英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

Time to own up. When you’re sitting at your computer, do you work solidly all day? Or do you allow yourself to become distracted now and again… to open a few extra tabs, check social media, read a spot of news, browse the latest fashion trends, maybe catch up on some celebrity gossip, and look at some… 是时候拥有了。当您坐在电脑前时，您是否整天都在认真工作？或者你是否允许自己不时分心……打开一些额外的标签，查看社交媒体，阅读新闻，浏览最新的流行趋势，也许赶上一些名人八卦，看看一些……Stop! You’re ‘cyberloafing’. The unwieldy word is a combination of ‘cyber’, which means ‘related to computers’, and ‘loafing’, which means ‘relaxing in a lazy way’. We do it, and we do it a lot. A study from the University of Texas suggests we are guilty of this form of procrastination for 14% of our working day. On a Friday afternoon, I expect it’s more than that.   停止！你在“网络闲逛”。这个笨拙的词是“cyber”和“loafing”的组合，意思是“与计算机有关”，意思是“以懒惰的方式放松”。我们这样做，而且我们经常这样做。德克萨斯大学的一项研究表明，我们在工作日的 14% 中都犯了这种形式的拖延。在星期五的下午，我希望它不止于此。I’ll admit to indulging in the odd bout of cyberloafing myself. In fact I’ve already done it in the course of writing this story. OK, more than once. 我承认自己沉迷于奇怪的网络游荡。事实上，我在写这个故事的过程中已经这样做了。好的，不止一次。But it’s a slippery slope. It can damage your productivity and even your career. Because according to the Univeristy of Texas research, each time a worker gets sidetracked by the internet it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back to work.但这是一个滑坡。它会损害您的工作效率，甚至损害您的职业生涯。因为根据得克萨斯大学的研究，每次有员工被互联网转移，平均需要 23 分钟才能重新开始工作。More than that, cyberloafing has a dark side, according to a report published in The Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace. It argues that cyberloafing is connected to several negative personality traits. People who cyberloaf are more likely to be manipulative, self-interested and narcissistic. Furthermore, people with these traits are less likely to feel remorse about avoiding work, and less concerned about getting caught.不仅如此，根据发表在《网络空间心理社会研究杂志》上的一份报告，网络游荡也有阴暗面。它认为网络闲逛与几个负面的人格特征有关。网络游荡的人更有可能是操纵者、自私自利和自恋的。此外，具有这些特征的人不太可能对逃避工作感到懊悔，也不太担心被抓住。Why do we do it? For some, it’s undoubtedly an escape from the drudgery of what they’re supposed to be doing. Or a way of avoiding tackling that ever growing in-tray. Some might get a feeling of satisfaction, get a buzz from finding a great deal online. But overall, it’s something that takes you away from what you’re actually being paid to do, or paying to do: if you’re a student. 为什么这样做呢？对于一些人来说，这无疑是从他们应该做的苦差事中解脱出来。或者是一种避免处理不断增长的托盘的方法。有些人可能会感到满足，从网上找到很多东西而引起轰动。但总的来说，这会让你远离你实际得到报酬或付出代价去做的事情：如果你是一名学生。When you have the whole world of the internet at your fingertips, it’s hard to resist.当您触手可及整个互联网世界时，您将难以抗拒。How do we nip it in the bud? If you can truly ask yourself why you are cyberloafing, then that can help identify the base problem. And if that sounds like too much hard work, you could just switch off the internet for a couple of hours! 我们如何将它扼杀在萌芽状态？如果你能真正问自己为什么要在网上闲逛，那么这可以帮助确定根本问题。如果这听起来太辛苦了，你可以关掉互联网几个小时！So in the meantime, let me just close those extra tabs…所以与此同时，让我关闭那些额外的标签......词汇表own up 承认，坦白（错误）solidly 扎扎实实地，连续地now and again 不时的tab （浏览器）窗口gossip 八卦，流言蜚语unwieldy 笨拙的indulge in 沉溺于odd 偶尔的bout（某活动的）一阵slippery slope 滑坡效应，下坡路productivity 生产率get sidetracked 使分心，注意力被转移了dark side 阴暗面，黑暗面manipulative 有控制欲的，爱摆布（他人）的self-interested 利己主义的，只为自己着想的narcissistic 自我欣赏的get a buzz 让人感到异常兴奋at your fingertips 近在手边to nip (something) in the bud 防患于未然

Here’s a simple challenge: name a famous inventor. Perhaps Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci springs to mind. Or the pioneer of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. But you might be hard-pressed to name many female inventors, even though women are behind some of the most widely used technologies in the modern world.这是一个简单的挑战：命名一位著名的发明家。也许文艺复兴时期的博学家列奥纳多·达·芬奇会浮现在脑海中。或者电话的先驱亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔。但是你可能很难说出许多女性发明家的名字，尽管女性是现代世界一些最广泛使用的技术的幕后推手。For example, where would we be without the windscreen wiper? Back on a freezing winter’s day in 1902, Mary Anderson was travelling by tram through New York city. Snow was falling, forcing the driver to stop repeatedly and get out to clear it. Each time the door opened, Mary suffered a gust of sub-zero air. She had a brainwave: why not make some kind of a rubber blade that could be operated from inside the vehicle? And that’s exactly what she did. 例如，如果没有挡风玻璃雨刷器，我们会在哪里？回到 1902 年一个寒冷的冬日，玛丽·安德森乘坐电车穿越纽约市。雪在下，迫使司机反复停车并下车清理。每次门打开，玛丽都会遭受一阵低于零的空气。她有一个脑波：为什么不制造某种可以在车内操作的橡胶刀片呢？而这正是她所做的。Let’s step in from freezing New York for our next invention. The dishwasher dates back even earlier to the 19th Century, and to the dinner parties thrown by a lady called Josephine Cochrane. As a frequent host, she wanted a machine that could wash dishes faster than people. Her response was to develop what was to become the first commercially successful dishwasher. Interestingly, innovation was in her blood: her grandfather had invented the steamboat. 让我们从寒冷的纽约踏入我们的下一个发明。洗碗机的历史可以追溯到更早的 19 世纪，以及一位名叫 Josephine Cochrane 的女士举办的晚宴。作为常客，她想要一台洗碗速度比人还快的机器。她的反应是开发成为第一台商业上成功的洗碗机。有趣的是，她的血液里流淌着创新：她的祖父发明了汽船。Need something to do while the dishwasher is whirring away? How about a round of Monopoly? One of the most popular board games around, the rules were first drawn up by a lady called Elizabeth Magie, and patented in 1904. Her intention was to create a game to highlight what she saw as the pitfalls of capitalism. It was originally called The Landlord’s Game. 洗碗机运转时需要做点什么吗？一轮垄断怎么样？作为最受欢迎的棋盘游戏之一，规则首先由一位名叫伊丽莎白玛姬的女士制定，并于 1904 年获得专利。她的目的是创造一款游戏来突出她所看到的资本主义陷阱。它最初被称为房东的游戏。To an altogether different kind of innovation: Kevlar is the lightweight fibre used in bulletproof vests. The material is used by millions every day and has saved countless lives. The super tough fabric is also used in objects ranging from gloves to aeroplanes to wind turbines. Incredibly, its strength-to-weight ratio is five times higher than steel. Again, it was invented by a woman, the American chemist Stephanie Kwolek, in 1964. 一种完全不同的创新：Kevlar 是用于防弹背心的轻质纤维。该材料每天被数百万人使用，并挽救了无数生命。这种超坚韧的织物也用于从手套到飞机到风力涡轮机的各种物品。令人难以置信的是，它的强度重量比是钢的五倍。再一次，它是由一位女性、美国化学家 Stephanie Kwolek 在 1964 年发明的。Finally, one of the most important inventions of the 20th Century must surely be the computer programme. The world of programming is notoriously unbalanced in terms of gender. Men vastly outnumber women, and take home around 30% more pay than their female counterparts on average. But back in the 1940s and 50s, women were at the forefront of this new field. Grace Hopper is credited with inventing the first compiler in 1952, which serves as the bridge between code and the binary ones and zeros understood by computers.最后，20 世纪最重要的发明之一肯定是计算机程序。众所周知，编程世界在性别方面是不平衡的。男性的人数远远超过女性，平均而言，男性的工资比女性高出约 30%。但早在 1940 年代和 50 年代，女性就处于这一新领域的前沿。Grace Hopper 因在 1952 年发明了第一个编译器而受到赞誉，它充当了代码与计算机理解的二进制 1 和 0 之间的桥梁。词汇表polymath 博学者，博学的人spring to mind 突然呈现在脑海中pioneer 先锋hard-pressed （由于缺少时间）面临困难的where would we be without… 假如没有…我们将会是怎样的？windscreen wiper 雨刷器sub-zero 温度在零度以下的brainwave （突发的）灵感，妙计dishwasher 洗碗机throw (a party) 举办（聚会）in someone’s blood 在某人的血液中，在骨子里whirr （洗衣机）发出嗡嗡声patent 注册专利权pitfall 陷阱bulletproof vest 防弹背心wind turbine 风力发电机notoriously 出了名地（负面），声名狼藉地gender 性别outnumber 在数量上压倒binary 二进位制

We all have one, don’t we? A friend who’s always late. The one who turns up for coffee a full half hour after the appointed time. The one who seems to be forever ‘stuck in traffic’. The dear pal who sends a message saying “Sorry, bit delayed”, when they’re already 20 minutes behind schedule. I mean, what kind of a friend is that? Or just maybe, if you’re really honest, this persistently tardy individual is actually you yourself?我们都有一个，不是吗？一个总是迟到的朋友。那个在指定时间后整整半小时来喝咖啡的人。那个似乎永远“陷入交通堵塞”的人。亲爱的朋友，当他们已经晚了 20 分钟时，发送一条消息说“对不起，有点延迟”。我的意思是，那是什么样的朋友？或者只是也许，如果你真的很诚实，这个一直迟到的人实际上就是你自己？Either way, if you’re on the receiving end, lateness can be extremely irritating, even infuriating. How on earth can people be so inconsiderate? 无论哪种方式，如果您处于接收端，迟到可能会非常烦人，甚至令人愤怒。人怎么可以这么不体贴？Well, recent research suggests that there might be more to this than simple rudeness. Psychologists from Washington University believe people perceive time differently. Their study gave participants a specific amount of time in which to complete a task, and even provided them with a clock. Despite this, some people became so engrossed in the activity that they completely lost track of time and forgot to check the clock.好吧，最近的研究表明，这可能不仅仅是简单的粗鲁。华盛顿大学的心理学家认为，人们对时间的感知是不同的。他们的研究为参与者提供了完成任务的特定时间，甚至为他们提供了一个时钟。尽管如此，还是有一些人全神贯注于这项活动，以至于他们完全忘记了时间，忘记了看表。According to psychologist Dr Susan Krauss Whitborne, from University of Masachussetts Amherst, this is like when we scroll through our social media feed and think only five minutes have elapsed, when in fact twenty have slipped by. Does that feel familiar? She writes in Psychology Today that those who were better at clock-checking were therefore “less reliant on their potentially flawed internal timekeeper.” So, what about the reasons beyond our faulty inner clocks?根据马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的心理学家 Susan Krauss Whitborne 博士的说法，这就像我们滚动浏览社交媒体并认为只过了五分钟，而实际上已经过去了二十分钟。是不是感觉很熟悉？她在《今日心理学》中写道，那些更擅长检查时钟的人因此“较少依赖于他们可能存在缺陷的内部计时员”。那么，除了我们的错误内部时钟之外的原因呢？Well, our personality also plays a role. Laura Clarke writes for BBC Capital that the less punctual among us often share traits such as “optimism, low levels of self-control, anxiety, or a penchant for thrill-seeking”.Why optimism, you ask? Optimists tend to overestimate how much they can achieve and underestimate problems – which means they don’t account for the long traffic jam on the way to meet you for that coffee.好吧，我们的个性也起着作用。劳拉·克拉克（Laura Clarke）为 BBC Capital 撰文称，我们当中不太守时的人通常具有“乐观、低水平的自我控制、焦虑或寻求刺激的嗜好”等特征。你问为什么要乐观？乐观主义者往往高估他们能取得多少成就而低估问题——这意味着他们没有考虑到在与你见面喝咖啡的路上长时间的交通拥堵。Here’s another thought: maybe language is to blame? The English phrase ‘to be fashionably late’ is used to describe the optimum time to arrive at an event. If you’re too early, you can appear overly eager, but if you’re a bit late you seem cool and sophisticated. The problem is, what one person regards as fashionably late, another may view as plain impolite. So, next time you have coffee, do try to be on time.这是另一个想法：也许是语言的罪魁祸首？英文短语“to be fashionly late”用于描述到达活动的最佳时间。如果你来得太早，你可能会显得过于渴望，但如果你来晚了，你会显得很酷和老练。问题是，一个人认为迟到是时髦的，另一个人可能会认为是完全不礼貌的。所以，下次你喝咖啡的时候，一定要准时。词汇表the appointed time 约好的时间stuck in traffic 堵在路上behind schedule 迟于约定的时间persistently 一次又一次地tardy 迟到的，行动缓慢的on the receiving end 等人的那一方infuriating 令人愤怒的inconsiderate 不为他人着想的，不体谅别人的perceive 看待engrossed 全身贯注的lose track of time 忘记时间feed （社交媒体上的）状态更新elapse （时间）流逝slip by 不知不觉地流逝timekeeper （个人）对时间的把握punctual 守时的a penchant for （拥有）…的嗜好，倾向thrill-seeking 追求刺激的overestimate 高估to be fashionably late “约会故意迟到一会儿”，以显示自己处事老练而时髦

You know the feeling. You’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s going to be hours before you get home. As we know all too well, congestion is one of the downsides of modern city living. Don’t you wish you could just take to the skies and soar above it all in a helicopter? 你知道那种感觉。你被困在一个接一个的交通中。在你回家之前还有几个小时。众所周知，拥堵是现代城市生活的弊端之一。你不希望你可以乘坐直升机飞上天空并翱翔于一切之上吗？Well, wish no more. Right now, the race is on to release the first commercially viable sky taxi. No longer will personal air travel be the preserve of the super wealthy, say optimistic tech entrepreneurs. There’s just one catch: how do you feel about having no pilot? 好吧，不要再希望了。目前，推出第一款商业上可行的空中出租车的竞赛正在进行中。乐观的科技企业家说，私人航空旅行不再是超级富豪的专利。只有一个问题：你觉得没有飞行员怎么样？For brave passengers, the city of Dubai plans to roll out rides on their pilotless drone taxi project by the end of this year. You can buckle up and share the ride with one other passenger in their 18-rotor craft, developed by German start-up Volocopter, with a top speed of 100km/h and a flight time of around 30 minutes. 对于勇敢的乘客，迪拜市计划在今年年底前推出无人驾驶出租车项目。您可以系好安全带并与另一位乘客一起乘坐由德国初创公司 Volocopter 开发的 18 旋翼飞行器，最高时速为 100 公里/小时，飞行时间约为 30 分钟。If you have more friends, French aviation company Airbus are working on a drone which can carry four to six customers. Or if you prefer your own company, Chinese firm Ehang are pioneering a single-seater drone, which stays airborne for 23 minutes.如果你有更多的朋友，法国航空公司空中客车公司正在研制一种可以搭载四到六个客户的无人机。或者，如果你更喜欢自己的公司，中国公司亿航正在开创一种单座无人机，它可以在空中停留 23 分钟。Ride-hailing company Uber also want a piece of the action. They say drones like this are the “future of on-demand urban air transportation”. They recently poached NASA chief technologist Mark Moore to help them develop a drone taxi. And he claims it won’t cost the earth. Moore told the BBC that with three or four passengers sharing, it would be “very similar to what an UberX [car] costs today”.叫车公司优步也想分一杯羹。他们说像这样的无人机是“按需城市航空运输的未来”。他们最近挖走了美国宇航局首席技术专家马克摩尔，帮助他们开发无人驾驶出租车。他声称这不会花费地球。摩尔告诉英国广播公司，三到四名乘客共享，这将“与今天 UberX [汽车] 的成本非常相似”。So far so good. But naturally, a number of questions remain. On the technical side, there’s the problem of batteries. A 23-minute flight could get you across town, but how and where does the battery recharge?到目前为止，一切都很好。但自然地，仍然存在许多问题。在技术方面，存在电池问题。23 分钟的飞行可以让您穿越城镇，但电池如何以及在哪里充电？And regulations are a challenge too. US authorities require aircraft to carry at least 20 minutes of spare fuel. If you only have 23 or even 30 in total, that leaves very little leeway. Control of access to flight paths will also need to be worked out.监管也是一个挑战。美国当局要求飞机携带至少 20 分钟的备用燃料。如果你总共只有 23 个甚至 30 个，那么余地很小。还需要制定对飞行路径的控制。Even if these issues are tackled successfully, there’s still the biggie: safety. Will passengers really be willing to put their lives in the hands of a flying robot? Winning the trust of the regulators and the public may take time. But when they do, well, the sky’s the limit.即使成功解决了这些问题，仍然有一个大问题：安全。乘客真的愿意将自己的生命交给飞行机器人吗？赢得监管机构和公众的信任可能需要时间。但是当他们这样做时，好吧，天空就是极限。bumper-to-bumper （交通）非常拥堵的congestion 堵车，交通堵塞to take to the skies 冲上云霄the race is on 竞争已经开始viable 可行的，有望成功的preserve （某类人群的）专利catch 暗藏的问题drone 无人驾驶的飞机to buckle up 系好安全带craft 飞行器aviation 航空airborne 在空中的ride-hailing （提供）叫车（服务）的a piece of the action （口语）分一杯羹on-demand 按需的to cost the earth （英式口语）漫天要价leeway 富余的时间flight path 飞行的路线，航线biggie （口语）重要的事情the sky's the limit “天空是极限”，没有做不到的事情

If you don’t use it, you lose it. At least, that’s how the old aphorism goes. It refers to the idea that something which does not get utilised regularly quickly falls into a state of decline. For example, a hobby that you haven’t done for a few years, like playing the trumpet. You might find yourself a bit rusty the next time you pick one up – or maybe you’ve forgotten altogether!  Muscles are another example. They will waste away without use. In order to counteract this, people take regular exercise to keep their skills sharp.如果你不使用它，你就会失去它。至少，这就是古老的格言。它指的是没有定期使用的东西很快就会陷入衰退状态的想法。比如一个你几年没做过的爱好，比如吹小号。下次你拿起一个时，你可能会发现自己有点生锈了——或者你可能完全忘记了！肌肉是另一个例子。他们将毫无用处地浪费掉。为了抵消这一点，人们经常锻炼以保持他们的技能敏锐。Well, what about the brain? As we age, our brains can naturally begin to decline. In some cases this can lead to certain mental conditions such as dementia, which I’m sure you will agree, no one wants. However, all is not lost because these days it’s relatively easy to train your brain. Smartphones and apps have put programmes into our hands that can test, maintain and even augment our memories, mathematical skills, logic skills and a raft of other mental abilities. With a little practice every day, we can keep our brains nice and sharp, right?那么，大脑呢？随着年龄的增长，我们的大脑自然会开始衰退。在某些情况下，这可能会导致某些精神状况，例如痴呆症，我相信您会同意，没有人愿意。然而，一切都没有丢失，因为现在训练你的大脑相对容易。智能手机和应用程序已将程序置于我们手中，这些程序可以测试、维持甚至增强我们的记忆力、数学技能、逻辑技能和大量其他心智能力。每天稍加练习，我们就可以让我们的大脑保持良好和敏锐，对吗？Well, no, actually. According to a report from the Global Council on Brain Health, even though many people thought it was important to play online games, such as puzzles and mind games, which are designed to improve brain health, the evidence of the benefits was “weak to non-existent”. Playing a ‘brain game’ may lead to improvements in game performance, but this has yet to show a convincing result in people’s daily cognitive abilities. In other words, doing hundreds of sudoku puzzles might make you a sudoku wizard, but it doesn’t necessarily improve your ability to do your accounting.嗯，不，实际上。根据全球大脑健康委员会的一份报告，尽管许多人认为玩旨在改善大脑健康的益智游戏和智力游戏等在线游戏很重要，但其益处的证据“微弱到无——存在”。玩“脑力游戏”可能会提高游戏性能，但这尚未显示出令人信服的人们日常认知能力的结果。换句话说，做数百个数独谜题可能会让你成为数独巫师，但这并不一定能提高你的会计能力。It’s not all doom and gloom though. There are other ways to stimulate the old grey matter. It recommends seeking out new activities that challenge the way you think and are socially engaging, while leading to a healthy lifestyle. Among their suggestions are practising tai chi, taking photography classes, learning new technologies, gardening, art projects or volunteering.但这并不全是厄运和悲观。还有其他方法可以刺激旧的灰质。它建议寻找新的活动来挑战您的思维方式和社交参与方式，同时带来健康的生活方式。他们的建议包括练习太极拳、参加摄影课、学习新技术、园艺、艺术项目或志愿服务。There’s more good news, too. James Goodwin, chief scientist at Age UK has said that brain decline is not inevitable. As long as the activities are “new to you and require your concentrated attention”, they can provide benefits for brain health. So, make haste, get out there and try something new. Maybe it’s time to try that hobby you’ve always wanted to do. And as for me? I’m off to learn the piano.还有更多好消息。英国时代的首席科学家詹姆斯古德温表示，大脑衰退并非不可避免。只要这些活动“对您来说是新的并且需要您集中注意力”，它们就可以为大脑健康带来好处。所以，快点，走出去，尝试一些新的东西。也许是时候尝试一下你一直想做的爱好了。至于我呢？我要去学钢琴了。词汇表aphorism 格言utilise 利用，使用a state of decline 退化、衰退的状态rusty （因长期不去做而）生疏的altogether 彻底地，全部地waste away 逐渐衰退counteract 对抗，抵消keep sharp 保持（技术）熟练；保持（头脑）敏锐augment 增强、加强a raft of 许多，大量non-existent 不存在的cognitive 认知的wizard 能手，“达人”doom and gloom 前景悲观，一片黯淡stimulate 促进（身体某部位的）功能grey matter “灰质”，头脑inevitable 不可避免的make haste （旧式说法）快点

Let's be honest – I'm sure we've all done something a little dishonest in our lives – maybe copying someone's work, borrowing some money from a friend and not paying them back or being given too much change in a shop and keeping quiet about it. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe you're a good, upstanding citizen who believes that honesty is the best policy.老实说——我敢肯定我们在生活中都做过一些不诚实的事情——也许是抄袭别人的作品，从朋友那里借了一些钱却不还，或者在商店里给了太多零钱，对这些事情保持沉默它。或者也许我错了，也许你是一个善良、正直的公民，他相信诚实是最好的政策。This proverb, 'honesty is the best policy', was written back in the 1700s by American statesman, Benjamin Franklin. We may agree that owning up to our mistakes and behaving in a genuine and decent way, is the right way to lead our lives but is there something in our human nature that makes us unscrupulous? For example, in some shops and car parks you can find an honesty box – a box where you pay for something by putting money in it – but it relies on you putting the right amount of cash in. This relies on people being honest and not trying to cheat but it does provide a temptation to get away with not paying the full amount.这句谚语“诚实是最好的政策”是美国政治家本杰明·富兰克林在 1700 年代写的。我们可能会同意，承认自己的错误并以真诚和体面的方式行事，是我们生活的正确方式，但我们的人性中是否有某些东西使我们肆无忌惮？例如，在一些商店和停车场，你可以找到一个诚实的盒子——一个你通过把钱投入其中来支付某物的盒子——但它依赖于你投入了适量的现金。这依赖于人们的诚实而不是诚实。试图作弊，但它确实提供了逃避不支付全部金额的诱惑。Philip Graves, a psychologist, and author of the book Consumerology, suggests that this temptation is part of our evolution. He says: "We have evolved with the capacity to be dishonest. It's part of our evolutionary psychological make up – because if we can gain an advantage over the people around us, we have a greater chance of surviving."心理学家、《消费者学》一书的作者菲利普·格雷夫斯认为，这种诱惑是我们进化的一部分。他说：“我们已经进化出不诚实的能力。这是我们进化心理构成的一部分——因为如果我们能够比周围的人获得优势，我们就有更大的生存机会。”So why do we place such importance on being honest if we benefit from being dishonest? It's because it is selfish behaviour – which other members of our social group won't like. If everybody acted selfishly and dishonestly all the time, the world would be a very unpleasant place. As Philip Graves says: "There is a balance to strike between the extent to which we can feather our own nest, so to speak, and the risk of being ostracised by the group." So, for societies to work together we need to trust each other and therefore we need to be honest.那么，如果我们从不诚实中受益，为什么还要如此重视诚实呢？这是因为这是自私的行为——我们社会群体的其他成员不喜欢这种行为。如果每个人都自私和不诚实地行事，世界将是一个非常不愉快的地方。正如菲利普·格雷夫斯所说：“可以说，我们可以在多大程度上为自己的巢穴添砖加瓦，与被群体排斥的风险之间要取得平衡。”所以，为了让社会一起工作，我们需要相互信任，因此我们需要诚实。Being trustworthy with money is of course crucial for an economy to survive and there are laws to protect us from dishonest practices like corruption and fraud. But being honest with words is another matter; saying what we think to someone can get us into hot water. However a new anonymous messaging app has been designed that lets anyone with a link to your profile to send you a message without knowing who it's from. The app now has 300 million users which perhaps indicates how honest we really like to be – but in all honesty, do you want to know what people think about you? Is honesty always the best policy?!对金钱的信任当然对于经济的生存至关重要，并且有法律可以保护我们免受腐败和欺诈等不诚实行为的侵害。但说实话是另一回事；对别人说出我们的想法会让我们陷入困境。然而，我们设计了一个新的匿名消息应用程序，让任何拥有您个人资料链接的人都可以在不知道来自谁的情况下向您发送消息。该应用程序现在拥有 3 亿用户，这或许表明我们真的很想诚实——但老实说，你想知道人们对你的看法吗？诚实永远是最好的政策吗？！词汇表let's be honest 咱们诚实点，实话实说dishonest 不诚实的upstanding 正直的honesty is the best policy 诚实是上策own up 承认，坦白decent 正派的unscrupulous 不诚实的，没有道德原则的honesty box (没有服务人员时) 公众凭自觉与诚实去付款的容器cheat 欺骗temptation 有诱惑力的事情to get away with 做（坏事）而未被发现evolution 进化capacity 能力evolutionary psychological make up 演化心理学的记号、标签benefit 从…受益selfish 自私的feather our own nest 从中得利，中饱私囊ostracise 排斥trustworthy 值得信任的fraud 诈骗get into hot water 陷入困境，使尴尬in all honesty 老实说

Have you ever loved a TV show? I mean really loved it? Like, you can’t wait to get to work to talk about it loved it? What about the cliffhanger? That’s the unresolved situation at the end of the episode which makes you want to watch the next one. But, when will the next one be?你曾经喜欢过电视节目吗？我的意思是真的喜欢它？就像，你迫不及待地想去上班谈论它喜欢它吗？悬念呢？这就是这一集结尾处未解决的情况，让你想看下一集。但是，下一个是什么时候呢？In the past, viewers had to wait up to a week for the next episode of their favourite shows. What agony! But, that’s not the case any more. And hand in hand with that comes a, possibly dangerous, growing social trend. We speak of binge-watching.在过去，观众必须等待长达一周的时间才能看到他们最喜欢的节目的下一集。多么痛苦！但是，情况不再如此。随之而来的是一种可能是危险的、日益增长的社会趋势。我们谈论狂欢。Binge-watching is when a person watches more than one episode of a show in quick succession. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now have their favourite shows streamed directly to their television at their convenience.狂欢观看是指一个人快速连续观看一集以上的节目。随着互联网速度和连接性的发展、技术的进步和点播娱乐公司的兴起，人们现在可以在方便的时候将自己喜欢的节目直接流式传输到电视上。This behaviour is nothing new. In fact, ‘binge-watching’ has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognise this behaviour and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available concurrently. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with ‘you might like’ suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.这种行为并不是什么新鲜事。事实上，从 2015 年开始，“看剧”就被正式列入字典。娱乐公司认识到这种行为，并采取措施鼓励这种行为。通常，不是每周发布每一集，而是将同时发布整个系列。剧集结束后，许多平台会弹出“您可能会喜欢”的建议，或者会自动播放下一集。However, this wondrous gift may in fact be a poisoned chalice. Recent research from British media watchdog Ofcom suggests that this behaviour may have become a hindrance. Out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show back-to-back, almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and one quarter have neglected their household chores. Next we'll be missing work!然而，这个奇妙的礼物实际上可能是一个有毒的圣杯。英国媒体监管机构 Ofcom 最近的研究表明，这种行为可能已成为一种障碍。在连续观看超过一集的英国成年人中，有近三分之一承认睡眠不足或因此感到疲倦；四分之一的人忽视了他们的家务。接下来我们将失去工作！Bingeing has other connections – binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of which are often associated with compulsive behaviour, a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director at Ofcom, said: "The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, coupled with the fact that it has shown to lead to negligence in many, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?暴饮暴食还有其他联系——暴饮暴食、暴饮暴食和暴饮暴食。所有这些通常都与强迫行为、缺乏控制和可能的成瘾途径有关。Ofcom 的消费者团体主管 Lindsey Fussell 说：“等待下一集一周的日子基本上已经一去不复返了，人们发现很难抗拒在房子周围或移动中观看多集。”如果人们发现暴饮暴食难以抗拒，再加上它已被证明会导致许多人的疏忽，我们是否正在见证一种新型成瘾的诞生？The myriad of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. It offers us opportunities to better understand the world we live in, educate ourselves and enjoy much needed downtime. However, like any behaviour done to excess, it can become dangerous. And when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning – then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Moderation! Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says… a little of what you fancy does you good.许多人会说，电视和在线媒体可以为我们带来的无数信息和娱乐是一件好事。它为我们提供了更好地了解我们生活的世界、教育自己并享受急需的停机时间的机会。然而，就像任何过度的行为一样，它可能会变得危险。当活动开始渗透到其他领域，导致我们停止运作时，它就会成为一个问题。那么，答案是什么？适度！量不大，也不算多。毕竟，正如古老的谚语所说……你喜欢的东西对你有好处。词汇表cliffhanger （故事）悬念，扣人心弦的部分agony 煎熬、痛苦binge-watching 无节制地、连续地看电视剧in quick succession 紧接着，接连不断地on-demand 按需提供服务的streamed 可供在线收看encourage 激励、促使（行为）concurrently 同时地pop-up 弹出式窗口wondrous 绝妙的，美好的poisoned chalice “金盏毒酒”，指外表诱人实则有害的事物watchdog 监督机构hindrance 妨碍，阻碍back-to-back 一集接一集地neglected 疏忽了，忘记做了compulsive 强迫性的resist 忍住，抗拒negligence 疏忽（名词）myriad 数不胜数，无数excess 太多，过度bleed 波及，干扰moderation 节制、适度

What would make you happy? Really happy? A nice holiday, lazing on a tropical beach? Maybe a blowout meal with friends at a swanky restaurant? Or possibly splashing out on a pair of the latest designer jeans? All these pleasures cost money so does that mean we need lots of cash to feel good or does the old saying 'money can't buy happiness' still ring true?什么会让你开心？非常开心？一个愉快的假期，在热带海滩上慵懒？也许在一家时髦的餐厅和朋友一起吃一顿丰盛的晚餐？或者可能会花在一条最新的名牌牛仔裤上？所有这些快乐都需要花钱，所以这是否意This well-worn adage has been put to the test by scientists in Canada. They found that when used in the right way, money can bring us happiness. They discovered that when you use money to free up time, by paying someone to do your chores for example, you are happier. In an experiment, individuals reported greater higher life satisfaction if they used $40 to save time rather than spend it on material goods such as a new pair of shoes. But surprisingly, the researchers found that fewer than a third of individuals spent money to buy themselves time each month.这句老生常谈的格言已经被加拿大的科学家们检验过了。他们发现，如果使用得当，金钱可以给我们带来快乐。他们发现，当你用钱来腾出时间，比如花钱雇人做家务，你会更快乐。在一项实验中，如果个人用 40 美元来节省时间，而不是花在诸如新鞋之类的物质商品上，那么他们的生活满意度会更高。但令人惊讶的是，研究人员发现，每个月只有不到三分之一的人花钱为自己争取时间。In our hectic lives time is one thing we seem to be short of. People are reporting a 'time famine', where they get stressed over the daily demands on their time. Psychologists say stress over lack of time causes lower well-being and contributes to anxiety and insomnia. But in many countries now, as incomes are rising, there is an option to buy more time.在我们忙碌的生活中，时间似乎是我们缺乏的一件事。人们正在报告“时间饥荒”，他们因每天对时间的需求而感到压力。心理学家说，缺乏时间带来的压力会导致幸福感下降，并导致焦虑和失眠。但现在在许多国家，随着收入的增加，人们可以选择购买更多时间。This can be through hiring a cleaner to clean your house or outsourcing your ironing to someone else – giving us valuable extra hours to do the things we want to do. And in many forward-thinking companies, staff are given the opportunity to buy more time off or work flexibly.这可以通过聘请清洁工来打扫你的房子或将熨烫工作外包给其他人——给我们宝贵的额外时间来做我们想做的事情。在许多有远见的公司中，员工有机会争取更多的休假或灵活工作。Professor Dunn, who worked with colleagues at Harvard Business School, Maastricht University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, says that "money can in fact buy time. And it buys time pretty effectively… and so my take home message is, 'think about it, is there something you hate doing that fills you with dread and could you pay somebody else to do that for you?' If so, then science says that's a pretty good use of money.''与哈佛商学院、马斯特里赫特大学和阿姆斯特丹自由大学的同事一起工作的邓恩教授说：“实际上，金钱可以买到时间。而且它可以非常有效地买到时间……所以我的带回家的信息是，‘想想看，是有什么你讨厌做的事让你充满恐惧，你能付钱给别人为你做吗？如果是这样，那么科学说这是对金钱的一种很好的利用。''I would agree that buying more time makes me feel happier and more relaxed. But making time a priority over making money does come at a price; you have less cash to spend on the things you now have time to do. However there's another old saying that 'life is short and time is swift' so there's no time to waste and there's more to life than doing tedious housework!我同意花更多的时间让我感觉更快乐、更放松。但是，让时间优先于赚钱确实是有代价的。你现在有时间做的事情上花费的现金更少了。然而，还有一句老话“生命短暂，时间匆匆”，所以没有时间可以浪费，生活除了做乏味的家务之外还有更多！词汇表laze 享受，消磨（时光）blowout 大餐swanky 奢华时髦的splash out 花大笔钱money can't buy happiness 金钱买不到幸福adage 格言，谚语chore 日常琐碎的工作material goods 物质商品hectic 忙碌的time famine “时间荒”insomnia 失眠income 收入hire 雇用outsource 将…交给他人处理forward-thinking 前瞻性的effectively 有效地dread 忧虑priority 优先考虑的事come at a price 要付出很高的代价life is short and time is swift 生命短暂，时光飞逝tedious 单调乏味的

Our parents always tell us that if we work hard, we will do well. If you're studying at university this ultimately means passing your exams and achieving a first-class degree. Easier said than done! So if you're struggling to complete that final assignment or feel your revision is going nowhere, how will you believe that getting a top-notch qualification is a real possibility?我们的父母总是告诉我们，如果我们努力工作，我们就会做得很好。如果您在大学学习，这最终意味着通过考试并获得一流的学位。说起来容易做起来难！因此，如果您正在努力完成最后的作业，或者觉得您的复习无济于事，您如何相信获得一流的资格是真正的可能性？I can't claim to be an expert in this as the grade I achieved in my degree was a little lower than a first! But today, in the UK at least, there are encouraging signs that getting one is a bit more attainable. That's because the number of first-class degrees being awarded by UK universities is soaring, with firsts now more common than a 2:2. More than a quarter of students received a first in 2015 and 2016 at the UK's top universities, known as the Russell Group. Among specialist institutions, such as in the creative arts, proportions of firsts are thought to be even higher – such as 64% of students getting firsts at the Royal Academy of Music.我不能声称自己是这方面的专家，因为我的学位成绩比第一名略低！但是今天，至少在英国，有令人鼓舞的迹象表明，获得一个更容易实现。这是因为英国大学授予的一流学位的数量正在飙升，现在第一比 2:2 更为普遍。超过四分之一的学生在 2015 年和 2016 年获得了英国顶尖大学罗素集团的第一名。在创意艺术等专业机构中，第一的比例被认为更高——例如 64% 的学生在皇家音乐学院获得第一。Of course, not everyone thinks this is because of the hard graft that students are putting in. Critics say that universities are handing out higher grades to boost applications and having a first-class degree gives an advantage for future job opportunities – this all looks good on a university prospectus. But there have also been arguments that rising degree grades reflect the improved A-level grades of those entering university and a more focused attention to studying.当然，并不是每个人都认为这是因为学生付出了沉重的代价。批评者说，大学正在发放更高的成绩来增加申请，拥有一流的学位可以为未来的工作机会提供优势——这一切看起来都不错在大学招股说明书上。但也有人认为，学位成绩的提高反映了进入大学的 A-level 成绩的提高以及对学习的更加专注。But whatever the reason, we mustn't deny first-class graduates their hard-earned achievement and success. Many have made sacrifices along the way, such as 22 year old Khadijah Lewis, who got a first in history and sociology at Warwick University. She told the BBC's Newsbeat programme that her course was "tough" but says "Knowing that getting a first is more common than a 2:2 does make me feel like my first isn't as valid," she explains, "but also I know that I worked very hard for it, so regardless of how easy or how hard people think it is, I still did it."但无论出于何种原因，我们都不能否认一流毕业生来之不易的成就和成功。许多人在此过程中做出了牺牲，例如 22 岁的 Khadijah Lewis，他在华威大学获得了历史和社会学的第一名。她告诉 BBC 的 Newsbeat 节目，她的课程“很难”，但她说：“知道获得第一个比 2:2 更常见确实让我觉得我的第一个不那么有效，”她解释说，“但我我知道我为此付出了很多努力，所以不管人们认为它多么容易或多么困难，我仍然做到了。”Another student, Sam Gibbins, who got a first in software engineering at Cardiff Metropolitan University said he spent "a lot of nights in the library". But even though he did well, he says going to university is not just about the grades, he says "You develop so much going to university, and meet so many people, you're able to understand yourself much better." Some wise words; it sounds as though he studied at the university of life!另一位学生 Sam Gibbins 在卡迪夫城市大学获得了软件工程的第一名，他说他“在图书馆度过了很多个夜晚”。但即使他做得很好，他说上大学不仅仅是成绩，他说“你在大学里发展了很多，结识了很多人，你能够更好地了解自己。”一些明智的话；听起来好像他在生命大学学习！词汇表first-class degree 一等成绩easier said than done 说比做容易assignment 作业，任务top-notch 一流的qualification 资格证书，资历attainable 可实现的，可获得的soar 猛增2:2 （英国本科毕业）二级乙等学士学位Russell Group 罗素大学集团creative arts 创意艺术Royal Academy of Music 英国皇家音乐学院hard graft 繁重的学业application 入学申请prospectus （学校的）简介deny 拒绝承认graduate 毕业生，大学毕业生sacrifice 牺牲sociology 社会学valid 让人信服的software engineering 软件工程the university of life 生活经历

Everybody likes to laugh sometimes, whether at a funny joke, an amusing incident or a hilarious photograph or sound. Comedians who parody well known people always tickle my funny bone! The great thing is that once we've had a good laugh, we feel happier. It would seem therefore, that bringing a bit of humour into more serious situations might be good for us.每个人有时都喜欢笑，无论是有趣的笑话、有趣的事件还是有趣的照片或声音。模仿知名人士的喜剧演员总是逗我有趣的骨头！最棒的是，一旦我们笑得很开心，我们就会感到更快乐。因此，在更严重的情况下带点幽默似乎对我们有好处。Places like a humourless office or a tense classroom could sometimes do with a good dose of laughter. I know that in my workplace, a bit of hilarity can go a long way towards making it a more enjoyable place to spend eight or so hours a day. Seeing the funny side of things can certainly lift our spirits and that in turn can make us feel better about what we're doing.像没有幽默感的办公室或紧张的教室这样的地方有时可以带来很好的笑声。我知道，在我的工作场所中，一点点欢闹可以大大使它成为一个更愉快的地方，每天花八个小时左右。看到事情有趣的一面当然可以振奋我们的精神，这反过来又可以让我们对我们正在做的事情感觉更好。Maybe we should get inspiration from Steve Carlisle, president of General Motors of Canada. When he walks around the firm's Ontario headquarters he shares his sense of humour to bond with his staff. He says "It can help people feel more relaxed, more comfortable and thus be more effective at what they do." Humour can be used by teachers in the classroom too. It's a good way to break the ice with students and create a more relaxed atmosphere which is good for learning, as long as everyone doesn't spend all their time in hysterics!也许我们应该从加拿大通用汽车公司总裁史蒂夫卡莱尔那里得到灵感。当他在公司的安大略总部走来走去时，他会分享自己的幽默感以与员工建立联系。他说：“它可以帮助人们感到更放松、更舒适，从而更有效地完成他们的工作。”教师也可以在课堂上使用幽默。这是一个与学生打破僵局的好方法，创造一个更轻松的氛围，有利于学习，只要每个人都不要把所有的时间都花在歇斯底里！But we have to be careful; not everyone laughs at the same things. While some of us may admire a work colleague or fellow student for their clever and well-told joke, others may consider them sarcastic, offensive or just an idiot! According to Professor Schweitzer, from the University of Philadelphia's Wharton School, a worker or boss who successfully uses humour is seen as both confident and competent, which in turn increases his or her status. He says "Being funny is taking a risk, and being risky shows confidence." His study 'Risky Business: When Humour Increases and Decreases Status' also found that someone who tells inappropriate jokes is also seen as confident but they're also regarded as incompetent.但我们必须小心；不是每个人都嘲笑同样的事情。虽然我们中的一些人可能会钦佩同事或同学的聪明和讲得好的笑话，但其他人可能会认为他们讽刺、冒犯或只是一个白痴！根据费城大学沃顿商学院的施韦策教授的说法，成功运用幽默的工人或老板被视为既自信又能干，这反过来又提高了他或她的地位。他说：“有趣就是冒险，冒险表明自信。”他的研究“风险业务：当幽默增加和降低地位”还发现，讲不恰当笑话的人也被认为是自信的，但他们也被认为是无能的。So telling the right jokes in the office or classroom can spread some happiness but if you still think working and studying is no laughing matter, take note of a study published in The Journal of Behavioural and Applied Management in 2006, that found for healthcare workers, emotional exhaustion was significantly lower among those who experienced greater levels of fun at work. And other research has discovered that teams who share more jokes gave more supportive and constructive statements to each other – and that's no joke!因此，在办公室或教室讲正确的笑话可以传播一些快乐，但如果你仍然认为工作和学习不是笑话，请注意 2006 年发表在《行为与应用管理杂志》上的一项研究，该研究发现了医护人员，那些在工作中体验到更多乐趣的人的情绪衰竭显着降低。其他研究发现，分享更多笑话的团队会互相给予更多支持和建设性的陈述——这不是开玩笑！词汇表amusing 引人发笑的，好笑的hilarious 非常滑稽的parody 滑稽地模仿tickle someone’s funny bone 令某人发笑humourless 缺乏幽默感的dose 一剂hilarity 欢乐，欢闹the funny side （事物）有趣的一面lift somebody’s spirits 提高某人的兴致inspiration 灵感sense of humour 幽默感bond 亲近，团结break the ice 打破沉默、冷场hysterics 狂笑sarcastic 讽刺的，挖苦的offensive 令人不愉快的，讨厌的competent 有能力的inappropriate 不恰当的，不合适的no laughing matter 严肃的事情，不是开玩笑的事supportive 鼓励的，支持的constructive 积极的，有用的

How are you feeling today? I've got a few aches and pains, but nothing serious. However, when things become more critical, I would normally book myself an appointment with my GP – although by the time I get to see him, the problem will have probably gone away. That's because in the UK at least, we usually have to wait a few days before the doctor can fit us in, and then when we're at the surgery, we have a long wait.你今天感觉如何？我有一些疼痛和疼痛，但不严重。然而，当事情变得更加危急时，我通常会为自己预约我的全科医生——尽管当我见到他时，问题可能已经消失了。那是因为至少在英国，我们通常要等几天才能让医生适应我们，然后当我们进行手术时，我们要等很长时间。Luckily today, technology has come to our rescue. There are thousands of apps available on our smartphones that can offer first aid advice and allow us to self-diagnose our ailments – ranging from a simple cold or flu to some exotic disease such as dengue fever. And together with the internet, we have a whole encylopedia of medical information at our fingertips.幸运的是，今天，技术已经拯救了我们。我们的智能手机上有数以千计的应用程序可以提供急救建议，让我们能够自我诊断我们的疾病——从简单的感冒或流感到登革热等一些外来疾病。与互联网一起，我们拥有一整套医疗信息百科全书。But is this just what the doctor ordered? Is too much knowledge a good thing? By reading up on an illness, we discover its side-effects and what could happen in a worst-case situation. More worrying is that we give ourselves the wrong diagnosis, and then worry ourselves sick that we're going to die. This health anxiety, fuelled by the internet, is called cyberchondria. It gives sufferers a deep fear of diseases and, according to experts, it's on the rise. Professor Peter Tyrer from Imperial College London, told the BBC: "We find that approximately four out of five of our patients with health anxiety spend literally hours on the internet…. one of the first things we do in treatment is we tell them to stop browsing the internet."但这正是医生所要求的吗？知识太多是好事吗？通过阅读疾病，我们发现了它的副作用以及在最坏的情况下会发生什么。更令人担忧的是，我们给自己错误的诊断，然后担心自己会死去。这种由互联网引发的健康焦虑被称为网络软骨症。它使患者对疾病产生了深深的恐惧，据专家称，这种恐惧正在上升。伦敦帝国理工学院的 Peter Tyrer 教授告诉 BBC：“我们发现，大约五分之四的患有健康焦虑症的患者在互联网上花费了数小时……我们在治疗中做的第一件事就是告诉他们停止浏览互联网。”Of course there is no doubt, the world wide web has most of the information we need to diagnose our symptoms but Doctor Tyrer points out "it doesn't have any judgement associated with it." This is why having a consultation with a doctor face-to-face still has its benefits, although a study a few years ago found many GPs felt intimidated by the increasing numbers of web-wise patients arriving in surgeries. One doctor admitted to not being very happy about patients using the internet, saying: "They all seemed to come to me with things I'd never heard of and very often with things which seem rather bizarre or inappropriate."当然，毫无疑问，万维网拥有我们诊断症状所需的大部分信息，但 Tyrer 医生指出“它没有任何与之相关的判断”。这就是为什么与医生面对面咨询仍然有其好处的原因，尽管几年前的一项研究发现，许多全科医生对越来越多的网络患者接受手术感到害怕。一位医生承认对使用互联网的患者不太满意，他说：“他们似乎都带着我从未听说过的东西来找我，而且经常带着看起来很奇怪或不合适的东西来找我。”But Professor Sue Ziebland, from Oxford University, has spent 15 years examining how patients use the internet – including people with cancer. She found that doctors now routinely discuss it as a resource with patients during consultations so it becomes an everyday part of medical conversation. It would seem then that a virtual online doctor can prescribe a dose of useful advice, but technology hasn't replaced the human medical expert just yet.但牛津大学的 Sue Ziebland 教授花了 15 年时间研究患者如何使用互联网——包括癌症患者。她发现医生现在经常在咨询期间与患者讨论它作为一种资源，因此它成为医疗对话的日常部分。看起来，虚拟在线医生可以开出一些有用的建议，但技术还没有取代人类医学专家。词汇表critical 严重的，危险的appointment 预约GP 全科医生surgery 诊所come to someone’s rescue 帮助某人脱离窘境self-diagnose 自诊ailment 小病dengue fever 登革热at our fingertips 近在我们手边just what the doctor ordered 正是想要的东西，正是所需之物side-effect 副作用worst-case 最坏的可能anxiety 焦虑，不安cyberchondria 网络臆想病fear 恐惧treatment 医治symptom 症状consultation 问诊intimidate 恐吓bizarre 奇怪的，异乎寻常的prescribe 开（药）dose 剂量

I need help! I have to fix a leaking pipe in my bathroom but I'm not sure where to begin. I know I lack the necessary DIY skills, but luckily there are numerous books and online videos that will hopefully give me the information I need. Publications that help us to help ourselves are nothing new, but the range of them is increasing with advice being given far beyond practical tasks around the house.我需要帮助！我必须修理浴室漏水的管道，但我不知道从哪里开始。我知道我缺乏必要的 DIY 技能，但幸运的是，有许多书籍和在线视频有望为我提供所需的信息。帮助我们自助的出版物并不是什么新鲜事，但它们的范围正在增加，提供的建议远远超出了家庭周围的实际任务。Bookshops these days are full of titles which claim to boost your self-confidence, your wealth, your love life or your career. Some claim to improve your life within seven days! It's big business and it's thought that the self-help industry is worth $10bn in the US alone.现在的书店里到处都是声称可以增强你的自信、财富、爱情生活或事业的书名。有人声称可以在 7 天内改善您的生活！这是一项大生意，人们认为自助行业仅在美国就价值 100 亿美元。The first self-help book called 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' was published in 1936, and has since sold 30 million copies and is still popular now. It includes guidance on how to make people like you and how to make your life happier. It might seem strange to think that we need a book to tell us how to live our lives but self-help books remain a go to remedy for those of us looking for enlightenment.第一本名为《如何赢得朋友和影响他人》的自助书于 1936 年出版，至今已售出 3000 万册，至今仍广受欢迎。它包括关于如何让人们喜欢你以及如何让你的生活更快乐的指导。认为我们需要一本书来告诉我们如何生活似乎很奇怪，但对于我们这些寻求启蒙的人来说，自助书籍仍然是一种补救措施。There are, of course, trends in what we need help with. Emma Marshall, who works at British bookshop Waterstones, says "at the moment we're in the tidying up, getting rid of things trend… I think the trend right now is about slowing down in your life."  It seems there is always something we need help with, and reading about it can be very therapeutic – it makes us feel good, even if we don't do anything about it.当然，在我们需要帮助的方面存在一些趋势。在英国书店 Waterstones 工作的 Emma Marshall 说：“目前我们正在整理、摆脱趋势……我认为现在的趋势是放慢生活节奏。”似乎总有一些事情我们需要帮助，阅读它可以很有治疗作用——它让我们感觉很好，即使我们对此不做任何事情。Of course, the internet has become the place to go to for salvation. We've got used to searching for solutions online, and now these solutions even include how to fix or improve our lives. Interestingly, psychologist Caroline Beaton, says people called 'millennials' are self-critical – they are aware of their own faults – which also means they're more likely to spend time and money on self-help. There's also a theory that the self-help industry does well during a recession – people are perhaps even more likely to reach for self-help to improve their situation.当然，互联网已经成为人们寻求救赎的地方。我们已经习惯了在网上搜索解决方案，现在这些解决方案甚至包括如何修复或改善我们的生活。有趣的是，心理学家卡罗琳·比顿（Caroline Beaton）说，被称为“千禧一代”的人是自我批评的——他们意识到自己的错误——这也意味着他们更有可能将时间和金钱花在自助上。还有一种理论认为，自助行业在经济衰退期间表现良好——人们可能更有可能通过自助来改善他们的处境。Whatever the reason for the continued interest in self-help, it's good to know help is at hand when we need it. The alternative to finding a happier life is just to come to terms with yourself as you are – I know, I read about it in a book! Do you believe in self-help books?无论出于何种原因继续对自助感兴趣，当我们需要帮助时，知道帮助就在手边是件好事。找到更幸福的生活的另一种选择就是像你一样接受自己——我知道，我在一本书中读到过它！你相信自助书籍吗？词汇表DIY 自己动手publication 出版物practical 实用的title 标题，名称self-confidence 自信big business 赚钱的行当guidance 指导，引导remedy 解决办法，疗法enlightenment 开导，启发trend 动向，趋势therapeutic 有益健康的salvation 解救，救助psychologist 心理学家millennial 千禧一代self-critical 自我批评的，自律的recession （经济）衰退期help is at hand 帮助、援助就在眼前

Cosuming food can be a pleasurable thing – we enjoy feasting on the mix of tastes and textures and it stops us feeling hungry too. Of course, food also gives us energy and the vitamins and minerals that our body needs. It's no wonder we spend so much time preparing and eating food. But what many of us don't consider is how our emotions are affected by what we put into our bellies.食用食物可能是一件令人愉快的事情——我们喜欢品尝各种口味和质地的食物，它也让我们不再感到饥饿。当然，食物也为我们提供能量以及我们身体所需的维生素和矿物质。难怪我们花这么多时间准备和吃食物。但我们中的许多人没有考虑的是，我们的情绪如何受到我们放入肚子里的东西的影响。For me, it's the unhealthy foods that put a smile on my face – chocolate, cakes and ice cream – well, I do have a sweet tooth! It might seem obvious that food that's bad for our waistline, usually makes us happy, at least in the short term. Most of us get this feeling when we use food as a quick pick-me-up. But dieticians tell us that eating bad food long term, not only makes us put on weight but can lead to other health conditions such as diabetes, and it can also affect our mental state and bring on depression.对我来说，让我微笑的是不健康的食物——巧克力、蛋糕和冰淇淋——好吧，我确实爱吃甜食！似乎很明显，对我们的腰围有害的食物通常会让我们快乐，至少在短期内是这样。当我们用食物来提神时，我们大多数人都会有这种感觉。但营养师告诉我们，长期吃不好的食物，不仅会增加体重，还会导致糖尿病等其他健康问题，还会影响我们的精神状态，导致抑郁。The link between our mind and food has been looked at by scientists.They've recently found that it's the bacteria in our gut that affects our mood. It's thought we have 39 trillion of these simple, small organisms in our body. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada and University College Cork in Ireland, have found that certain 'good' bacteria help reduce anxiety in mice. And researchers at Kyushu University also found that germs help reduce stress and anxiety in mice. Experts believe that, for us humans, this means food with 'good' bacteria can improve the way we feel.科学家们已经研究了我们的思想和食物之间的联系。他们最近发现，影响我们情绪的是我们肠道中的细菌。人们认为我们体内有 39 万亿个这些简单的小生物。加拿大麦克马斯特大学和爱尔兰科克大学的研究人员发现，某些“好”细菌有助于减轻老鼠的焦虑。九州大学的研究人员还发现，细菌有助于减轻老鼠的压力和焦虑。专家认为，对我们人类来说，这意味着含有“好”细菌的食物可以改善我们的感觉。Many food products are claiming to be high in this 'good' bacteria and some of the best types are homemade fermented food like miso soup, yoghurt and sauerkraut. This really makes me think twice about what I eat – maybe I should change my diet to perk me up! Doctor Michael Mosley would agree. He's been looking into this for the BBC and says the best food to cheer us up is in a "Mediterranean diet. Olive oil; oily fish, full of omega 3, which is really good for the brain; whole grains; lots of fruits and vegetables. Sugar: terrible for you!"许多食品声称这种“好”细菌含量很高，其中一些最好的类型是自制发酵食品，如味噌汤、酸奶和酸菜。这真的让我对我吃的东西三思而后行——也许我应该改变我的饮食来让我振作起来！迈克尔·莫斯利医生会同意的。他一直在为 BBC 研究这个问题，并表示最能让我们振作起来的食物是“地中海饮食。橄榄油；富含欧米茄 3 的油性鱼，对大脑非常有益；全谷物；大量水果和蔬菜。糖：对你来说太可怕了！So maybe it's time to lay off the fatty and sugary things. Eating healthily may seem simple, even if the science behind it is complex. It's not rocket science but this is further evidence for the saying 'we are what we eat' – the person we are is determined by the food we eat. There are other factors that can change our mood but it seems we have some ability to improve how we feel by controlling what we put on our plate. Does your diet affect your mood?所以也许是时候放弃脂肪和含糖的东西了。健康饮食似乎很简单，即使背后的科学很复杂。这不是火箭科学，但这进一步证明了“我们就是我们所吃的东西”这句话——我们是由我们吃的食物决定的人。还有其他因素可以改变我们的情绪，但似乎我们有能力通过控制我们放在盘子里的东西来改善我们的感觉。你的饮食会影响你的情绪吗？词汇表pleasurable 令人愉快的belly 肚子，腹部a smile on one’s face 某人面带微笑sweet tooth 爱吃甜食，对甜食喜爱pick-me-up 使人兴奋的饮品或食品dietician 营养师diabetes 糖尿病mental state 精神状态depression 抑郁，沮丧bacteria 细菌（bacterium 的复数）gut 肠道，消化道organism 生物体，有机体anxiety 不安，焦虑germ 细菌，病菌stress 压力fermented 发酵的sauerkraut 泡菜perk somebody up 使某人提起精神，使某人活跃起来omega 3 奥米茄三脂肪酸lay off 戒掉'we are what we eat' “吃什么像什么”

There's no doubt that in today's digital world, computer games are extremely sophisticated and capable of creating virtual reality experiences that were unimaginable only a few years ago. So I am interested to see that the simplistic games that I grew up with, are making a revival. But why?毫无疑问，在当今的数字世界中，电脑游戏非常复杂，能够创造出几年前还无法想象的虚拟现实体验。所以我很感兴趣地看到，我长大的那些简单化的游戏正在复兴。但为什么？In the 1970s, the original place to play a computer game was at an arcade. Here, you and your mates could try out the new big names in games such as Space Invaders and Pacman. It was the only affordable way to play them and because of the technology involved, the gaming machines were too big to fit in to your house.在 1970 年代，最初玩电脑游戏的地方是拱廊。在这里，您和您的小伙伴们可以尝试 Space Invaders 和 Pacman 等游戏中的新大牌。这是玩它们的唯一经济实惠的方式，并且由于所涉及的技术，游戏机太大而无法放入您的房子。But in the 1980s and 90s, gaming arrived in our homes and people like me were addicted. The sound of beeping became a familiar sound emanating from bedrooms across the land! Names such as Tetris, Sonic and Street Fighter became popular language in the playground – and now they are being talked about – and played – again. One of the reasons is the low cost. The BBC spoke to gamer, Gemma Wood, who says that: "Newer consoles and their games are incredibly expensive. I understand that a lot of hard work has gone into the design etc, but how can anyone justify £50 to £60 for a game that you might not even enjoy?" 但在 1980 年代和 90 年代，游戏进入了我们的家，像我这样的人都沉迷其中。哔哔声变成了熟悉的声音，从整个大地的卧室里传出！像俄罗斯方块、索尼克和街头霸王这样的名字在操场上成为流行语言——现在它们又被谈论——并被玩——再次。原因之一是成本低。BBC 采访了游戏玩家 Gemma Wood，她说：“较新的游戏机及其游戏非常昂贵。我知道在设计等方面付出了很多努力，但谁能证明 50 到 60 英镑的价格是合理的？你可能根本不喜欢的游戏？”Simplicity might be another reason. The graphics on old games may not compare with the detail and definition of modern games but they are fun and easy to use by children and adults alike. And of course, nostalgia plays its part. Some people want to relive their childhood while for others, it is a chance to show their children the computer games they grew up with.简单可能是另一个原因。旧游戏的图形可能无法与现代游戏的细节和清晰度相提并论，但它们既有趣又易于儿童和成人使用。当然，怀旧也发挥了作用。有些人想重温他们的童年，而对于其他人来说，这是一个向他们的孩子展示他们长大的电脑游戏的机会。Technology journalist, KG Orphanides, says we should have admiration for this old technology. He says "it's important to recognise how well-designed many of those classic games are... the developers had so little space to work with – your average Sega Mega Drive or SNES cartridge had a maximum capacity of just 4MB – and limited graphics and sound capabilities." This compares to an average capacity of 40G in today's games. 技术记者 KG Orphanides 表示，我们应该对这项古老的技术表示钦佩。他说：“重要的是要认识到许多经典游戏的设计精良......开发人员的工作空间太小了——你的普通世嘉 Mega Drive 或 SNES 卡带的最大容量只有 4MB——而且图形和声音能力。”相比之下，当今游戏的平均容量为 40G。This craze for using retro hardware and grabbing an old joystick is ceratinly catching on. And to persuade those of us who are not sure about downgrading the gaming experience, manufacturers such as Nintendo, are bringing back some of their older consoles in new style casing. So it seems like it's not 'game over' for old-school technology!这种使用复古硬件和抓住旧操纵杆的热潮肯定会流行起来。为了说服我们这些不确定降级游戏体验的人，任天堂等制造商正在用新式外壳带回一些旧游戏机。所以对于老式技术来说，这似乎不是“游戏结束”！词汇表sophisticated 精密复杂的virtual reality 虚拟现实unimaginable 难以想象的simplistic 过分简单化的arcade 游乐中心console （游戏）主机，控制台graphics 图像definition 清晰度nostalgia 怀旧，对往事的怀念admiration 钦佩classic 经典的，有代表性的cartridge 游戏卡capability 能力，力量hardware 硬件joystick 操纵杆downgrade 降低old-school 旧时的

Do you like drinking coffee? I certainly do. In fact you could say I'm an addict because I have to drink a cup every morning to kick-start my day and get my brain working! Latte, cappuccino, espresso – you name it, I'll drink it. And I'm not alone – it seems like everyone has a coffee cup glued to their hands as they rush to the office. So how would we survive if there was a coffeedrought?你喜欢喝咖啡吗？我当然愿意。事实上，你可以说我是个瘾君子，因为我必须每天早上喝一杯来开始我的一天，让我的大脑工作！拿铁、卡布奇诺、浓缩咖啡——只要你说，我就喝。而且我并不孤单——似乎每个人在冲向办公室时手上都粘着一个咖啡杯。那么，如果发生咖啡干旱，我们将如何生存？Well, experts are warning that our favourite caffeine shot could really be under threat. Our love for coffee could mean that demand outstrips supply. This, of course, could hit us in the pocket but there's even worse news – we could face poorer-tasting coffee. This is the view of scientists at London's Kew Gardens who are blaming global warming for this possible hot beverage crisis.好吧，专家警告说，我们最喜欢的咖啡因注射剂可能真的受到威胁。我们对咖啡的热爱可能意味着需求超过供应。当然，这可能会让我们陷入困境，但还有更糟糕的消息——我们可能会面临口感更差的咖啡。这是伦敦邱园科学家的观点，他们将这种可能的热饮危机归咎于全球变暖。Demand for coffee has certainly increased as people have become more affluent. Consumption has doubled in the last 35 years. Last year 9.5 billion kilos were consumed. But as we drink more, the areas where coffee is grown is predicted to shrink. The International Coffee Organisation says that bean production in South East Asia, for example, will decrease by 70% by 2050. The BBC spoke to Dr Tim Schilling, director of the World Coffee Research institute, who says: "The supply of high-quality coffee is severely threatened by climate change, diseases and pests, land pressure, and labour shortages - and demand for these coffees is rising every year."随着人们变得更加富裕，对咖啡的需求肯定会增加。在过去的 35 年里，消费翻了一番。去年消费了 95 亿公斤。但随着我们喝得更多，咖啡种植面积预计会缩小。例如，国际咖啡组织表示，到 2050 年，东南亚的咖啡豆产量将减少 70%。BBC 采访了世界咖啡研究所所长蒂姆席林博士，他说：“优质咖啡豆的供应咖啡受到气候变化、病虫害、土地压力和劳动力短缺的严重威胁——对这些咖啡的需求每年都在增加。”This is a sobering thought for those of us who rely on a caffeine fix everyday but more worrying for people who work in the industry. Coffee provides a livelihood for about 16% of Ethiopia's population. And across the globe, extreme weather events are proving a challenge to coffee growers in places such as Brazil and Vietnam. 对于我们这些每天依赖咖啡因修复的人来说，这是一个发人深省的想法，但对于在该行业工作的人来说更令人担忧。咖啡为埃塞俄比亚约 16% 的人口提供生计。在全球范围内，极端天气事件对巴西和越南等地的咖啡种植者构成挑战。There is some hope. Technology is helping to protect the future of coffee such as 'breeding' the Arabica bean plants to increase its diversity and making it resistant to climatic changes. It's also possible to relocate the coffee-growing areas – although this sometimes leads to areas being deforested. Dr Aaron Davis, coffee researcher at Kew, says: “There is the potential to mitigate some of the negatives and actually increase the coffee-growing area by four and a half times compared with maintaining the status quo.” But will this come quick enough before our coffee turns bitter and we look for a cheaper alternative?有一点希望。技术正在帮助保护咖啡的未来，例如“培育”阿拉比卡豆植物以增加其多样性并使其能够抵抗气候变化。搬迁咖啡种植区也是可能的——尽管这有时会导致区域被砍伐。邱园的咖啡研究员亚伦戴维斯博士说：“与维持现状相比，有可能减轻一些负面影响，实际上将咖啡种植面积增加了四倍半。”但这是否会在我们的咖啡变苦并寻找更便宜的替代品之前来得足够快？词汇表addict 对…上瘾的人kick-start 使…开始coffee drought 咖啡“荒”，指咖啡供应缺乏的情况outstrip （数量、程度）超过hit someone in the pocket 使某人掏尽腰包global warming 全球气候变暖beverage 饮料（统称）affluent 富裕的consumption 消耗量sobering 发人深省的caffeine fix 一份含咖啡因的提神饮品livelihood 生计来源breeding （植物的）培植diversity 多样性resistant 耐…的，有能力抵抗…的mitigate 减轻（危害）status quo 现状

It’s very common these days for people to have a gym regime. Whatever the drive behind it, whether health-related, performance-related or just plain vainglory, it is not uncommon for people to take some sort of regular exercise each week.如今，人们拥有健身计划非常普遍。无论其背后的驱动力是什么，无论是与健康相关、与表现相关还是仅仅是虚荣，人们每周进行某种定期锻炼并不少见。But if you’ve never done it before, what’s the best way to go about it? Well, many people make use of a PT – that’s a personal trainer. This might be because they’re wet behind the ears or maybe they just don’t want the aggro of designing their own workout plan. A PT will create a bespoke plan for you based on your aims. They will tailor it to your current abilities and, better still, they will teach you how to move in a way that won’t incapacitate you.但是，如果您以前从未这样做过，那么最好的方法是什么？好吧，很多人都使用 PT——那就是私人教练。这可能是因为他们的耳朵后面湿透了，或者他们只是不想设计自己的锻炼计划。PT 将根据您的目标为您制定定制计划。他们会根据您当前的能力对其进行调整，而且更好的是，他们会教您如何以不会使您丧失能力的方式移动。However, the trade-off with a PT is the price. Each hourly session can be steep considering the double whammy of having to pay both the PT and membership of the gym, too. If you are at all strapped for cash then regular sessions might be out of your budget.然而，与 PT 的权衡是价格。考虑到必须同时支付 PT 和健身房会员费的双重打击，每个小时的课程可能会很陡峭。如果您手头拮据，那么定期会议可能超出您的预算。So what’s left? Well, if you have the grit for it, you can make your own regime. It’s relatively easy to do if you have the know-how. But before you do, here are some basic pointers.那么还剩下什么？好吧，如果你有勇气，你可以建立自己的政权。如果你有专业知识，这相对容易做到。但在你这样做之前，这里有一些基本的指示。First, keep your fitness goal in mind. Are you looking to slim down, bulk up, get shredded or increase your abilities? Whatever it is, make sure the things you choose to do are in pursuit of that goal. Next, do your research. These days, social media is chock-full of fitness videos and advice. Watch as many of these as possible, but make sure to be a little critical of them – everyone has a different physique and what works for one may not work for another. Finally, keep your feet on the ground. Be patient with yourself and set realistic goals – it takes at least three months to see any realistic body changes. And don’t be overzealous – never work in pain – a good workout is difficult and challenging, but never painful. Pain means you are damaging yourself.首先，牢记您的健身目标。您是想瘦身、增肥、瘦身还是提高能力？不管是什么，确保你选择做的事情是为了追求那个目标。接下来，做你的研究。如今，社交媒体上充斥着健身视频和建议。尽可能多地观看这些内容，但要确保对它们有点批评——每个人都有不同的体质，对一个人有用的东西可能对另一个人不起作用。最后，保持双脚着地。对自己要有耐心并设定现实的目标——至少需要三个月才能看到任何现实的身体变化。并且不要过分热心——永远不要在痛苦中工作——良好的锻炼是困难和具有挑战性的，但绝不会痛苦。疼痛意味着你在伤害自己。If nothing else, focus on calisthenics – these are the basic body movements which everyone can do anywhere, even at home. They include squats, push-ups, pull-ups and crunches, among other things. Do as many of one exercise as you can without stopping, and then try and repeat that number twice more – make sure you sweat, and don’t forget to rest for a minute in between!如果不出意外，请专注于健美操——这些是每个人都可以在任何地方甚至在家中进行的基本身体动作。它们包括深蹲、俯卧撑、引体向上和仰卧起坐等。尽可能多地做一个练习，不要停下来，然后试着再重复这个数字两次——确保你流汗，不要忘记在中间休息一分钟！词汇表gym regime 健身计划、健身方法vainglory 虚荣心wet behind the ears 无所适从的、毫无经验的aggro 麻烦bespoke 量身定制的incapacitate 使人无法做…trade-off 妥协、让步steep 价格极高的（口语） double whammy 雪上加霜，双重打击strapped for cash 手头紧know-how 专业知识slim down 变得苗条、瘦下来bulk up 变得更壮shredded 肌肉线条分明的（口语）physique 体格keep your feet on the ground 脚踏实地overzealous 过度热衷的calisthenics 健美操squat 蹲起运动push-up 俯卧撑pull-up 引体向上crunch 仰卧起坐 

As a child, I was always told to 'eat my greens'. These were the unappealing vegetables that sat on the edge of my plate. Peas, broccoli and green beans, all looked and tasted disgusting. Let's face it, when there were so many other edible treats to enjoy, why eat boring veg?小时候，我总是被告知“吃我的蔬菜”。这些是坐在我盘子边缘的不吸引人的蔬菜。豌豆、西兰花和青豆，看起来和尝起来都很恶心。让我们面对现实吧，既然有这么多其他的美食可供享用，为什么还要吃无聊的蔬菜呢？Since then my taste buds have developed and I'm also fully aware of the health benefits of eating fresh vegetables. But we still need reminding of the amazing goodness these green superfoods give us. In the UK, a campaign based on advice from the World Health Organization has been running for several years to encourage us to eat our '5 A Day' – five portions of fruit and vegetables. That's because evidence has shown there are significant health benefits to getting at least five 80g portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. 从那时起，我的味蕾得到了发展，我也充分意识到吃新鲜蔬菜对健康的好处。但我们仍然需要提醒这些绿色超级食品给我们带来的惊人好处。在英国，一项基于世界卫生组织建议的运动已经运行了几年，以鼓励我们每天吃五份水果和蔬菜。这是因为有证据表明，每天至少吃五份 80 克的各种水果和蔬菜对健康有显着的好处。But I struggle trying to fit these five portions into my daily diet, partly because I have a sweet tooth and vegetables are, well, tasteless. Researchers have been looking at how to make eating vegetables more attractive. They analysed the psychology behind our food choices and found that most of us are motivated by taste. Brad Turnwald from Stanford University says that "studies show that people tend to think of healthier options as less tasty for some reason."但我很难将这五个部分融入我的日常饮食，部分原因是我爱吃甜食，而蔬菜，嗯，无味。研究人员一直在研究如何让吃蔬菜更具吸引力。他们分析了我们选择食物背后的心理，发现我们大多数人的动机是口味。斯坦福大学的布拉德·特恩瓦尔德说，“研究表明，出于某种原因，人们倾向于认为更健康的选择不太好吃。”His team carried out an experiment in the university cafeteria where they gave vegetables seductive names and found sales increased by 25 per cent. They got rid of healthy labels such as 'wholesome' and gave identical dishes names like 'sizzlin' beans', 'dynamite beets' and 'twisted citrus-glazed carrots'. It seems that these indulgent names tempted diners to fill their plates. Brad Turnwald says that "labels really can influence our sensory experience, affecting how tasty and filling we think food will be." 他的团队在大学食堂进行了一项实验，他们给蔬菜起了诱人的名字，结果发现销售额增加了 25%。他们去掉了诸如“有益健康”之类的健康标签，并给了相同的菜肴名称，例如“铁板豆”、“炸药甜菜”和“扭曲的柑橘釉胡萝卜”。似乎这些放纵的名字诱惑食客填满他们的盘子。Brad Turnwald 说：“标签确实可以影响我们的感官体验，影响我们认为食物的美味和填充程度。”In Europe, a project called VeggieEAT has also been trying to find ways to get people to eat more veg. Project leader, Professor Heather Hartwell believes in "health by stealth", subtly nudging people into eating the right things. One idea has been to put a picture of a tasty looking fruit on a supermarket trolley as a hint about buying something from the fruit aisle. She says, "Choice is a really complex thing. But this study suggests that giving vegetables an indulgent tag can help raise their hierarchy."在欧洲，一个名为 VeggieEAT 的项目也一直在努力寻找让人们多吃蔬菜的方法。项目负责人，Heather Hartwell 教授相信“隐形健康”，巧妙地推动人们吃正确的东西。一个想法是在超市手推车上放一张看起来很美味的水果的照片，作为从水果过道买东西的暗示。她说，“选择是一件非常复杂的事情。但这项研究表明，给蔬菜一个放纵的标签可以帮助提高他们的等级。”Certainly, eating 'twisted citrus-glazed carrots' does sound tempting, even if it just tastes like a carrot, but if it makes us eat more vegetables then that can only be a good thing for our health.当然，吃“扭曲的柑橘釉胡萝卜”听起来很诱人，即使它只是尝起来像胡萝卜，但如果它让我们吃更多的蔬菜，那只会对我们的健康有益。词汇表greens 青菜、绿叶菜（多用作复数）edible 可食用的，可以吃的taste buds 味蕾（多用作复数）benefit 好处superfood 对健康有益的“超级食品”'5 A Day' “每天五份果蔬”，这是由世界卫生组织为增强健康饮食意识而发起的每日至少食用400g（相当于）水果或蔬菜的宣传活动。significant 非常重要的，效果显著的diet 日常饮食sweet tooth 爱吃甜食psychology 心理motivated 被…驱使seductive 诱人的wholesome 对健康有益的indulgent 任由（消费者）放纵的，易上瘾的sensory 感官的stealth 不知不觉的行动，隐性手段nudge 劝说hierarchy 等级，地位

School playground crazes come and go but the latest collectable toy is proving popular with children and adults alike. My kids have gone mad for the platsic spinning disc called a fidget spinner and I have to admit, I've become a little addicted too – but why?学校操场的热潮来来去去，但事实证明，最新的收藏玩具深受儿童和成人的欢迎。我的孩子们对称为指尖陀螺的 platsic 旋转圆盘很着迷，我不得不承认，我也有点上瘾了——但为什么呢？Fidget spinners have taken the world by storm. They were originally designed to help kids with conditions like autism deal with stress but they have become a popular toy and they're helping reduce my stress levels too – when there's something on my mind I just spin!指尖陀螺风靡全球。它们最初旨在帮助患有自闭症等疾病的孩子应对压力，但它们已成为一种流行的玩具，它们也有助于降低我的压力水平——当我有什么想法时，我就会旋转！So what's the big deal about these three-pronged pieces of rotating plastic? Well, there are many different designs and colours to collect and then there's the challenge of spinning them, getting the speed up, balancing it on the end of your finger. On video-sharing websites, vloggers have amassed millions of views from performing tricks with their fidget spinners. Richard Gottlieb, founder of US-based consultancy Global Toy Experts, says adults are increasingly turning to fidget toys because, he says, with all the bad news in the world, "it is a good time to be selling something that allows an individual to fidget off some stress – particularly at a time when smoking is looked down on."那么这些三管齐下的旋转塑料有什么大不了的呢？好吧，有许多不同的设计和颜色可供收集，然后是旋转它们的挑战，加快速度，在你的手指末端平衡它。在视频共享网站上，视频博主通过他们的指尖陀螺表演技巧获得了数百万的观看次数。美国咨询公司 Global Toy Experts 的创始人理查德·戈特利布 (Richard Gottlieb) 表示，成年人越来越多地转向坐立不安的玩具，因为他说，随着世界上所有的坏消息，“现在是销售让个人能够摆脱一些压力——尤其是在吸烟被看不起的时候。”For most school children, they've become the latest 'must-have' accessory, although some schools have banned them, saying some are poorly made and can be a distraction for pupils. However, one teacher, Ms Timmons, says that they can aid learning among some children. She says "these fidget toys are one way of allowing them to fidget without the disruption of the tapping pencils or the tapping of feet. It's a much less disruptive way to channel their energies into something else while the teaching is going on."对于大多数学童来说，它们已成为最新的“必备”配件，尽管有些学校已禁止它们，称有些制作不良，可能会分散学生的注意力。然而，一位名叫蒂蒙斯女士的老师说，他们可以帮助一些孩子学习。她说：“这些坐立不安的玩具是一种让他们坐立不安的方式，而不会干扰敲击铅笔或敲击脚。这是一种在教学进行时将他们的能量引导到其他事物上的破坏性要小得多的方式。”Fidget spinners join a long and distinguished list of other childhood favourites now living in the teacher's top drawer. It wasn't long ago when our homes and school playgrounds were littered with loom bands as they suddenly became must-have accessories. Billions of them were sold and then made into various forms of rubbery jewellery. One teacher, Guy Tarrant, has confiscated numerous items from children over the years. He says: "There's so much stuff, so many fads and stages. I worked as a supply teacher in over 150 schools so I've probably seen it all."指尖陀螺加入了一长串儿时的最爱，现在放在老师最上面的抽屉里。不久前，我们的家和学校操场上到处都是织布机带，因为它们突然成为必备配件。其中数十亿被售出，然后制成各种形式的橡胶首饰。多年来，一位名叫盖伊·塔兰特的老师没收了许多孩子的物品。他说：“有这么多东西，这么多时尚和舞台。我曾在 150 多所学校担任代课教师，所以我可能已经看到了这一切。”It's probably fair to say fidget spinners won't always be flavour of the month. Eventually they'll be confined to the bin, to be replaced by a new equally addictive and annoying craze.可以公平地说，指尖陀螺并不总是本月的流行。最终，它们将被限制在垃圾箱中，取而代之的是一种同样令人上瘾且令人讨厌的新热潮。词汇表collectable 值得收藏的go mad for something/someone 对某物/人着迷addicted 上瘾的，沉迷在某事中take the world by storm 在全球大获成功，完全征服世界各地的人们autism 孤独症，自闭症stress 压力big deal 大事，要事three-pronged 三齿的vlogger 博主must-have 必备的disruption 打断，影响channel their energies 把注意力倾注到（某事）distinguished 重要的loom band 彩虹橡皮筋confiscate 没收fad 短暂的狂热flavour of the month （某时期内）最受欢迎的人或物

I wonder how many of you will read this article or listen to my voice right through to the end? With our busy lifestyles and continuous distractions, it's hard to stay focussed on one task and I wouldn't be surprised if I lose you somewhere along the way – but we'll see!我想知道你们中有多少人会读到这篇文章，或者从头到尾听我的声音？由于我们忙碌的生活方式和不断的分心，很难专注于一项任务，如果我在途中的某个地方失去你，我不会感到惊讶 - 但我们会看到！Some experts believe that out attention spans are actually shrinking. We often joke that goldfish have the shortest level of concentration, so much so that they forget what they saw nine seconds earlier. Well now a study says that humans have an even shorter span – just eight seconds. This I can believe – there's always so much to do and so much to remember that my brain gets overloaded and I find it hard to zero in on one thing.一些专家认为，注意力跨度实际上正在缩小。我们经常开玩笑说金鱼的注意力是最短的，以至于他们忘记了九秒前看到的东西。现在一项研究表明，人类的跨度更短——只有八秒。我可以相信——总是有很多事情要做，还有很多事情要记住，我的大脑已经超负荷了，我发现很难在一件事上归零。Of course, smartphones, the internet and social media all take up a lot of our attention. Chicago-based research firm Dscout found that we look at our mobile phones for, on average, 2.42 hours every day. It is tempting to keep glancing at our phones when we should be focussing on other things and it's something we didn't and couldn't do before the boom in digital media and smartphones, so maybe that's why the amount of time we can concentrate has been dropping. A report carried out for Microsoft said the average human attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds but has now fallen to just eight seconds.当然，智能手机、互联网和社交媒体都占据了我们很多注意力。总部位于芝加哥的研究公司 Dscout 发现，我们平均每天看手机的时间为 2.42 小时。当我们应该专注于其他事情时，我们很容易继续看手机，这是我们在数字媒体和智能手机蓬勃发展之前没有也无法做到的事情，所以也许这就是为什么我们可以集中精力的原因一直在下降。微软的一份报告称，2000 年人类的平均注意力持续时间是 12 秒，但现在已经下降到只有 8 秒。However, a BBC radio programme called More or Less, couldn't find evidence to back up Microsoft's report. It spoke to Dr Gemma Briggs, a psychologist at the Open University, who says there are problems with the idea of measuring attention spans and it's all down to the individual person, "so attention-switching ability may well have developed in recent years, in the age of the smartphone and the internet. But because someone's distracted by their smartphone… it doesn't mean that they then don't have the ability to control and sustain their attention when they carry out another task."然而，一个名为“或多或少”的 BBC 广播节目无法找到支持微软报告的证据。它与开放大学的心理学家 Gemma Briggs 博士进行了交谈，他说测量注意力持续时间的想法存在问题，这完全取决于个人，“因此，注意力转换能力可能在近年来得到了发展，在“智能手机和互联网的时代。但是因为有人被他们的智能手机分心......这并不意味着他们在执行另一项任务时就没有能力控制和维持他们的注意力。”This suggests we're getting better at switching our attention quickly between different tasks; we can multi-skill better than before so we can achieve more things. This is useful in the modern workplace where we need to turn our hand to many different jobs.这表明我们在不同任务之间快速切换注意力的能力越来越强。我们可以比以前更好地多技能，所以我们可以取得更多的成就。这在我们需要将手转向许多不同工作的现代工作场所中很有用。But for people who want to grab our attention, such as advertisers, they have to think of clever ways to make us sit up and take notice of them. And there are still times when something demands our full attention, without any distractions, like reading or listening to this article. Did you make it to the end?!但是对于那些想要吸引我们注意力的人，比如广告商，他们必须想出聪明的方法让我们坐起来注意到他们。有时，有些事情需要我们全神贯注，没有任何分心，比如阅读或听这篇文章。你到最后了吗？！词汇表distraction 分散注意力的东西，分心的事情focussed 专注的task 任务，工作attention span 注意力持续时间shrink 缩小，变小zero in on something 把注意力全部集中于某事glance 快速的看一眼，扫视sustain 维持multi-skill （同时拥有）多种技能turn our hand （我们）去尝试grab our attention 抓取我们的注意力full attention 全部注意力

How many plastic carrier bags have you got in your house? I seem to have cupboards full of them and it feels like they're taking over my home! The ubiquitous shopping bag is just one example of the million things we use made from this useful material, plastic. But unfortunately, it's not the easiest thing to recycle and this is causing an environmental problem.    你家里有多少个塑料手提袋？我的橱柜里似乎装满了它们，感觉就像他们正在接管我的家！无处不在的购物袋只是我们使用这种有用材料塑料制成的数百万件物品的一个例子。但不幸的是，这不是最容易回收的东西，这会导致环境问题。Most of our everyday plastic items end up in landfill, left to rot away for many years. But some of it blows away, blighting the countryside and causing damage to the natural environment and harming wildlife. The problem is most acute in our oceans. Research has found an uninhabited island in the South Pacific is littered with the highest density of plastic waste anywhere in the world. Henderson Island, part of the UK's Pitcairn Islands group, has an estimated 37.7 million pieces of debris on its beaches.我们的大多数日常塑料物品最终都被填埋，多年后腐烂。但其中一些被吹走，破坏了乡村，对自然环境造成破坏，伤害了野生动物。这个问题在我们的海洋中最为严重。研究发现，南太平洋的一个无人岛散落着世界上密度最高的塑料垃圾。亨德森岛是英国皮特凯恩群岛的一部分，其海滩上估计有 3770 万块碎片。The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, described how remote islands act as a 'sink' for the world's rubbish. They become collecting points for fishing items and everyday things including toothbrushes, cigarette lighters and razors; things that we throw away. Dr Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania says "Almost every island in the world and almost every species in the ocean is now being shown to be impacted one way or another by our waste."该研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上，描述了偏远岛屿如何成为世界垃圾的“接收器”。它们成为钓鱼用品和日常用品的收集点，包括牙刷、打火机和剃须刀；我们扔掉的东西。塔斯马尼亚大学的詹妮弗·拉弗斯博士说：“世界上几乎每个岛屿和海洋中的几乎所有物种现在都被我们的废物以一种或另一种方式影响着。”This highlights the potentially deadly effect of our disposable culture. When we throw something away, it doesn't just disappear, it goes somewhere and because of the durable nature of plastic, it takes a long time to decompose and stays there causing great damage to the ocean's ecology. Some other recent worldwide research estimates that 90% of all seabirds have swallowed plastic. And worse still, this plastic is broken down into tiny particles over a long period by the wind and the waves, then sea creatures at the bottom of the food chain ingest them. These creatures are eaten by the fish that we eventually consume.这凸显了我们一次性文化的潜在致命影响。当我们扔掉一些东西时，它不仅会消失，还会去到某个地方，而且由于塑料的耐用性，它需要很长时间才能分解并停留在那里，对海洋生态造成巨大破坏。最近的其他一些全球研究估计，所有海鸟中有 90% 吞食了塑料。更糟糕的是，这种塑料在很长一段时间内被风和海浪分解成微小的颗粒，然后食物链底部的海洋生物摄取它们。这些生物被我们最终食用的鱼吃掉。The solution to this problem would be to use less plastic. Several countries now charge for using plastic carrier bags which reduces the amount used and some products now use natural and recyclable materials but it seems inevitable that plastic will continue to be necessary in many of the gadgets that we demand.这个问题的解决方案是使用更少的塑料。一些国家现在对使用塑料手提袋收费，这减少了使用量，一些产品现在使用天然和可回收材料，但塑料似乎不可避免地在我们需要的许多小工具中继续成为必需品。So next time you pick up a carrier bag, or buy a plastic bottle of water, spare a thought for the birds and animals on the remote Henderson Island. What do you do to help the environment?因此，下次您拿起手提袋或购买塑料瓶水时，不妨想想偏远的亨德森岛上的鸟类和动物。你做什么来帮助环境？词汇表plastic carrier bag 塑料购物袋ubiquitous 感觉无处不在的blight （使）破坏wildlife 野生动植物acute 十分严重的be littered with 在公共场合到处乱扔垃圾density 密度debris 碎片sink 池子，坑impacted 受影响的disposable culture 丢弃文化durable 持久的decompose （使）分解ecology 生态particle 微粒ingest 咽下，摄取recyclable 可回收利用的spare a thought for somebody 替某人着想

How much food do you buy each week? Are you someone who stuffs your fridge and cupboards full of edible treats so that you'll always have something to munch on and so that you'll never go hungry? Or maybe, like me, you're more efficient with your shopping, only buying what you need and using up your leftovers so that you keep food waste to a minimum.  你每周买多少食物？你是那种把你的冰箱和橱柜塞满食物的人，这样你就可以一直吃东西，这样你就永远不会饿了？或者，也许像我一样，你购物效率更高，只购买你需要的东西并用完你的剩菜，这样你就可以将食物浪费降到最低。Throwing away unwanted food has become a big issue in the developed world. While some of us chuck away unwanted items, people in other parts of world face food shortages and are starving. It's a shocking fact that a third of the world's food is wasted each year. The actual figure is 1.3 billion tons of food, which is enough to feed a billion hungry people. 扔掉不需要的食物已成为发达国家的一个大问题。当我们中的一些人扔掉不需要的物品时，世界其他地方的人们面临食物短缺并且正在挨饿。令人震惊的事实是，全世界每年有三分之一的食物被浪费。实际数字是 13 亿吨粮食，足以养活 10 亿饥饿人口。You may think supermarkets are the main contributors to this mountain of food. After all, they do discard stuff that's past its sell-by-date and they often refuse to sell vegetables or fruit that are the wrong shape or look damaged. They've also been criticised for encouraging customers to buy more than they need through promotions such as 'buy one get one free'. 你可能认为超市是这堆食物的主要贡献者。毕竟，他们确实会丢弃超过保质期的东西，而且他们经常拒绝出售形状错误或看起来损坏的蔬菜或水果。他们还因通过“买一送一”等促销活动鼓励顾客购买超过他们需要的东西而受到批评。But the biggest culprit for creating food waste is us. In Europe an incredible 53% of food waste comes from households, which results in 88 million tonnes of food waste a year. So instead of filling our bellies, our food is filling up landfill sites – it's buried and left to rot. Unfortunately this causes greenhouse gases which eventually leads to global warming and climate change.但造成食物浪费的最大罪魁祸首是我们。在欧洲，令人难以置信的 53% 的食物垃圾来自家庭，这导致每年 8800 万吨食物垃圾。因此，我们的食物没有填满我们的肚子，而是填满了垃圾填埋场——它被掩埋并任其腐烂。不幸的是，这会导致温室气体排放，最终导致全球变暖和气候变化。In Denmark, a woman called Selina Juul has been working hard to tackle this problem. She moved from Russia many years ago and was amazed to see the abundance of food available in the supermarkets. But despite so much availability, she found that people were buying more than they needed and throwing too much away.在丹麦，一位名叫 Selina Juul 的女士一直在努力解决这个问题。多年前，她从俄罗斯搬来，看到超市里有丰富的食物，她很惊讶。但是，尽管有这么多的可用性，她发现人们购买的东西超过了他们的需要并且扔掉了太多东西。She convinced some supermarkets to stop selling their items in bulk so that people bought only what they needed. She produced a leftovers cookbook and she's now set up an education programme in schools. This has helped create a significant 25% reduction in food waste, which shows that something can be done. 她说服一些超市停止批量销售他们的商品，以便人们只购买他们需要的东西。她制作了一本剩菜食谱，现在她在学校设立了一个教育项目。这有助于显着减少 25% 的食物浪费，这表明有些事情是可以做的。Clearly, we need to think twice when we put something in our shopping trolley, and when we're at home we should make the most of the food we have – using recipes that use up our leftovers or even sharing our excess food with our friends and neighbours.显然，当我们在购物车里放东西时，我们需要三思而后行，而当我们在家时，我们应该充分利用我们拥有的食物——使用能用完剩菜的食谱，甚至与朋友分享多余的食物和邻居。词汇表edible 可食用的efficient 效率高的leftover 剩饭，剩菜chuck 扔contributor 贡献者discard 扔掉sell-by-date 出售截至日期buy one get one free 买一赠一culprit 罪魁祸首landfill 垃圾填埋厂rot 腐烂greenhouse gas 温室气体abundance 大量，充足bulk 批量，大量cookbook 食谱think twice 三思而后行excess 多余的

Imagine a future where our streets are filled with ads 200m tall; where billboards change before our eyes to give us personalised messages; and where companies track our every move as we walk through a city, pinging our phones with special offers as we near their shops.想象一个未来，我们的街道上布满了 200m 高的广告；广告牌在我们眼前发生变化，为我们提供个性化的信息；当我们穿过城市时，公司会跟踪我们的一举一动，当我们靠近他们的商店时，我们会在手机上发送特价商品。In fact, all of these forms of advertising are already being tested. Let's take the first of these ideas. Back in 1982, science fiction movie Blade Runner envisaged a futuristic cityscape where giant adverts stretched the full height of skyscrapers. And UK company Lightvert are now doing something very similar; with one crucial difference.事实上，所有这些形式的广告都已经在进行测试。让我们来看看这些想法中的第一个。早在 1982 年，科幻电影《银翼杀手》就设想了一个未来主义的城市景观，巨大的广告延伸到摩天大楼的整个高度。英国公司 Lightvert 现在正在做一些非常相似的事情。有一个关键的区别。Instead of making immense physical adverts, their commercials are beamed straight into consumers' eyes. They do this by attaching a strip of reflective material onto a building and projecting an image onto it. This image then 'bounces' out into the world. When you pass directly in front of the image, you see it. It appears to be huge and suspended in mid-air, but others can't see it – it's only visible from one location. Lightvert claims this form of advertising is unobstrusive and can "unlock" large amounts of "high-value advertising real-estate".他们的广告没有制作大量的实体广告，而是直接进入消费者的眼睛。他们通过将一条反光材料贴在建筑物上并将图像投影到其上来做到这一点。然后这个图像“反弹”到世界上。当您直接从图像前面经过时，您会看到它。它看起来很大，悬浮在半空中，但其他人看不到它——它只能从一个位置看到。Lightvert 声称这种形式的广告不引人注目，可以“解锁”大量“高价值广告地产”。But not everyone is sold on the idea of living in a world of endless ads. In Moscow, for example, a new form of advertising targeting motorists has split opinion. Drivers approaching a particular digital billboard in the city are shown adverts for a new kind of Jaguar car, but only if you are driving a different make of vehicle. Sensors in the billboard detect what kind of car you are driving, and send you an ad based on that information.但并不是每个人都相信生活在一个无止境的广告世界中。例如，在莫斯科，针对驾车者的一种新广告形式引起了分歧。接近城市中特定数字广告牌的司机会看到一种新型捷豹汽车的广告，但前提是您驾驶的是不同品牌的汽车。广告牌中的传感器检测您驾驶的汽车类型，并根据该信息向您发送广告。While this may seem invasive, it's actually the saftey aspect that has concerned some observers. Researchers in Sweden have shown that digital billboards attract our eyes for longer than other kinds. In fact, they distract us for over two seconds, a length of time which studies have proved to be dangerous on the roads.虽然这似乎是侵入性的，但实际上一些观察者关注的是安全方面。瑞典的研究人员表明，数字广告牌比其他类型的广告牌吸引我们眼球的时间更长。事实上，它们会分散我们两秒钟以上的注意力，研究证明这段时间在道路上是危险的。Finally, we have "proximity marketing", where shops detect where you are on the high street and send tailored adverts to your phone. Devicescape is one company trialling the use of Wi-Fi as a means of tracking customers. Their technology could work anywhere, whether in "a supermarket, a concert hall, or a bus," says Owen Geddes from their marketing team. What would customers see? "It could be a discount offer to use in the shop the person is visiting, or a piece of content such as a movie trailer," says Mr Geddes. 最后，我们还有“邻近营销”，商店可以检测您在大街上的位置，然后将量身定制的广告发送到您的手机。Devicescape 是一家尝试使用 Wi-Fi 作为跟踪客户的手段的公司。他们的技术可以在任何地方工作，无论是在“超市、音乐厅还是公共汽车”，他们的营销团队的 Owen Geddes 说。客户会看到什么？Geddes 先生说：“它可能是在人们正在访问的商店中使用的折扣优惠，或者是电影预告片等内容。”词汇表ad 广告，advertisement 的缩写billboard 大型广告牌to ping 推送，发送消息提示to near 靠近to envisage 展望，设想futuristic 有未来感的，超前的cityscape 城市景观to beam 发射，发出（光线、电波等）in mid-air 在半空中unobstrusive 不显眼的，不突兀的real-estate 房地产to be sold on 看好，认为…是好主意motorist 开车的人make 型号，品牌sensor 传感器invasive 侵入性的，侵扰的to distract 分散（注意力），使分心proximity （地理位置）临近tailored 量身定制的discount 折扣

Take five colours: red, black, blue, green and purple. How do they make you feel? It’s a question of supreme significance to designers and marketers. British fashion designer Wayne Hemingway explored this topic in a BBC radio programme about the psychology of colour. You can read a summary of his ideas below. Do you agree with him? Or do you think the meaning of colour depends on the culture you live in? 取五种颜色：红色、黑色、蓝色、绿色和紫色。他们让你感觉如何？对于设计师和营销人员来说，这是一个至关重要的问题。英国时装设计师韦恩·海明威 (Wayne Hemingway) 在 BBC 广播节目中探讨了这个话题，讲述了色彩心理学。您可以在下面阅读他的想法摘要。你同意他吗？还是您认为颜色的含义取决于您所居住的文化？Red is, of course, considered auspicious in China. But he points out that it’s a powerful colour wherever you go, with some serious scientific credentials. Studies have indicated that red “raises blood pressure”, and claim that it stands out from other colours thanks to its long wavelength. Hemingway says it appears to be “coming towards you”, and so is useful for emergency and alarm signs, and also to for conveying “urgency” in general. That’s why he thinks red sale posters seem to yell at us: “Quick, buy it now!”当然，红色在中国被认为是吉祥的。但他指出，无论你走到哪里，它都是一种强大的颜色，具有一些严肃的科学依据。研究表明，红色“提高血压”，并声称由于其长波长，它从其他颜色中脱颖而出。海明威说它似乎“向你走来”，因此对于紧急情况和警报信号以及一般传达“紧迫性”也很有用。这就是为什么他认为红色促销海报似乎在对我们大喊：“快，现在就买！”Black has a different sense. In the West it’s associated with death, but that hasn’t stopped it becoming a prestigious and mysterious colour. Hemingway says it’s the colour of luxury brands: things like “glossy black limousines” and “designer watches” are often black. He says it’s “very powerful and sophisticated when used as a primary colour in branding.” 黑色有不同的感觉。在西方，它与死亡联系在一起，但这并没有阻止它成为一种有声望和神秘的颜色。海明威说这是奢侈品牌的颜色：“有光泽的黑色豪华轿车”和“名牌手表”之类的东西通常是黑色的。他说它“在品牌推广中用作原色时非常强大和复杂。”Blue, by contrast, is cool and tranquil. The colour is a constant presence in our lives, says Hemingway, being the colour of the sky and the sea. That gives it an air of reliability, which makes it a firm choice with “banks and corporations”. Hemingway says this is also why emergency services often choose the colour. A blue uniform can, for example, indicate “the cool competence of a nurse”. 相比之下，蓝色则凉爽而宁静。海明威说，颜色是我们生活中的永恒存在，是天空和大海的颜色。这赋予了它一种可靠的感觉，这使它成为“银行和公司”的坚定选择。海明威说，这也是紧急服务人员经常选择这种颜色的原因。例如，蓝色制服可以表示“护士的酷能力”。Green is, unsurprisingly, the colour of nature and the environment. Marketers understand that giving a product green packaging creates the impression it is enviromentally friendly. But savvy customers are also aware of this – and now think twice before blindly swallowing environmental claims. Hemingway also says that green is the colour of growth and movement: it’s used to indicate ‘go’ on traffic lights.毫不奇怪，绿色是自然和环境的颜色。营销人员明白，赋予产品绿色包装会给人以环保的印象。但精明的客户也意识到了这一点——现在在盲目接受环境声明之前要三思而后行。海明威还说绿色是成长和运动的颜色：它被用来表示交通信号灯上的“前进”。Finally, we have purple, which is associated with valuable things. In the past, purple dye was expensive because it was very difficult to produce, and it became the colour worn by royalty in many Western countries. These days, companies still use purple to make their product seem more exclusive, whether they’re selling chocolate or cigarettes.最后，我们有紫色，它与有价值的东西有关。过去，紫色染料因生产难度大，价格昂贵，成为许多西方国家皇室佩戴的颜色。如今，无论是销售巧克力还是香烟，公司仍然使用紫色来使他们的产品看起来更加独特。词汇表marketer 市场营销人员auspicious 吉利的credentials 凭据，依据blood pressure 血压to stand out 显眼wavelength （光的）波长urgency 紧迫性prestigious 尊贵的，庄严的luxury brand 奢侈品牌glossy 有光泽的designer 出自著名设计师的sophisticated 有品味的，高雅的tranquil 宁静的an air of 一种…的氛围competence 能力，水平packaging （产品）包装enviromentally friendly 利于环保的savvy 有头脑的，机智的to swallow 全盘接受exclusive 高档奢华的

Do you consider yourself to be rich? Do you have plenty of cash and no financial worries? Or maybe, like me, is it something you can only dream about? For most of us, the closest chance of becoming a millionaire would be to win the lottery but if you don't buy a lottery ticket, are there others ways of becoming super-rich?你认为自己很有钱吗？你有足够的现金并且没有财务担忧吗？或者，也许，像我一样，这是你只能梦想的事情吗？对于我们大多数人来说，成为百万富翁的最接近的机会就是中彩票，但如果你不买彩票，还有其他方法可以成为超级富豪吗？A 'super-rich' person is often defined as someone with over $30 million dollars of assets – so it's not just about having a suitcase stuffed full of banknotes! They usually own property, an expensive yacht or eat in swanky restaurants. And there appear to be more and more of these people, as it's reported that the number of super-rich is expected to increase by 43% over the next decade.非“超级富豪”通常被定义为拥有超过 3000 万美元资产的人——所以这不仅仅是一个装满钞票的手提箱！他们通常拥有房产、昂贵的游艇或在高档餐厅用餐。而且这些人似乎越来越多，据报道，未来十年超级富豪的数量预计将增加 43%。If you save your pennies, make the right investments and work hard, could you be one of them? It's unlikely because a report last year highlighted inequality in the world, saying the richest 62 individuals owned as much as the poorest 50%. But for those lucky ones who are loaded, what is it that they splash the cash on? One academic in the UK, Emma Spence, has been researching just that - and her answer is yachts! It's the ultimate status symbol but she also says "a superyacht is essentially a black hole of wealth" – in other words, it continually eats your money and doesn't increase in value like an art collection might.如果您节省便士，进行正确的投资并努力工作，您会成为其中的一员吗？这不太可能，因为去年的一份报告强调了世界上的不平等，称最富有的 62 个人拥有的财富与最贫穷的 50% 一样多。但对于那些满载而归的幸运儿，他们把现金砸在什么上面呢？英国的一位学者 Emma Spence 一直在研究这一点——她的答案是游艇！这是终极地位的象征，但她也说“超级游艇本质上是一个财富黑洞”——换句话说，它会不断吞噬你的钱，并且不会像艺术品收藏品那样增值。But if you've got the spare cash, why not have one! It's an excuse to show off your wealth and position in society. Interestingly, Emma Spence found that the size of someone's yacht shows their place in the pecking order. This is a good example of conspicuous consumption – buying something so someone else notices.但是，如果您有闲钱，为什么不拥有一个！这是炫耀自己的财富和社会地位的借口。有趣的是，Emma Spence 发现某人游艇的大小显示了他们在优先顺序中的位置。这是炫耀性消费的一个很好的例子——买东西让别人注意到。In the past you may have expected to find a super-rich, yacht-owning, billionaire to live in developed countries like the USA but now the wealthy can be found hanging out in most corners of the world. According to a report by Knight Frank, Vietnam is the country expected to have the fastest growth of super-rich over the next 10 years – an amazing 170% increase.过去，您可能希望找到一个超级富豪、拥有游艇的亿万富翁住在像美国这样的发达国家，但现在可以在世界大多数角落找到富人。根据莱坊的一份报告，越南有望成为未来 10 年超级富豪增长最快的国家——增幅高达 170%。If all this makes you feel poor, remember that being wealthy doesn't necessarily make you happy. You don't have to waste time worrying about what to spend your money on. And you can feel rich in other ways by having good friends and family, good health or just a happy life - things that don't cost the earth. And if you really want a yacht, how about a toy one to play with in the bath?! How rich do you feel today?如果这一切让你感到贫穷，请记住，富有并不一定会让你快乐。您不必浪费时间担心花钱买什么。你可以通过拥有好朋友和家人、身体健康或过上幸福的生活来以其他方式感到富有——这些事情不会让地球付出代价。如果你真的想要一艘游艇，那么在浴缸里玩一个玩具怎么样？！你觉得今天有多富有？词汇表rich 富有的financial worries 经济上的烦恼，财政方面的困扰millionaire 百万富翁lottery 彩票，抽奖asset 资产，财产banknote 钞票swanky 时髦而高档的，奢华的save your pennies 存钱，攒钱loaded （口语）有钱的splash the cash 挥霍钱财status symbol 身份和地位的象征black hole （吸金的）无底洞pecking order 等级排序conspicuous consumption （贬义）炫耀性消费billionaire 亿万富翁cost the earth 花费天价

Most of us know that the risk of getting ill is reduced when we look after ourselves. Taking regular exercise has proven to be good for our health and scientists have found that the risk of getting cancer and heart disease is reduced when we take part in physical activity – and now they've found cycling to work is one of the best activities to do this. Well, good news for me then!我们大多数人都知道，当我们照顾好自己时，生病的风险就会降低。定期锻炼已被证明对我们的健康有益，科学家们发现，参加体育活动可以降低患癌症和心脏病的风险——现在他们发现骑自行车上班是最好的活动之一做这个。好吧，那对我来说是个好消息！The biggest study into the issue, linked using two wheels with a halving of the risk of cancer and heart disease. The five-year study of 250,000 UK commuters also showed walking had some benefits over sitting on public transport or taking the car.对该问题的最大研究表明，使用两个轮子可以将患癌症和心脏病的风险减半。对 250,000 名英国通勤者进行的为期五年的研究还表明，步行比坐在公共交通工具上或开车时有一些好处。Pedalling to work is already popular in many cities across the world. Some forward-thinking authorities have built cycle lanes to make the commute safer, as well as providing secure places to lock them up. Some companies also provide facilities for their employees to get changed and cleaned up when they arrive at work. It all makes good sense - according to people surveyed in this study, regular cycling cut the risk of death from any cause by 41%, the incidence of cancer by 45% and heart disease by 46%.脚踏车上班已经在全球许多城市流行起来。一些有远见的当局已经建造了自行车道，以使通勤更安全，并提供安全的地方将它们锁起来。一些公司还为员工提供设施，让他们在上班时换衣服和打扫卫生。这一切都说得通——根据这项研究中的受访者，定期骑自行车可将全因死亡风险降低 41%，癌症发病率降低 45%，心脏病发病率降低 46%。For me, cycling to work is quicker and cheaper than using public transport and it's my only form of exercise. And whereas going to the gym to lose a few pounds takes effort and commitment, cycling has just become part of the work routine. Clare Hyde from Cancer Research UK says "This study helps to highlight the potential benefits of building activity into your everyday life. Anything that gets you a bit hot and out of breath … can help make a difference."对我来说，骑自行车上班比乘坐公共交通工具更快、更便宜，而且这是我唯一的锻炼方式。虽然去健身房减掉几磅需要付出努力和承诺，但骑自行车已经成为日常工作的一部分。来自英国癌症研究中心的克莱尔海德说：“这项研究有助于突出在日常生活中进行活动的潜在好处。任何让你有点热和喘不过气来的东西……都可以帮助你改变现状。”But what exactly is it that is making cycling a much healthier option? The research, published in the British Medical Journal, found it wasn't the result of weight loss but it could be that cyclists are leaner and have lower levels of inflammation in the body.但究竟是什么让骑自行车成为更健康的选择？这项发表在英国医学杂志上的研究发现，这不是减肥的结果，但可能是骑自行车的人更瘦，体内炎症水平较低。Of course, any exercise is good for you but it's thought that cycling is better than walking because the activity is longer and more intense. Dr Jason Gill, from the University of Glasgow, told the BBC "You need to get to work every day so if you built cycling into the day it essentially takes willpower out of the equation."  For me, it's the best and most enjoyable workout I can have – and I don't need to wear skin-tight lycra clothes, as long as I wear the most important accessory, a helmet.当然，任何运动对你都有好处，但人们认为骑自行车比步行更好，因为活动时间更长、强度更大。格拉斯哥大学的杰森·吉尔博士告诉 BBC：“你需要每天上班，所以如果你每天都骑自行车，这基本上会削弱意志力。”对我来说，这是我能做的最好、最愉快的锻炼——而且我不需要穿紧身的莱卡衣服，只要我戴上最重要的配饰——头盔。词汇表risk 风险heart disease 心脏病physical activity 体育活动two wheels （比喻）自行车benefit 好处、益处pedalling 骑车forward-thinking 有超前思维的to lose a few pounds 减肥routine 规律，惯例weight loss 体重下降leaner 瘦一些，更瘦inflammation 炎症，体内热能intense 强烈的willpower 意志力workout 锻炼helmet 头盔

Are you a dog person? Maybe you have one at home and enjoy taking it for walks and curling up with it on the sofa.  Personally, I'm not that kind of person – for me they're aggressive, smelly animals that need constant care and lack the independent nature and intelligence that cats have. But given the life-saving skills that some dogs possess, maybe I should give them a second chance. 你是爱狗人士吗？也许你家里有一个，喜欢带着它散步和蜷缩在沙发上。就我个人而言，我不是那种人——对我来说，它们是好斗的、有臭味的动物，需要不断的照顾，缺乏猫所拥有的独立天性和智慧。但考虑到一些狗拥有的救生技能，也许我应该给它们第二次机会。To some a perfect pooch might be one that looks cute, is loyal and sits when it's told but that's about it – it's just a pet. But to really be man's best friend, they need to do something useful. Some breeds that have amazing sense of smell are put to good use as sniffer dogs or detection dogs, and are trained to use their senses to detect substances such as explosives and illegal drugs. You'll often see them at airports or working with police out on the streets.对于一些完美的狗来说，它可能看起来很可爱，忠诚并且在被告知时会坐着，但仅此而已 - 它只是一只宠物。但要真正成为人类最好的朋友，他们需要做一些有用的事情。一些具有惊人嗅觉的品种被很好地用作嗅探犬或侦查犬，并被训练使用它们的感官来检测爆炸物和非法药物等物质。你会经常在机场看到他们，或者在街上与警察一起工作。Other types of working dogs include guide dogs, hearing dogs and mobility dogs all providing a life-saving service to their owners. Some dogs can alert emergency services when their owner has a seizure.  And there are clever canines that have been trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes or schools and to people with autism.其他类型的工作犬包括导盲犬、助听犬和行动犬，它们都为其主人提供救生服务。有些狗可以在主人癫痫发作时向紧急服务部门发出警报。还有一些聪明的犬类经过训练，可以为医院、养老院或学校的人们以及自闭症患者提供关爱和安慰。New uses for dogs are being discovered all the time. Dr Claire Guest is CEO of Medical Detection Dogs, she says "although the dog has a fluffy coat and a waggy tail, he is in fact a highly sophisticated bio-sensor. You know, evolution has given him this highly sensitive nose, going down to parts per trillion."狗的新用途一直在被发现。 Claire Guest 博士是 Medical Detection Dogs 的首席执行官，她说：“虽然这只狗有蓬松的外套和摇摆的尾巴，但它实际上是一个高度复杂的生物传感器。你知道，进化给了它这个高度敏感的鼻子，向下移动万亿分之几。”It's this incredible ability that has led to the UK's National Health Service assessing whether dogs can be used to detect early stage prostate cancer - vital for improving survival rates.正是这种令人难以置信的能力导致英国国家卫生服务局评估狗是否可用于检测早期前列腺癌——这对于提高生存率至关重要。The dogs - usually from the gundog breed, such as labradors and springer spaniels - are taught to detect a sample of urine from a patient with prostate cancer.这些狗——通常来自猎犬品种，如拉布拉多犬和史宾格犬——被教导检测前列腺癌患者的尿液样本。It's also managed to train dogs to detect changes in blood glucose levels in people suffering from type 1 diabetes. One patient, who has one of these medical alert assistance dogs, told the BBC that "in the three and a half years we've been together, he has alerted and potentially saved my life 3,500 times. And he does it all for a dog biscuit."它还设法训练狗检测患有 1 型糖尿病的人的血糖水平变化。一位拥有其中一只医疗警报辅助犬的患者告诉 BBC，“在我们在一起的三年半里，他已经提醒并可能挽救了我的生命 3500 次。他为一只狗做了这一切。饼干。”To save a life for a dog biscuit seems a small price to pay so maybe I should have more admiration and respect for our four-legged friends – maybe cats aren't so smart!为一只狗饼干挽救一条生命似乎是一个很小的代价，所以也许我应该对我们的四足朋友多一些钦佩和尊重——也许猫没有那么聪明！词汇表a dog person 喜欢狗的人aggressive 好斗的、霸道的life-saving 能挽救生命的give them a second chance 给它们第二次机会，比喻重新考虑pooch （非正式）狗loyal 忠诚的man's best friend “人类最好的朋友”，是对狗的昵称sense of smell 嗅觉sniffer dogs 嗅探犬substances 物质，材料 guide dogs 导盲犬seizure（疾病的）发作canines 犬科动物affection 爱、友好之情autism 自闭症、孤独症waggy 爱摆动的，不停摇摆的bio-sensor 生物感应器prostate cancer 前列腺癌type 1 diabetes 第一型糖尿病medical alert assistance dogs 医疗警报援助犬a small price to pay 微不足道的代价four-legged friends “四条腿的朋友”，对狗的昵称

词汇表happy 高兴的angry 愤怒的amazed 惊讶的to express 表露、表达（情感）emoji 表情符号，“绘文字”sophisticated 复杂精致的mood 情绪，心情thumbs-up （竖起拇指）赞puzzled 迷惑的addicted 使人沉迷的，上瘾的face-to-face 面对面的substitute 替代物non-verbal cue 非言语的暗示pictorial 图画的interpreted 被理解clumsy 笨手笨脚的empathy 同感、共鸣flirtatious 打情骂俏的linguistic Armageddon “语言的末日”，即语言的灭绝文稿：Happy, angry, amazed – these are some of the emotions we like to express these days when we're sending a message on our smartphones!快乐、愤怒、惊讶——这些是我们现在在智能手机上发送信息时喜欢表达的一些情绪！ That's why many of us now add little pictures to our texts to brighten up someones mobile screen but we're also using them as a quick way of telling someone how we're feeling.这就是为什么我们中的许多人现在在我们的文本中添加小图片以照亮某人的手机屏幕，但我们也使用它们作为告诉别人我们感受的快速方式。 Yes, emojis have become a vital tool for communication.是的，表情符号已经成为一种重要的交流工具。Let's clear one thing up first – there are emojis and emoticons.让我们先弄清楚一件事——有表情符号和表情符号。 The latter are little images made using normal keys on a keyboard.后者是使用键盘上的普通键制作的小图像。 For example, a colon, two dots, followed by the curved line of a close brackets is a 'smiley face'. 例如，一个冒号，两个点，后跟一个右括号的曲线就是一个“笑脸”。But as technology has become more sophisticated, pre-made images have been created that can be simply added to your messages, which is great!但是随着技术变得更加复杂，已经创建了可以简单地添加到您的消息中的预制图像，这太棒了！The emoji was first invented in Japan in the late 1990s and the word 'emoji' comes from the Japanese words for 'picture' and 'character'.表情符号最初是在 1990 年代后期在日本发明的，“表情符号”这个词来自日语中的“图片”和“角色”。 The number of different images has dramatically increased since then and now we have a picture for every mood or situation.从那时起，不同图像的数量急剧增加，现在我们为每种情绪或情况提供了一张图片。So now we have the option to give this new creation the visual 'thumbs-up' but have you thought (puzzled face) why we've become so addicted to using emojis? 所以现在我们可以选择给这个新作品视觉上的“竖起大拇指”，但你有没有想过（困惑的脸）为什么我们如此沉迷于使用表情符号？Professor Vyv Evans, has written a book called ‘The Emoji Code’ – he says "increasingly, what we’re finding is that digital communication is taking over from certain aspects of face-to-face interaction… Vyv Evans 教授写了一本名为《表情符号代码》的书——他说：“我们越来越多地发现，数字通信正在取代面对面互动的某些方面……one of the reasons emojis are so interesting is that they really do enable us to express our emotional selves much more effectively."表情符号如此有趣的原因之一是它们确实使我们能够更有效地表达我们的情感自我。” So emojis are a sort of substitute for the visual signals or non-verbal cues we normally give when we speak to someone face-to-face.因此，表情符号是我们在与某人面对面交谈时通常给出的视觉信号或非语言暗示的一种替代品。Another advantage of emojis is that they are an international language – they don't use words but tell a message in pictorial form so they can be easily interpreted whatever your native language. 表情符号的另一个优点是它们是一种国际语言——它们不使用文字，而是以图片的形式传达信息，因此无论您的母语如何，它们都可以很容易地被解释。However, the emojis you send need some thought as they can sometimes be misinterpreted – if a friend sends you an emoji of a hammer, you may think he is angry when really he is saying he has hurt himself or he is clumsy!但是，您发送的表情符号需要深思熟虑，因为它们有时会被误解 - 如果朋友给您发送锤子的表情符号，您可能会认为他很生气，而实际上他是在说他伤害了自己或他很笨拙！Emojis are a good way for showing empathy – they are a virtual hug or a flirtatious tease. 表情符号是表达同理心的好方法——它们是虚拟的拥抱或调情的挑逗。But as linguist Neil Cohn says, "to many, emoji are an exciting evolution of the way we communicate; to others, they are linguistic Armageddon." 但正如语言学家尼尔科恩所说，“对许多人来说，表情符号是我们交流方式的激动人心的演变；对其他人来说，它们是语言世界末日。”It does show there is a lot more to our communication than words alone but does this mean the decline in traditional writing?它确实表明我们的交流不仅仅是文字，但这是否意味着传统写作的衰落？

词汇表consultancy 咨询公司to get rid of 除去，解雇flat （管理方式）扁平化的management structure 管理构架radical 根本性的，彻底的board member 董事会成员column （标明职责的）栏to drive (something) 推动（计划、项目等的）进展motivated 有积极性的company-wide 公司范围内的，整个公司的legal requirement 法律规定last resort 万不得已时的办法，最后的手段mixed results 好坏参半的结果leaderless 无领导的disorientating 失去方向感的，令人感到无所适从的to bump up against other people 与他人的职责重叠accountability 责任制，问责制hierarchy （机构）等级制度文稿:What would work be like if you had no boss? Imagine you could make all your own decisions and no one told you what to do.如果没有老板，工作会怎样？想象一下，您可以自己做出所有决定，而没有人告诉您该怎么做。One company decided to find out if it could work.一家公司决定看看它是否可行。The staff at Crisp, a Swedish software consultancy, chose to get rid of their CEO and create a completely flat organisation. 瑞典软件咨询公司 Crisp 的员工选择摆脱他们的 CEO 并创建一个完全扁平的组织。Having trialled several different management structures, the firm agreed to take the radical step of having no single leader.在尝试了几种不同的管理结构后，该公司同意采取没有单一领导者的激进措施。First, they needed to establish what a CEO actually did. Then they shared those duties out amongst staff and board members. 首先，他们需要确定 CEO 实际做了什么。然后他们在员工和董事会成员之间分担这些职责。Employee Yassal Sundman told the BBC: "When we looked at it we had nothing left in the CEO column, and we said, 'all right, why don't we try it out?'".员工 Yassal Sundman 告诉 BBC：“当我们查看它时，我们的 CEO 列中什么都没有，我们说，‘好吧，我们为什么不试试呢？’”。Which is exactly what they did. And Crisp employee, Heinrik Kniberg, believes it’s been a good move. 这正是他们所做的。 Crisp 的员工 Heinrik Kniberg 认为这是一个很好的举措。He says the company can now act faster: "If you want to get something done, you stand up and start driving that". Kniberg also claims workers are more motivated.他说公司现在可以更快地采取行动：“如果你想完成某件事，你就站起来开始推动它”。 Kniberg 还声称工人更有动力。 Crisp regularly measures staff satisfaction, and say they average over four out of five.Crisp 定期衡量员工的满意度，并表示他们平均超过五分之四。Any big decisions are made during the company-wide four-day meetings several times a year. 任何重大决定都是在一年几次的全公司范围内的四天会议上做出的。They do still have a board: it’s a legal requirement. But the board can be used as a last resort to resolve tricky issues.他们仍然有董事会：这是法律要求。但董事会可以作为解决棘手问题的最后手段。So, if it’s working out for Crisp, could this model become more widespread? 那么，如果它适用于 Crisp，这种模式会变得更普遍吗？Online retailer Zappos tried out a similar plan but had mixed results. 在线零售商 Zappos 尝试了类似的计划，但结果喜忧参半。Almost a fifth of Zappos staff decided to leave, and chief executive Tony Hsieh admitted that "self-management is not for everyone".几乎五分之一的 Zappos 员工决定离开，首席执行官 Tony Hsieh 承认“自我管理并不适合所有人”。Founder of file-sharing service Dropbox, Drew Houston, believes that a leaderless structure is too chaotic.文件共享服务 Dropbox 的创始人 Drew Houston 认为，无领导的结构太混乱了。"Often infinite freedom like that can be pretty disorientating.“像这样的无限自由通常会让人迷失方向。 It doesn't always feel good, because you no longer know what you're supposed to do, what's important and you're bumping up against other people," Mr Houston says.感觉并不总是很好，因为你不再知道你应该做什么，什么是重要的，而且你正在与其他人发生冲突，”休斯顿先生说。So, what is the perfect balance? How do you keep accountability in a company without hierarchy?那么，什么是完美的平衡呢？您如何在没有等级制度的公司中保持责任感？ Would you like to work somewhere with no boss?你想在没有老板的地方工作吗？

词汇表ground 研磨成粉末的sprinkle 撒、洒（食物）bug 小虫子creepy-crawly 令人生厌的爬虫to hold the key to 是……的关键、掌控the search is on 已经开始寻找protein 蛋白质mineral （人体必需的）矿物质edible 可食用的superfood （对健康十分有益的）“超级食品”livestock 牲畜（包括牛、羊、鸡等）yuck （尤表示食物恶心的感叹词）呸pest （毁坏农作物的）害虫或动物palatable 可口的，合胃口的locust 蝗虫crunchy 酥脆的critter 生灵，生物year on year 与上一年同比to munch 大口地吃，津津有味地吃to normalise 使……正常化文稿:Feeling hungry? How about some worms with your spaghetti? Perhaps some ground cricket to sprinkle on your pizza? Or maybe just a good old bug burger?感觉饿了？你的意大利面上有一些蠕虫怎么样？也许一些蟋蟀可以洒在你的披萨上？或者也许只是一个很好的老虫汉堡？While the idea of eating insects disgusts many, don’t be surprised if you find creepy-crawlies on your own plate before long.虽然吃昆虫的想法让很多人感到厌恶，但如果你很快在自己的盘子里发现了令人毛骨悚然的爬行动物，请不要感到惊讶。Why? Because insects could hold the key to the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population. 为什么？因为昆虫可能是解决养活世界不断增长的人口挑战的关键。With the number of humans on the planet expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, the search is on for alternative sources of protein beyond the traditional meat and fish.预计到 2050 年，地球上的人口数量将达到 90 亿，人们正在寻找传统肉类和鱼类以外的替代蛋白质来源。Insects are not only high in protein, but also minerals and amino acids, according to Shami Radia, co-founder of Grub, a company which sells edible bugs. “Insects are the original superfood,” says Radia.销售食用昆虫的公司 Grub 的联合创始人沙米·拉迪亚 (Shami Radia) 表示，昆虫不仅富含蛋白质，还富含矿物质和氨基酸。 “昆虫是最初的超级食物，”Radia 说。Environmentally, insects produce less greenhouse gas, use less water and take up less farmland than conventional livestock farming, meaning they have a smaller impact on the planet.在环境方面，与传统的畜牧业相比，昆虫产生的温室气体更少，用水更少，占用的农田更少，这意味着它们对地球的影响更小。So if they’re good for the environment and good for you, why aren’t we eating insects? 所以，如果它们对环境有益，对你有益，我们为什么不吃昆虫呢？In fact, in many places we already are. It’s estimated that two billion people around the world eat insects as part of their diet.事实上，在很多地方我们已经是。据估计，全世界有 20 亿人将昆虫作为他们饮食的一部分。 But most Western nations have not yet adopted the practice.但大多数西方国家尚未采用这种做法。It’s the “yuck factor” that stops them from eating bugs, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme. 根据废物和资源行动计划，这是阻止它们吃虫子的“恶心因素”。People in the West generally view insects as unclean and carriers of disease. They’re seen as pests: they damage crops, destroy furniture and live in dirty places.西方人普遍认为昆虫是不洁的和疾病的携带者。它们被视为害虫：它们会破坏庄稼、破坏家具并生活在肮脏的地方。But perhaps attitudes are slowly shifting. Certain types of insects are becoming more palatable to consumers, such as locusts and grasshoppers. 但也许态度正在慢慢转变。某些类型的昆虫对消费者来说变得越来越可口，例如蝗虫和蚱蜢。Nick Cooper sells insects as food through his UK company Crunchy Critters, and has seen a sales growth rate of 25% year on year.Nick Cooper 通过他的英国公司 Crunchy Critters 销售昆虫作为食物，销售额同比增长 25%。 He believes young people are more open to eating insects.他认为年轻人更愿意吃昆虫。Shami Radia believes that munching bugs will one day become as popular as eating sushi. Shami Radia 相信，咀嚼虫子有朝一日会像吃寿司一样流行。"Behaviour can be changed," he says. "Prawns are ugly and taste delicious and there's no reason why eating insects can't be normalised."“行为是可以改变的，”他说。 “虾很丑，味道很好，吃昆虫没有理由不能正常化。”

词汇表a feast of 丰盛的，一应俱全的humble 简单而普通的grab-and-go 带走即食meal deal 优惠套餐staple 主食mainstay 必备品，事物的主要依靠al-desko 在桌边吃饭break the mould 打破常规leftover 剩饭剩菜malaise 昏昏沉沉，低迷不适think outside the box 跳出思维定式，跳出固有模式思考satisfying 令人满足的dollop （食物的）一小份，一小勺ubiquitous 随处可见的nutritious 营养价值高的munchies 小吃，零食carbohydrate 碳水化合物protein 蛋白质sushi 寿司greasy spoon （供应油腻食物的）便利廉价的小饭馆fry-up （肉、菜、蛋等的）油煎菜拼盘文稿：Whether at school, college or work, most of us take some sort of lunch break. 无论是在学校、大学还是工作中，我们大多数人都会在午休时间。It's a good time to have a rest, catch up with friends and eat some food – but here lies the dilemma – what to eat? 这是休息、与朋友聚会和吃点东西的好时机——但这里存在两难的问题——吃什么？There are a feast of options but because of limited time or money, many of us stick to what we know – usually the humble sandwich.有很多选择，但由于时间或金钱有限，我们中的许多人都坚持我们所知道的——通常是不起眼的三明治。Some of us make our own sandwiches in the morning before heading out, whilst those in a rush tend to grab-and-go at a snack bar or a cafe or buy a meal deal at a supermarket. 我们中的一些人会在早上出门前自己做三明治，而赶时间的人则倾向于去小吃店或咖啡馆，或者在超市买一顿饭。A packet of crisps may be an additional staple to our predictable lunch. What we eat is usually the same everyday. 一包薯片可能是我们可预见的午餐的额外主食。我们每天吃的东西通常是一样的。Sheila Dillon from the BBC Food Programme says more than a third of office workers have eaten the same midday meal for the last nine months.来自 BBC 食品计划的希拉·狄龙 (Sheila Dillon) 说，在过去的九个月里，超过三分之一的上班族都吃过同样的午餐。In the UK, bread has become the mainstay of our lunchtime snack, sometimes eaten at your desk – a style known as 'al-desko'. 在英国，面包已成为我们午餐时间小吃的主食，有时会在您的办公桌上食用——这种风格被称为“al-desko”。Bread is cheap and fills you up and with average lunch hours now reduced to 25 minutes, 24 seconds, it's quick and convenient to eat. 面包便宜又能填饱肚子，现在平均午餐时间减少到 25 分 24 秒，吃起来又快又方便。But it's also boring! Some people have broken the mould by bringing in leftovers from their previous night's dinner, which they then heat up in a microwave but even that isn't very exciting.但是也很无聊！有些人打破了模式，把前一晚晚餐的剩菜带进来，然后用微波炉加热，但即使这样也不是很令人兴奋。We are creatures of habit but philosopher Julian Baggini says "we’re never going to break out of our midday malaise unless we think outside the box." 我们是习惯性动物，但哲学家朱利安·巴吉尼 (Julian Baggini) 说：“除非我们跳出框框思考，否则我们永远不会摆脱中午的不适。”There are alternatives that will fill you up. With just a microwave and a kettle, there a number of hot satisfying meals than can be made such as soups and jacket potatoes served with a dollop of baked beans or cheese.有一些替代方案可以满足您的需求。只需微波炉和水壶，就可以制作出许多令人满意的热餐，例如汤和茄克土豆，配上一块烤豆或奶酪。 And then there are the ubiquitous instant noodles in a pot – although you may question how nutritious they are.然后是锅里随处可见的方便面——尽管你可能会质疑它们的营养价值。If you've got time for more exotic munchies, then look out for trendy 'Ottolenghi' style food such as fava bean salad wrap.如果您有时间享用更多异国风味的零食，那么请留意时尚的“Ottolenghi”风格食品，例如蚕豆沙拉卷。 There is also the healthy Japanese style 'bento box' or lunchbox that normally contains a mix of carbohydrate, protein and vegetable. 还有健康的日式“便当盒”或午餐盒，通常含有碳水化合物、蛋白质和蔬菜的混合物。And of course another healthy Japanese treat is sushi.当然，另一种健康的日本美食是寿司。But if I've got time for a proper lunch, I head to my local greasy spoon and tuck into a fry-up. 但如果我有时间吃一顿正经的午餐，我会去我当地的油腻勺子，然后塞进一个油炸锅里。Not very healthy but delicious and it sets me up for an afternoon of hard work. 不是很健康但很美味，它让我为一个下午的辛勤工作做好了准备。Then it's time for the next dilemma – what to have for dinner?! What do you usually eat for lunch?然后是下一个难题的时候了——晚餐吃什么？！你午餐通常吃什么？

词汇表a freebie 赠品，免费品complimentary （公司）免费赠送的marketing 销售，营销feedback 反馈意见trendsetter 引领潮流的人influencer （营销）具有影响力的人upmarket 高档的，高端的brand 品牌create a buzz 制造话题engage in 参与到……中retail 零售promotional campaign 促销推广活动endorse 宣传，推荐（产品）future selling 远期销售cross-selling 交叉销售up-selling 追加销售client 客户budget 预算'there's no such thing as a free lunch' “天下没有免费的午餐”，即世上没有不劳而获的事情文稿:Everybody likes to get a freebie – something given to you to try for free. 每个人都喜欢得到一个免费赠品——给你免费试用的东西。On my commute to work today I was offered a complimentary sample of washing powder and a bottle of new mineral water. 今天上班途中，我收到了一份免费的洗衣粉样品和一瓶新矿泉水。Lucky me eh? Well it's not necessarily down to luck – where you can grab a freebie depends on a number of factors.幸运我是吗？好吧，这不一定要靠运气——你可以在哪里获得免费赠品取决于许多因素。For businesses, giving out something for nothing is an important marketing technique. 对于企业来说，不劳而获是一项重要的营销技巧。We might not give it much thought but they are keen to see our reaction and hear our feedback and ultimately make us buy more.我们可能不会考虑太多，但他们渴望看到我们的反应并听取我们的反馈，最终让我们购买更多。  But who they hear from is very crucial. They want to target the so-called trendsetters and influencers, in the hope that they will speak positively about the product and then sell more.但他们从谁那里听到是非常关键的。他们想瞄准所谓的潮流引领者和影响者，希望他们能积极地谈论产品，然后销售更多。In the UK, the makers of an upmarket popcorn brand gave out free packets at London's Fashion Week to create a buzz about their product by fashionable people. 在英国，一个高档爆米花品牌的制造商在伦敦时装周上免费发放小包，以引起时尚人士对其产品的轰动。A spokesman said  "It's less about immediate increase in sales, and more about getting our product in the hands of people who will excitedly and personally engage in our brand and story."一位发言人说：“与其说是立即增加销售额，不如说是让我们的产品交到那些会兴奋地亲自参与我们的品牌和故事的人手中。”Living in a capital city certainly improves your chances of getting a freebie. 住在首都肯定会提高您获得免费赠品的机会。Not only is the population larger but these places are often considered the trendsetter for retail purchases. So if you live in London, Paris or Beijing you'll probably see a new promotional campaign launched there first.不仅人口更多，而且这些地方通常被认为是零售购物的潮流引领者。因此，如果您住在伦敦、巴黎或北京，您可能会首先看到在那里推出的新促销活动。 The hope is that the fashionable city dwellers will try and like the new item and endorse it on social media. 希望时尚的城市居民会尝试并喜欢新产品，并在社交媒体上为其背书。Eventually everyone around the country will know about it. 最终全国各地的每个人都会知道它。How businesses give away freebies is also of interest. According to behavioural economist Enrico Trevisan, they have three different approaches: "future selling, cross-selling and up-selling". 企业如何赠送免费赠品也很有趣。根据行为经济学家 Enrico Trevisan 的说法，他们有三种不同的方法：“未来销售、交叉销售和向上销售”。The first is about giving something away assuming we will like it and buy more later.第一个是假设我们会喜欢它并在以后购买更多东西，就赠送一些东西。 "With cross-selling, the company tries to gain new clients through an entrance product, with the intention of selling them additional products during their life cycle" and 'up-selling' happens when a basic version is given away for free but charges a client for more advanced and complete versions. “通过交叉销售，公司试图通过入口产品获得新客户，目的是在他们的生命周期内向他们销售额外的产品”，而“追加销售”发生在免费赠送基本版本但收取客户端以获得更高级和完整的版本。Maybe you've experienced one of these approaches?也许您已经体验过其中一种方法？Of course a freebie is not actually free – someone has to pay for it and this usually comes from a firm's marketing budget which is funded by the products we buy – so the expression 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' could be true!当然，免费赠品实际上并不是免费的——有人必须为此付费，而这通常来自公司的营销预算，该预算由我们购买的产品提供资金——所以“没有免费的午餐”这句话可能是真的！

词汇表safekeeping （贵重物品的）妥善保管startup 刚起步的小公司player 主要参与企业short-term 短期地holidaymaking 在外度假的-friendly 对……友善的（词缀）profitable 有盈利的business model 商业模式to measure up 达到（标准）、满足（期望）odds and ends 零碎的杂物painless 轻而易举的heavyweight 行业巨头24/7 全天候的-wise 在……方面（词缀）to set (you) back 花掉（你）一大笔钱distrust 不信任to bank on 指望a gap in the market 市场缺口，市场空白pricey 贵的，价格高的left luggage office 行李寄存处文稿:If a stranger offered you money to keep a suitcase in your spare room, would you accept? 如果一个陌生人给你钱让你在空闲房间里放一个手提箱，你会接受吗？How about the other way round: if you had too many belongings, would you consider trusting someone you met online with their safekeeping?反过来呢：如果你的财物太多，你会考虑信任你在网上认识的人保管吗？ Anthony Paine believed enough of us would answer 'yes' to these questions to launch his own startup, Stashbee. His business links people with space to those who need it.Anthony Paine 相信我们当中有足够多的人会对这些问题回答“是”来创办自己的创业公司 Stashbee。他的业务将有空间的人与需要空间的人联系起来。And it's just one player in the booming 'sharing economy', an industry that relies on people renting out things like their beds, bikes and even parking spaces. 它只是蓬勃发展的“共享经济”中的一个参与者，这个行业依赖于人们出租床、自行车甚至停车位等物品。Airbnb, a company valued at 200bn RMB, provides a platform for those renting property short-term. DogVacay pairs holidaymaking pet owners with pet-friendly hosts, and aims to be profitable by 2017.Airbnb，一家估值2000亿元人民币的公司，为短租人士提供了一个平台。 DogVacay 将度假的宠物主人与宠物友好的主人配对，目标是到 2017 年实现盈利。All their business models revolve around one simple word: trust. 他们所有的商业模式都围绕着一个简单的词：信任。So, how does Stashbee measure up? BBC journalist Dougal Shaw decided to try it out for himself.那么，Stashbee 是如何衡量的呢？ BBC 记者 Dougal Shaw 决定亲自试一试。 He had some odds and ends to store while renovating his house, and met a host through the site who could keep them for 475 RMB for two months. All relatively smooth and painless.他在装修房子时有一些零碎的东西要存放，通过网站遇到了一个房东，他可以以475元的价格将它们保留两个月。一切都比较顺利和无痛。Heavyweights in the traditional storage industry, such as Big Yellow and Access, aren't convinced. Big Yellow 和 Access 等传统存储行业的重量级企业并不相信。A representative from Access told Shaw he was sceptical about storing with “amateurs”. Access 的一位代表告诉 Shaw，他对与“业余爱好者”一起存储持怀疑态度。He cited 24/7 access to the items and better security as the main advantages of his service. 他引用了 24/7 全天候访问这些物品和更好的安全性作为他服务的主要优势。Cost-wise it would set you back an extra 160 RMB to store with them.成本方面，它会让你多花 160 元人民币来存放它们。Stashbee agree that tackling security concerns is important, but say business success depends more on people overcoming a distrust of strangers we've been taught since childhood.Stashbee 同意解决安全问题很重要，但表示商业成功更多地取决于人们克服对我们从小就被教导的陌生人的不信任。They aren't alone. Companies such as Costockage, Roost and Spacer all run similar storage businesses, and are all banking on a shift in consumer attitudes.他们并不孤单。 Costockage、Roost 和 Spacer 等公司都经营着类似的存储业务，并且都寄希望于消费者态度的转变。And the concept of social storage doesn't stop there. CityStasher believe there's a gap in the market for those who want to store things for extremely short periods of time. 社交存储的概念并不止于此。 CityStasher 认为，对于那些想要在极短的时间内存储东西的人来说，市场上存在差距。For example, if you have three hours to kill in a city before your train leaves, what do you do with your suitcase? 例如，如果您在火车开出前有 3 个小时的时间在城市中消磨时光，您会如何处理您的手提箱？CityStasher hope you will choose to leave it at a local newsagent, found through their website of course, rather than in the station's pricier left luggage office.CityStasher 希望您选择将它留在当地的报刊亭，当然可以通过他们的网站找到，而不是在车站更昂贵的行李寄存处。Would you try it out? It's a question of trust.你会试试看吗？这是一个信任问题。

词汇表automation 自动化at risk 面临风险manual labour 体力劳动position 工作，职位profession （需专业知识技能的）职业impervious 不受影响的soft skill 软技能，如与人相处的能力和沟通能力等to gauge 判断（人的感受）to tailor （根据需要）调整feedback 反馈意见to lag behind 落后to compress 压缩、缩短idiosyncrasy 个人特征、习性overwhelming majority 压倒性多数，绝大多数to master 掌握to crack (a) code 找到解决问题的办法to embrace change 积极接受改变artificial intelligence 人工智能文稿:Will your job be done by a robot in the future? Bank of England economists predict that almost half of all UK jobs are under threat of automation. 未来你的工作会由机器人完成吗？英格兰银行经济学家预测，英国近一半的工作岗位都面临自动化威胁。Those most at risk involve repetetive manual labour, such as factory positions. 最危险的人涉及重复性体力劳动，例如工厂职位。But could even the venerable profession of teaching soon have to compete against powerful electronic educators?但是，即使是受人尊敬的教学职业，是否也很快不得不与强大的电子教育者竞争？At first glance, teaching might seem impervious to replacement by robots. 乍一看，教学似乎无法被机器人取代。Teachers use a range of soft skills that machines find hard to replicate. They gauge pupils' needs and tailor feedback accordingly. 教师使用一系列机器难以复制的软技能。他们衡量学生的需求并相应地调整反馈。They adapt materials to make them more engaging and effective.他们调整材料以使其更具吸引力和有效性。 And they provide pastoral care: looking out for students who lag behind or disrupt the class.他们提供教牧关怀：寻找落后或扰乱课堂的学生。Nonetheless, some believe the future of education will be technological.尽管如此，有些人认为教育的未来将是技术性的。 In an interview with Business Insider magazine, futurist Thomas Frey predicts that "by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven't heard of yet."在接受 Business Insider 杂志采访时，未来学家 Thomas Frey 预测，“到 2030 年，互联网上最大的公司将成为一家我们还没有听说过的教育型公司。”He thinks that 'bots' – online robot teachers – will make education so efficient that students will be able to compress an entire undergraduate degree into six months of learning. 他认为“机器人”——在线机器人教师——将使教育如此高效，学生们将能够将整个本科学位压缩为六个月的学习时间。A bot learns what your "idiosyncrasies" "interests" and "reference points" are, "and it figures out how to teach you in a faster and faster way over time," according to Frey.Frey 说，机器人会了解你的“特质”、“兴趣”和“参考点”是什么，“随着时间的推移，它会找出如何以越来越快的方式教你”。Whether or not such incredible speeds will be reached, over the last decade there has been a huge increase in online learning platforms. 无论是否会达到如此令人难以置信的速度，在过去十年中，在线学习平台都出现了巨大的增长。Companies such as Udemy and Khan Academy produce courses that allow millions to learn at home for free, at their own pace. But there are limitations.Udemy 和 Khan Academy 等公司提供的课程让数百万人能够按照自己的节奏在家免费学习。但也有局限性。 Without the face-to-face stimulation of a classroom environment, the overwhelming majority of students fail to complete online courses.如果没有课堂环境的面对面刺激，绝大多数学生都无法完成在线课程。 How to sustain motivation to learn is one more skill that online teachers will need to master.如何保持学习动力是在线教师需要掌握的另一项技能。Indeed, Frey admits there is some way to go: "Nobody has quite cracked the code for the future of education." 事实上，弗雷承认还有一段路要走：“没有人完全破解教育未来的密码。”What do teachers themselves think about this? Professor Donald Clark from Derby University in the UK thinks that we should embrace change, even though people will lose their jobs.老师们自己对此怎么看？英国德比大学的唐纳德·克拉克教授认为我们应该拥抱变化，即使人们会失去工作。"Artificial intelligence will destroy jobs - so why not use it for a social good such as learning?" he asked.“人工智能会摧毁工作——那么为什么不将它用于学习等社会公益事业呢？”他问。

词汇表tangible 可触摸的hard cash 现金（包括硬币和纸钞）outdated 过时的checkout 付款台groceries 杂货食品（常用复数）cashier 收银员to tally up 结算to spell 意味着（不好的后果）wearable 可穿戴的chip 芯片seamlessly 不间断地to underpin 支持、构成virtual currency 虚拟货币crash 系统瘫痪to take off 突然成功to wind back the clock / to wind the clock back 让时光倒流，回到过去barter economy 以物易物的经济制度to conjure 让人联想到（某个画面或情境）to make a comeback 再度兴起，回归文稿:How do you pay for things in a shop? Perhaps you like the tangible reliability of hard cash? 你如何在商店里买东西？也许您喜欢硬现金的有形可靠性？Maybe the financial flexibility of a credit card suits you better?也许信用卡的财务灵活性更适合您？ Or perhaps you prefer the simple convenience of a smartphone?或者，也许您更喜欢智能手机的简单便利？Whatever you use today, experts believe all these methods could soon become outdated. 无论您今天使用什么，专家认为所有这些方法很快就会过时。Instead, we will use our bodies: our eyes, our fingerprints, even our mere presence in the store. 相反，我们将使用我们的身体：我们的眼睛、我们的指纹，甚至我们在商店里的存在。In fact it's happening already. Amazon are trialling stores which have no checkouts, where technology tracks the items you've taken from the shelves and deducts the total from your account when you leave the shop.事实上，它已经在发生了。亚马逊正在试用没有结账的商店，技术会跟踪你从货架上拿走的物品，并在你离开商店时从你的账户中扣除总额。French supermarket Monoprix takes a different path: you choose your groceries and leave them with a human cashier. 法国超市 Monoprix 采取了不同的方式：您选择杂货并将其交给人工收银员。You then leave the shop while the cashier tallies up your bill, charges your account, and organises delivery to your home.然后您离开商店，收银员清点您的账单，向您的账户收费，并安排送货到您家。Amir Sajed, chief executive of Barclaycard, told the BBC that such new developments spell the end of the plastic credit card.Barclaycard 的首席执行官 Amir Sajed 告诉 BBC，这些新发展意味着塑料信用卡的终结。 Instead, wearable items such as rings, bracelets and keychains will carry chips that allow shoppers to "seamlessly shop, going between the web, an app or in store," he says.取而代之的是，戒指、手镯和钥匙链等可穿戴物品将携带芯片，让购物者能够“无缝购物，在网络、应用程序或商店之间移动”，他说。And while all the above payment methods are underpinned by accounts held in traditional currencies, let's not forget the rise of alternatives such as Litecoin.尽管上述所有支付方式都以传统货币账户为基础，但我们不要忘记莱特币等替代品的兴起。 Such virtual currencies can rise in value very quickly, but are also susceptible to crashes and threats from hackers.这种虚拟货币的价值可以很快升值，但也容易受到崩溃和黑客威胁的影响。 Who knows, perhaps something totally new will take off that changes money as we know it? 谁知道呢，也许一些全新的东西会起飞，改变我们所知道的货币？One such possibility is explored in the movie In Time. It imagines a futuristic society in which the currency is time itself, where people trade the amount of time they have left to live.电影《及时》中探讨了一种这样的可能性。它想象了一个未来社会，其中货币就是时间本身，人们在其中交易他们剩余的生活时间。Or perhaps we'd do better to wind back the clock to the simpler financial world of the barter economy.或者，也许我们最好将时间倒流到更简单的易货经济金融世界。 While the term conjures images of sacks of grain and herds of sheep being exchanged in ancient times, there are signs that bartering is making a comeback in today's world of modern technology.虽然这个词让人联想到古代一袋袋谷物和成群的羊群交换的形象，但有迹象表明，易货交易在当今的现代技术世界中正在卷土重来。 Startup Let's Barter India has developed an app which facilitates the exchange of goods, and already has around 100,000 members.Startup Let's Barter India 开发了一个促进商品交换的应用程序，并且已经拥有大约 100,000 名会员。Maybe the only thing we know for certain is that money will keep evolving.也许我们唯一确定的就是金钱会不断发展。

词汇表little green men （比喻）外星人meteorite 陨星、陨石cosmic ray 宇宙射线good old （赞美语气）老牌的、靠谱的a rough ride 一段艰难的历程mass extinction 物种大灭绝to kill off 杀死、消灭crater （火山口式的）圆坑geological 地质的to wipe out 彻底灭绝dense 密度大的to orbit 沿轨道围绕（行星或恒星）运行Solar System 太阳系comet 彗星to hurtle 猛冲to put someone off (something) 丧失对某事的兴致macabre 恐怖的，令人害怕的interstellar 星际的to snuff it （俗语）死亡，断气文稿:What is the greatest threat to life on our planet? Is it climate change? 我们星球上生命面临的最大威胁是什么？是气候变化吗？Shortages of food or water? Or might an altogether bigger danger come from somewhere further away: space?食物或水短缺？或者一个更大的危险可能来自更远的地方：太空？We’re not talking about an invasion by little green men here.我们不是在谈论小绿人的入侵。 Instead, how about the prospect of being hit by a gigantic meteorite, zapped by lethal cosmic rays or fried by the deadly energy of an erupting star?相反，被巨大的陨石击中、被致命的宇宙射线击中或被喷发的恒星的致命能量炸毁的前景如何？It wouldn’t be the first time. Good old planet Earth has had a rough ride over the last 3.7 billion years, with some spectacularly devastating events. 这不会是第一次。在过去的 37 亿年里，古老的地球经历了一段艰难的旅程，发生了一些惊人的毁灭性事件。The most famous mass extinction was 66 million years ago, when it’s widely believed a meteorite killed off the dinosaurs.最著名的大灭绝发生在 6600 万年前，当时人们普遍认为是陨石杀死了恐龙。 A 110-mile-wide crater in Mexico with the same geological age supports this theory.墨西哥一个 110 英里宽、地质年代相同的陨石坑支持了这一理论。Believe it or not, this wasn’t the most brutal episode in our planet’s history. 信不信由你，这不是我们星球历史上最残酷的事件。That was when a staggering 96% of life was wiped out at the end of the Permian period, 252 million years ago. 那是在 2.52 亿年前的二叠纪末期，惊人的 96% 的生命被消灭。Scientists don’t know for sure why this happened, but any potential explanations carry with them the grim possiblity that similar events could happen again.科学家们不确定为什么会发生这种情况，但任何潜在的解释都带有类似事件可能再次发生的严峻可能性。For example, some experts believe that our Sun has a very dense, dim twin star which is too far away to observe directly.例如，一些专家认为我们的太阳有一颗非常密集、昏暗的双星，距离太远而无法直接观察。 This sleeping giant, dubbed the “Death Star”, could distort the paths of orbiting chunks of icy rock and hurl them towards the rest of the Solar System.这个沉睡的巨人，被称为“死星”，可以扭曲冰块的轨道并将它们抛向太阳系的其他部分。Is this what happened 252 million years ago? Or is there instead, perhaps, a distant, ninth planet in our Solar System which pulls in passing comets and sends them hurtling our way?这是2.52亿年前发生的事情吗？或者，我们太阳系中是否有一颗遥远的第九颗行星，它会吸引路过的彗星并让它们飞向我们的方向？If that isn’t enough to put you off your breakfast, then consider what’s happening to our friend, the Sun. 如果这还不足以让您不吃早餐，那么请考虑一下我们的朋友太阳发生了什么事。The star that has given us the warmth to sustain life is gradually turning into a deadly foe.给我们温暖以维持生命的那颗星星正在逐渐变成一个致命的敌人。 Like all stars, it is slowing dying, burning through its energy supplies. 像所有恒星一样，它正在减慢死亡速度，消耗其能量供应。As it does so, it expands, and in about 2 billion years it will have grown so much that the heat will make life on planet Earth unbearable.当它这样做时，它会膨胀，在大约 20 亿年的时间里，它会增长得如此之快，以至于热量将使地球上的生命难以忍受。While all this sounds a little macabre, take comfort from the fact that the chance of being hit by a giant interstellar projectile is incredibly slim, and that 2 billion years is a very long time.虽然这一切听起来有点令人毛骨悚然，但请放心，被巨大的星际弹丸击中的机会非常渺茫，而且 20 亿年是一段很长的时间。And there’s another thing: if the dinosaurs had not snuffed it when they did, it’s extremely unlikely that human beings would have had the chance to evolve at all.还有一件事：如果恐龙没有在它们嗅到它的时候嗅到它，那么人类根本不可能有进化的机会。

词汇表 phablet 平板手机to post （在网上）发布the latter （上文提到的两者中的）后者portmanteau 组合的zombie 僵尸to potter 闲逛to be glued to something 目不转睛地看oblivious （对周围发生的事）毫无察觉的to enrich 使充实to snub 冷落scintillating 妙趣横生的engrossed 全神贯注的we’ve all been there 我们都能感同身受，我们都是过来人bowed 弯腰的legions of 数量庞大的、大批的（人）light-hearted （风格、题材等）轻松愉快的to update 更新（网上的内容）to miss out 错过（机会、好处、趣事）mentality 心态，心理文稿:Are you addicted to your smartphone? Do you check your phablet in the middle of the night? 你沉迷于你的智能手机吗？你在半夜检查你的平板手机吗？Do you post to social media as you stroll along the pavement? 当你在人行道上漫步时，你会在社交媒体上发帖吗？If you do the latter, you would be called a ‘smombie’ in Germany.如果你做后者，你会在德国被称为“smombie”。 It’s a portmanteau word which combines ‘smartphone’ and ‘zombie’, and refers to the familiar sight of someone pottering along, eyes glued to the phone in their hand, oblivious to the world around them. 这是一个混合词，结合了“智能手机”和“僵尸”，指的是熟悉的景象，有人在陶醉，眼睛紧盯着手中的手机，对周围的世界视而不见。The term was chosen as Youth Word of the Year in Germany in 2015.该词在 2015 年被选为德国年度青年词。Indeed, just as mobile phones have changed the way we communicate, they’ve also enriched the stock of slang that describes human behaviour.事实上，正如手机改变了我们的交流方式一样，它们也丰富了描述人类行为的俚语。Another such term is ‘phubbing’. Again, it’s a combination of two individual words, this time ‘phone’ and ‘snubbing’. 另一个这样的术语是“phubbing”。同样，它是两个单词的组合，这次是“电话”和“冷落”。Picture the scene: you’re out at a cafe with a friend, but instead of listening to your scintillating conversation, he’s engrossed in his mobile phone. We’ve all been there.想象一下场景：你和一个朋友在咖啡馆里，但他没有听你闪闪发光的谈话，而是全神贯注在他的手机上。我们都去过那里。Then there’s a phrase which comes from Chinese: the ‘bowed head tribe’. 然后有一个来自中国的短语：“低头部落”。This describes not a mere, singular smombie, but the legions of people we see stooped over mobile phones.这不仅描述了一个单一的、单一的 smombie，还描述了我们看到的大量俯身在手机上的人。And over in Japan, one blogger describes the groups of people dangerously traversing busy intersections as ‘dumbwalkers’, but who somehow manage to avoid crashing into each other.在日本，一位博主将危险地穿过繁忙的十字路口的人群描述为“哑巴行者”，但他们以某种方式设法避免相互撞车。While many of these terms are light-hearted, there’s a serious side. 虽然其中许多术语都很轻松，但也有严肃的一面。In the German city of Augsburg one phone user was killed after being hit by a tram as she crossed the road. 在德国奥格斯堡市，一名电话用户在过马路时被电车撞死。It prompted authorities to install ground-level traffic lights for those looking down at their phones.它促使当局为那些低头看手机的人安装地面交通灯。And the risks with phones don’t end there. The desire for increasingly daring selfies has led to the deaths of over 120 people since 2014.手机的风险还不止于此。自 2014 年以来，对越来越大胆的自拍的渴望已导致 120 多人死亡。 That’s more than have died from shark attacks.这比死于鲨鱼袭击的人数还多。  It may come as no surprise to hear, therefore, that we’re more addicted to our phones than ever before, according to a survey in the UK by Deloitte. 因此，德勤在英国的一项调查显示，我们比以往任何时候都更沉迷于手机，这并不奇怪。Phones are our cameras, our calendars and our windows into the constantly updating lives of friends across social media.手机是我们的相机、我们的日历和我们通过社交媒体了解朋友们不断更新生活的窗口。Without our phones by our side, surely we’d miss out on all this fun? 如果没有我们的手机，我们肯定会错过所有这些乐趣吗？And yes, you guessed it, there’s a slang term for that mentality too: ‘fomo’, or the ‘fear of missing out’.是的，你猜对了，这种心态也有一个俚语：“fomo”，或者“害怕错过”。

词汇表to set foot (in) 去（某处）automated 自动化的fleet 舰队、船队robotics 机器人技术sector 行业，领域on the up 蒸蒸日上的，稳步上升的forecast （对形势的）预测yield （农作物的）产量，常作复数to dispense with 免去，不再使用stack 叠LED lights 发光二极管照明技术emission （气、热、光等）排放物checkout 收银处，付款台to beg the question 引人发问mechanisation 机械化workforce 劳动人口文稿:Imagine a future where all farming is done by machine, and humans never set foot in the fields. 想象一下所有农业都由机器完成的未来，人类从未涉足农田。No, it’s not science fiction. In Shropshire in the UK, engineers in the Hands Free Hectare project are developing automated tractors and fleets of drones to grow and harvest crops. 不，这不是科幻小说。在英国的什罗普郡，Hands Free Hectare 项目的工程师正在开发自动拖拉机和无人机机队来种植和收获农作物。And their experiment is not alone: agricultural robotics is a booming sector. 他们的实验并不孤单：农业机器人是一个蓬勃发展的领域。Investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates the market will be worth $240bn over the next five years.投资银行高盛估计，未来五年市场价值将达到 2400 亿美元。 One reason why the sector is on the up is that global demand for food is rapidly increasing. 该行业呈上升趋势的一个原因是全球对食品的需求正在迅速增长。The World Bank estimates we will need to produce 50% more food by 2050 if the planet’s population continues to grow at its current speed. 世界银行估计，如果地球人口继续以目前的速度增长，到 2050 年我们将需要多生产 50% 的粮食。Add to this to the forecast that yields will decrease by over a quarter due to climate change, and the situation looks serious.再加上预测，由于气候变化，单产将减少四分之一以上，情况看起来很严重。Could futuristic farming provide the answer?未来农业能否提供答案？One company in Japan believes so. The firm Spread has dispensed with farming on land altogether, and instead grows vegetables on stacks of trays indoors in an automated factory.日本的一家公司这么认为。 Spread 公司完全放弃了在土地上耕作，而是在自动化工厂的室内托盘堆上种植蔬菜."In countries like Japan, where land is actually a very scarce resource, it makes more sense to stack your production, just like a skyscraper," says JJ Price, Spread's global marketing manager.“在像日本这样的国家，土地实际上是一种非常稀缺的资源，将你的产品堆叠起来更有意义，就像一座摩天大楼一样，”Spread 的全球营销经理 JJ Price 说。Mr Price told the BBC that this method of vertical farming not only reduces costs by 50%, but it is also greener. 普莱斯先生告诉 BBC，这种垂直农业方法不仅可以降低 50% 的成本，而且更环保。LED lights cut energy bills by a third, and 98% of water can be recycled. LED 灯将能源费用减少了三分之一，98% 的水可以回收利用。By growing crops close to where people consume them, transport costs and emissions are also minimised, he says. They hope to be producing 30,000 lettuces per day next year.他说，通过在人们消费的地方附近种植农作物，运输成本和排放量也降到了最低。他们希望明年能每天生产 30,000 颗生菜。And where will we buy this futuristic food? Perhaps in shops with no staff? Amazon has recently launched its first Amazon Go store in the US, which has no checkouts. 我们将在哪里购买这种未来主义的食物？也许在没有员工的商店里？亚马逊最近在美国推出了第一家没有结账的 Amazon Go 商店。Customers simply pick their items from the shelves, and technology does the rest.顾客只需从货架上挑选商品，剩下的工作就交给科技来完成。All this begs the question: if everything is automated, what jobs will people do? The mechanization of farming means fewer and fewer people work the land. 所有这些都引出了一个问题：如果一切都是自动化的，人们会做什么工作？农业机械化意味着在土地上劳作的人越来越少。From 1950 to 2010, agricultural laborers have decreased from 81% to 48.2% of the workforce in developing countries, and from 35% to 4.2% in developed countries, according to the International Labour Organization. It’s a trend that looks set to continue.根据国际劳工组织的数据，从 1950 年到 2010 年，农业劳动力在发展中国家的劳动力中从 81% 下降到 48.2%，在发达国家从 35% 下降到 4.2%。这是一个看起来将继续的趋势。

What's your favourite flavour? Maybe you like your grub nice and spicy? 你最喜欢的味道是什么？也许你喜欢你的食物又香又辣？Perhaps you have a sweet tooth? Or are you partial to a salty, savoury snack?也许你爱吃甜食？还是您偏爱咸味可口的小吃？By now you're probably imagining something delicious, but take a moment to ponder this: why do some people adore certain flavours while others can't stand them? For example, oysters. 到现在为止，您可能正在想象一些美味的东西，但请花点时间思考一下：为什么有些人喜欢某些口味，而另一些人则无法忍受？例如，牡蛎。They turn my stomach, but some spend lavishly on the slippery shellfish.他们让我反胃，但有些人在滑溜溜的贝类上大手大脚。According to celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, our taste preferences are strongly linked to our memories.根据名厨 Heston Blumenthal 的说法，我们的口味偏好与我们的记忆密切相关。 Certain flavours might bring back the sounds and smells of a seaside holiday, or an ice-cream might trigger memories of enjoying a childhood treat. This "positive nostalgia" has a powerful effect on how we experience food.某些口味可能会带回海边度假的声音和气味，或者冰淇淋可能会引发享受童年时光的回忆。这种“积极的怀旧”对我们体验食物的方式产生了强大的影响。Likewise, our surroundings have an impact on culinary pleasure. The same glass of wine can taste different depending on the background music.同样，我们的环境也会影响烹饪乐趣。同一杯酒会因背景音乐而有所不同。 Blumenthal believes playing loud music makes people eat more quickly, while classical music makes them spend more money on wine.布卢门撒尔认为，播放响亮的音乐可以让人们吃得更快，而古典音乐让他们在酒上花更多的钱。Alongside memory and ambience, our genetics also have a powerful impact on taste preferences. 除了记忆和环境，我们的基因对口味偏好也有很大的影响。Neuroscientist Charles Zucker from Columbia University believes all animals are "pre-wired" to prefer sweet tastes over sour.来自哥伦比亚大学的神经科学家查尔斯·扎克认为，所有动物都“预先决定”喜欢甜味而不是酸味。 "There are no lions out in the wild drinking tonic water," he says.“野外没有狮子在喝汤力水，”他说。On a more individual level, our personal genetic inherited preferences are significant. 在更个人的层面上，我们个人的遗传偏好很重要。"And that is likely to greatly impact how much sugar I want to have in my coffee," says Dr Zucker. “这可能会极大地影响我想要在咖啡中加入多少糖，”祖克博士说。"It might be that I need six spoons of sugar to get the same level of satisfaction and reward that you get with only two."“可能我需要六勺糖才能获得与仅两勺糖相同的满足感和回报。”Coffee is also an interesting example of how our tastes change over time. Most children don't like the maltiness of beer or the bitterness of strong coffee.咖啡也是我们的口味如何随时间变化的一个有趣例子。大多数孩子不喜欢啤酒的麦芽味或浓咖啡的苦味。 But many adults enjoy the social reward – the relaxing effects of alcohol or the stimulation gained by coffee.但许多成年人享受社会奖励——酒精的放松效果或咖啡带来的刺激。These are what we call acquired tastes – things we gradually learn to like - whether it's because our palates become more sophisticated, or because we crave the social effects of the foods.这些就是我们所说的后天口味——我们逐渐学会喜欢的东西——无论是因为我们的味觉变得更加复杂，还是因为我们渴望食物的社会影响。For me though, I'm yet to see the allure in oysters, whether social or epicurean!不过对我来说，我还没有看到牡蛎的魅力，无论是社交还是美食！词汇表grub （俚语）吃的，食物(to have) a sweet tooth 吃甜食的嗜好(to be) partial (to) 偏爱savoury 咸的to ponder 仔细思考，衡量to turn someone’s stomach 让人恶心lavishly 极其大方地slippery 滑溜溜的to bring back 带回来to trigger 触发nostalgia 对往事的依恋culinary 烹饪的ambience （地点、环境的）气氛tonic water 汤利水genetic 基因的maltiness 有麦芽的感觉bitterness 苦味acquired taste 后天培养的品味palate 口味，味觉epicurean 美食的

Are you the kind of person whose desk is alwa­­ys spick and span? Or is it a bit of a mess? How you organise your working space can say a lot about you. 你是那种办公桌总是很整洁的人吗？还是有点乱？你如何组织你的工作空间可以说很多关于你的事情。In fact, environmental psychologist Lily Bernheimer developed five distinct "desk personality types" in a study commissioned by UK co-working firm Headspace Group. 事实上，环境心理学家莉莉·伯恩海默（Lily Bernheimer）在英国合作公司 Headspace Group 委托进行的一项研究中开发了五种不同的“办公桌人格类型”。Which of them best reflects you?First up: are you "the clutterer"? Clutter means mess – and Bernheimer says a clutterer's desk is likely to be colourful, chaotic and covered in trinkets. 其中哪一个最能反映你？首先：你是“混乱者”吗？杂乱意味着混乱——伯恩海默说，杂乱无章的办公桌可能色彩缤纷、杂乱无章，而且到处都是小饰品。These people are usually more extroverted and welcoming, and love being at the "crossroads" of the office. 这些人通常比较外向和热情，喜欢站在办公室的“十字路口”。The hitch is that they're often too busy to tidy up after themselves!问题是他们经常太忙而无暇收拾自己！Or perhaps you're "the minimalist"? A polar opposite to the clutterer, the minimalist has nothing unneccessary on his or her desk. 或者你是“极简主义者”？与杂乱无章的人相反，极简主义者在他或她的办公桌上没有任何不必要的东西。These workers are often highly conscientious and disciplined, if a little cautious. 这些工人通常非常认真和自律，如果有点谨慎的话。But Bernheimer says this does not necessarily mean they're introverts – they just love structure.但伯恩海默说，这并不一定意味着他们是内向的人——他们只是喜欢结构。Type three is "the expander". Personal space is very important to them, and it creeps ever outwards, even if this is not a consciously aggressive act. 第三类是“扩展器”。个人空间对他们来说非常重要，而且它总是向外蔓延，即使这不是一种有意识的攻击行为。Berheimer says: "They may try to claim more and more territory for themselves by moving their coffee cup and their sandwich out further and further."Berheimer 说：“他们可能会通过将咖啡杯和三明治移得越来越远来为自己争取越来越多的领土。”"The personaliser" is our fourth type, and it’s quite self-explanatory. “个性化”是我们的第四种类型，不言自明。These people customise their space with photos, mementos and personal objects.这些人用照片、纪念品和个人物品定制他们的空间。 "A simple, stylish or unusual workspace tells people that you’re high in the trait called 'openness', which means you're likely to be high in creativity, intellectuality and openness to new experience," says Bernheimer.“一个简单、时尚或不寻常的工作空间会告诉人们，你的‘开放性’特质很高，这意味着你很可能在创造力、智慧和对新体验的开放性方面很高，”伯恩海默说。And finally, there's "the surveyor". These people feel insecure in the middle of the office, and seek out the quieter corners. 最后，还有“测量员”。这些人在办公室中间感到不安全，并寻找更安静的角落。From an evolutionary perspective, looking for well-protected spots from which to keep an eye out for potential threats makes sense.从进化的角度来看，寻找保护良好的地点以密切关注潜在威胁是有意义的。 Surveyors are often introverted, but also highly productive and creative, if given the space and support they need.测量员通常性格内向，但如果有他们需要的空间和支持，他们也很有生产力和创造力。Whichever type you are, making personal statements through presentation is deep in our nature, says Sam Gosling, professor of psychology at the University of Texas: "One of the reasons physical spaces, including one's office desks, can be so revealing is that they're essentially the crystallisation of a lot of behaviour over time."德克萨斯大学心理学教授山姆·高斯林 (Sam Gosling) 说，无论你是哪种类型，通过演讲发表个人陈述是我们的天性：“包括办公桌在内的物理空间如此具有启发性的原因之一是它们”本质上是许多行为随时间的结晶。”词汇表spick and span 非常整洁清爽的clutter 杂乱不堪的物品、凌乱的环境extroverted 性格外向的welcoming 热情好客的hitch 小问题minimalist 简约主义者polar opposite 完全相反的一面，对立面conscientious 一丝不苟的，非常认真的disciplined 守规矩的，有纪律性的introvert 性格内向的creep 悄然移动aggressive 咄咄逼人的，气势汹汹的territory 地盘trait 个人品质，特征openness 坦率insecure 不自信的、没有安全感的keep an eye out (for) 留意，留心productive 有成效的revealing 暴露真相的crystallisation 缩影

I count myself lucky to live in the relative calm of the countryside, a safe distance away from the chaos and claustrophobia of city life. 我认为自己很幸运能够生活在相对平静的乡村，远离城市生活的混乱和幽闭恐惧症。However, I have to venture into the urban jungle every day to work and it's then that I realise how rude city dwellers can be.然而，我每天都必须冒险进入城市丛林工作，那时我才意识到城市居民是多么粗鲁。Maybe I'm being unfair. Not everyone comes from the city – many of us commute from somewhere else and, together with a large number of tourists, we are all squeezed into this small space – so it's no surprise that we get irritable and hot under the collar.也许我不公平。不是每个人都来自城市——我们中的许多人从其他地方通勤，再加上大量的游客，我们都被挤在这个狭小的空间里——所以我们容易烦躁和热火朝天也就不足为奇了。Competing for a space on the Tube train or bus is only one of the reasons that makes us grumpy. 在地铁或公共汽车上争夺空间只是让我们脾气暴躁的原因之一。Our rush to get into the office and home again means we have no time to make conversation with other people: we are driven by efficiency. 我们急于再次进入办公室和家意味着我们没有时间与其他人交谈：我们被效率驱动。Thomas Farley, writer and broadcaster explains that, "We’re in a rush, we’re off to a meeting, to a luncheon… and I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I just think we need to be mindful that it’s not a deliberate disregard or somebody’s trying to be rude on purpose."作家兼广播员托马斯法利解释说：“我们很匆忙，我们要去开会，去吃午饭……我不认为这是一件坏事，我只是认为我们需要注意这是不是故意无视或有人故意粗鲁。” So we are not trying to be rude, we just have something important on our mind to think about.因此，我们并不想变得粗鲁，我们只是想着一些重要的事情。Cities can, however, be scary places – especially if you're not used to them and this can make us reluctant to start a conversation. 然而，城市可能是可怕的地方——尤其是如果你不习惯它们，这会让我们不愿意开始对话。We might be hyper-vigilant thinking that the person next to us is going to kill us or worse still, get into conversation with us! Dr Elle Boag, a social psychologist at Birmingham City University, agrees that people can view cities as threatening places. 我们可能会高度警惕地认为我们旁边的人会杀了我们，或者更糟的是，与我们交谈！伯明翰城市大学的社会心理学家 Elle Boag 博士同意人们可以将城市视为具有威胁性的地方。She says, "We’re persistently looking for potential threats around us, and this then makes us not give eye contact, this will reduce the likelihood that anybody will say hello." 她说，“我们一直在寻找我们周围的潜在威胁，这让我们不再进行眼神交流，这将减少任何人打招呼的可能性。”She calls this our 'protective mechanism' which is another way that makes us appear antisocial.她称这是我们的“保护机制”，这是另一种使我们显得反社会的方式。Perhaps if we did start talking more to each other we may realise that our fellow train or bus passenger is actually quite normal with the same concerns and that if you have to grin and bear the pressures of city life, at least you can do it together. 或许如果我们真的开始更多地交谈，我们可能会意识到我们的火车或公共汽车乘客实际上是很正常的，有同样的担忧，如果你不得不笑着承受城市生活的压力，至少你们可以一起做.In London, a group called 'Talk to me London' is trying to encourage just that. 在伦敦，一个名为“Talk to me London”的组织正试图鼓励这种做法。They have created 'Tube Chat' badges which you can wear to show you're happy to talk to a stranger.他们创造了“Tube Chat”徽章，您可以佩戴它来表明您很乐意与陌生人交谈。But of course, you may choose to live in the city in order to be anonymous – to blend in with the crowd – and not have to talk to people! 但是，当然，您可以选择住在城里以保持匿名——融入人群——而不必与人交谈！Maybe that's the benefit of living in the city: you can be who you like – and as rude as you like. 也许这就是住在城市的好处：你可以成为你喜欢的人——你可以随心所欲地粗鲁。Do you think people in your city seem to be rude?你认为你所在城市的人似乎很粗鲁吗？词汇表claustrophobia 幽闭恐惧症urban jungle “城市丛林”，都市生活中令人感到不快的部分city dweller 城市居民irritable 烦躁的hot under the collar 恼火的，窘迫的grumpy 易怒的，脾气不好的disregard 漠视reluctant 不情愿的hyper-vigilant 异常警惕的，高度警觉的persistently 执意地eye contact 目光接触，眼神交流antisocial 不合群的，不喜社交的grin and bear 苦笑着忍受，忍气吞声Tube Chat “地铁聊天”活动anonymous 匿名的

As the relentless pace of technology continues to advance, companies must adapt or get left behind.随着技术的不断进步，公司必须适应或落后。 One of the key areas of contention these days is the driverless car.如今，争论的关键领域之一是无人驾驶汽车。 Autonomous cars have long been featured in science fiction movies and books, but in recent years they have moved from a pipe dream to a reality.自动驾驶汽车长期以来一直出现在科幻电影和书籍中，但近年来它们已经从白日梦变成了现实。The development of the autonomous car actually started in the 1920s, but it wasn't until the 1980s that the first prototypes were successfully created, one of which was designed by Mercedes-Benz.自动驾驶汽车的开发实际上始于 1920 年代，但直到 1980 年代才成功制造出第一批原型车，其中一辆由梅赛德斯-奔驰设计。Since then the technology has gone from strength to strength and these days many companies are jumping on the bandwagon. 从那时起，这项技术不断发展壮大，如今，许多公司都加入了这一行列。Uber is the latest to announce its plan to unroll a fleet of driverless cars. 优步是最新宣布计划推出无人驾驶汽车的公司。It follows Apple and Ford, who have announced similar plans, and Google and Tesla, who already have autonomous cars on the road.紧随其后的是宣布了类似计划的苹果和福特，以及已经有自动驾驶汽车上路的谷歌和特斯拉。Two questions arise: Do we really need them? And are they really safe? Advocates of driverless cars would argue 'yes' to both.出现了两个问题：我们真的需要它们吗？他们真的安全吗？无人驾驶汽车的拥护者会对两者都说“是”。 Vehicular autonomy, if perfected, could lead to much safer road conditions for all, lower insurance costs and enhance mobility for the elderly, the sick and those with disabilities. 车辆自主性如果得到完善，可以为所有人带来更安全的道路条件，降低保险成本，并增强老年人、病人和残疾人的机动性。They would also allow roads to increase their capacity between 200 – 400%.他们还将允许道路将其容量增加 200% 至 400%。Perfection, though, seems to be just out of reach at the moment. To date Google's self-driving car, launched in 2012, has had 14 minor accidents.不过，目前看来，完美似乎遥不可及。迄今为止，谷歌于 2012 年推出的自动驾驶汽车已经发生了 14 起小事故。 Even worse, Tesla's Autopilot has caused one fatality in 2015, where the vehicle simply did not see the obstacle.更糟糕的是，特斯拉的自动驾驶仪在 2015 年造成了一起死亡事故，车辆根本没有看到障碍物。While the technology exists, driverless cars and full vehicular autonomy is still embryonic. 虽然这项技术存在，但无人驾驶汽车和完全车辆自主性仍处于萌芽状态。That said, you can rest assured that further development in the field is inevitable.也就是说，您可以放心，该领域的进一步发展是不可避免的。 And what’s the future? Well, George Marcus, co-founder of Geometric Intelligence – Uber's autonomous development department – imagines a world of flying cars taking us to work.未来是什么？好吧，Geometric Intelligence（Uber 的自主开发部门）的联合创始人乔治·马库斯（George Marcus）想象了一个飞行汽车带我们去工作的世界。 He says "They're going to allow people to take long commutes at 75 or 150 mph where you'd otherwise get stuck in traffic.他说：“他们将允许人们以 75 或 150 英里/小时的速度进行长途通勤，否则你会被堵在路上。 It's really, in a not-too-distant future, going to be something that is practical." Wouldn't that be fine?真的，在不远的将来，它会成为实用的东西。”这不是很好吗？词汇表relentless 持续不断的pace 步伐adapt 适应，改变contention 争议，争论autonomous 无人驾驶的，自动的pipe dream 幻想，不现实的计划prototype （机器、工业产品等）原型go from strength to strength 日益强大，蒸蒸日上jumping on the bandwagon 跟风，紧跟潮流unroll 公开展示，发布a fleet of cars 一组车队advocates 拥护者，提倡者vehicular autonomy 车辆自动驾驶（技术）mobility 行动能力capacity 负荷out of reach 遥不可及的fatality 死亡事故embryonic 未成熟的，初期的inevitable 必然会发生的

At some point in our lives, most of us have attended a school or university lecture. 在我们生活中的某个时刻，我们大多数人都参加过学校或大学的讲座。These learning sessions give us some insightful nugget of knowledge or can be something we yawn through, trying to keep awake. 这些学习课程为我们提供了一些有见地的知识，或者可以成为我们打哈欠的东西，试图保持清醒。Whatever our experience, lectures have been and still are the most common teaching method in education. 无论我们的经验如何，讲座一直是并且仍然是教育中最常见的教学方法。But will they exist in the future?但它们将来会存在吗？With the growth of the internet and so much information at our fingertips, you may think there is no need to gather together at a fixed location clutching a handful of textbooks.随着互联网的发展和如此多的信息触手可及，您可能认为没有必要聚集在一个固定的位置，手里拿着几本教科书。 BBC journalist Matt Pickles, says "research has shown that students remember as little as 10 per cent of their lectures just days afterwards."BBC 记者马特·皮克斯说：“研究表明，几天后学生只记得他们讲课的 10%。”Professor Carl Wieman, who campaigns against the traditional lecture, felt talking at students and expecting them to absorb knowledge was not that effective so he introduced 'active learning' that encourages problem solving in small groups. 反对传统讲座的 Carl Wieman 教授认为，与学生交谈并期望他们吸收知识并不是那么有效，因此他引入了鼓励小组解决问题的“主动学习”。He listens to them and guides their discussions. The result has been improved exam results. 他倾听他们的意见并指导他们的讨论。结果是提高了考试成绩。Other new alternatives to the lecture have included peer-to-peer learning and project-based learning that enable students to link up and work collaboratively on projects such as building a computer game.讲座的其他新选择包括点对点学习和基于项目的学习，使学生能够在诸如构建计算机游戏之类的项目上联系和协作。Sometimes the lecture room is not conducive to learning; a boring, colourless room is not necessarily an inspiring place for stretching the mind. 有时讲堂不利于学习；一个乏味、无色的房间不一定是一个鼓舞人心的地方。At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology two lecture rooms have been refitted to allow students to sit around small tables with screens showing animated simulations to help them visualise concepts.在麻省理工学院，两个演讲室已经过改造，让学生可以坐在小桌子旁，屏幕上显示动画模拟，以帮助他们形象化概念。But new learning methods can come at a high financial cost compared to the relatively cheap way of being taught face-to-face by an academic. 但是，与相对便宜的由学者面对面教授的方式相比，新的学习方法可能会付出高昂的经济成本。The real issue according to Professor Dan Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, is that "Academics put thousands of hours of work into their books and much less time into thinking about the effectiveness of their teaching style."马萨诸塞州梅里马克学院教育和社会政策学院的创始院长丹·布廷教授认为，真正的问题是“学者们在书本上投入了数千小时，而思考教学有效性的时间却少得多。风格。”  But he says "the lecture has survived because research, not teaching, determines the success of a university and its academics."但他说，“讲座之所以能够幸存下来，是因为研究而不是教学决定了大学及其学者的成功。”So if research quality is a measure of a university's success and money is tight, then the lecture could be here for a little longer.因此，如果研究质量是衡量一所大学成功与否的标准，而资金紧张，那么讲座可能会在这里持续一段时间。 How does that make you feel? How would you improve your lectures?那让你感觉如何？你会如何改进你的讲座？词汇表nugget of knowledge 有价值的知识method 方式，方法at our fingertips 唾手可得的，近在咫尺的textbook 教科书absorb 理解，掌握（知识、想法等）effective 有效的peer-to-peer 同学间交流的，互相分享（知识）的project-based 专题式的（学习模式）collaboratively 合作地conducive 有益的，有帮助的stretch the mind 拓展思维simulation 模型concept 概念，想法face-to-face 面对面的academic 大学老师，学者effectiveness 有效性research 研究

It may not be a real illness but K-drama fever is sweeping Asia with as much force as an infectious disease.这可能不是一种真正的疾病，但韩剧热正在席卷亚洲，其影响力不亚于传染病。 The latest hit show to come out of South Korea has already claimed over 440 million victims in China alone, where it's being simulcast. 来自韩国的最新热播节目仅在中国就已造成超过 4.4 亿受害者，该节目正在中国同步播出。Many millions more are glued to their screens across the continent.数以百万计的人被粘在整个非洲大陆的屏幕上。‘Descendants of the Sun’ is the latest in a long line of TV dramas to come out of Korea which have taken Asia by storm. 《太阳的后裔》是一系列从韩国上映并席卷亚洲的电视剧中的最新一部。The usual theme of star-crossed lovers is still very much there but there's a twist which many of its fans say gives this drama a distinctive flavour. 命运多舛的恋人通常的主题仍然存在，但有一个转折点，许多粉丝说它给这部剧带来了独特的味道。It's a military romance which is set in a fictional European country.这是一部以虚构的欧洲国家为背景的军事爱情片。Ms Gao from Beijing said, "The military theme does not usually appear frequently in TV shows so combined with the romantic theme, this is not like other Korean soap operas."来自北京的高女士说：“军事题材在电视剧中并不经常出现，所以结合浪漫题材，这和其他韩剧不太一样。”The female lead, played by Song Hye-kyo, is a surgeon, while her male counterpart, played by Song Joong-ki, is a special forces captain.女主宋慧乔饰演外科医生，男主宋仲基饰演特种部队队长。"Unlike most Korean dramas which are about a rich guy who falls in love with a poor, golden-hearted girl, the story feels more like the love story of two evenly-matched adults," says Chen Yuanni, from Beijing.来自北京的陈元妮说：“与大多数韩剧讲述一个有钱人爱上一个可怜的金心女孩的故事不同，这个故事更像是两个势均力敌的成年人的爱情故事。”But it's not just Asia which has seen a boom in the popularity of foreign-language TV dramas in recent years. 但近年来，外语电视剧的热度不只亚洲。Since the Danish crime drama, The Killing, was first aired on the BBC in 2011, the nation has been gripped by so-called Nordic Noir.自 2011 年丹麦犯罪剧《杀戮》首次在 BBC 播出以来，这个国家一直被所谓的北欧黑色所吸引。 What surprises some is that it's not only thrillers, such as The Bridge, which have captured the imagination of British viewers.令一些人感到惊讶的是，吸引英国观众想象力的不仅仅是惊悚片，比如《大桥》。 There have also been ratings successes for shows such as Borgen - about coalition politics – and 1864 – a drama about an obscure 19th century war between Denmark and Prussia.诸如关于联合政治的《博根》和 1864 年（关于丹麦和普鲁士之间一场不起眼的 19 世纪战争的戏剧）等节目也取得了收视率的成功。So why do these international dramas appeal when the cultrual references are so remote from the experience of the viewers?那么，当文化参考与观众的体验如此遥远时，为什么这些国际剧会吸引人呢？ Perhaps the answer lies in this piece of advice for aspiring scriptwriters from the BBC's Writersoom: "Engaging characters are at the heart of all good drama, no matter how mainstream or unusual your idea may be." 也许答案就在 BBC 的 Writersoom 给有抱负的编剧的这条建议中：“引人入胜的角色是所有好戏剧的核心，无论你的想法多么主流或不寻常。”So if the characters are strong enough, it doesn't matter if they're from Sichuan, Seoul or Sweden.因此，如果角色足够强大，无论他们来自四川、首尔还是瑞典都无所谓。词汇表K-drama 韩国电视剧(something) fever （事物）热，火a hit show 非常受欢迎的片子to simulcast （和电视台）同步播放the latest in a long line of 一系列（韩剧）里最新的一部to take (somewhere) by storm （在某处）大获成功star-crossed lovers 不幸的恋人们a twist 变化，出乎意料的情节a flavour 特色，风格，体验a military romance 发生在军队里的爱情故事to be set (somewhere) （以某处）为背景a soap opera 肥皂剧to resonate 产生共鸣a lead 主角a counterpart （职能或地位）相对应的事物或人，男主角crime drama 犯罪剧to air 播出，播放Nordic Noir 北欧犯罪推理小说或片子a thriller 惊悚片to capture the imagination 抓住想象力，令人神往a ratings success 高的收视率an engaging character 吸引人的角色

Have you got an addictive nature? Are you unable to stop yourself joining in with the latest obsession for collecting or doing something? 你有上瘾的本性吗？您是否无法阻止自己加入对收集或做某事的最新痴迷？This probably describes most of us because it's only human nature to not want to miss out on something that everyone else is talking about.这可能描述了我们大多数人，因为不想错过其他人都在谈论的事情只是人类的天性。Most fads arrive suddenly and enthusiasm for them spreads quickly.大多数时尚来得突然，对它们的热情迅速蔓延。 They become a talking point on social media; we read about them, give them a try and, before we know it, we are hooked. 它们成为社交媒体上的话题；我们读到它们，试一试，不知不觉中，我们就上瘾了。In the past, these have been objects such as toys and games.过去，这些都是玩具和游戏等物品。 Maybe you were the proud owner of a Rubik's cube, which became the best-selling toy of all time – around 350 million have been sold so far.也许您是魔方的骄傲拥有者，魔方已成为有史以来最畅销的玩具——迄今为止已售出约 3.5 亿个。Now, technology is driving the latest crazes. 现在，技术正在推动最新的热潮。In some parts of the world, flavour of the month is Pokémon Go – a game that uses augmented reality, where little virtual monsters pop up onto your phone and you have to catch them. 在世界的某些地方，本月的热门话题是 Pokémon Go——一款使用增强现实的游戏，在手机上会出现小虚拟怪物，你必须抓住它们。And games such as Angry Birds and Minecraft are other crazes, available on smartphones and tablets, that have been hard to put down.诸如《愤怒的小鸟》和《我的世界》之类的游戏是其他热潮，可在智能手机和平板电脑上使用，并且难以放下。Our keeness to participate in crazes has been analysed by experts.专家分析了我们参与狂热的热情。 One of them, Dr Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist, explains that we want to experience the benefit that another person, or group of people, have experienced from something and this "hooks into an ancient evolutionary fear of being left behind or abandoned by our tribes"; we have to join in or lose out.其中一位临床心理学家 Ben Michaelis 博士解释说，我们想体验另一个人或一群人从某事中所获得的好处，而这“与一种古老的进化恐惧相联系，即害怕被我们抛在后面或被我们抛弃。部落”；我们必须加入或失败。Although becoming addicted to a computer game might not seem like a 'benefit', it can at least give you credibility or popularity among your friends. 虽然沉迷于电脑游戏可能看起来不像是一种“好处”，但它至少可以让你在朋友中获得可信度或受欢迎程度。It allows you to learn new skills and gives you something to talk about at parties!它可以让您学习新技能，并让您在聚会上谈论一些事情！But fashions come and go and most fads are just a flash in the pan so if one of them is not your cup of tea, don't worry: there'll be a new craze arriving very soon. 但是时尚来来去去，大多数时尚只是昙花一现，所以如果其中一个不是你的一杯茶，别担心：很快就会有新的热潮到来。Look at the addiction to the unsophisticated loom bands – those little rubber bands you could make jewellery and other things out of. 看看对简单的织布机带的上瘾——那些你可以用来制作珠宝和其他东西的小橡皮筋。For a brief period they were the must-have item for any schoolchild, now they're the bargain bucket item in a discount shop or worse still, trash filling up our landfill sites! What crazes have you been addicted to?在短时间内，它们是任何小学生的必备品，现在它们是折扣店的便宜货，或者更糟的是，垃圾填满了我们的垃圾填埋场！你沉迷于哪些狂热？词汇表addictive nature （易）上瘾的天性obsession 使人痴迷的人或事fad 一时的流行，短暂的狂热enthusiasm 热情，巨大兴趣talking point 话题hooked 上瘾的，入迷的best-selling 畅销的flavour of the month （某时期内）最受欢迎的人或物augmented reality 增强现实virtual 虚拟的to put down 放下credibility 威信come and go 来来去去a flash in the pan 昙花一现not your cup of tea 不合你的心意loom bands 橡皮筋must-have 必须的，必备的

For centuries, people have moved to and lived in cities.几个世纪以来，人们搬到并居住在城市中。 These sprawling urban centres are places to find work, friends and fun.这些庞大的城市中心是寻找工作、朋友和乐趣的地方。 It's no surprise that they continue to grow as more and more people flood in hoping to make the most of the opportunities they offer but adding to the congestion and pollution that already exists.随着越来越多的人涌入希望充分利用他们提供的机会，但加剧了已经存在的拥堵和污染，他们继续增长也就不足为奇了。According to a report by the United Nations, 54 per cent of the world's population lives in urban areas and it predicts that by 2050, this figure will have increased to around 70 per cent. 根据联合国的一份报告，世界上 54% 的人口居住在城市地区，预计到 2050 年，这一数字将增加到 70% 左右。But as more and more people migrate from the countryside to the city to get better opportunities, they can end up with nowhere to live.但随着越来越多的人从农村迁移到城市以获得更好的机会，他们最终可能无处可住。This is true in places such as Rio de Janeiro, where migrants can't rent or buy a home, and they end up building their own communities and houses on unoccupied land. 在里约热内卢这样的地方确实如此，移民无法租房或买房，他们最终会在无人居住的土地上建造自己的社区和房屋。These are called shanty towns - poor communities where the houses are built out of cheap materials like corrugated iron and plastic sheeting – and often don't have any electricity or water supply.这些被称为棚户区——房屋是用波纹铁和塑料布等廉价材料建造的贫困社区——通常没有任何电力或供水。These are, of course, not the megacities of the future we want to see. Some serious urban planning is needed to make our cities of the future good, safe and modern places to live in. 当然，这些不是我们希望看到的未来特大城市。需要进行一些认真的城市规划，以使我们的未来城市成为美好、安全和现代的居住地。This involves improving the infrastructure, the housing conditions and also the opportunities for education and employment.这包括改善基础设施、住房条件以及教育和就业机会。Something urban planners are looking at now is the creation of 'smart cities'. 城市规划者现在关注的是“智慧城市”的创建。According to John Rossant, founder and chairman of the non-profit organisation New Cities Foundation, technology is the way forward.非营利组织 New Cities Foundation 的创始人兼主席 John Rossant 表示，技术是前进的方向。 He thinks that it's generally accepted that "cloud computing, ubiquitous internet, robust 5G networks etc, will transform our cities." 他认为，“云计算、无处不在的互联网、强大的 5G 网络等将改变我们的城市”这一观点已被普遍接受。He says technology is really "a game changer", in urbanisation.他说，在城市化进程中，技术确实是“游戏规则的改变者”。 It would collect large amounts of data about how a city is performing and may improve how a city functions.它将收集有关城市表现的大量数据，并可能改善城市的运作方式。This may sound like a utopian view. 这听起来像是一种乌托邦式的观点。For now, some cities and conurbations around the world are trying out more low-tech schemes to try and make them desirable places to live and work in. 目前，世界各地的一些城市和大都市正在尝试更多的低技术计划，试图让它们成为理想的生活和工作场所。Building shared-ownership housing and improving public transport are some ways. 建造共享所有权住房和改善公共交通是一些方法。And encouraging cycling and building bike lanes can keep the population healthy and cut down on smog. 鼓励骑自行车和建设自行车道可以保持人口健康并减少雾霾。What would make your city a better place to live in?什么会让你的城市更适合居住？词汇表sprawling 杂乱无序地扩展urban centre 城市中心congestion 拥堵，堵塞pollution 污染migrate 移居shanty town （大城市中心或近郊的）棚户区megacity 大城市（由指人口超过一千万的城市）urban planning 城市规划infrastructure 基础设施ubiquitous 似乎无处不在的a game changer 改变游戏规则的人或物to function 运行，工作utopian 乌托邦似的conurbation （由多个城市连接组成的）大城市desirable 令人向往的public transport 公共交通

Now here's what I call a turn-up for the books - a film star's been giving away free books on the London Underground. 现在这就是我所说的书籍的出现 - 一位电影明星一直在伦敦地铁上免费赠送书籍。If you're a bookworm, a Harry Potter fan and a London Underground user then it's been an exciting month for you.如果您是书虫、哈利波特迷和伦敦地铁用户，那么这对您来说是令人兴奋的一个月。Emma Watson, who starred in films based on the novels about a fictional schoolboy wizard, has been hiding books on the Tube for passengers to leaf through.艾玛·沃特森（Emma Watson）曾出演改编自虚构男学生巫师小说的电影，她一直在地铁上藏书供乘客翻阅。It's part of the Books On The Underground movement, which has a simple aim: to get more people burying themselves in literature.它是地下书籍运动的一部分，该运动的目标很简单：让更多人沉浸在文学中。 And the way they do it is to leave tomes on trains for commuters to pick up, dip into and then leave for another lucky reader to skim.他们这样做的方式是把大部头放在火车上，让通勤者拿起，深入研究，然后离开，让另一位幸运的读者略读。The movement started out in 2012 and drops off about 150 volumes a week in stations across the UK's capital. 该运动于 2012 年开始，每周在英国首都的车站减少约 150 卷。Talking about Watson's participation in the project, the manager of Books On The Underground, Cordelia Oxley, said, "The reaction has been phenomenal. 谈到 Watson 参与该项目时，Books On The Underground 的经理 Cordelia Oxley 说：“反应非常好。It must be a mixture of how much everyone adores Emma, and how exciting it is to find something as wonderful as a new book on your journey."这一定是每个人都多么崇拜艾玛，以及在旅途中找到像一本新书这样精彩的东西是多么令人兴奋的混合体。”The 100 or so editions Watson left for passengers to pore over were even more special because she left a hand-written inscription.沃森留给乘客阅读的 100 多个版本更加特别，因为她留下了手写的铭文。 The paperbacks were copies of Kaya Angelou's Mom & Me & Mom.平装本是 Kaya Angelou 的 Mom & Me & Mom 的副本。One person who discovered a copy of the book on the Tube said she felt like the character Charlie Bucket – a boy who finds a golden ticket to the world's greatest chocolate factory – in the Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.一位在地铁上发现这本书的人说，她觉得查理·巴克特（Charlie Bucket）这个角色很像罗尔德·达尔（Roald Dahl）经典著作《查理和巧克力工厂》中的角色——一个找到世界上最伟大巧克力工厂的金票的男孩。Watson became a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in the summer of 2014 and has since started devouring as many books and essays on equality and feminism as possible. Watson 于 2014 年夏天成为联合国妇女署亲善大使，此后开始阅读尽可能多的关于平等和女权主义的书籍和文章。She has also started her own book club.她还创办了自己的读书俱乐部。So, why not take a leaf out of Emma Watson's book and leave a copy of your favourite book on a train? 那么，为什么不从艾玛·沃特森的书中拿出一片叶子，在火车上留下一本你最喜欢的书呢？It could make a stranger's life richer. 它可以让陌生人的生活更丰富。词汇表a turn-up for the books 意想不到的事情，出乎意料的事a bookworm 书虫，书迷based on 以……改编的a novel 小说fictional 虚构的to leaf through 略读，浏览to bury oneself (in something) 把自己埋在（某物）中a tome 巨著to dip into 随便翻翻to skim 粗略地浏览a volume 书；卷，册an edition 版本to pore over 仔细阅读hand-written 手写的an inscription 题赠，题词a classic （书）经典作品to devour 如饥似渴地阅读an essay 散文，短文a book club 读书俱乐部to take a leaf out of someone's book 以某人为榜样，向某人学习

Imagine this scene: it's blowing a gale outside, you're snuggled up on the sofa under a warm duvet, chatting and reminiscing with your closest friends. 想象一下这样的场景：外面刮起了大风，你依偎在沙发上，裹着温暖的羽绒被，和最亲密的朋友聊天回忆。That content, snug feeling has a name in Danish – 'hygge'. 这种内容、舒适的感觉在丹麦语中有一个名字——“hygge”。And, as Denmark recently won the title of 'happiest country in the world', the rest of the world is becoming more and more interested in finding ways to embrace this concept.而且，随着丹麦最近获得了“世界上最幸福的国家”的称号，世界其他地区越来越有兴趣找到接受这一概念的方法。'Hygge' - originally from a Norwegian word meaning 'wellbeing' - doesn't have an exact equivalent in English.“Hygge”——最初来自挪威语，意思是“幸福”——在英语中没有完全对应的词。 It's often translated as cosiness, or as blogger Anna West told the BBC, ''cosiness of the soul." 它通常被翻译为舒适，或者正如博主 Anna West 告诉 BBC 的那样，“灵魂的舒适”。But, as translator ToveMaren Stakkestad explains: "Hygge was never meant to be translated. It was meant to be felt."但是，正如翻译者 ToveMaren Stakkestad 解释的那样：“Hygge 从来就不是用来翻译的。它是用来感受的。”Essentially, Hygge involves creating a warm, cosy atmosphere and enjoying it with your loved ones. 从本质上讲，Hygge 涉及营造一个温暖、舒适的氛围，并与您所爱的人一起享受它。Danish winters are long and dark and so achieving 'hygge' is particularly relevant during this season. 丹麦的冬天漫长而黑暗，因此在这个季节实现“hygge”尤为重要。A typical 'hygge' activity during winter could be, enjoying delicious homemade food and light-hearted conversation with friends – preferably in the warm glow of candlelight; or maybe sipping a glass of mulled wine in the hot tub after a day spent skiing.冬季典型的“hygge”活动可能是享用美味的自制食物和与朋友轻松交谈——最好是在温暖的烛光下；或者也许在滑雪一天后在热水浴缸里啜饮一杯热葡萄酒。However, Hygge isn't only confined to the bleak winter months – it can also describe that warm, fuzzy feeling you get after a walk through a forest with friends on summer's day or a family barbecue in the park.然而，Hygge 不仅限于寒冷的冬季——它还可以描述您在夏日与朋友在森林中散步或在公园里进行家庭烧烤后所获得的温暖、模糊的感觉。The concept of 'hygge' is currently taking the world by storm with more and more people becoming obsessed with achieving a state of wellbeing.  “hygge”的概念目前正席卷全球，越来越多的人开始痴迷于获得幸福的状态。Articles, books and stocking fillers, full of tips on how to achieve hygge, are hitting the market. 文章、书籍和袜子填充物，充满了如何实现 hygge 的技巧，正在进入市场。Although, some believe this has become a marketing and advertising ploy, the benefits of staying happy cannot be underestimated.尽管有些人认为这已成为一种营销和广告策略，但保持快乐的好处不可低估。 So, as the winter nights draw in, instead of hibernating, get into your favourite onesie, bake some cookies and curl up by a roaring fire with a good book. 因此，随着冬夜的到来，与其冬眠，不如穿上你最喜欢的连体衣，烤一些饼干，然后在熊熊燃烧的火炉旁蜷缩起来，读一本好书。And if you can do this with friends and family, even better - hygge is meant to be shared.如果您可以与朋友和家人一起做到这一点，那就更好了 - hygge 是用来分享的。词汇表blowing a gale 狂风正起，刮着大风snuggle up 舒适地蜷缩；偎依duvet （羽绒）被褥snug 温暖舒适的wellbeing 安宁健康，幸福homemade food 在家里自制的食物warm glow of candlelight 温暖的烛光mulled wine （圣诞期间常见的）热葡萄酒bleak 寒冷刺骨的fuzzy feeling 飘飘然的、惬意的感觉stocking filler （适合放在圣诞袜里的）圣诞小礼品draw in （天黑得）渐早hibernate （动物）冬眠（这里是幽默的说法）onesie 居家连体服curl up 蜷缩，窝着roaring fire 烧得正旺的火，熊熊火焰 

I'm sure we all remember a time when we fell in love. 我敢肯定，我们都记得我们坠入爱河的时刻。For some it was a gradual realisation that the person you knew was actually amazing.对一些人来说，逐渐意识到你认识的人实际上很了不起。 For others, it was love at first sight – an instant lightning-bolt moment that you knew you'd met your perfect match.对于其他人来说，这是一见钟情——一个瞬间的闪电时刻，你知道你已经遇到了你的完美伴侣。What is it that makes someone instantly love someone? 是什么让一个人瞬间爱上一个人？Physical attraction is an obvious answer but there are other reasons that can create affection for someone; compatibility, personality and a good sense of humour to name just a few.身体上的吸引力是一个显而易见的答案，但还有其他原因可以让你对某人产生好感；兼容性，个性和良好的幽默感仅举几例。But according to one expert, there is a more scientific explanation. 但据一位专家称，有更科学的解释。Dr Anna Machin, an Evolutionary Anthropologist at the University of Oxford says men look for signs of fertility and good health in a partner "and the major indicator of that in women is the waist-hip ratio… the absolute ideal." 牛津大学进化人类学家 Anna Machin 博士说，男性在伴侣身上寻找生育能力和身体健康的迹象，“而女性的主要指标是腰臀比……绝对理想。”This is believed to be 0.7 which is "really your classic hourglass figure."这被认为是 0.7，这是“真正的经典沙漏身材”。 And what do women look for in men? Well other experts have discovered they look for men who are taller, with broad shoulders and a relatively narrow waist – so a 'V' shaped torso.女人在男人身上寻找什么？好吧，其他专家发现他们寻找更高、肩膀宽、腰部相对较窄的男人——所以是“V”形躯干。If you're worried your figure isn't the perfect shape, there could be other factors that will cause someone to fall head over heels in love with you – people also use their sense of smell to sniff out their ideal mate. 如果你担心你的身材不是完美的形状，可能还有其他因素会导致某人爱上你——人们也会用他们的嗅觉来嗅出他们理想的伴侣。Apparently, we can detect whether people are genetically different to us by the way they smell.显然，我们可以通过人们闻到的方式来检测人们在基因上是否与我们不同。Even if a potential partner's smell is a passion-killer, their facial expressions might make you infatuated with them. 即使潜在伴侣的气味是激情杀手，他们的面部表情也可能让你着迷。According to Professor David Perrett, at the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at St Andrews University, "we can change our faces by interacting with others and doing so in a pleasant manner, and that will aid our attractiveness and make others interested in us."根据圣安德鲁斯大学心理学与神经科学学院的大卫·佩雷特教授的说法，“我们可以通过与他人互动并以愉快的方式来改变我们的面孔，这将有助于我们的吸引力，并让其他人对我们感兴趣。”So it's good to know there are many reasons why we might be smitten with someone, but there is a problem; will the feeling be mutual and if it is, how long will it last? Nothing is guaranteed and, we know from Shakespeare, the course of true love never ran smoothly!所以很高兴知道我们可能会被某人迷住的原因有很多，但是有一个问题；这种感觉会是相互的吗？如果是，会持续多久？没有什么是可以保证的，我们从莎士比亚那里知道，真爱的过程从来都不是一帆风顺的！词汇表fell in love 坠入爱河，相爱了love at first sight 一见钟情lightning-bolt moment 电闪雷鸣的一刻，突然间perfect match 完美的另一半，天生绝配physical attraction 身体、外表吸引力affection 喜爱，爱慕之情a good sense of humour 有很好的幽默感waist-hip ratio 腰臀比hourglass figure 蜂腰体形，沙漏形身材torso 躯干，身躯to fall head over heels in love 坠入爱河，爱得神魂颠倒mate （名词）配偶a passion-killer （俗语）激情杀手，令人丧失激情的事物infatuated 迷恋的，着迷的smitten 着了迷的，突然爱上的mutual 相互的，彼此共同的the course of true love never ran smoothly 真爱之路永远充满坎坷

What is your earliest memory? 你最早的记忆是什么？For me, I have a hazy recollection of standing in a leafy garden surrounded by silver birch trees when I was four years old.对我来说，我模糊地记得我四岁时站在一个被银白桦树环绕的绿树成荫的花园里。I'm around average: some people remember events as far back as two years old, while for others, things seem patchy until seven or eight.我处于平均水平：有些人记得早在两岁之前发生的事情，而对于另一些人来说，事情似乎要到七八岁才发生。But what is consistent is that no one can remember their own birth or very early infancy. 但一致的是，没有人能记得自己的出生或婴儿早期。And even after the first memory, most of us only have a sporadic collection of fleeting, flickering mental images until much later in childhood.即使在第一次记忆之后，我们大多数人也只有零星地收集短暂的、闪烁的心理图像，直到童年的很久以后。The phenomenon is known as 'childhood amnesia', a term coined by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. So, what's going on here?这种现象被称为“童年健忘症”，这是精神分析之父西格蒙德弗洛伊德创造的一个术语。那么，这里发生了什么？Babies are, writes Zaria Gorvett for BBC Future, "sponges for new information, forming 700 new neural connections every second and wielding language-learning skills to make the most accomplished polyglot green with envy".Zaria Gorvett 为 BBC Future 写道，婴儿是“获取新信息的海绵，每秒形成 700 个新的神经连接，并运用语言学习技能，使最有成就的多语种变得羡慕嫉妒恨”。And it's precisely this rapid mental development that causes the problem, according to a study by the University of Toronto in 2014.根据多伦多大学 2014 年的一项研究，正是这种快速的心理发展导致了这个问题。 It found that the high rate of infant brain cell production could increase forgetfulness, because new cells interfere with existing mental circuits.研究发现，婴儿脑细胞的高产量可能会增加健忘，因为新细胞会干扰现有的心理回路。Another possible explanation is that the part of the brain that stores memories, the hippocampus, is not fully formed until around 18 months. 另一种可能的解释是，大脑中存储记忆的部分海马体直到 18 个月左右才完全形成。Identity is also important: tests show infants don't recognise themselves in the mirror until they are around two years old.身份也很重要：测试表明婴儿直到两岁左右才能认出镜子中的自己。Finally, there's the question of how accurate our early memories are at all. 最后，还有一个问题是我们早期的记忆到底有多准确。"People can pick up suggestions and begin to visualise them - they become like memories," psychologist Elizabeth Loftus told the BBC.“人们可以接受建议并开始想象它们——它们就像记忆一样，”心理学家伊丽莎白洛夫特斯告诉 BBC。 Are our cherished first memories really just family stories?我们珍贵的最初记忆真的只是家庭故事吗？词汇表hazy 模糊的、不清晰的recollection 记忆，往事silver birch 白桦树patchy 零零碎碎的，拼凑起来的infancy 婴儿期、年幼时候sporadic 零星的，分散的fleeting 一闪而过的，短暂的amnesia 失忆，健忘（症）to coin 创造，杜撰（新词或表达）psychoanalysis 精神分析学sponge 像海绵般地吸收（信息）neural 神经的to wield 施加影响accomplished 有造诣的，有才华的polyglot 通晓多种语言的人green with envy 非常羡慕，十分忌妒forgetfulness 健忘to interfere 干预，干涉to visualise 设想，想象cherished 珍惜的，珍爱的

Is it possible to be too clever? Could it be that a big brain is actually a dangerous asset?有可能太聪明了吗？难道说，大脑袋实际上是一种危险的资产吗？Whilst the brainy human species goes from strength to strength, a study suggests that having an abundance of grey matter directly increases the risk of extinction in our mammal cousins.虽然聪明的人类物种不断壮大，但一项研究表明，拥有丰富的灰质会直接增加我们的哺乳动物表亲灭绝的风险。Biologist Manuela Gonzalez-Suarez, from the University of Reading, says that big brains come with a clear downside.雷丁大学的生物学家 Manuela Gonzalez-Suarez 表示，大脑大有一个明显的缺点。"The cost is too high," she told BBC Future. They require a lot of energy to grow and maintain. “成本太高了，”她告诉 BBC Future。它们需要大量的能量来生长和维持。Large-brained animals also have longer gestational periods, meaning they produce fewer offspring. 脑容量大的动物也有更长的妊娠期，这意味着它们产生的后代更少。And their young need greater parental attention until they become independent.在他们独立之前，他们的孩子需要更多的父母关注。These traits mean "populations cannot grow fast, or quickly compensate for additional mortality," she says.她说，这些特征意味着“人口不能快速增长，也不能迅速弥补额外的死亡率”。In short, big brains are an investment not all animals can afford.简而言之，大大脑是一项并非所有动物都能负担得起的投资。 And this precarious situation is made worse by the fact that many large mammals are themselves the target of poaching or live in threatened habitats.由于许多大型哺乳动物本身就是偷猎的目标或生活在受威胁的栖息地，因此这种不稳定的情况变得更糟。Some animals have long since decided that brains weren’t necessary.一些动物早就决定不需要大脑。 BBC Future suggests that sponges evolved to lose their brains over time, as they offered no tangible benefits.BBC Future 表明，随着时间的推移，海绵进化为失去大脑，因为它们没有提供任何切实的好处。But what about humans? We are the most intelligent species on Earth. 但是人类呢？我们是地球上最聪明的物种。We have tamed the natural environment, developed incredible technologies, and settled across almost every corner of the planet.我们已经驯服了自然环境，开发了令人难以置信的技术，并在地球的几乎每个角落定居。 But all this may be exacerbating the problem for other species.但这一切可能会加剧其他物种的问题。Gonzalez-Suarez says: "It is our collective responsibility as scientists who study megafauna to act to prevent their decline."Gonzalez-Suarez 说：“作为研究巨型动物的科学家，采取行动防止它们的衰退是我们的集体责任。” Time to put our big brains to good use.是时候充分利用我们的大脑了。词汇表asset 长处，优点brainy 有头脑的，聪明的go from strength to strength 不断壮大，从强大变得更强grey matter（口语）大脑，智力downside 不利之处gestational period 妊娠期offspring 后代，子孙young 动物的幼小后代trait 特质，特征mortality 死亡率precarious 危险的，不确定的to poach 偷猎habitat 动物的栖息地，生存环境to evolve 进化species 物种to tame 控制，驾驭to exacerbate 使恶化，使加剧megafauna 巨型动物群