Scientists have come up with answers to the age-old question of why eyelashes are the length they are. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a variety of tests on the lashes of 22 different mammals. One was to create a special wind tunnel and an artificial eye to provide mathematical models of how the wind blew over lashes. The conclusion of head researcher David Hu is that the function of eyelashes is to help protect the eyes from drying out and that the optimal eyelash length for this to happen is one-third as long as the eye is wide. Professor Hu found that across a wide variety of mammals, the ratio of eyelash length and eye width was consistently one-third.

Dr Hu started his investigation after the birth of his newborn daughter. He wondered why his baby kept on batting her eyelids. He told the International Business Times that: "Eyelashes that rim the eyes in mammals have been a mystery for a long time as to what their function was. There were a lot of hypotheses, from dust catchers to triggering the blink reflex….What we did was the first aerodynamic study of eyelashes. We showed using three independent means that eyelashes reduce evaporation of the eye by 70 per cent, and they reduce [the deposits] of small airborne particles." A colleague said Hu had a talent for, "looking at what everybody has looked at, and seeing what nobody has seen."

1. TRUE / FALSE:Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.Scientists found an answer to a question about eyelashes and age.T / F

b.Scientists looked at the eyelashes of over 20 mammals.T / F

c.Scientists used a wind tunnel to see how aerodynamic eyelashes are.T / F

d.Eyelashes are usually one-third of an eye's width in most mammals.T / F

e.A scientist embarked on this study after looking at his daughter's eyes.T / F

f.There were very few thoughts on what the function of eyelashes was.T / F

g.The research used one independent means to support it.T / F

h.The researcher has a talent for seeing what everyone has seen.T / F

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.How old did the article say the question was about eyelashes?

2.How many different mammals did the scientists look at?

3.What special machine was made to test eyelashes?

4.What did David Hu conclude about the function of eyelashes?

5.What was the ratio of eyelash length and eye width found in mammals?

6.What triggered Dr Hu to start his investigation?

7.What did Hu's baby keep doing to her eyelids to make him wonder?

8.What did one hypothesis say was triggered by eyelashes?

9.By how much is evaporation in the eye reduced by eyelashes?

10.What did a colleague say Hu had a talent for seeing?

答案

TRUE / FALSE

a F b T c T d T e T f F g F h F

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.Age-old

2.22

3.A wind tunnel

4.They protect eyes from drying out

5.A third

6.The birth of his daughter

7.Bat them

8.The blink reflex

9.70%

10.What nobody has seen