今天分享的是Zoe最近新讀的一篇小科普文章。內容是關於為什麼雞被砍掉了頭，還能奔跑？文章的文字簡潔，明了，非常適合學習外語的大小朋友們當一個生動有趣的科普文章做拓展英語閱讀，順便還能了解一些知識。
下面是文章分享，我們還找到了一些和文字比較配合的英文圖解，幫助大家理解文字和拓展知識面。文章的後面是單詞的中英文對照總結。如果你想先看下單詞，再來閱讀，也可以下拉到文章下端查看詞彙。
另外，Zoe會錄製朗誦這篇文章的視頻，明天分享給大家。這樣可以對比圖文，美式閱讀視頻，同時拓展英文閱讀和美式發音練習。
If chickens run around after their head has been chopped off, does that mean their brain is in their bum?
還真沒找到一個英文的圖解，能解釋bum是哪個部位。想來是歐美沒有吃這個部分雞肉的習慣。所以下面提供一個中文圖解，標註出來bum的部位給大家做個參考。
Chickens definitely don’t keep their brain in their bum. But just like humans, they have special fibers called 「nerves」, which run like tiny wires all through their body, and some of them end near the surface of the skin. These nerves are what can make a chicken keep moving, even after its head has been chopped off.
Nerves are very important, because they make everything in our body work, including making our muscles move and helping us to feel things, with our sense of touch.
When the signal gets to your brain, the brain decides what to do about it and sends another little electrical current back down a different nerve, called a motor nerve, with a message to the muscle to move.
Sometimes, the message doesn't need to go all the way to the brain – it just goes as far as certain groups of nerves in the spinal cord. Then the decision about what to do goes straight back down the motor nerve to move the leg or arm.
For example, if you put your hand or foot down on something that's really hot, your spinal cord will react to move your limb out of harm's way – without even pausing to let your brain catch up. This is called a "reflex action".
上面的文字簡單描述了了神經系統是怎麼工作的。涉及的關鍵詞有，nerves（神經），motor nerve（運動神經），spinal cord（骨髓），reflex action（反射作用）。請參考下面的英文圖解，進一步了解神經系統的工作方式。
When you chop off a chicken's head to run around – even though it's already dead.
There was one cockerel who became known as Miracle Mike, who had his head chopped off and carried on living for another 18 months!
這裡這篇文章舉了一個比較極端的例子，就是Miracle Mike-著名的無頭雞麥克。
無頭雞麥克（1945年4月－1947年3月），是美國一隻被斬掉頭部後，依然生存了18個月的公雞。
In his case though, the farmer who had tried to kill him had aimed too high, and had left a bit of his brain still working in the top of his neck, and that’s what allowed him to live.
That can happen to a bird, because its large eye sockets mean that there isn’t room inside its skull for all of its brain, so a bit of the brain lives inside the top of the neck.
Mike was kept alive for all that time by dripping milk and water into what was left of his throat, and he used to walk around just as he had always done.
因為砍雞頭的時候，瞄準的不精確，其實公雞麥克的腦子並沒有被完全砍離身體；腦幹部分還留在脖子頂部。這也是為什麼它能在 「無頭「的狀態下生存18個月的原因。上文也提到了，為了維持公雞麥克的生命，從它保留的喉嚨處滴餵牛奶和水。
Some scientists have noticed that frogs that have had their brain destroyed (which should kill them) will hop towards the light from a window. And if something is in their way, they will hop round it.
If the same frog is put in water it will try to reach the surface, and if a jar is put over it while it is in the water, it will dive down to get out of the jar and up to the surface.
It seems impossible, but actually it depends on which bits of the brain have been damaged. If the back parts of the brain, (the brain stem and medulla oblongata, for those who are interested) are not completely destroyed, then the frog can still do many movements.
上文提到了有的無頭青蛙同樣也能在無頭的狀態下遊水，甚至繞開障礙物到達水面。從閱讀中可以理解，在保留腦幹(brain stem)以及延髓(medulla oblongata)的情況下，無頭青蛙的確依然可以完成很多不同的動作。大家可以通過下面的英文圖解，了解一下青蛙的神經系統構造(nervous system)。
Back to chickens: although they certainly don't have their brain in their bum, they do have a little bit of the brain at the top of their neck, and lots of nerves in their spinal cord which respond to feelings in the skin, and make the muscles move – even when their head has been chopped off!
最後分享兩張和雞相關的圖解；一張送給好奇和喜歡鑽研的你；另外一張送給吃貨的你！
這是Zoe最近讀科普小文章的分享。我們還會每周繼續分享英文原文報刊，散文，詩歌或者科普類小文章。如果感興趣，請持續關注！
不管做什麼，要相信堅持的力量！大家一起加油吧！
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