有一個小怪物的英文怎麼寫

首先祝大家聖誕快樂！今天這個新系列的靈感來自於一個我很喜歡的名叫“九月麻麻吃貨群”的微信群以及我收到的一個聖誕禮物—一本叫做《Experimenting with Babies – 50 Amazing Science Projects You Can Perform on Your Kid》的書。

這本書言簡意賅，用通俗易懂的語言解釋了寶寶從新生兒（0 month）起到2歲（24 months）身上發生的各種變化，背後的科學研究以及相應的結論等，非常有趣。所以我決定開始這個新系列，每週朗讀和解析一篇此類英文書的章節，同時獻給英語學習者和同樣熱愛英語的媽媽們。

本文是第一個實驗，“安撫的氣味”。請點選收聽。

Experiment 1： Soothing Scents

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：值班照顧孩子

· 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，像下圖這樣：

麥當勞的一個廣告（commercial）裡有一個紫色的小怪物就叫做Grimace：

Flail：意思是“To move vigorously or erratically； thrash about。”像下面這個寶寶一樣：

有一種比較新的舞蹈門類叫做waacking，其中“arm flailing”是很基礎也是最有標誌性的一個動作：

· 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： 新生兒足底採血，其實說是“足底”，更準確的部位如下圖所示：

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

TAKEAWAY

Using 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：這裡可不是“外賣”的意思喲，它指的是“conclusions， impressions， or action points resulting from a meeting， discussion， roundtable， or the like”，簡單來說也就是（上述分析介紹之後的）“總結”的意思，言外之意就是你“帶回去消化”的東西。

Quiver：這可不是你熟悉的“顫抖”的意思，這裡quiver做動詞，指的是“a case for holding or carrying arrows。”，也就是“箭筒”的意思。這裡作者用了一種詼諧的比喻說法，也就是對付寶寶“鬧”這個難題，你需要有相應的武器—soothing techniques，而這些技巧就好比弓箭的箭一樣，可以收納到你的“箭筒”裡。

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。”，這裡指的是“經常用的”，主要在美式英語裡比較常用。

如果你喜歡我的文章，請點贊和關注。每天寫一點，每天學一點，在學英語的同時學習英語國家文化。好好學習，天天向上。