In 1971, Ian Waterman suddenly collapsed① from a severe case of what seemed to be gastric② flu. His illness passed after a few days, but a stranger set of symptoms lingered. Although his muscles and joints remained healthy, Waterman was unable to move. In fact, he was unable to feel anything from the neck down.
① collapse: /k?'l?ps/ v. to suddenly fall down or become unconscious because you are ill or weak 因病重突然晕倒
② gastric: /'g?str?k/ adj. relating to your stomach 胃部的
Eventually, he was diagnosed with③ a rare and extreme form of deafferentation④, a neurological condition in which certain signals from the nervous system are interrupted or impaired⑤. Without his body’s constant feedback on how his limbs were moving, Waterman was unable to sit up, stand, or walk. But over time, he taught himself to use sight to judge the distance of his limbs from other objects. And eventually he regained complete control of his body—so long as he could see it.
③ diagnose with: to say exactly what an illness or the cause of a problem is 确诊患有
④ deafferentation: /di?,?f(?)r(?)n'te??(?)n/ n. refers to the loss or removal of afferent nerve fibers 传入神经阻滞
⑤ impaire: /?m?p?r/ v. to damage something or make it not as good as it should be 损害
We often don’t think of touch as being a vital part of movement. But touch is just one part of the somatosensory⑥ system, a network that oversees all the sensations arising from the surface and interior of our bodies. Touch, pain, temperature, and our awareness of our bodies in space—also known as proprioception⑦—are regulated by this system.
⑥ somatosensory: /so,m?t?'s?ns?ri/ adj. of or relating to the somatosenses （耳、目、口等以外的）体觉的
⑦ proprioception: /?proprio?s?p??n/ n. the ability to sense the position and location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts 本体感受
And when something goes wrong, the effects can be dramatic. All these sensations⑧ are processed by millions of tiny receptor cells embedded in our skin, muscles, tendons⑨, and organs. Every square centimeter of our skin is packed with hundreds of these cells, and their shape, size, and depth determine what kind of stimuli⑩ they respond to.
⑧ sensation: /s?n'se??n/ n. a feeling that you get from one of your five senses, especially the sense of touch 感觉
⑨ tendon: /'t?nd?n/ n. a strong cord in a person's or animal's body which joins a muscle to a bone 腱
⑩ stimulus: /'st?mj?l?s/ n. something that encourages activity in people or things 刺激物
Mechanoreceptors? sense mechanical deformation of the skin. This could be triggered by low or high frequency vibrations, a stretch, or simply light, static? pressure. Thermoreceptors respond to temperature changes, while nociceptors sense pain. And propriocepters sit deep in your muscles and tendons, continually detecting and relaying information about the position of your body.
? mechanoreceptor: /?m?k?nor?'s?pt?/ n. a sensory receptor, as in the skin, that is sensitive to a mechanical stimulus, such as pressure 机械性刺激感受器
? static: /'st?t?k/ adj. not in physical motion 物理的
Your brain then combines this information with other sensory data to move through space without needing to see your limbs. All of these receptors work by sending electrical signals to the brain through fibers they’re attached to. And the speed of those signals varies with the fiber’s thickness.
For example, some nociceptors? are attached to fibers with slightly more conductive, fatty myelin? than others. So when you get hurt, the electrical impulses from thicker nociceptors trigger sharp, intense pain, while thin, unmyelinated? nociceptors are responsible for the dull, aching pain that follows. And since the fibers carrying tactile information are much thicker than those carrying nociceptive signals, rubbing an injury can produce temporary relief from the pain.
? nociceptor: /?nos??s?pt?/ n. a receptor sensitive to pain 伤害感受器
? myelin: /'ma??l?n/ n. a white fatty substance that forms a medullary sheath around the axis cylinder of some nerve fibers 髓磷脂
? unmyelinated: /?n?ma??l??net?d/ adj. not myelinated 无髓鞘的
These receptors generate a constant flood of signals that travel through the nervous system to the brain. But if this process is disrupted—either by damage to the skin, the nerves, or the brain—the network breaks down. And since it underpins? so many bodily functions, damage to the somatosensory system can manifest in a wide variety of ways.
? underpin: /??nd?'p?n/ v. to give strength or support to something and to help it succeed 支撑
In Waterman’s case, an autoimmune? reaction attacked a large swath of his nervous system, leaving him with no tactile? or proprioceptive sensations from the neck down. But deafferentation is just one of many somatosensory disorders. Individuals can receive damage to a specific brain area or a section of skin, resulting in the loss of certain sensations in particular locations.
? autoimmune: /??to?'mj?n/ adj. of or relating to the immune response of the body against substance normally present in the body 自身免疫的
? tactile: /'t?ktl/ adj. of or relating to or proceeding from the sense of touch 触觉的
And the impact of this loss can be significant. Losing tactile sensations makes it difficult to gauge? how much strength to use in a situation. Without the warning signals provided by thermal? and pain stimuli, we don’t react when our bodies are damaged. And, being deprived of social touch can cause a condition known as touch starvation, characterized by anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and even a weakened immune system.
? gauge: /ged?/ v. to judge how people feel about something or what they are likely to do 判定
? thermal: /'θ?ml/ adj. relating to or caused by heat or by changes in temperature 热的
Many individuals who face these realities have found innovative ways to adapt. But it’s undeniable that all these invisible sensations play a vital role in how we navigate the world—even if they can be difficult to put your finger on.
① collapse: /k?'l?ps/ v. to suddenly fall down or become unconscious because you are ill or weak 因病重突然晕倒
② gastric: /'g?str?k/ adj. relating to your stomach 胃部的
Eventually, he was diagnosed with③ a rare and extreme form of deafferentation④, a neurological condition in which certain signals from the nervous system are interrupted or impaired⑤. Without his body’s constant feedback on how his limbs were moving, Waterman was unable to sit up, stand, or walk. But over time, he taught himself to use sight to judge the distance of his limbs from other objects. And eventually he regained complete control of his body—so long as he could see it.
③ diagnose with: to say exactly what an illness or the cause of a problem is 确诊患有
④ deafferentation: /di?,?f(?)r(?)n'te??(?)n/ n. refers to the loss or removal of afferent nerve fibers 传入神经阻滞
⑤ impaire: /?m?p?r/ v. to damage something or make it not as good as it should be 损害
We often don’t think of touch as being a vital part of movement. But touch is just one part of the somatosensory⑥ system, a network that oversees all the sensations arising from the surface and interior of our bodies. Touch, pain, temperature, and our awareness of our bodies in space—also known as proprioception⑦—are regulated by this system.
⑥ somatosensory: /so,m?t?'s?ns?ri/ adj. of or relating to the somatosenses （耳、目、口等以外的）体觉的
⑦ proprioception: /?proprio?s?p??n/ n. the ability to sense the position and location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts 本体感受
And when something goes wrong, the effects can be dramatic. All these sensations⑧ are processed by millions of tiny receptor cells embedded in our skin, muscles, tendons⑨, and organs. Every square centimeter of our skin is packed with hundreds of these cells, and their shape, size, and depth determine what kind of stimuli⑩ they respond to.
⑧ sensation: /s?n'se??n/ n. a feeling that you get from one of your five senses, especially the sense of touch 感觉
⑨ tendon: /'t?nd?n/ n. a strong cord in a person's or animal's body which joins a muscle to a bone 腱
⑩ stimulus: /'st?mj?l?s/ n. something that encourages activity in people or things 刺激物
Mechanoreceptors? sense mechanical deformation of the skin. This could be triggered by low or high frequency vibrations, a stretch, or simply light, static? pressure. Thermoreceptors respond to temperature changes, while nociceptors sense pain. And propriocepters sit deep in your muscles and tendons, continually detecting and relaying information about the position of your body.
? mechanoreceptor: /?m?k?nor?'s?pt?/ n. a sensory receptor, as in the skin, that is sensitive to a mechanical stimulus, such as pressure 机械性刺激感受器
? static: /'st?t?k/ adj. not in physical motion 物理的
Your brain then combines this information with other sensory data to move through space without needing to see your limbs. All of these receptors work by sending electrical signals to the brain through fibers they’re attached to. And the speed of those signals varies with the fiber’s thickness.
For example, some nociceptors? are attached to fibers with slightly more conductive, fatty myelin? than others. So when you get hurt, the electrical impulses from thicker nociceptors trigger sharp, intense pain, while thin, unmyelinated? nociceptors are responsible for the dull, aching pain that follows. And since the fibers carrying tactile information are much thicker than those carrying nociceptive signals, rubbing an injury can produce temporary relief from the pain.
? nociceptor: /?nos??s?pt?/ n. a receptor sensitive to pain 伤害感受器
? myelin: /'ma??l?n/ n. a white fatty substance that forms a medullary sheath around the axis cylinder of some nerve fibers 髓磷脂
? unmyelinated: /?n?ma??l??net?d/ adj. not myelinated 无髓鞘的
These receptors generate a constant flood of signals that travel through the nervous system to the brain. But if this process is disrupted—either by damage to the skin, the nerves, or the brain—the network breaks down. And since it underpins? so many bodily functions, damage to the somatosensory system can manifest in a wide variety of ways.
? underpin: /??nd?'p?n/ v. to give strength or support to something and to help it succeed 支撑
In Waterman’s case, an autoimmune? reaction attacked a large swath of his nervous system, leaving him with no tactile? or proprioceptive sensations from the neck down. But deafferentation is just one of many somatosensory disorders. Individuals can receive damage to a specific brain area or a section of skin, resulting in the loss of certain sensations in particular locations.
? autoimmune: /??to?'mj?n/ adj. of or relating to the immune response of the body against substance normally present in the body 自身免疫的
? tactile: /'t?ktl/ adj. of or relating to or proceeding from the sense of touch 触觉的
And the impact of this loss can be significant. Losing tactile sensations makes it difficult to gauge? how much strength to use in a situation. Without the warning signals provided by thermal? and pain stimuli, we don’t react when our bodies are damaged. And, being deprived of social touch can cause a condition known as touch starvation, characterized by anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and even a weakened immune system.
? gauge: /ged?/ v. to judge how people feel about something or what they are likely to do 判定
? thermal: /'θ?ml/ adj. relating to or caused by heat or by changes in temperature 热的
Many individuals who face these realities have found innovative ways to adapt. But it’s undeniable that all these invisible sensations play a vital role in how we navigate the world—even if they can be difficult to put your finger on.
