，她參與的一篇七月發表於《ACS化學生物學》期刊(ACS Chemical Biology)的論文，從結構的角度解釋了這些因素的搭配。“和催淚瓦斯差不多。”
筆記
sensory nerves：
【釋義】感覺神經
·When a patient is given an opiate like morphine, pain signals are still transmitted from sensory nerves to the central nervous system.
當給一名患者使用鴉片製劑如嗎啡時，痛覺信號仍然繼續從感受器傳遞到中央神經系統。
tear up：
【釋義】(phrasal verb with tear) to get tears in your eyes, so that you almost start to cry, because you are experiencing strong emotion （因為情緒激動）眼裡含淚（幾乎要開始哭泣）
·She teared up as the award was presented to her. 在她授獎時，她激動地眼含熱淚。
fit together：
【釋義】組成整體；整合在一起：
·These broken pieces of plates don't fit together; they must be parts of different ones.
這些盤子碎片拼合不起來，它們肯定是不同盤子的碎片。
tear gas：
【釋義】 n. a gas that makes the eyes fill with tears but does not damage them; used in dispersing crowds 催淚瓦斯
·And the police battered the protesters with tear gas, shotguns and rubber bullets.
警察用催淚瓦斯、霰彈槍和橡膠彈同抗議者戰鬥。
Lachrymatory factor evolved as a defense mechanism, protecting onions against microbes and animals like us, even if we’ve learned to bear tears for the sake of flavor. Damaging an onion basically causes it to ramp up its defenses: as cells break, the chemical reaction is unlocked.
譯文
催淚因子是作為一種防禦機制演化而來的，它能讓洋蔥抵抗微生物和我們這樣的動物的侵襲，儘管我們已經學會為了美味強忍淚水。破壞一個洋蔥實際上就是導致它開始防禦：隨著細胞破裂，化學反應被激活。
筆記
evolve as:
【釋義】逐漸成為、演變
·I have no reason to leave the club, they have always supported me, they always gave me guarantees of being able to evolve as a player. 我沒有理由離開俱樂部，他們一直在支持我成長為一名球員。
defense mechanism：
【釋義】 n. (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires 防衛機制；[心理] 防禦機理
·Their “guilt” of having used a defense mechanism becomes relative.
他們的“內疚”曾經用一種防禦機制變得相對的。
ramp up:
【釋義】 v. bolster or strengthen 增加，提高
·The foreign trade is ramping up.
外貿正處於上升中。
unlocked:
【釋義】adj. to become unfastened or freed from restraints被解開的；被釋放的
Inside the intact cells of an onion, a molecule called sulfenic acid precursor floats around the watery filler like a napping human in a lazy river. Also floating in that cytoplasm are little sacs called vacuoles, containing a protein called alliinase, which is like a little drill sergeant of the process.
譯文
在一個完好的洋蔥細胞內，一種被稱為次磺酸前體的分子在填充液裡漂著，就像一個躺在漂流河上打瞌睡的人。在細胞質裡還漂著一種叫“液泡”的囊，裡面裝著一種叫蒜酶的蛋白質，它是這個反應過程裡的軍訓教官。
筆記
intact:
【釋義】adj. undamaged in any way; whole未受損的；完整無缺的
·The vase remained intact despite rough handling.
molecule :
【釋義】n. (physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound [化學] 分子；微小顆粒，微粒
·And because, of course, we have this carbon here what you end up doing is adding a carbon to your molecule.
因為，當然，我們這裡有一個碳,接下來需要做的就是在你的分子中再加上一個碳。
cytoplasm :
【釋義】n. the protoplasm of a cell excluding the nucleus; is full of proteins that control cell metabolism [細胞] 細胞質
同義詞： cytol
·Most of the cytoplasm has been squeezed out in order to make the sperm an efficient torpedo-like swimming machine.
大多數細胞質被擠出，為了讓精子成為一個高效率的魚類狀游泳機器。
sac:
【釋義】n. a structure resembling a bag in an animal [生物] 囊；液囊
·Putting the fossil under a microscope, he discovered the sac was filled with tiny spheres.
藉助顯微鏡，他進一步發現這種囊中填充著一些微小的球體。
vacuole:
【釋義】n. a tiny cavity filled with fluid in the cytoplasm of a cell [細胞] 液泡；
· Many mature plant cells have a single large central vacuole that confines the cytoplasm to a thin peripheral layer.
許多成熟植物細胞有一箇中央大液泡，它使細胞質被擠成外圍的一薄層結構。
drill sergeant:
【釋義】【軍事】操練教官
·Drill sergeant John Eldridge holds the pin in place and prepares to secure it with a fist.
操練教官約翰·艾爾德里奇徽針放在衣服上合適的位置，並準備用拳頭來固定它。
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