New from Scientific American 太空微重力狀態會讓心臟變圓！英文聽力鍛鍊最佳素材在這裡。

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教練現在每周上傳兩篇英文聽力練習，

短篇聽力就是科學人Scientific American，長篇的則是NPR。

記得英文聽力要下載講義，

然後反覆聽，聽到爛熟效果最好。

Absence (of Weight) Makes the Heart Grow Rounder

After prolonged periods in microgravity, astronauts' hearts became more spherical, according to scans done on the International Space Station.

Sophie Bushwick reports 

When astronauts float weightless in space, their muscles don't need to work as hard as on Earth. Muscles, therefore, atrophy萎縮 during a long mission, which can cause trouble when space travelers return home. But what happens to that most vital 最重要的of muscles, the heart?

To find out, 12 astronauts learned how to do ultrasound scans做超音波掃描 of their hearts. Then they recorded the organ's shape before, during and after a stint 任務 on the International Space Station國際太空站. The scans showed that while in microgravity微重力 the astronauts' hearts deformed變形 into more spherical shapes. Back on Earth, they stretched back into their usual elongated長形 forms. The work was presented at the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology.美國心臟病學會

Knowing how weightlessness changes the heart could help mission planners prevent long-term damage長遠的傷害 to astronauts’ cardiovascular systems心血管系統 due to long space voyages. Astronauts on the space station already perform specific exercises to keep their weight-bearing muscles toned.保持肌肉的線條與狀態 Similarly well-designed workouts might keep hearts both in shape維持形狀(身形)此為一語雙關，指的是心臟原本的形狀—and in the right shape.