时差N小时:肚子饿时响起的咕咕声

If you're too busy to remember to eat, your stomachwill remind you it's time to refuel by growling. We'lllook at what happens in your gastrointestinal tract,or GI tract, when you're hungry and when you're full.

如果你太忙了而忘记了吃饭，你的胃会咕咕叫着提醒你去吃饭。让我们来看看当你饥肠辘辘或者饱餐一顿时，在你的消化道里发生了什么?

Your GI tract is an involuntary muscle which isconstantly contracting and expanding. After you'veeaten, your gastrointestinal muscle contracts andrelaxes in order to move food from your stomach intothe intestines. When the GI tract has finished digesting a meal, it continues to process theliquids and gasses remaining in the intestines. This process often causes your stomach torumble when you're hungry.

你的消化道是一组非随意肌，它会不停的收缩扩张。吃饭后，你的胃肠肌会收缩与放松，这样就能将食物从胃部移入肠道。当消化道消化完食物后，会继续处理残留在肠道的液体和气体。这个过程经常使你在饥饿时胃部咕咕作响。

Stomach growling is caused by intestinal contractions squeezing and popping intestinal gasses.Actually, stomach rumbles are simply flatulence that stays inside the body. The samecontractions that cause your stomach to growl also clean out the GI tract. To see how thiscleaning movement works, picture a long hose made of a pliable material. If there were anobject, say an egg, at the end of the hose, you could push it from that end to the other bysqueezing all along the length of the hose. This is how the GI tract keeps itself clean.

肠道挤压在它里面的气体使得胃里产生咕咕的低鸣声。实际上，肚子咕咕叫就是体内的肠胃气胀。这种收缩虽然会让肚子咕咕叫，但也会帮助清理消化道。想要了解这个清理运动是如何进行的，就试着幻想一条柔韧型材料做成的长软管。如果软管的末端有一个物体，比如说一个鸡蛋，你可以通过不断挤压软管把鸡蛋推向另一端。这就是消化道如何自我清理的过程。

In order to push out bits of food particles left over from a meal, your gastrointestinal tractcreates waves of contractions all along the length of the intestines at a rate of two or three perminute. All of this activity in your GI tract when you're hungry can be very noisy, as anyonewho has been in the middle of a pre-lunch meeting when stomachs started rumbling can tellyou.

为了排出餐后少数的食物残渣，你的消化道每2至3分钟就会产生一个沿着肠道传播的收缩运动。当你感到饥饿的时候，消化道里所有的活动都会显得聒噪。在午餐前开会时肚子突然咕咕作响的员工会告诉你这有多么尴尬。