英文小酒馆 LHH

《小酒馆·大世界》-世界各处的文化和精彩，在小酒馆触手可得哦~ 欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~I have to say Onsen ( 温泉)... not a similar experience, but my first time in an Onsen hotel, what I didn't know was they asked me and my friend when we wanted to have breakfast, so when we checked in, it was late at night, they asked us when do you want to have breakfast? I thought it was just a general question, you know, like when you stay in a hotel, they remind you, Ok, our breakfast is only available from 7 to 10 that sort of thing. I was exhausted so I said eight, eight thirty, nine, and then I later on realized it wasn't like a buffet breakfast. They actually set the table for you in a big banquet room kind of thing, and they put your name, put your name tag on this big table where they put all of the food there. But then the following morning I was so exhausted, both me and my friend, we didn't wake up; and when they knocked on our door and say, for example, Lulu Sama ( ), like you expect, like when are you gonna come for breakfast, breakfast is ready. So I just like go away I'm still sleeping. No, I was not that rude, I was just saying sorry, I don't think we'll be having breakfast. The following morning after that, we found out that the breakfast was served in that way. We felt so embarrassed because they must have set the table and then we said no worries, we're not going. I have had that experience at a hotel in Fuji before. Most of the hotels I stay at are a little bit cheaper, so they don't usually have breakfast in the morning, but when I go to Mount Fuji like I usually stay at a little bit nicer hotel, so they do have that and I have had that experience before as well. Yeah, I mean, these are the interesting or bizarre experiences we have when we're traveling, right? Because it's completely different from your idea of common knowledge, common or common sense. What about the size of things? Because many people, especially if they're from Europe or North America, they're a bit taller. So they complain or not complain, but they observe that everything is a bit too low for them, like the shower head is too low or the bathtub is too tiny. What about your experience? I have had an issue with the shower head before, but it's usually not a problem, usually the shower head is high enough. I think the size of the food though sometimes can be a bit small. I do like that in restaurants in Japan though you can oftentimes get like a lot of side dishes. And so if you're still hungry, or you know, if you're gonna be a little bit hungrier, you can order a few more extra dishes. But sometimes they do have really big food in Japan and that's something I kind of, I see like normal dishes are really small but then you go to some places and they have like the mega dish and you're like what? Yeah and they also like mega dish show, sort of like reality show where very skinny people going around eating mega dishes. Like it's just so contradictory, you go into a restaurant, you have this tiny little bowl, you can just fit in the palm of your hand and then you go to the next place and they just have something it's just like... I couldn't even finish that. 10kg of meat in one dish. Because Japan is, they also rank very high in extreme eating worldwide I think. Yeah, they do have the all you can, like Viking buffets, but usually there's a time limit. So that's something I find kind of interesting. In the US there's no time limit on buffets. In Japan they usually have like a 90 minute or 2-hour time limit. So they don't go bankrupt. I think it makes total sense. You're talking about like Tabehoudai (餐食无限量) or Nomihoudai (饮品无限量) 就是所谓的“放题”, 写出来汉字是放题, 也就是all you can eat, all you can drink, that sort of thing. They do set a time limit. So if you ever go to Japan, that's something to keep in mind. Actually that brings us to the topic of food. What do you think of Japanese food or Japanese diet? You talked about food portions and all these ordering of ...

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Social Media Detox. Nowadays we're pretty much glued to our phones, especially those social media apps. They are always there waiting to devour our attention. 说句实话, 咱们现在绝大部分的人都是低头族, 而且很多人在用手机的时候都会用大量的时间去刷各种社交媒体 social media, that constant pressure to always be online on social media, always post the best pictures, best moments, it can be so overwhelming and also time consuming. In addition, if you are sensitive and struggle with your self esteem, social media can feel very toxic at times. 这样每天大量的刷社交媒体, 不光会占用你很多时间, 而且如果你是那种比较敏感或者对自己不太自信的人, 社交媒体可能会给你带来极大的焦虑. Whether it’s seeing what feels like a gallery of “perfect” bodies, or seeing people who seem to be constantly succeeding in life, it can be really hard not to feel bad about yourself.社交媒体上那些随处可见的高颜值、高收入、才华横溢的人生赢家, 很难让咱们这样的普通人不感觉到焦虑重重. But social media is not real life. As much influence, or seeming influence, it has, it’s a curated and selective sample of what’s actually going on in the world.但实际上社交媒体它反映的并不是真实生活, 或者说至少不是普通人真实生活的全貌, 他只不过是精挑细选下来的那些高光时刻. And many people are beginning to discover this. There has been a recent trend of people consciously reducing their social media use and they call it Social Media Detox. 这也就是我们今天的Buzzword-社交媒体排毒.And a social media detox is a conscious elimination of social media use and consumption for a set period of time. 在一定的时间内有意识的去停用社交媒体. Generally, most social media detoxes are 30 days, so a month, but some people do 7 days or even a year-long social media detox.Ideally, you’re completely eliminating social media use and consumption. This means deleting and removing all social media apps from your phone, and in some cases where it’s possible, temporarily disabling your social media accounts.

《小酒馆·大世界》-世界各处的文化和精彩，在小酒馆触手可得哦~ 欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~Hi everyone, and welcome back to Global Village. 欢迎回来【小酒馆·大世界】. But this time instead of inviting a new guest speaker to come on the show, we are talking to one of our own regulars. 如果你听过Geek Time或者是来上过酒馆的口语直播课程, 就肯定知道他,资深 geek-Brad, welcome back Brad. Hey, how's it going, Lulu? I'm good. I heard that your life has changed quite a bit. You're in Japan now, right? That's right. I'm in Kyoto. Oh, one of my favorite cities in the world, so I thought it would be interesting to talk about your experience in Japan because you plan to stay there long term, correct? Yeah, probably, that's the whole point. So could you, first of all, give us a little bit of an explanation or idea or ideas of your current life? Like when did you move to japan? What are you doing right now? Sure. Currently I'm living in Kyoto as I mentioned, I moved here just about a year ago, I think it was about 10 months ago. I came here on a student visa. I'm studying Japanese. I just passed one of the Japanese language proficiency exams that's gonna help me with my future. But I've just been studying full time and then working part time teaching on the side while I do that. So in the future, am I to assume that your plan is to get perhaps another degree in Japan and then maybe find a job there and then just settle down?Yeah, that's pretty much the plan, I've been looking at schools. I'm in engineering, I really like cars and racing, so I kind of wanna combine my engineering and my knowledge of cars, so I have to get some sort of like certification or degree to do that. So I've been trying to apply for engineering schools related to cars or some sort of car related program like motor sports engineering. I see, that's pretty cool. I mean you do have engineering background anyways, right?Right. I have a degree in electronics engineering. Okay. So I thought it would be fun in the next few episodes. Let's make this a series to talk about your experience in Japan, because Brad, you have a quite unique experience. You're born and raised in the States, you are an American, and then you lived in China for, on and off, for a decade. Yeah, 7 years, the first time; and then 3 years, the second time. OK.And now you're moving to Japan. There are lots of cultural comparisons, cultural topics that we can explore. But first things first, why Japan, like when did you become interested in Japan? Was it a childhood thing or what was it like? I kind of became interested in China and Japan at about the same time. I grew up in a really small town in America. There is only about 7,000 people. So there was no like outside foreign influence there whatsoever; and every now and then I would just see like a kungfu movie with like Jackie Chan or Gordon Lew or like a Japanese Samurai movie with Toshiro Mifune; and I just kind of became like who are these people and where are they from? Like, why don't I see this in the US?It looks so cool, the kungfu thing, martial arts. So did you actually learn Asian martial arts like kungfu or maybe like karate as a child or as a teenager? Yeah, after the karate kid movie came out in my childhood, I learned karate for a while.Then I moved, so I couldn't continue that. But I did start learning like Taekwondo for a while; and then once I found a school for kungfu, I learned kungfu for about half a year or so, but I didn't really have time for it. I got a job. And then I saw school that did like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is like a Brazilian form of a Japanese martial art. And then when I moved to China, I did 咏春拳.So you're just like really into martial arts. Yeah, I also did kendo when I was in the US and then when I was a student in Japan, I did that as well. So I've done like a variety of different martial arts through the years. For those of you who don't really know what kendo is, 就是日本的剑道. That just sounds like you have always been interested in the same type o

【Geek Time】-“极客”时间，和“科技宅”Brad一起聊神秘有趣的“黑科技”“高科技”“硬科技”。欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~Welcome back to Geek Time Advance. This is Brad. Welcome back, Lulu. Hi, Brad. So I thought we'd continue on with talking about some of the issues with ChatGPT. I think in the previous episode, we focus mostly on how great it is, how different it is from some of the earlier chat bots. But there are some really obvious problems. One of the things is, have you read the news about some schools already starting to ban ChatGPT in school, in university, in tests?One of the issues with ChatGPT is that when you give it a math problem, for example, it can give you the answer, but not only that, it can show you the work for the problem. So all you have to do is just copy down what it tells you to do. And so you don't even have to go online and find if someone's answered the question before on a database somewhere. Because ChatGPT would work for you. It's the perfect cheating machine. Yeah. And you can also use it to write essays; and it goes online and it basically pulls information from all the stuff and then creates an essay for you. Yeah, actually I watched a short video of a short interview with Chomsky, you know, 乔姆斯基, one of the most famous linguists and linguistic experts in the world. He basically calls ChatGPT a form of high tech plagiarism. You could say that. That's what you're talking about, right？Writing essays, basically I can… as a student or as a researcher, I probably can just lay back enjoy whatever I enjoy and then let ChatGPT write my essay for me. Exactly. Like people basically can write down information about their own experience. But rather than do that, you can use ChatGPT to go online and just write down other people's experiences for you as if it that your own. But will you get found out？Oh, yeah.You know that some professors or some universities they have developed their programs to check whether you have plagiarized your work or not. 就是那种论文查重的.What about essays written by AI, by ChatGPT?They're creating AIs that can detect whether or not an AI took a picture or created a picture, I should say, or wrote an essay. There’re usually telltale signs whether or not something was written by an actual human or written by an AI. Human beings. Why do we make life so difficult for ourselves？And yet so easy.I know. So we created AI technology like ChatGPT to write our essays for us, but then we have to create AI programs that will detect whether the essays are written by AI or not. It's a mouthful. I'm also worried about the scams. In deepfakes are a big issue nowadays especially as they get better and better. You could call someone and they could imitate your voice and look like you, and ChatGPT like software can be used to make deepfakes look more realistic. I've seen some of the deepfake videos that is scary. So guys, if you don't really know what's that like, imagine that they can steal your face or they can create a human being that does not exist, like an expert that actually is not a real human expert, but then using AI technology, using deepfake, this person can look very realistic and they can use your voice as well, use your pattern of speech. And now that they're using your voice and they're using your patterns of speech. They're coming for your jobs. That's another concern, isn't it？People like, oh no, ChatGPT is gonna steal our jobs. What do you think？Right now, ChatGPT is doing some things like editing code and can even write some python code.So like it's getting kind of crazy what it can do. So it's probably not going to write high level code that people need for bigger programs. But definitely editing code is something that takes a lot of work. And it can help out with that. It probably can replace certain jobs. I'm not sure if it's completely but like I said earlier, customer service, for example. Yeah, customer service is a big thing. Data processing is something that's probably going

通过本张名著，你将获得：西方国家名著必读清单45集音频+逐字稿+图文良心制作精选文化贴士/名人轶事介绍/金句提炼/修辞手法分析故事情节浓缩精华来自璐璐和安澜不一样的见解和解说优雅英音Quotes跟读Hi everyone, and welcome back to酒馆. One piece of good news, 我们的新专辑上线了, Season Two of the Bluffer's Guide to English Literature. 【英文名著扫盲班】第二季.In the previous episode of the intro to Season II of The Bluffer's Guide to English Literature, Anlan and I talked about the books we've chosen, and we're going to continue with the book list today.And similar to Alice, we've also got another story of a young person who is coming of age.Which is very, very, very, very long.Very long but a classic, David Copperfield.《大卫·科波菲尔》. You're British. You pretty much have to talk about Dickens.I do, and David Copperfield was Dickens’ favorite book, he actually says this is my favorite book.It's…perhaps it's because it's a partly autobiographical. Yeah. So in this episode, we're going to be talking about his background. And we'll also be talking about a very long plot, which is almost like a soap opera.Yeah, to compare David Copperfield and the modern-day soap opera, you probably can get into the story a lot more.Yes.Now I know how much you like a good story with very, very clear beginning, climax and the end.Yes.

通过本张专辑，你将获得：西方国家名著必读清单45集音频+逐字稿+图文良心制作精选文化贴士/名人轶事介绍/金句提炼/修辞手法分析故事情节浓缩精华来自璐璐和安澜不一样的见解和解说优雅英音Quotes跟读Hello again欢迎来到Happy Hour英文小酒馆。关注公众号璐璐的英文小酒馆，加入我们的酒馆社群，邂逅更精彩更广阔的世界Hi everyone, and welcome back to酒馆. One piece of good news, 我们的新专辑上线了, Season Two of the Bluffer's Guide to English Literature. 【英文名著扫盲班】第二季.Yeah, hi Anlan.Hi, Lulu, hi everyone.Did you enjoy recording about all those books with me？Of course, I did. It was great to talk about some of these books, particularly the ones that I like, but I did actually learn a lot from the books that you like.其实之前【英文名著扫盲班】第一季上线的时候, 我们就已经做了一个发刊对谈了, 对吧？发刊词. We talked about why we enjoy reading, why we love literature and why literature is so important for language learners and for those who want to understand a little bit around the culture of the English speaking world.So in this episode we're going to talk a little bit more about the books we have chosen. In particular, why we have chosen them.因为我们在第一季的时候已经录了那种很正经的发刊词, 然后里面也说了我们各种各样的理念, philosophy.So I thought season two, we can still use those philosophies, but we're going to add an extra episode, a little bit more fun episode to tell you how we've come to choose these ten books for the second season.Yes. It involves lots of discussion, lots of arguments between Lulu and me.Lots of fights.Lots of fights, simply because there are so many books we want to choose. So what we do is each of us comes up with a list of ten books we want for the album.Yeah.Now Lulu's taste in books is a bit strange. Personally, some of these books I don't really quite understand, but my books are really, really good.I could say the same thing.我跟安澜在选书的时候, 基本上会同时考虑这种top booklists, and also our own preferences and our own experiences. And we do have very different tastes. After we share with each other, our ten book selections, we kept saying to each other, why did you choose that book？Yes. So how we select them is after having arguments, we do try to choose an example of some of the most popular genres, not to mention the books that really have a following even to this day, so that they do appear in cultural references all the time.Yeah. So you don't have to worry, although 安澜 and I have very, very different tastes in books but the books we've ended up choosing they're all very, very well-known books.Basically the starting point as with the first album is if these books are parodied in TV shows like The Simpsons, we put them on the list.只要是被辛普森一家恶搞过的, 就证明他足够的有名.Yes.

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Situationship. Now we've just gone through Valentine's Day, did you celebrate with your significant other？Are you still single？Or are you in a situation where you are dating someone but it's not exactly a relationship. You and your partner have fun together and may even be intimate, physically and emotionally. But you haven't made a commitment to each other or even discuss the future together. 我相信很多人既不是那种婚姻爱情幸福甜蜜的状态, 也不是母胎单身, 而是有约会对象, 但是似乎就是那种若即若离, 没有确定下来的关系. Now you have the exact word in English to describe just that. 所以今天的Buzzword我们就来说说, 英文里用来形容 “友人以上, 恋人未满” 的这个词Situationship.Situationship is a combination of situation and relationship. So if you are dating someone, but when people ask you whether you are in a relationship, your answer is well, it's complicated. Then you're probably in a situationship. Let's look at the definition first, less than a relationship, but more than a casual encounter or friends with benefit, a situationship refers to a romantic relationship that is and remains undefined. 其实要说situationship它最大的特点就是还没有定性, 两个人在一起很亲密, 会做很多恋人做的事儿, 但是并没有所谓正规的名分, 也没有正式的讨论过将来. And apparently this is becoming a trend, especially in the young generation. Now if you look at the society nowadays, our expectations of relationship has changed. People are getting married later in life and many people are eager to explore relationships in a less structured way without pressure to commit as they prioritize self-knowledge and developing as individuals.那之所以situationship会成为一个潮流, 主要是因为现代人特别是年轻人的婚恋观出现了很大的改变. 人们越来越晚婚, 而且比起感情婚姻承诺这些东西, 更愿意去考虑个人自身的发展.Especially Gen-Z, 特别是Z世代, 也就是相当于中国的95后00后, they take an especially pragmatic approach to love and sex, and subsequently aren't prioritizing establishing committed romantic relationships the same way their older peers once did. 他们对于婚恋性爱的观点倾向于更加实用主义, 用句更通俗的话来讲, 可能就是谈恋爱不如搞钱重要.

【Geek Time】-“极客”时间，和“科技宅”Brad一起聊神秘有趣的“黑科技”“高科技”“硬科技”。欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Geek Time. 欢迎回到【Geek时间】. Hi, Brad. Hey, Lulu. What are we going to talk about today？What is the top trending topic in geek world？Good, something I found recently a lot is ChatGPT. That's all the fad in China as well. 如果大家关注, 哪怕你不是特别关注Tech的新闻, 最近应该都经常看到 ChatGPT. 怎么说呢, 就是一个聊天机器人的这么一个概念吧, to dumb it down, would you say ChatGPT is a chat bot? In its space form, you could say it's a chat bot. Let's start with the basics. Chat, we understand. But GPT. Yeah, GPT means generative pretrained transformer. That's a big word. That's a mouthful. 中文直译是生成式预训练转化模型, can we actually break it down？I mean a lot of our listeners probably don't know like me don't really know much about this. So generative, first of all, 生成式what does that mean？Means to be able to generate something or create somethingSo like when you talk to ChatGPT, they are able to create dialogues. All right, create new content. Pretrained obviously means it's been trained using AI technology or some relevant technology?It's a form of AI, it's been trained to perform particular tasks and one of those tasks is doing chat. But so it's basically… it's trained to generate some sort of chat. OK, and transformer?So it takes information that it has access to and transforms it into something new. I see. I actually did my own little research preparing for this topic. Just tell me if I'm understanding this correctly, it's called ChatGPT, basically it's a chat model that's using GPT-3, GPT-3, it's like a neural network what they call it. It's a neural network. It's their third generation of their current GPT model. 所以其实可以理解为是用GPT-3就是三代GPT的神经网络模型, 然后创造出来的这么一个ChatGPT, 类似于聊天机器人, 人工智能聊天的这么一个存在. But this is definitely not the first prototype for chat bots, right？There were many before, I used certain chat bots, but they were all a bit, for lack of a better word, dumb. This chat bot is something a little bit more than original chat bots. It can chat with good precision. It can write essays or scripts for a book or a movie. Wow. You can think of it as being like the ultimate fan fiction writer. 可以写同人志的那种.

"英文小酒馆致力于打造沉浸式英语学习社群，无论是微信社群、有声节目、线上活动和课程，我们都全心全意为爱好英语的你带去一份专属于英语的快乐。微信公众号: 【璐璐的英文小酒馆】 查音频节目文稿，了解广阔的世界。跟随我们的脚步，体会英语的温度。" Hi, everyone. And welcome back to happy hour, 欢迎回来酒馆. It's that time of the year, isn't it？ It's time for a Valentine's, no, anti-Valentine's Day special.又到了一年的情人节或者说是反情人节特辑, well love it or hate it, it happens every year. Just about as soon as the calendar turns over, love is in the air; or to be more precise, in the shopping centers, restaurants, bars, on all sorts of e-commerce platforms and all over social media.Throughout early February, you can't turn around without seeing boxes of chocolate, Teddy bears holding a heart and all sorts of Valentine's Day decorations.Loved by some, loathed by others, Valentine's day is widely regarded as the ultimate day of cheesy, unapologetic romance. So whether you go all out, splurge on the luxury Valentine's Day experience for you and your sweetheart, or you prefer to go low key, just ignore the holiday together; or if you are hopelessly single.I'm sure at some point, you've wondered about the origin of Valentine's Day where did it come from？Now I know a lot of people in China would say it's a western holiday, but where in the West and when, and most importantly how? While some may be vaguely aware that the occasion takes its place from a famous person called Valentine or Saint Valentine, they may not be acquainted with the full history of Valentine's Day. 可能有人知道西方的情人节是圣瓦伦丁节, 就是有一个人叫圣瓦伦丁. The history of Valentine's Day actually finds its roots in ancient Rome and it's not as rosy and romantic as you might want to believe. So in today's episode, let's dig deeper into the un-romantic history of Valentine's Day. So one thing to keep in mind, saint Valentine actually could refer to several people. We don't really know which saint Valentine the holiday technically celebrates. The Catholic church has records of at least three different martyrs named Valentine or Valentinos.

Hello again欢迎来到Happy Hour英文小酒馆。关注公号璐璐的英文小酒馆，加入我们的酒馆社群，邂逅更精彩更广阔的世界Hi everyone, and welcome back to Famous Brits Under the Microscope【英伦名人八卦堂】. Hi, 安澜. Hi Lulu, hi, everyone.We haven't done this for a while.No, it's been a really long time since we last did this segment. But I thought today I want talk a little bit more about the gossipMhm. We talk about the great people from British historySo boring...You can get a bit boring.Okay.Today I want to tell you about probably one of the worst kings we ever had.It's not the great, it’s the infamous.Exactly. And this was George IV.George IV. 乔治四世, I'm really bad at history, so remind me.So George IV reigned in the early 19th century, but he was most famous for being the Prince Regent.就是摄政王, 是不是Blackadder 里面, in Blackadder Hugh Laurie that character.He was the Prince Regent, and this was also the Time of Jane Austen.And we still talk about the regency as a time of architecture, art, literature, good manners. But it's named after somebody who was not a very nice person.And his time that was... when he had the power, when he's on the throne that was called the regency. That's right, 叫摄政时期, if you look it up in Chinese.So it starts with him being born in1762, his father and mother were the king and queen obviously. And as a child, even though he was a good student, he wasn't stupid, he was more interested in luxury, eating, drinking, and partying. He was incredibly lazy.So it's basically someone born with really not just silver spoon, was like diamond spoon.Well put it this way. He got around￡14 million a year as allowance from the king and also from parliament.￡14 million?In today's prices, in 2022.And that was just allowance?That was just his allowance, but even with that amount of money, he was constantly in debt. He was overspending.What did he spend it on, partying? drinking? How much could he drink?

欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~Hi everyone, and welcome back to Buzzword Mix. 欢迎回到我们的迷你双语板块【新词特饮】, 短短几分钟让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资. In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Gamification. Now I don't know if you have noticed, but nowadays whatever you do, whether you are studying or you are exercising, or you are using any sort of APP, there are always certain settings that make you feel like, am I actually playing a game？可能大家也注意到了, 各种各样领域的APP, 它都会有一些特别像游戏的设置, 比如说什么积分、排行、奖励, so let's talk about this word in today's Buzzword-Gamification. 所以今天的Buzzword, 我们就来聊聊「游戏化」. Gamification, obviously from the word game, gaming, is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. 游戏化很好理解, 为了吸引参与者或者使用者提升他们的参与度和驱动力, 在非游戏的语境里加入游戏的元素和体验. This is generally accomplished through the application of game design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. 更具体的就是在非游戏的语境里加入游戏设计的元素以及游戏的一些规则. Gamification is part of a persuasive system design, and it commonly employs game design elements to improve user engagement, organizational productivity, flow, learning, crowdsourcing, knowledge retention, so on and so forth. 它可以用到的领域非常的多, 从普通的提升用户参与度粘性到知识的宣传, 提升组织内部的生产力, 工作流程, 甚至可以用在比如说政治性的宣传或者说众筹项目等等场景. Now while you think this might be a very new idea, games and game-like elements having used to educate, entertain, and engage for thousands of years. It's just that nowadays with our smartphones and apps, we're able to do it much more engaging. So here I'm going to share with you some of the most classic game elements used in Gamification. These are Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. 在各种游戏化设计里面万变不离其宗的三个大类就是积分Points, Badges 徽章, and Leaderboard排名榜.Points are used as visual identifiers of progress in sports, reward cards and video games. Badges display achievement, whether from service in the military or a gold star on school report card.Leaderboards are used across sports, sales teams, and in general life to present competitive placement. So a little bit of healthy competition and a sense of accomplishment is really what gamification is all about. 其实说来说去游戏化的根基, 除了那些花里胡哨吸引人眼球的design之外, 更多的是唤起人们的一种好胜心以及人们对于成就感的渴望.

不论是海外求学，国际旅行，接待外宾还是跨境业务洽谈中，你是否满腹干货，想做中华文化使者，但又苦于无法用英文表达？语言，不仅能让你看到更广阔的世界也能让你在更大的舞台发出自己的声音。酒馆特别板块： China Story【用英语，说中国】，双语播出，适合不同段位的你。让我们一起，讲述有趣有料的中国故事。添加luluxjg2获取全文稿哦~~What Is Lichun?According to the traditional Chinese solar calendar, there are 24 solar terms in a year. Lichun is the first solar term. Lichun is the day when the sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 315° (i.e. 45.66 days before the spring equinox). The date of Lichun is not fixed to one Gregorian calendar date, but it always occurs on February 3rd, 4th, or 5th, mostly on February 4th.立春，为二十四节气之首。立，是“开始”之意；春，代表着温暖、生长。 二十四节气最初是依据“斗转星移”制定，当北斗七星的斗柄指向寅位时为立春。现行是依据太阳黄经度数定节气，当太阳到达黄经315°时为立春，于每年公历2月3-5日交节。 明代作品《群芳谱》对立春解释为：“立，始建也。春气始而建立也。干支纪元，以寅月为春正、立春为岁首，立春乃万物起始、一切更生之义也，意味着新的一个轮回已开启。在传统观念中，立春有吉祥的涵义，标志着万物闭藏的冬季已过去，开始进入风和日暖、万物生长的春季。《史记.天官书》(The Records of the Grand Historian)：“正月旦，王者岁首，立春日，四时之始也”，立春为四时之始。中国古代一些著作将立春的十五天分为三候：“一候东风解冻，二候蜇虫始振，三候鱼陟负冰”，说的是东风送暖，大地开始解冻。立春五日后，蜇居的虫类慢慢在洞中苏醒，再过五日，河里的冰开始溶化，鱼开始到水面上游动，此时水面上还有没完全溶解的碎冰片，如同被鱼负着一般浮在水面。Lichun HistoryThe history of the 24 solar terms dates back three millennia. They were used for farming in China since the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), but, according to some experts, the 24 solar terms were only used for the first time in books during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD).廿四节气是上古农耕文明的产物，它在我国传统农耕社会中占有极其重要的位置。The beginning of spring was of great significance to farmers in ancient times, as it marked the beginning of a new year’s work. Major celebrations and traditional Lichun activities were handed down by the generations. Traditional Lichun CustomsThere are still some traditional activities held on the day of Lichun, especially in rural areas.

【Geek Time】-“极客”时间，和“科技宅”Brad一起聊神秘有趣的“黑科技”“高科技”“硬科技”。欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~Welcome back to Geek Time advance. This is Brad. How are you doing Lulu?Hi, Brad.So we're going to continue on with our discussion of Star Wars and Star Trek. Have you actually gone and watched any of the episodes like you were supposed to?Well, there's so many of them, so many movies and episodes of the tv series, I promise I'll try to sit down and watch them. All right. But seriously, what is the big deal? I mean last time, obviously you walked us through the two series, the two settings and all the plot lines. But you still haven't really explained why is it so important in geekdom or in geek culture.When you look at Star Trek and Star Wars, these two and then you have Doctor Who in the UK, they’re what really paved the way for people to accept sci-fi as a genre.There have been lots of sci-fi classics out there. The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, there's been lots of sci-fi literature, but it's always kind of had the stigma in the literary world where you're, it's not real literature so to say.But with the Star Trek and Star Wars, you get a lot of people who are actually looking at Star… or its science fiction as an actual genre that should be kept as an important genre in literature. I mean when I was in university, we had a class and we could choose like a particular subgenre. I chose the sci-fi when I did it because that's what I was really into, and that's something they probably wouldn't have done 20 years before that. I see. So basically these three, the three big ones, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, they sort of kind of like brought sci-fi to the forefront, and legitimized the role of sci-fi in literary world. I mean, like, when you look at the world as it is today, we've... in the last 20, 30 years, there has been so much change when it comes to technology that people really understand the value of sci-fi and what sci-fi has been telling us. And so people are actually looking at this, ‘Okay, We should actually not just look at literature and what literature says about the world, but we should start looking at sci-fi more specifically.’Yeah, honestly, I have to say, although I'm not like a huge fan of sci-fi, but I can certainly see the point of sci-fi. I think a lot of really like the classic sci-fi tales. They are like cautionary tales almost. They talk about humanity, scientific progress, and how… many of the ethical dilemmas in scientific development.Yeah when you look at sci-fi, if we kind of look into even if it's a Doctor Who but like we look at the way species are treated in Star Trek and Star Wars, we do see a lot of that those ethical dilemmas even when it comes to the way robots are treated in Star Trek. There was a whole episode we were deciding whether or not AI should be considered as conscious if it gets to a particular level, right? When you watch Star Trek and Star Wars, you'll see the majority of beings are humanoid in one way or another.So they behave like humans or they look kind of like humans.They'll maybe emulate a particular group of people that we might see in the world now, but like the majority of it is kind of this whole idea that most life out there will probably look like us in one way or another. They might have more arms or more legs or more eyes. Maybe they won't have ears like we know it. But they'll have some sort of body that we can understand, right?It's a very human centric perspective, isn't it? It’s like how we imagine aliens and extraterrestrial beings, this is all based on how we look.Right. And that's when it comes to what science used to think is that when you look at the building blocks of life that humans would or that animals would have to look something like us. If you look at most animals on the planet, mammals at least, mammals have really similar bone structures. When you compare them, you can kind of say, oh this is how this mammal bone structure became

【Geek Time】-“极客”时间，和“科技宅”Brad一起聊神秘有趣的“黑科技”“高科技”“硬科技”。欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Geek Time, 欢迎回来【Geek时间】. Hi, Brad. Hey, Lulu.Quick question: Star Trek or Star Wars? I'm kind of in the middle. I love both. I know a lot of people when they think of Star Trek and Star Wars, there is always this divide where you're either a Trekkie or you're a Star Wars fan. But for me, I really, I love both. Now to our listeners for 70-75% women, I know this is probably a very geeky topic. Now, I know many of you watched things like Big Bang Theory or some other comedy where you constantly hear the reference to Star Wars and Star Trek. Star Wars星球大战和Star Trek 星际迷航, 这两个都成了一个梗了, 经常能在很多喜剧里面看到.Whenever they appear in comedy, it's always people who are into them, they're really, really into them. And people who are not into them, just don't get it; and they are like the “geek tag” right? That’s the geek badge of honor, almost.They are the kings of geekdom.Yeah. In these 2 episodes, we're gonna talk to Brad, a seasoned geek, 资深geek. What is the big deal about Star Wars and Star Trek? I think with Star Trek that came first. Well actually when you look at sci-fi, Doctor Who 《神秘博士》of course came before that, but Star Trek in the U.S. at least started in the 60s in a kind of in the late 60s. But it's been on TV for the majority of the time since then or in a movie format one way or the other. Star Trek was originally kind of like this show was a one-off adventure every time they were going to a new world. Like a self-contained, right?Right. A new civilization, like the whole tagline was “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” right? They have this whole idea where you could watch any episode and you wouldn't really be lost. You'd be able to understand what was going on. Nowadays, it's kind of moved into this more serial nature where you have to watch from the beginning to the end. And that's one of those things that has kind of...it’s a developing plot. Right. That's kept people more focused on the show rather than just being casual watchers. It gets people to watch it from week to week. Okay. But it's Star Trek, this whole idea is that it's about the scientific journey. There might be some things that seem really fantastical and you're like this must be magic. But the end of every episode they show you how it somehow has to do with scientific and there's a scientific reasoning behind it. That's kind of like the magic of Star Trek. This is why it's sci-fi. It’s not a fantasy, because everything is somewhat based on scientific reasoning, right? Yeah. Now, I just make you watch it sometime.

不论是海外求学，国际旅行，接待外宾还是跨境业务洽谈中，你是否满腹干货，想做中华文化使者，但又苦于无法用英文表达？语言，不仅能让你看到更广阔的世界也能让你在更大的舞台发出自己的声音。酒馆特别板块： China Story【用英语，说中国】，双语播出，适合不同段位的你。让我们一起，讲述有趣有料的中国故事。岁寒三友 The Three Friends of Winter时至岁末，万物冬藏。风雪之中，有几种植物挺霜而立、凌寒飘香，给寒冬增添别样的美丽，给人们带来绿色的希望。The Three Friends of Winter is an art motif that comprises the pine, bamboo, and plum. The Chinese celebrated the pine, bamboo and plum together, as they observed that these plants do not wither as the cold days deepen into the winter season unlike many other plants. Known by the Chinese as the Three Friends of Winter, they later entered the conventions of East Asian culture and Vietnamese culture. Together they symbolize steadfastness, perseverance, and resilience. They are highly regarded in Confucianism and as such represent the scholar-gentleman's ideal.严寒时节的三位友人，具体指松、竹、梅三种植物。在中国传统文化中，有些植物因其自然属性而被赋予某种人文蕴涵。松、竹四季常青，历冬不凋；梅花凌霜傲雪，美丽绽放。三者都不怕严寒，在严寒中展现自身的生命力和自然美，宛如在严寒中相伴生长的好友，故被世人合称为“岁寒三友”。在历代文人骚客的不尽吟咏之中，被赋予顽强刚毅、坚韧不拔、高洁坚贞等精神品格，点亮了中国人的精神世界。 When the famous intellectual Su Shi' was exile to Hubei. With help from a friend, he built a small residence on a parcel of land. Not only did he grow crops on the land, he also planted pine trees, bamboos and plum trees. 北宋大文豪苏东坡遭到权臣排挤，被贬至黄州(今湖北省黄冈县)。为了解决经济困难，苏东坡自己开垦了一片荒地，种植稻、麦、桑、枣等农作物。不久，他又在院子里种上松、柏、梅、竹等花木。When his friend visited him and asked Su whether he felt too lonely and isolated in the winter with no one around. 一次，朋友来看望他，见他的居所冷清萧瑟，便打趣地问他坐卧起居，满眼看见的都是雪，是不是太寂寞，太冷清？Su laughed that said:“风泉两部乐，松竹三益友。” how can I be lonely when everyday I enjoy the symphony of the breeze and babbling spring and the companionship of my three friends of winter;清风吹拂和泉水淙淙的声音就是两曲优美的音乐，枝叶常青的松柏、经历寒冬而不雕谢的竹子和傲雪绽放的梅花，便是相伴严冬最好的朋友。

不论是海外求学，国际旅行，接待外宾还是跨境业务洽谈中，你是否满腹干货，想做中华文化使者，但又苦于无法用英文表达？语言，不仅能让你看到更广阔的世界也能让你在更大的舞台发出自己的声音。酒馆特别板块： China Story【用英语，说中国】，双语播出，适合不同段位的你。让我们一起，讲述有趣有料的中国故事。中国古人如何保暖的？Temperature adjustable room daubed with pepper mashDuring the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-220) dynasties, temperature adjustable rooms emerged in royal families. Royal court had larger and well-equipped rooms, with fireplaces and "Fire walls" that were attached to the stove. They were basically the rudimentary forms of radiator and kang bed-stove.秦朝时，在贵族以及皇宫内又出现了“壁炉”和“火墙”等用以取暖。壁炉里主要是用烧炭来御寒，并且将出烟孔放在室外，避免炭烟中毒。另外在秦兴乐宫遗址中还发现了火墙的做法，即用两块筒瓦相扣，做成管道包在墙的内侧，与灶相连通，已经具备了火炕、暖气的雏形。Imperial palaces such as Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace in Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) had temperature adjustable halls. It is said that the "temperature adjustable hall" was built with pepper mash daubed on the wall, embroidery tapestries hung on the wall and a thick carpet paved on the ground. Windshield screens and wild goose feather-made curtains were also used to keep cool air outside.汉武帝时建立了一座温室殿，位于前殿之北，冬天时供皇帝居住，在殿内设有各种防寒保暖的特殊设备，《西京杂记》记载：“温室殿以花椒和泥涂壁， 壁面披挂锦绣，以香桂为主， 设火齐云母屏风，有鸿羽帐，地上铺着西域毛毯。”未央宫温室殿是公卿朝臣议政的重要殿所。Back in the days, only the empress’s palace was built with pepper mash on the wall, hence the name “椒房殿”(The palace of pepper houses) . For a long time, only the empress or the most favored concubines could enjoy this special privilege, making 椒房 the symbol of power in the inner palace.而皇后的宫殿则主要通过花椒和泥涂抹来取暖，被称为“椒房殿”。当然，到后来，“椒房”几乎成了皇后的代称，成为后宫女权的象征。Ground heating systemDuring the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912）dynasties, a ground heating system was used indoors, which was built by concreting circular flue underground. The charcoal fire smoke would flow through channels to the whole room and raise the temperature indoors. The ground heating system enabled the room heat up evenly and mildly. As the fiery pit and smoke jack was set outdoors, the heating method was safe, clean and practical.The ground heating system wasn't invented by Ming and Qing dynasty people. It emerged as early as Wei and Jin dynasties (AD 220-420). The historical record shows that the northeast part of China had used fire pits to keep warm during that time, which functioned similarly as a ground heating system.

关注【璐璐的英文小酒馆】+小助手【luluxjg2】获取全文稿不论是海外求学，国际旅行，接待外宾还是跨境业务洽谈中，你是否满腹干货，想做中华文化使者，但又苦于无法用英文表达？语言，不仅能让你看到更广阔的世界也能让你在更大的舞台发出自己的声音。酒馆特别板块： China Story【用英语，说中国】，双语播出，适合不同段位的你。让我们一起，讲述有趣有料的中国故事。The four cuisines we talked about in the previous episode were the four major cuisines of China before the Qing Dynasty, which is why they are collectively known as the Four Great Traditions of Chinese Cuisine (Lu, Chuan, Yue, and Su). Think of the next four cuisines as the newcomers, established around the end of Qing Dynasty to form the major eight.5. MIN (FUJIAN) CUISINE (闽菜): Min Cuisine is from the southeastern coastal province of Fujian. It features the best that both land and sea have to offer. Like most of the cuisines on this list, there are several sub-styles.In the capital city of Fuzhou, the food is light and fresh. Farther from the coast, in western Fujian, there are more meat than seafood dishes. In southern Fujian, you’ll find Hokkien cuisine, which has influenced (through migration) the cuisines of Southeast Asia and Taiwan. There is also Putian cuisine, which has a focus on seafood. 由于福建人民经常往来于海上，于是饮食习俗也逐渐形成带有开放特色的一种独特的菜系。闽菜以烹制山珍海味而著称，在色香味形俱佳的基础上，尤以“香”、“味”见长，其清鲜、和醇、荤香、不腻的风格特色，以及汤路广泛的特点，在烹坛园地中独具一席。福州菜淡爽清鲜，讲究汤提鲜，擅长各类山珍海味；闽南菜（厦门、漳州、泉州一带）讲究佐料调味，重鲜香。故此闽菜形成三大特色，一长于红糟调味，二长于制汤，三长于使用糖醋。In many parts of Fujian, a meal is not a meal without a soup. Their most esteemed soup—also perhaps the most famous soup in China—has a very unusual name. “Buddha/Monk Jumps Over the Wall” (佛跳墙).The name suggests that it’s so tantalizing that a monk would break all restraint and jump over the monastery wall to have a taste!It takes a few days to make this soup, with several very expensive ingredients from both land and sea. Some include jinhua ham, chicken, pork, mushrooms, fresh bamboo shoots, abalone, sea cucumber, dried scallops, and dried fish maw.With all these extravagant ingredients, you can expect to pay an arm and a leg for a bowl. The broth is clear, but the flavor is equally delicate, rich, and powerful. 佛跳墙通常选用***、海参、鱼唇、牦牛皮胶、杏鲍菇、蹄筋、花菇、墨鱼、瑶柱、鹌鹑蛋等汇聚到一起，加入高汤和福建老酒，文火煨制而成。成菜后，软嫩柔润，浓郁荤香，又荤而不腻，味中有味。Fujian cuisine also uses rice wine to make “drunken” dishes, fermented rice wine to make brines, and fermented red yeast rice sauce to braise.

关注【璐璐的英文小酒馆】+小助手【luluxjg2】获取全文稿Year of the Bunny 癸卯兔年-水兔-黑兔 Year of the Water Rabbit根据天干地支推算出，2023年属于癸卯年，癸属水，卯为兔，故有了“水兔年”的说法。同时，在五行当中，白色-金、青色-木、黑色-水、红色-火、黄色-土，因此，“水兔年”也被唤作“黑兔年”。Rabbit, HareRabbit and Hare are two species in the same family. Get to know Rabbit: • The large = Flemish Giant （up to 13kg）• The small = Netherland dwarf rabbit (between 0.5 – 1.13kg)• A baby rabbit is called a kit/kittens, a female is called a doe and a male is called a buck. • Rabbits are very social creatures that live in groups. They live in warrens – a series of tunnels and rooms that they dig underground.• Their teeth NEVER stop growing! Instead they’re gradually worn down as the rabbit chews on grasses, wildflowers and vegetables – meaning they never get too longRabbit symbolismRabbits almost always symbolize prosperity, abundance, good luck, and fertility.1. In most European cultures, rabbits are springtime animals, symbolic of fruitfulness and renewal. 2. The connection between rabbits and spring is also found in Japanese culture. 3. Rabbits are the luckiest of the Zodiac animals in China, according to Chinese astrology, rabbits are predicted to be gentle, quiet, elegant, and alert as well as quick, skillful, kind, patient, and very responsible, faithful .4. In the U.S., rabbits are symbolic of cleverness, devotion to self-improvement, and good luck. But they are primarily seen as trickster animals by Native American cultures. 5. Many Central American peoples see rabbits as symbols of fertility, Aztec mythology associates rabbits with drunkenness and promiscuity.Terms of endearmentHoney bunny Snuggle bunnyDust bunnyGym bunnySnow bunny Beach bunnyIdioms related to bunnyRabbit foodBreed like rabbitsPull a rabbit out of the hatpull a rabbit out of (one's)/the hatDown the rabbit holeAs mad as a March hareFamous rabbits in artsAlice in Wonderland（The White Rabbit） 【爱丽丝梦游仙境】里的白兔先生 Peter Rabbit 【彼得兔】Bambi (Thumper) 【小鹿斑比】里头的Thumper Bugs Bunny 【兔八哥】Zootopia （Judy Hopps）【疯狂动物城】里头的兔子朱迪和兔兔有关的成语发奋强，扬眉气，飞猛进，前似锦辞旧岁，跃新程

不论是海外求学，国际旅行，接待外宾还是跨境业务洽谈中，你是否满腹干货，想做中华文化使者，但又苦于无法用英文表达？语言，不仅能让你看到更广阔的世界也能让你在更大的舞台发出自己的声音。酒馆特别板块： China Story【用英语，说中国】，双语播出，适合不同段位的你。让我们一起，讲述有趣有料的中国故事。+luluxjg 或者关注工号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】领取精美文稿。Chinese regional cuisines are amongst the many different cuisines found in different provinces of China as well as from larger overseas Chinese communities.These styles are distinctive from one another due to the factors such as availability of resources, climate, geography, history, cooking techniques and lifestyle. One style may favor the generous use of garlic and spring onions over chilli and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats.一个菜系的形成和它的悠久历史与独到的烹饪特色分不开的。同时也受到这个地区的自然地理、气候条件、资源特产、饮食习惯等影响。HistoryAs early as the Shang Dynasty (17th century BC - 1046 BC) and Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 256 BC), China’s dietary culture has taken shape. 商周时期，中国的饮食文化开始初具雏形。In the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) , the northern and southern food already had their own characteristics. The interesting fact is, back then, it was the North that favored sweet flavors while the South went for more savory options. 早在宋代的时候，中国各地的饮食已经有了区别。《梦溪笔谈》（The Dream Pool Essays）卷二四中记录到：“大底南人嗜咸，北人嗜甘。鱼蟹加糖蜜，盖便于北俗也。”在当时，中国的口味主要有两种，北方人喜欢吃甜的，南方人喜欢吃咸的。By the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), Chinese cuisine started to divide into three distinctive styles based on cuisines of Beijing, Suzhou and Guangdong. 南宋时候，北方人大量南迁。逐渐地，北方的饮食文化影响了南方。在南方地区形成了自己的派系。到了明代末期，中国饮食分为京式、苏式和广式。京式偏咸，苏式、广式偏甜。Historically, the Four Great Traditions(四大菜系) of Chinese cuisine are Chuan, Lu, Yue and Su, representing West, North, South and East China cuisine correspondingly. However, in modern times the list is often expanded to the Eight Great Traditions (Chinese: 八大菜系)By the early Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD), four most influential cuisines prevailed. What are the four main styles of Chinese cuisine at that time? They are cuisines of Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong and Jiangsu respectively. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the four new cuisines - Zhejiang cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Hunan cuisine, and Anhui cuisine appeared; together with former four cuisines, they were listed as “8 Chinese Cuisines”.到了清代的时候，徐珂所辑的《清稗类钞》中记载：“肴馔之各有特色者，如京师、山东、四川、广东、福建、江宁、苏州、扬州、镇江、淮安。”后来概括为鲁、川、粤、苏四大菜系。清末民初开始，闽、浙、湘、徽等地方菜也逐渐出名，就形成了中国的“八大菜系”。后来形成最有影响和代表性的也为社***公认的有：鲁、川、粤、苏、闽、浙、湘、徽等菜系，即被人们常说的中国“八大菜系”。

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is F.I.R.E. 不是 “火” 这个词, 而是F.I.R.E, abbreviation, it refers to financial independence, retire early, 财富自由, 早早退休. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it？Who wouldn't want financial independence at an early age so that we can just retire. 这几年大家的日子都过得挺紧巴, 但你再往前倒几年, 经济形势比较好的时候, 其实身边还是有很多人在讨论财务自由的, 比如说知乎上就有很多帖子问, 在什么北上广深要实现财务自由需要多少钱？And usually people would give an astronomical number, but actually this F.I.R.E in English might be slightly different from your understanding of财富自由. So let's dive right into it. The F.I.R.E movement is a lifestyle movement with the goal of gaining financial independence and retiring early. 它其实是有关于生活方式的一种风潮或者运动. The model became particularly popular among millennials. In the 2010s, gaining traction through online communities, via Information shared in blogs, podcast, and online discussion forums. 在10年左右是最火的时候, 差不多也是那个时候国内有很多关于财富自由的讨论, 而最热衷于讨论他们的就是millennials千禧一代, 我原来说过, 基本相当于咱们的80 90后。The main ideas behind the F.I.R.E movement originate from the 1992 bestselling book, Your Money or Your Life, as well as the 2010 book Early Retirement Extreme. These works provide the basic template of combining a lifestyle of simple living with income from investments to achieve financial independence. 财富自由运动, 它倡导的就是通过相对简单的生活方式以及各种投资性的收入, 也就是非工作的收入来实现财富自由。In particular, the book Early Retirement Extreme describes the relationship between savings rate and time to retirement, which allows individuals to quickly project their retirement date, given an assumed level of income and expenses. 2010年这本书里还详细的帮你计算了你的收入、开支以及你退休时点之间的关系. 也就是说只要你用它的公式, 就可以通过现在的收入和开支算出你几岁能退休。And this movement kind of also led to the increasing popularity of side hustling. Because this is also seen as a path to accelerate financial independence. 这个财富自由的运动也带火了, 我们之前提到过的比如说side hustling副业这样的风潮. 因为大家会觉得如果有side hustle就能更快更早地实现financial independence. In essence, the F.I.R.E movement is about deciding when you want to stop working, often earlier than traditional retirement ages, then saving up to live your ideal lifestyle when you get there.In China, when we think about financial independence, we think it's a life of luxury. 在国内一般人提到财富自由, 很多人都会觉得说你一定要特别有钱, 要资产过亿. But actually the original F.I.R.E movement in English speaking world, it recommends three main lifestyles you can aim for.

＋ luluxjg2 或者工号 璐璐的英文小酒馆索取【闲话英伦】系列精美文稿啦Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜. Hi, Lulu, hi everyone. So what are we going to talk about today?As many of you know, I've recently gone back to London. And I was walking around London and I just suddenly thought it might be interesting to talk a little bit about how London developed, and in particular, how it used to smell. How it used to smell? Yes. Okay. So I was walking along the Thames and it got me thinking about medieval London and Victorian London and what it was like back then. In London today is pretty clean I would say, especially considering it's a bustling metropolis. Yes, I wouldn't say it's like the cleanest city in the world, but actually there's so many trees in London that technically according to the United Nations’ own standards, London is technically a forest. All right. One thing that did get me is that the Thames, everyone knows the Thames泰晤士河, Thames is… I don't know if it's dirty or… the color is just it's very brown. It is very brown. But actually it's a very clean river. The reason why it's so brown is because it's a tidal river. It's close to the sea, it’s an estuary. So lots of the mud and the soil is being washed down the Thames; and also you have the tides coming in from the sea. So basically, it's more muddy than anything else. So it's not contaminated or polluted, it’s just the mud. No, no, there's lots of fish that actually are able to live in the Thames. But you mentioned that London used to smell, when was that?It got really, really bad in the Victorian age. And if you go back, imagine that you're walking down the street in London in the mid-19th century, the first thing you would have noticed was the mud. So there were no like pavements?There were pavements, but the actual main road was covered in mud. Now, most of that mud though, was not actually mud. It was dung. From the horses?From the horses. In the 1890s, the city's horses were producing 1,000 tons of dung a day. Wow, they sure crap a lot. Yes, the horses. You can imagine back then there were young children who were paid to try and scoop up as much of the dung as possible to free up the traffic, and they'll sell that dung to farmers. Yet the other thing about the Victorian times, Victorian London, was that there were a lot of child laborers. Yeah, and there's also a lot of poor people. In some areas, particularly more affluent areas, wealthier areas of London, there used to be men that would stand by the roadside and you would pay them. So what they would do is when you wanted across the road, they will shovel the dung out of your pathway. And they were essentially like human traffic crossings. They had to shuffle the dung away, the manure away, so that you can walk. Otherwise you just walking on horse shit.Pretty much, and also back then as well the reason why I said it was really, really bad was because London grew incredibly quickly. Sewage was rudimentary, and there weren't many sewers instead cesspits were used. 所以那个时候下水管道是没有的, 或者说基本上非常basic. Yeah. And they just have cesspit for all the sewage.And it used to get really, really bad because you had to pay people to climb in and dig out the cesspit, they were called night soil men. Isn't it quite dangerous? I mean, it happens, especially in the rural areas, I think not that long ago. If you had this cesspit and then if people fall into it, they could really die. A lot of them did. It was a profitable work because they would sell the waste to farmers. And there was also a rule that you could find… wherever you found you kept. So if there's any loose change or coins or jewelry that dropped in and it was yours, but it was very, very dangerous work. And also you have to pay them. So you can imagine if you didn't have that much money or you were a bit cheap, what would happen?

＋ luluxjg2 或者工号 璐璐的英文小酒馆索取【用英语说中国】系列精美文稿啦Hi everyone, and welcome back China Story, 欢迎回来【用英语说中国】, it has been a while.Today is the Little New Year in Chinese culture. 今天是小年了, 确切说是北方的小年, 南方应该会晚一天. The major celebration of the Chinese New Year is just around the corner and I bet many of you are taking stock of the year we just had and getting ready to ring in the new one. And may I just say: What a year! 相信经历了诸多起伏诸事不顺的2022年，大家都迫不及待想要翻篇儿了吧。过去的三年可以说关键词就只有一个: The COVID-19 pandemic，新冠疫情。那么今天，趁着小年，咱们就来聊聊中国文化里的：瘟神。 瘟神usually translated into God of Plague or God of Pestilence, is a god or group of gods responsible for illness, plague, and disease in Chinese folk religion. 瘟神或者叫疫病神, 是中国乃至东亚民间信仰中的瘟疫之神。In some belief systems, 瘟神(Wen Shen) is identified as a single entity who commands wen spirits; in others, the term is used for a grouping of several distinct gods.各地信仰的瘟神其实并不一致, 可以是一位也可以是几位神的组合. In the olden times, when medical knowledge was not yet as advanced as today, people believed that plagues were caused by evil spirits. In order to ward off these epidemic spirits, protection gods were worshipped that were thought to dispel the plague.瘟疫其实就是急***病, 在古代民智未开医, 疗条件比较低劣的情况下, 大家对于这种可怕的疾病恐惧至极, 甚至很多的时候认为是鬼神作祟, 因此也会祈求神灵保护. And this could be found in many different cultures. Now we call them God or Gods of Plague or Pestilence, but initially, there weren’t gods at all. In fact, there were more considered evil spirits. Three to be more precise.

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Brain Fog. I think by now, most of you have already recovered from Covid, while most of your symptoms might have disappeared already, some of you might still be experiencing some lasting after effects. 相信听我们节目的大部分小伙伴和我一样都已经 “阳康”了, 虽然可能大部分的症状都已经没有了, 但阳过之后可能会有一些持续时间更长的后遗症。 For example, you might still be coughing a little bit. For me, personally, I feel like my sense of smell is not as sharp as before. In addition to this, some people have been complaining that their brains seem to have slowed down a bit. So I thought it would be a good idea to talk about this buzzword relating to covid, Brain Fog. 中文直接翻译成 “脑雾”。 I'm pretty sure many of you have heard of this expression both in Chinese and in English, but actually brain fog isn't a medical term. It's a term used for certain symptoms that can affect your ability to think, you may feel confused or disorganized or find it hard to focus or put your thoughts into words. 所谓的 “脑雾” 其实并不是一个医学术语, 只是大家对于认知能力受到一定影响, 喜欢用的这么一个口头表达。To be more specific, this might include a range of symptoms. 它的具体症状包括,仔细听听看, 看你有没有躺枪:Poor concentration, especially difficulty in multitasking and following conversations. 比较难集中注意力, 特别是multitasking几件事情同时进行的时候尤其明显, 而且有时候跟人说话感觉跟不上节奏; feeling confused, 喜欢犯迷糊; thinking more slowly than usual;forgetfulness, 健忘; mental fatigue, 精神疲累; fuzzy thoughts, 脑子里面就好像一团雾,感觉什么东西都模模糊糊的。Brain fog can feel similar to the effects of sleep deprivation or stress. 即使身体完全健康的人, 也可能因为睡眠不足或者压力过大出现brain fog. It's not the same as dementia and does not mean structural damage to the brain. 不用太担心的就是, 这种脑雾和真正的失智或者痴呆症是完全不同的, 这并不意味着你的脑子受到了结构性的损伤。Now there are a number of factors and health conditions that can cause brain fog, including lack of sleep, increased stress levels.会造成脑雾的原因, 除了我们刚才说到的睡眠不足或者说压力过大, 还可能包括depression抑郁, dementia痴呆症或者失智, perimenopause女性的围绝经期也就是绝经前的时期, medication服用的某种药物, hormonal conditions 激素水平的变化。 For example, some women might complain about brain fog during or right after the pregnancy. 俗话里说的什么 “一孕傻三年” 其实也跟 brain fog有点关系. And of course, one other factor that can cause brain fog is a viral infection such as COVID-19. 当然还有一个很重要的原因就是病毒性感染, 比如新冠。While recovering from COVID-19, some people experience brain fog, symptoms may vary and change over time. It's not just people who were hospitalized with coronavirus who can develop brain fog. It's a common part of long COVID.新冠所引起的脑雾, 不光是那些危重症在医院里的人才会出现, 很多得过新冠的人也会出现这种long COVID, 所谓的长新冠, 也就是新冠的一些后续问题后遗症, 脑雾就是其中之一。Many people who have recovered from the acute life-threatening effects of COVID-19, but still report that they don't feel that they're thinking and memory back to normal. 这也就是很多人可能已经没有了其他那些更严重的, 甚至危及生命的新冠症状, 但是仍然觉得他们的思维和记忆力都没有恢复到之前的正常水平。You can think of the brain fog as a networking problem with communication between the various parts of the brain becoming compromised by either direct injury from the virus itself or from immune system over activation that leaves us simmering, but gradually fading inflammation behind in the brain. 更具体的来讲会出现这种脑雾, 其实是因为你的脑部的各个部分, 由于受到了病毒的攻击, 仍然在恢复的过程中, 也可能是在病毒攻击下, 你整体的免疫系统被过度激活, 所以在脑部仍然留有一些炎症反应的后遗症。A COVID-19 infection and its inflammatory aftermath jolt the intricately coordinated neural networks in the brain and disrupt the flow of Information.新冠感染的本身以及它后续的一些炎症的反应, 都可能一定程度地影响我们的脑部, 也就让我们传递信息的这些通路出现了一些不顺畅。The good news is that the vast majority of patients with the post COVID-19 brain fog recover completely over the course of 6 to 9 months.

关注工号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取全文逐字稿和更多好文哦Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】Hi, 安澜.Hi Lulu. hi everyone. Last time we were talking about Oxford from the Oxbridge combo. So today let's talk about Cambridge, 牛建里的剑桥. Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of people in China, their first association with Cambridge is 徐志摩，is再别康桥. I've actually been to the memorial in Cambridge. So 康桥就是Cambridge, but it's just like a different translation. Now Oxford and Cambridge, Cambridge is later, right? It was founded later. Yeah, Cambridge is relatively new, because it was founded in 1209. Relatively new. Well, relatively.So Cambridge is quite similar to Oxford. There is no campus and the colleges are spread throughout the city, so it's made up of about 31 colleges with over 150 different institutions all within the university. So like Oxford which is located in Oxford city, Cambridge, it's also its own city. Cambridge is a city, and just like Oxford, it's got lots of people who live there. There's lots of it's actually quite a lot of service industries in Cambridge. So lovely city as well. It's a beautiful city. I would say Cambridge is slightly quieter than Oxford. Oxford is still quite close to central London. Cambridge is a little bit further out and there's a lot more countryside around Cambridge. And how far is it from London? There's about 2.5 hours. So it's a bit more out there. It is a little bit more out there, yeah. And I remember we were talking about most of your Prime Ministers graduated from Oxford. So, I remember you mentioning that Oxford is more humanities and Cambridge focuses a little bit more on science. Yeah, it's not as clear cut as that, but Cambridge does have a really strong scientific background. So for example, the Cavendish laboratory is one of the most famous in the world, in particular, for physics and biology, so it's really famous, even though it's quite new, it's 19th century, but this is where the electron, the neutron and DNA were discovered.Impressive. But having said that, it's not all science because I know that there is something theatrical going on in Cambridge.Yes, you have the really famous amateur theatrical club, footlights. I don't know. Hugh Laurie?Yes, Hugh Laurie, John Oliver, Douglas Adams. So for those of you who have listened to our literature album, we've talked about Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this is where they all started. 对, 我们的名著专辑专门才讲过他的一本书。Yeah, talking about books though, Cambridge has some amazing libraries. There are over 100 libraries in Cambridge and the main one is actually what we call a legal deposit library. What is a legal deposit library? So under British law, every book that is published in the UK and Ireland, Cambridge University library can request a copy of it for free. Oh, so it's more like almost like an archive for record keeping. Yeah, Oxford has the same thing as well. But every book that is published in the UK generally goes to Cambridge University library. So that's about 100,000 books every single year. So that's like heaven for bookworms. I love the bookshops in Cambridge. Imagine being a student going to Cambridge...Oh, God, amazing.

可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】加入社群，查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hello, 安澜.Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone. 安澜 you grew up as a top student, right？Overachiever. I was certainly kind of… a bit of a nerd. Don't be modest. 安澜绝对是从小是学霸那种. You know that many top students in China, they have... and I believe everywhere in the world, have this certain obsession with top universities. 学霸都有那种顶尖名校情结。I think pretty much every student they think about the top university, they want to try to aim for that. Especially the top students. So I thought we can talk about some top universities in the UK. Now when I think about, and I think I speak for a lot of people, when we think about famous universities, in the UK, we think Oxbridge. 中文也叫牛剑, 英文也叫Oxbridge, 把这两个学校拼在一起, 对吧?We do think about Oxbridge, and I guess if we have to speak about them...Yes, because 安澜 did not go to Oxbridge.No, but my university was okay, was good. But I wasn't smart enough for Oxford, but my university is also still ranking in the top three or top five. 对安澜去的UCL (University College London) 也一般都是排名top three的, 有几年还超过了 我记得是超过了Cambridge, there were a couple of years. I can't quite remember exactly when. But nonetheless, let's talk about Oxbridge.Okay.Let's start with oxford.It's good that we start with Oxford, because that was the first university in the UK. It's actually the second oldest university in the world. The first being in, I don't know, Germany? Italy. So the first university was in Italy, and then the second oldest is Oxford. And pretty much it's so old that they're not quite sure when teaching began there. Some people say it's around 1096 or so, but people don't really know. 1096, almost a thousand years.Pretty much. It is close to 1000 years old. And you think about all of these students that kept going to Oxford, and you think about all the students from other countries that want to go to Oxford. Actually the first international student arrived in 1190. That's very liberal minded at that time. So you're talking about international students being admitted into oxford so early. What about women?Women had to wait a little bit longer, until 1920 actually. It figures, 1920s. And that's to all the colleges. No, actually all colleges started to admit both men and women from 2008. 2008?Calm down, calm down. It's not banning women from attending these colleges, it's actually banning men. So the last female-only college actually only started admitting male students in 2008.I see. 所以Oxford里面有一个是只收女生的学院. I see. And in 2008, onwards both men and women.That's right. You mentioned colleges. Now is it a case that Oxford is like this big umbrella, basically understanding of university, and then you have different colleges that belong to the university?Oxford University or the University of Oxford has about 39 colleges, which are self-governing. They all have their own traditions in history. But when you think about Oxford as a city, don't think of it as like one big university, it's actually lots of colleges all spread out across the city. So they don't really have the idea of a main campus with a gate. No. It's all part of the main city. And that's pretty much the same for many universities in the UK. You don't actually have a main gate and fences around the campus. It's actually just part of the city. Yeah, even some London based universities, they don't have campus, their buildings are just scattered around London. That's right. Same with Oxford. Actually you mentioned Oxford city. So Oxford is actually a city, a town that many people don't know that, it's not just a university. It is a city. It's a very popular city. It's not very big though. Well, it's still a city.

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is on Unboxing. Now if you're a follower of social media or video streaming sites, you have definitely heard of the concept. 但凡你视频没少刷, 你都一定看到过这种类型的视频, 咱们今天的buzzword Unboxing就是字面意思—开箱。Unboxing is literally the unpacking of products, especially high-tech consumer products where the process is captured on video and uploaded to the internet. 我们说的开箱视频, the item is then also explained in detail and can sometimes be demonstrated as well. 就是大家在小某书小破站上都看到过的那种视频, 一个UP主收到了某个品牌的新品, 然后对着摄像头开箱, 并且一边开一边具体的分享他的感受以及试用的体验。Now you may think Unboxing is a relatively new concept, but actually Yahoo Tech places the first unboxing video to be for the Nokia E61 cell phone in 2006.可能在有些人的记忆里开箱, 也就是近些年来才火起来的, 但其实这种意义上的开箱视频早在2006年就有, 而当时开箱的产品居然是诺基亚, 现在听起来就已经觉得好古早的品牌了。 And according to Google trends, searches for the term unboxing began to surface in the final quarter of 2006. 根据Google trends, 谷歌趋势的数据分析, Unboxing这个词也是从2006年最后一个季度开始被人不断搜索。Now early unboxing videos focused mainly either on gadgets or fashion items, however, once the trend took off, unboxing videos were available for nearly everything that is available for purchase. 最早的开箱视频一般都是电子类产品或者是时尚类的单品, 但现在你也知道, 所有的东西都可以开箱测评。By 2014, the popularity of these unboxing videos were such that some companies have been known to upload unboxing videos for their own products whilst others send products to uploaders for free. 这个风潮被带起来之后, 2014年左右开始, 各种各样的商家也都加入了这个阵营, 要么是自己做起了官方的开箱视频, 要么就是把自己的产品发给那些UP主, 让他们来做unboxing videos. You might ask why are unboxing videos so popular? And yes, they are popular both within China and in other parts of the world. Some people considered that the popularity of unboxing videos is due to the ability of showing the product exactly for what it is without any adulteration advertisers usually make around the product. 有些人就说可能是因为传统的广告片里往往会把这个产品拍得过于的完美, 而真实的开箱视频会让消费者更直观的看到一个产品真实的面貌。And being able to see what the customer is actually getting can contribute to the decision process. Now these influencers who have up loaded the unboxing videos, they have tried to make these unboxing videos more interesting by adding all sorts of special effects or doing them in different ways with lots of creativity. 和网上所有其他的视频一样, 开箱测评这个领域也非常的卷, 简简单单的去开个箱, 已经不足以吸引人的眼球了, 所以各路UP主就各显神通, 加入各种各样奇奇怪怪的创意。They often d***tize it and, in turn, take on a quirky, playful spirit, for example, to unbox a waterproof device, then they take the unboxing underwater, 比如说一个防水的电子产品, UP主就选择水下开箱, 那各种角色扮演玩段子整活更是层出不穷。 Meanwhile, the growth of e-commerce has also been a major factor contributing to the rise of unboxing. 当然电商的越来越火, 也是另外一个重要因素.

+luluxjg2了解详情哦I'm really curious. So 安澜 in the UK for example, do you guys learn or are you required to learn Greek myth in school? To a certain extent, we are told these stories and these stories are relatively well known in the English-speaking world. We're probably not taught to that same extent, it's not like, for example, we have a Greek mythology class. So it's not systematic.No, but we are told these stories. And to be honest for someone who would be kind of well-read or well-educated, there is that understanding that they would at least no parts of the stories? 我来翻译一下更直白的说就是有文化的人你多少都得懂点Greek myths, 就是这也是你文化修养/文化素养的一部分吧. So it's like our other bluffer's guide is one of those things that will make you sound more cultured and more just better read and educated. And also to understand a lot of the references in culture that are related to Greek myths. As we'll talk about in the album, there's quite a few expressions, quite a few words in English that all come from Greek mythology. For example, if you say someone is narcissistic or you can say a beautiful guy being the literal Adonis.Yeah, and we even go into some kind of slightly more advanced vocabulary, slightly harder vocabulary, like for example, Sisyphean.Sisyphean and tantalizing.Tantalizing as well. All of these words we just mentioned have their roots in Greek mythology. That's right. Very interesting stories behind them. Yeah. Yeah, I think that makes Greek mythology still highly relevant. I would say that just from an interest perspective, we really hope that you enjoy the stories because they are entertaining. They are fascinating stories. But also from a learning aspect, the album is done mostly in English with Lulu speaking a bit of Chinese to gloss over some of the more complex parts. There are full scripts as well, but more importantly we're telling the stories in English. Yeah.And also we are explaining these stories impact on western culture. Now let's get into exactly how this album is structured and how is it created or developed. 这个跟我们之前的一些课程不太一样, 就像我们开始说它不是一个那种形式的课程, 就好像两个老师在这跟你讲。首先 Album分为三个部分, 同样的1个故事, 比如说这里面有10个主要的故事, 然后每个故事有3个部分, 第一个部分是安澜的英音纯享版, so it's just 安澜's gentle voice telling you the story. Yes.Just the story. 你可以把它理解为带表情讲述的那种感觉。而且安澜的声音本来就非常gentle, 这个里面就很适合你哄睡。This is your bedtime listening, so hopefully the story will actually put you to sleep. But hopefully not because it's boring. Yeah.然后第二个部分是一个我跟安澜的讲述的部分, 因为你光听 story的话里面会有很多的点, 你可能听不明白, 不管是词也好, 还有包括一些神的名字, 以及他们具体什么样的角色, 以及当时的一些context, 这个里面, 我也会用我最温柔的声音跟安澜一起来讲述和讲解这个故事, 这个部分就会更长, 比那个故事要长很多。Yeah. Both these two sections, we would say we made them children friendly. You remember Lulu saying about some of the Greek myth can be a little bit unsuitable for children. A little bit？Very unsuitable for children. So what I'm doing is I'm telling the story as I was told the story when I was five or six years old. 对, 前面这两个部分, 不管是安澜的纯享哄睡版, 还是我跟安澜的讲解版本, 我们都会用比较温柔的声音, 然后给大家讲的都是一些全家都能听的东西。但是有的小伙伴肯定会说 What about all these saucy bits？What about all these really abnormal or just the interesting things about Greek mythology？那个我们也没有放弃, 这就是为什么每个故事有第三个部分, 我跟安澜把它叫做Lulu and Anlan's What On Earth Were They Thinking？就是他们在搞哪样？在搞什么鬼？ 我们把它叫做【璐璐和安澜的吐槽时间】, 里面有一些让人很费解的一些情节, 一些超级***的或者说三观尽毁的情节，然后我和安澜会用现代人的视角去对他进行一个吐槽。So we're going to be looking at these myths in a more modern way, we would also be telling you the full truth behind these myths as well. So this is probably a section not for children. This is more for adults. I think the more you emphasize on that, the more it makes them want to listen to. Hopefully. Today's children mature early. But I will still feel happier if children didn't really listen to that section. 不过吐槽的环节, 我们会把它跟前面的分开, 因为吐槽环节我们的声音音量, 包括我们说话的方式也会有所改变, 所以就希望不要大家在哄睡的故事听完之后突然开始出现情绪比较激动的吐槽。

Hi, everyone. And welcome back to 酒馆. Hi, 安澜. Hi 璐璐. Hi everyone. We have a piece of good news. We have yet another new album. 我们的新课程其实不是新课程, 就是一个新专辑。 Yes.为什么不是课程呢 ，等一下你就知道了, 因为没有那么正经。Yeah, to be honest, in this we're not really trying to teach in that way. What we're trying to do is we're trying to share something about western culture that is pretty much well known throughout the English-speaking world, but also French, German, and in particular, the Greek speaking world.关子卖的够多了，这个专辑叫做【Story Time With Lulu And Anlan- Greek Mythology】.Yes. 我们把它叫做【璐璐和安澜的晚安故事-希腊神话篇】, 为什么叫做Story Time With Lulu And Anlan? First of all, we're telling stories Yeah. Second of all, in the future we want to expand this to cover other things. Yes, to be honest, this is really a labor of love. Yeah, and Greek mythology is only the beginning. Yes, that's because Lulu and I, we both love stories. This is one of the things that I would say that most of us are like, we love a good story, we love to be told tales, whether or not we're really young children; or whether or not in our cases, a little bit older than that. 不管是儿童还是成年儿童都喜欢听故事。And this is something universal, and it has been like that since the beginning of time. Exactly. I would imagine cave people get together to listen to stories. Yeah. But why Greek mythology, 为什么从希腊神话开始, I know that 安澜 has an answer for all of these questions because he absolutely is fascinated with Greek mythology. Basically we chose Greek mythology because I kept nagging Lulu that we really should do Greek mythology because it's something that I love to talk about. But first things first, what is Greek mythology? 我们知道说希腊神话, 希腊神话, 但希腊神话实际上包括的是什么东西？Greek mythology are the myths and legends of ancient Greece, so they're linked to the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Greece. There are so many stories that have come down through the ages.And these were the stories that were told already in ancient Greece. Yeah, they were used to explain what the world was like, they were used to entertain, they were used to teach; same as mythologies around the world. Now what makes Greek mythology I would say even more special is the emphasis and the impact of Greek culture and later Roman culture on western civilization or western societies. More than a little bit later. But first things first, you mentioned Roman, ancient Rome, 就古希腊, 古罗马, 我的历史不好, 所以我在这上面总是有一些confusion, 特别是有一些神在Greek mythology里面它叫一个名字, 但他到了Roman mythology又叫另外一个名字, 是这样吗？比如说宙斯, Zeus, that's his name in Greek mythology. Yeah, but in ancient Rome, his name was Jupiter. So Zeus and Jupiter that was basically the same character. Yes, I won't go too much into details because it's a bit complicated. But ancient Rome really, really admired ancient Greece. They wanted to base their culture in ancient Greece. I see, so they sort of imitated.

欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Off-the-Grid.Before we get into this expression, let me ask you a question: when you are slaving away at your work every day or being tortured by all these hustle and bustle of a megacity that you live in, have you ever thought about getting away from it at all and live a simpler life？近些年来在国内也经常看到那种新闻, 比如说什么90后小夫妻卖掉城市里的房子, 然后回归田园生活等等。It’s a nice dream for a lot of people. 所以今天的Buzzword里, 我们就说一说终极的回归田园的生活方式叫做Off-the-Grid, 可以翻译成「脱离电网生活」。Sounds a bit strange? Let me explain.Living off grid or living off-the-grid means living in a property without connection to public utilities, like the main electrical grid.它之所以被叫做 off-the-grid living, 是说这种生活方式, 它不依赖于现代生活的所有这些public utilities公共事业, 比如水、电、污水处理, 其中 grid特别就是指 main electrical grid集中的电网。So in other words, off grid homes are completely autonomous. It is all about being self-sufficient, they rely on themselves. 因为国情不一样, 可能这么说, 还有很多人不能理解。 其实我就在比如说澳大利亚新西兰看到过这种off-the-grid living, 比如说到树林里自己建一个房子, 它的电水全部都是自己解决。This way of life is also known as homesteading, permanent camping, or living off the land. Now you can go fully off-the-grid by generating your own electricity, digging wells, using septic tanks, composting, and growing your own food, and you probably stop using phones and the internet as well. 讲到off-the-grid也有不同程度, 有些人的off-the-grid living是非常硬核的, 他会自己发电, 自己挖水井, 或者想办法利用自然的水源, 连污水处理、堆肥一系列的事情都自己处理, 当然吃的东西也靠自己种, 完全告别手机网络这些东西。But then there are also some others, they prefer to live partially off-the-grid. Now keep in mind this can be different from person to person. 还有的人只是想浅尝这种off-the-grid living. 这里面就会有各种不一样的选择了. They can use, for example, solar power, but they may still rely on other utilities like city water or sewage. 他可能会用比如说太阳能之类的能源, 但是水和污水处理这些可能还是要用到公用设施。Some people they even buy food at grocery store or have internet access. As you can see, it depends on what works best for you. But the whole idea of living off-the-grid is trying not to be so dependent on modern urban living so that you can live in a more self-sufficient way. 但大部分想选择living off-the-grid的人, 都是希望能够过一种更加自给自足的, 更加简单的生活。Let's be honest, it's not for everyone, especially that we're so used to modern conveniences, but there are some benefits to this sustainable way of life. For example, number one, small environmental footprints.You will use less water, produce less waste, and rely on alternative energy sources, renewable energy sources to generate electricity. 首先比起都市生活, 你个人对于环境的影响会更小。Number two, deeper connection with nature. 你可以深度拥抱大自然。A lot of people who live off-the-grid, they will live much closer to nature. And this will help you reconnect with nature. This is also why off-the-grid living is more popular in places where they are a lot of beautiful and relatively safe natural areas. Number three, better health. When moving to the wilderness, people usually become more self-reliant, more active. And this can help prevent some health problems. 这种在大自然里自给自足的生活会让你的身体也变好。Number four, greater personal satisfaction.Learning new skills to survive without public utilities and solving problems on your own will boost your confidence. 在这样自给自足的生活中, 你有没有发现自己各方面的生存和动手技能逐日提升？ The last but not least, lower stress and anxiety. For most people, the number one reason why they want to get away from urban living is because modern life makes them feel stressed and anxious, and living surrounded by nature can help you feel more relaxed. But of course as you can imagine, living off-the-grid has its own share of problems. There are some important basics that you need to keep in mind. Should you ever want to consider some form of off-the-grid living？The three essential things for survival are water, food, and shelter. 如果你真要想尝试live off-the-grid, 首先要考虑的是生存的三个基本要素, 水、食物和住所。Water is obviously the most important for survival. While if you live in the city, you never really ha

全文稿+luluxjg2General Info.it's a British American Period D*** inspired by the Covent Garden ladies, by British historian Hallie Rubenhold. 是一个历史时代剧It's set in the 18th century London, the Georgian era. 时代背景是18世纪乔治王时代的伦敦It tells the story of courtesans/prostitutes of two brothels competing not just to stay on the top, but to stay alive. this TV series is inspired by The Covent Garden Ladies, a book written by British historian, Hallie Rubenhold.Why recommend it?no.1, it is a costume d*** set against rich historical tapestry.有丰富历史背景的时代剧no.2, there's the amazing acting and very round characters. 张力十足的表演和有血有肉的角色 no.3 there's the gripping storyline. 抓人的故事线no.4 it also shows the complexity and the greediness of humanity from a female angle. 用女性视角去展现很多人性的复杂和粗粝no.5 for someone who's a language enthusiast, it does offer very interesting linguistic specimens. 这部剧有丰富有趣的词汇量no.6 the music, it's a blend of historical elements and modern music.Remindersit contains a lot of graphic scenes and obscene language. it touches upon a lot of moral gray zone. it requires deeper understanding of the historical context. it uses specific terms and the accent might cost a little bit difficulty in understanding.

关注【璐璐的英文小酒馆】+小助手【luluxjg2】获取全文稿Hi, everyone and welcome to our Christmas Special. 欢迎来到酒馆的【圣诞特辑】. Now you probably notice that usually with these seasonal specials, I would be the only one doing the recording. But today, we're going to connect with 安澜. And as some of you probably already know, 安澜went back for the holiday, finally.So hi, 安澜. Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone. So finally back with your family. Yes, after 3 years, I'm finally back in the UK with my family. And tell us how do you feel? Sure excited.Very excited. To be honest it's a bit strange being back in the UK after such a long period of time, and obviously there's lots of changes in those 3 years which don't need to mention. But I'm really really excited, spending my time with my family and my friends and also getting ready for Christmas. You must really feel like the festive mood in London, right? Because I mean in China it’s not really a thing. Yeah, absolutely, all the decorations are up, all the shops now are quite busy with people doing their last minute Christmas shopping. It's really festive. We've done Christmas episodes before, so I’m quite curious as in what do you want to talk about today? Today I thought what we could do, we could talk about one of the main figures for Christmas and that is, of course, Father Christmas. Father Christmas? You mean Santa Claus? No, Santa Claus is in America. Father Christmas is what we traditionally call. 所以你们的圣诞老人叫 Father Christmas. That's pretty cute. And either way, it's the same person.Pretty much. They come from different routes, but generally the idea of a Father Christmas or a seasonal gift giver comes from Saint Nicholas. Yes, I've heard of Saint Nicholas, so sometimes people would nickname him, Saint Nick. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children. Patron saint其实就是有点像守护神的这种感觉. 孩子的守护神, that's why he brings the gifts. Yep. The original story is that Saint Nicholas was a bishop in modern day Turkey, and he would secretly deliver bags of gold so that poor girls could have a dowry and get married. Dowry 是嫁妆, so the gifts weren't gifts. They were just literally bags of gold. They were just bags of gold, and back then there were no chimneys so he used to through the window. I would like to be waiting for Christmas by the window and just have some strange man chuck bags of gold at me. I know it's a bit strange. And to be honest, the original story a lot of people have forgotten. There is one tradition that we still observe. People really generally forget where it comes from. At Christmas time it can be traditional to give gold chocolate coins to children. 那种巧克力金币. That was from the tradition when Saint Nicholas used to actually give bags of gold. Yeah. I see. And Saint Nicholas, how did saint Nicholas become Santa Claus? Basically it was through the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, they celebrate Saint Nicholas's day, which is in early December, but they call him Santa Claus. And obviously if you know history, a lot of American tradition was actually affected…was originally from the Netherlands. You think that New York was originally called New Amsterdam. True. 对, 美国它有很多风俗是最开始是从荷兰这边过去的, so now they call it Santa Claus. Yes. But getting back to Father Christmas, there's always been a figure associated with Christmas all the way back to the 17th century when actually he was banned. For what? I thought Father Christmas was harmless and it's not even religious. He just brought gifts and toys. That's precisely why it was banned. In the 17th century we had the puritans and they actually banned Christmas because they said it was nothing to do with religion. It was just a pagan holiday. It was just an excuse for people to have fun.

关注公众号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】来获取更多拓展内容和全文逐字稿, 如果你喜欢【新词特饮】这个节目, 不要忘记关注主播来听听我们其他的精彩专辑。So as a consumer, do you think you have experienced trading down？In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Trading Down.Having been through 3 years of the pandemic, I think most of us have experienced or are still experiencing some degree of financial struggles, since pay cuts and job losses have pretty much been the norm since the outbreak.三年大疫, 再加上经济下行等等大环境的影响, 其实全世界人民的日子都过得紧巴巴的。国内从前几年开始就已经有人提到了消费降级, 其实这个概念并不是中国特有。In today's buzzword, let's talk about this concept in English, trading down.Trading down or down trading refers to the practice of switching from expensive products or brands to cheaper alternatives in a bid to conserve cash. Trading down或者down trading指的就是消费者为了节约花销, 从expensive products and brands转向cheaper alternatives, 更便宜的替代品，这不是消费降级, 又是什么呢？As people are struggling with their personal finances, everyone's focused on maintaining a tight leash on expenses and cutting down on discretionary spending. 在大家钱包吃紧的情况下, 很多人都会选择从discretionary spending非必要消费这个方面首先进行down trading, 消费降级。Down trading or trading down in this sense is a tool that consumers can use to shield their finances. As consumers turn price-sensitive, bells and whistles no longer appeal. 这就意味着当广大的消费者都变得更加price-sensitive, 对价格更加敏感, 这个时候那些花里胡哨的功能、新款就没有什么太大的吸引力了。Products which meet the basic requirements are preferred over those that are perceived to be value-adding. 与其弄上一大堆增值的玩意儿, 不如就是基本款更受欢迎。And when consumers downgrade, they are more likely to scout for value-for-money goods. And this is true whether for small-ticket consumption items or if they're buying bigger items like cars or durable goods.不管是在卖日常用品, 还是到大件的, 比如说电器甚至汽车, 大家都会更关注 value-for-money 性价比. Now you probably have read a lot of articles talking about the situation in China, but what about the situation in other parts of the world？ According to McKinsey’s latest European Consumer Pulse Survey, carried out from September to October this year, they have surveyed the views of respondents in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, and they have observed the following trends among consumers. 根据九、十月份麦肯锡做的一个关于欧洲消费者调研里的数据, there are a few key findings, and you can check if as a Chinese consumer, you feel exactly the same. Number one, most people are concerned about rising prices. 大部分的人都对于物价的不断上涨表示担忧。For 58% of European consumers, increasing prices are their no.1 worry. Number two, economic confidence has dipped.因为各种内外部的因素, 消费者普遍对于经济形势信心下滑, this is much worse than even the first 2 years of Covid, consumer pessimism is higher with 43% of people expressing doubt about economic recovery.

Hi everyone. Welcome back to Happy Hour, 欢迎回来酒馆. I'm sure a lot of you know that we have released a new course a while ago- The Bluffer's Guide to Shakespeare【莎士比亚扫盲班】. 我知道有很多听我们节目的小伙伴已经买了这个专辑, 而且有人已经听完了, 还觉得意犹未尽, 还问我们有没有下一季, 这个可能就是一季的事了.So I thought today I invite my co-developer 安澜 and we can get a little bit more into personal life of Shakespeare. Hi, 安澜. Hi Lulu, hi everyone. You know we spend all this time telling the stories from Shakespearean plays, one thing that I feel a little bit regretful is that we weren't gossipy enough. Yes. To be honest, there's a lot we can gossip about, particularly when it comes to Shakespeare. But before we start gossiping, it's important to note that a lot of Shakespeare's life is very uncertain. Still enigmatic. There are still a few kind of mysteries around Shakespeare. One of the biggest mysteries is his loves.His loves?His loves, plural. He's love interests. His…那些风流往事. Exactly. And a question that many scholars are asking nowadays was Shakespeare actually gay?Okay. We're going to answer that question, well, we're going to try to talk about that in today's show. Mhm. But either way we are going to explore the private and personal love lives of Shakespeare. Yes.I mean, you would imagine that he hadn't somewhat of a colorful love life or at least love interest because he was able to create all those really 狗血 stories. Pretty much. The thing that we are certain about is that Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, he was only 18 and she was 26. That we talked about in our episodes. 我们在专辑里面和专辑发刊词里面都说了, 他娶了Anne Hathaway, 安妮·海瑟薇, 跟现在女明星的名字是一样的, 他们跟Anne Hathaway取的. Yeah. 而且是姐弟恋, she was 26. He was only18. Yes, so even back then, that was seen as quite an age gap, I would say. Quite unusual. Quite unusual. And also the wedding apparently was very rushed as according to the records she gave birth to their daughter 6 months later. 还是奉子成婚.Probably, but again, we're not one hundred percent sure. However, the one thing that we do know about is Shakespeare was probably an absentee father and husband. They lived in Stratford while Shakespeare spend his time in London. Remind me how far away is Stratford? It's quite far. It is, mile-wise I'm not too sure, but nowadays it probably takes 2 hours by car. So back then it must have taken a lot longer. Back then probably a whole day trip. A day or even 2 days. So basically they were kind of like not separated in that way, but in the actual fact they were separated, 也是属于长期分居的这种状态, 就是丧偶式育儿Anne Hathaway.Some people thought did Shakespeare really love Anne Hathaway, because there's a famous story that when he died, he left his second-best bed to his wife, not the first best bed, his second-best bed. What? that was so calculating, why not the best bed？That's really the question. On the surface, it appears like you didn't really care, but to be honest, he could also be the fact that Anne Hathaway would get most of his possessions. And also the second best bed was probably their bed in back in those days, if you were rich enough, you may have your bed in your living room as a piece of furniture, but also for guests. So you have the best bed for guests, but their actual bed that they used was probably the second best. That's actually they’re romantic if you think about it.If you think about it in that way. But again, we're not 100% sure. But obviously we're not just here to talk about him and his wife. Yes. That will be too orthodox for Shakespeare. But Shakespeare wrote a lot of love, sonnets, poems. So it was a time of plague in London, so Shakespeare couldn't perform. He couldn't open theatres, so he stayed at home and wrote sonnets. One of the key figures in these sonnets…The dark lady. The dark lady. Why is it the dark lady? Is it because the mysterious? Is it about the mystery or is it actual skin color？Again. we're not 100% sure. Mhm. We're not even 100% sure if she existed, and if she existed who was she. Now

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来酒馆，找小助手【luluxjg2】索取全文稿啦~Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Famous Brits Under the Microscope. 欢迎大家回来【英伦名人八卦堂】. 1. 迄今为止，嘴最"毒"的英国首相非他莫属！2.早餐就开始喝烈酒，这样的***你放心吗？3. 国际政坛出名的老烟枪，胖酒鬼和大毒舌，却被BBC评为历史上最具影响力的人。4. 考试不及格，心仪专业落选，却不妨碍他拿诺贝尔文学奖。5. 日不落的余晖，战火中的绅士？这位首相收到的争议比你褒奖多一百倍！好奇么，来听节目就知道说是是谁啦！Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Famous Brits Under the Microscope. 欢迎大家回来【英伦名人八卦堂】. Hi, 安澜. Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone. It’s been a while since we did this particular segment.Yeah, it's been quite some time, hasn't it? And who are we gonna talk about today?Well since it's Famous Brits Under the Microscope, I thought that today we could talk about the greatest ever British person as voted by the public and the BBC. The greatest? it's a man, and it's not fictional? He is not fictional, no. I have a few names in my head. I'm not sure. Well, he was also known as the British bulldog. Are we gonna talk about Winston Churchill? 丘吉尔 the British bulldog. Is it just because of how he looked? Well, partly is. I think it's also temperament, but there were also quite a few propaganda posters during the war that showed him as a bulldog. And I think he does actually look a little bit like a bulldog. Churchill was a very complex sort of character, wasn’t he?It's not really a simple black and white like he's a good or bad person. No. Churchill, I would say very much was a man of his time, so he had views which nowadays we would not agree with, and some of these habits like his drinking and smoking, it's hard to really support nowadays. Yeah. He is hardly the poster child or poster boy for healthy living or political correctness now. Exactly. But that doesn't mean that he was not a fascinating character to talk about. Exactly, to be great doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a perfect person. Exactly. So, let's get started. Let's start with his family background. Yeah. Winston Churchill was born in 1874 and he was born to a rich aristocratic family. And not a lot of people know this, but despite the fact that he's known as very much a British person and very patriotic British person, he was actually half American. What? Churchill? Yeah, his mother was an American. All right, because you sort of pictured Churchill as the quintessential British person. Oh yeah, but he was half American. Later in his life, he actually became an honorary American citizen.就是荣誉美国公民. Yeah. I see. And I've heard that he wasn't really doing that well in school. He was not a very good student. No, he was actually quite bad student.

全文稿获取：微 【luluxjg2】In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Cougar. 最近那些buzzword我们讨论都是一些比较严肃的社会话题. So today let's keep it light-hearted and talk about a pop culture slang. Cougar is an actual English word. Originally it refers to a type of big cats, c-o-u-g-a-r, cougar的本意就是美洲狮, 是一种大型的猫科动物, but it has an entirely different meaning in pop culture.Put simply, a cougar in slang terms is an older woman who seeks a romantic or sexual relationship with men who are significantly younger. 就是大家都很熟悉的在老友记里演Monica的那一位, she actually started in a comedy show called Cougar Town. 她就曾经主演过一个长达六季的喜剧叫做Cougar Town. 这个词也是有很多的争议, 有一些人认为他是赋能女性的, 而且甚至是女权主义的, because women are taking control. 其实你想想看我们说的杀猪盘, 那个里面的older women一般都是受害者, but cougars they are the predators. They enjoy younger men.但也有人会觉得这其实就是一个misogynistic male fantasy, 其实它的根基还是男权社会里面的一种幻想，带着不少的情绪。

【Geek Time】-“极客”时间，和“科技宅”Brad一起聊神秘有趣的“黑科技”“高科技”“硬科技”。欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~Welcome back to Geek Time Advanced. Hello, Lulu. How are you doing? Hi, Brad. I'm doing OK. I'm rather to have a more in-depth conversation with you about utopia and dystopia.Alright. Where do you want to start?Brad, you're a geek, and you watch or read a lot of Sci-Fi, right? Mhm. Why do you think so many Sci-Fi works tend to create these utopian/dystopian world?I think when you think about science and technology, these people are creating science or using science and creating technology as a way to create a better world, which lends itself into creating a utopia, right? We want to make our lives easier.So when you think of science, Sci-Fi and the future, that's where we want to be, we want to be going to this utopian world. However, a lot of the times technology has some bad effects which actually brings us into a dystopian world.I mean, you see all of these Sci-Fi works. They have their own …obviously their own view or their own perspective. Some are definitely darker than others. You have the more sort of like darker, for example, like Terminator that sort of view where humans are going to be just wiped out.Definitely like, yeah, when you look at Sci-Fi the… you have those worlds where people are on the brink of annihilation, you want like …the creator, the writer of these stories is trying to warn us about the possibility of all these bad things.Occasionally, you have someone with a more optimistic view. There's Tomorrowland which is a… it's a more recent film, but they have an older like TV series about it, but like Tomorrowland is kind of like this future utopia where we don't really have politicians so much as the leaders are scientists.So there are kind of more optimistic views of the future as well. They’re are just few and far between.I mean, you come from more of a STEM background. Do you believe that if scientists were to rule the world rather than politicians, you think that will make it a better world or the other way around?I think it would be a little bit better. I don't necessarily think that it will be a utopian society. I just think that if the people who are in charge of science, education were scientists, there's going to be a lot better society overall. I don't really think that politicians necessarily should be in charge of everything. I think that there needs to be people who understand the science in charge of that.But there are many mad scientists as well.There's the whole mad scientist idea, but like not all scientists are mad scientists; and so you're not going to have one person controlling everything. You'd want a coalition of scientists in that way. They can prevent there are rogue scientists here and there. And even with politicians being in control of everything, there are still going to be mad scientists. That's true. But I guess then that's why you have the ethics committee. Scientists are not just talking about can we do it. It's also talking about should we do it.Of course, we should.I don't think you should be in power because that sounds scary. By the way, all of these like Terminator or last time you mentioned Logan's Run, those are relatively old or classic works of dystopian world. What are some the recent Sci-Fi dystopian stories that you have read or watched?I think some of them were… recent ones can almost be worse, like you've got Hunger Games which is kind of like it's in the future and that you have all these districts and the kids…they choose kids from every district to go and…In a Battle Royale situation.Yeah, exactly you had the Battle Royale movie probably was like 20 years ago or so. Now you have a Hunger Games which is a similar but it’s its own story.Then The Handmaid's Tale, of course, which I think is probably one of the most scariest things. I can see this actually happening in the world in the future. You have these many women in the world who can't have .

关注【璐璐的英文小酒馆】+【luluxjg2】获取全文稿Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Geek Time. 欢迎回来【 Geek时间】. Hi, Brad. Hey, Lulu. Brad, I can I propose a topic today?Sure. So when I watch Sci-Fi films and TV series or Sci-Fi related books, it's quite often that you see these books or works, they're trying to portray a world that is almost like heaven on earth. Everything's perfect, everything is regulated, everything runs smoothly, nothing ever goes wrong. Yeah. So that's like the idea of utopia. Utopia. Let's talk about that, shall we?OK. I guess we can kind of start with what exactly is utopia, just like you mentioned, right? It's a perfect society. But when you look at Sci-Fi, there's few different ideas behind it. There's like ecological utopia is where everyone kind of lives in a perfect balance with nature. There's more economic utopias where the economy is running without any… it's running self-sustainably. But when you look at the word, utopia, it's kind of an interesting thing. In Greek, it means no place. So it kind of like there is this idea that it's perfect, but it can never exist. First of all, let's slow down a little bit here. OK.So utopia, in Chinese we translated usually into 乌托邦. 很有意思, 就是中文里面乌托邦, 前面的乌是子虚乌有的乌, so it's like Brad said no place, but it's actually a play on word because it can actually also mean good place?Yeah.And then originally, ages and ages ago, there was a book called Utopia, so that sort of started that idea of this perfect world. And like Brad was saying, 乌托邦有很多种, 比如说 ecological eutopia, 主要是跟生态系统的整个的非常的和谐的一个状态, 或者是economic utopia where economy is self-sustainable. A few years back, you remember there was a quite popular animated film called Zootopia. OK. Yeah. I've watched most of it. I haven't seen the ending though. Yeah, but the idea was also that all these animals no matter if they’re meat eaters or plant eaters, they live…they're supposedly living in harmony. It's like animal heaven on earth animal version. Yeah.But what about the scientific or technological utopias in Sci-Fi films?Okay. Yeah, like when we look at Sci-Fi utopias, usually something to do with science and medicine or technology that helps bring about this utopian place. So you mean, like science and technology are super advanced, and people like never get old, never get sick and never die that's sort of thing. Yeah, it could be that technology has become super advanced and we don't have to worry about things. Occasionally, it might just be less advanced but that we've learned to use that technology to kind of sustain life in a sustainable way. Like a… you can look at Star Trek, Star Treks Federation is kind of based on this utopian society where we no longer use money. We can create everything that we need and people that want to can devote their life to the exploration of space. We go out and try to create this federation with all the other planets out there. Yeah. But having said that, having talked about the idea of utopia which is having on earth perfect world, I've also noticed that in these works, almost all of them, they're not like comedies, they're not like stories about these perfect world, it's almost, always about these supposed utopias turned into hell on earth. It's turning into a dystopia. 这个在中文里叫反乌托邦或者叫敌托邦, dystopia. So what is the idea of a dystopia?Basically, when you look at Sci-Fi, every utopia is a dystopia. Because when you're getting into this idea that there is a utopia, you watch how it slowly devolves over the course of the film, either by the means of the technology or by the means of someone else who is subverting the technology to do terrible things.When we look at it and a classic version of a dystopian society, there is a good example which is Logan's Run, one of the first science fiction movies I watched as a kid. The whole society is built as this utopian society. The movie itself is set after the world that's been fairly destroyed by a nuclear war. Everyone lives in th

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Tech-life Balance. Tech means technology. Now I'm sure over the years you've heard of the expression work-life balance, 这些年我们一直都在说work-life balance, 工作和生活的平衡, which basically is about how to maintain a balance between our work and personal life. But nowadays, as we're getting more and more reliant on modern technology as we’re hooked on our smart devices and the internet, we now have to worry about a new type of balance, which is tech-life balance. 不过随着我们所有人越来越依赖于现代的这些科技, 特别是智能设备和网络, 现在我们要关心的就不光是work-life balance, 还有今天的buzzword, tech-life balance, 科技与生活的平衡。The expression tech-life balance has been circulating for the past few years or so, because with the increasing popularity of social media, for many, the internet and other forms of electronic communication are not just tools, but a personal space that we somehow ‘inhabit’; and it’s practically impossible to imagine life without them. 这也是因为随着现在智能设备以及社交媒体的越来越发达, 他们已经远远的超过了一个简单的科技工具, 而成为了我们每天生活甚至我们的身份和个人空间的一部分。Tech-life balance is an expression that's now been adopted to describe the daily challenge facing all digital natives and most digital immigrants. 这里说到了两个概念, 我们原来也提到过 digital native, people who have never known a world without mobiles and the internet. 在中国来讲基本就是95后出生的人, 他们被叫做 “数字原住民”.Because ever since they were little, they already lived in the world with internet. And if you were born before that, then you are digital immigrants. 在这之前出生的人被叫做 “数字移民”, because they can still remember the old days without the internet and all these modern technology. And the struggle to maintain tech-life balance is on how to use technology to our advantage, but not to the detriment of real life. 而所谓的科技生活的平衡, 也就是怎么样能让现在的这些网络科技为我们所用, 但是又不过度的侵蚀和影响我们的线下生活。If you think about it, technology or tech can cover practically all of the bases that it was once necessary to leave the house for, many of us no longer have to be in the office to continue working. Especially during the past few years when work from home became the norm. We can send emails, take phone calls, hold meetings, write and submit reports all from wherever we happen to be during the course of a day, making our work hours potentially limitless; and perhaps even more significantly, tech is supreme in our personal lives too. We can play games, stream movies and TV, catch up on the latest gossip, discuss debate, socialize, do the weekly shop, plan a holiday…the list is endless, and all this whenever, wherever, and without ever having to come into contact with another real touchable person face to face. In fact, for me, personally, my life is, I would say about 90% online. 现在不管是工作还是个人生活中, 我们都可以通过现在的这些technology, 完全不用接触到活人就可以做很多的事。And it's because of this, it is even more challenging to maintain tech-life balance, because the boundary between technology and your actual life is often blurred;But of course being overly reliant on all these technology and let them run your life has its problems. That's why there are a few things you can do and try to maintain some level of tech-life balance. No.1, stop double screening.Double screening这个概念相信很多小伙伴都非常熟悉. Have you ever caught yourself using a computer and a smartphone at the same time？For example, when you're watching a movie on your computer, you are still on your phone playing a game at the same time. This looks like multitasking, but in the long run it can be bad for your attention and productivity. This can also over stimulate your brain and you may suffer from information overload.

《小酒馆·大世界》-世界各处的文化和精彩，在小酒馆触手可得哦~ 欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~In the previous episode, we talked to William about his life in Sweden, and we're gonna continue with that topic today.Do they have laws about household chores? Like who does the dishes and all that?I would say it's quite equal I think. I think in a young family, both parents… they’re home at different times, like one might be working one might be home, so they both know how to cook, they both know how to clean, because they have to share the responsibility. But that doesn't seem to be any problem. I’ve never known of any problem with it. I’ve got a young daughter and when her boyfriend they are living together and they share, and it seems to work. And they can't usually rely on their parents like young couple they can't really rely on their parents for to take care of their baby, right?That's correct. I mean, most of the young couples they are both working and probably their parents are also working, so the grandparents of the kids are working. So they rely a lot more on the service of day cares which is called dagvård in Swedish, and kindergarten and they go to kindergarten quite early, very early because both young couples need to work. This is an expensive place to live. Yeah, how expensive we talking about constantly here, northern European countries are very, very expensive, exactly how expensive.I would say very, very expensive.You lived in Geneva. One of the more expensive places in the world. Is it more expensive than Geneva?I would say people in Sweden they live for the most part from paycheck to paycheck. I would say most Swedes especially young to middle aged Swedes don't have a lot of money in savings. They live well, but they don't normally have a lot of money. It's an expensive place to live. But is it also because they have very good social welfares? So there's always multiple safety nets so that they don't have to have a lot of savings. There are excellent social welfare. The education system is free, Medicare, medical aids for Swedish citizens, Swedish residents is free. It's a very small amount, you have to pay upfront and then that same treatment continues for until they fix you. In that respect it’s quite cheap; but the day to day life, the cost of living…is very high. …is quite expensive. Yeah, one of the things I noticed when I first went to Sweden is I noticed a lot of young people had exceptionally gorgeous apartments. I really couldn't figure this out. I thought maybe everybody's got rich parents. But then I found a new word and I think it's the origin of the word rent, as in paying the rent, because the word “ränta” in Swedish means interest, like the interest on the loan. And they only when they buy an apartment or a house, they are only paying off the interest. They're not paying off the principal. Oh, not the principal. Not a capital. No, no. But does that mean they still…well, from my perspective, then they still don't own it, though, because if they always have that principal that they have yet to pay, if they're only paying interest. That's right. And the ideas you move up the property ladder, you buy a piece of property, you pay the interest on your loan, the property appreciates, and when you sell it, you sell it for a profit, and then you move the profit into the next place and so on. I see. Seems to work. I was actually gonna ask you about homeownership, so I guess that makes it easy for people to buy and own… to get their…Homeownership is really easy, buying property in Scandinavia is very, very simple, it’s very straightforward, it is.The other thing that I'm really curious to know is that so far we have been grouping Scandinavian countries together, but I'm sure for Swedish people, in general, they don't feel like they're the same as their neighbors like Norwegians or Danish. No. It's like within the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, within Norway, Finland, and Iceland to a lesser extent. There

《小酒馆·大世界》-世界各处的文化和精彩，在小酒馆触手可得哦~ 欢迎关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，可以查看更多精彩内容，查看英语全文稿哦~

Okay. I'm just gonna be quite difficult and say what if I were your students and I write an answer that you really personally do not agree with, what happens then?You just mark, you based on the rubric, students have… there's a rubric like and… did you hit those points on the rubric? Yes, you did, you get the points. My opinion doesn't matter. I don't share my opinion with my students. Kelly Roell what is a rubric?I see. Rubric is something I guess a lot of our audience if they don't teach, they probably don't really use that word very often. Rubric is kind of just like a marking like grading standard. Yes. It's just a grading chart, so it just what are the things that teachers grading you on. And like, what does an outstanding look like？What does a good look like？What does fair and neat work…it's just highlighting, it's like what you did is like, did you hit these things? Did you do these things？I see, actually very interesting that you mentioned how you grade. Is it a point-based system or is it ABC or is it? How do you grade your students in like exams or essay？Like the grades I give them is a number. But the grade in the system is letter. Letter. I see, I see, are you a tough grader？No, not really, although my students may disagree. Because in my class, they I mean, homework is graded as complete or incomplete, regardless of whether the answers are correct or not. Because I want to see that do you understand it？Are you putting an effort？Are you trying? You are, okay, you get full points in that. Projects and quizzes are graded more strictly. I see, apart from these subjects, the major subjects like you said, like Chinese, English, Math, maybe Science, History, what are the sort of more, let's say extracurricular things or perhaps more the artsy, sporty things, do you have that offered？I'm sure you do, but what kind of things do you offer to your students at the school？At this school I work at, there is music programs, art programs, technology programs, a very robust science program. So we have different programs available for students who have different interests, who plan on going into different areas when they finish school. So it's not all just academic. You learn Math, History, English, Chinese. So there's a lot of other things and all students every student at the school has to take arts, all students have to take some kind of performing art. All students have to take…Like drama?Yeah. Other performing art could be drama, this could be singing, this could be band, it's required for all students here. Do you have like design classes because I think that's very popular right in a lot of private schools？Yeah, we do have design classes. There's an in-depth design program that students can take part in. They can do arts, sculpting, graphic design. I think we also have clothing design. Fashion design?I think we do, I'm not entirely sure because I don't work in that department. Okay, sounds fantastic. But what about the students? I'm getting a bit gossipy here. We know a lot of these international, especially good international schools in Beijing or Shanghai, they're quite costly, in terms of tuition. So these students they are all from relatively well off families, I would imagine, what's their family backgrounds, based on your observation? In general, a lot of these parents tend to be business people. They run businesses, IT, things like that. Some of them got money through real estate, a lot of people they lived in China over the past 23 years. There are few kids that are children of professors from various schools, but in general, everyone here is upper middle class and higher, because the tuition is high.Money is definitely a thing, but it's also the education level. It's also how you are educated, like how you perceive the world. Because a lot of these what you were talking about, obviously they're preparing for these kids not really to take the college entrance examination in China; they

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Mass Layoffs. If you're currently working, especially if you're working in tech industry, this early winter does not bring a lot of confidence. With tech giants like Twitter and Meta, firing employees on an unprecedented scale. 最近不管是马斯克还是小扎, 他们的这种大规模的裁员行为, 都让相关行业的小伙伴心惊肉跳. Everyone's asking who's the next? And you keep seeing this expression, mass layoffs popping up in the news. So in today's buzzword, let's talk about mass layoffs, 大规模裁员.To understand mass layoffs, first of all, we need to understand layoff. A layoff is the temporary or permanent termination of employment by an employer for reasons unrelated to the employee's performance. 一般layoff翻译成裁员或者下岗. You can say someone is laid off or you can use it as a noun and say a layoff. 根据具体情况, 它既可能是temporary, 暂时的; 也可能是permanent, 永久性的. 尽管在新闻里这回对于 Twitter和Meta裁员的新闻报道会用各种各样的词, 比如说firing, 比如说cuts, layoffs, but there's actually a distinct difference between firing someone and laying off someone. Usually an employee may be fired on the grounds of unsatisfactory performance or breach of duty. 一般我们说firing是说被炒了, 通常都是员工自己的问题, 比如说绩效达不到或者违反了公司的某些规定. But when employees are laid off, that usually is not because they did anything wrong, but the companies aim to cut costs due to decline in demand for their products or services or during an economic downturn. 而layoff的情况通常不是个体员工自己的问题, 而是公司运营不善, 经费不足, 或者遇到了经济大环境的影响, 必须得精简人员削减成本. That's why laid off employees are often entitled to a severance package. 因为不是员工自己的错, 导致layoff, 所以基本上按照相关法律, 他们都有权获得severance package遣散费, 也就是裁员赔偿, 平时我们说的n加几n乘几的那个. And they also qualify for unemployment insurance. From the company's point of view, layoffs are generally called downsizing or even smart sizing. 很多公司会用downsizing甚至smart sizing这样的词来形容规模性裁员. The reason is often because of an economic downturn or corporate restructuring, such as bankruptcy or buyout. 而它的原因除了经济大环境不景气, 还可能是各种 corporate restructuring 企业重组, 比如说破产重组或者是被收购.

【luluxjg2】> 走进一代文豪笔下的精彩世界> 体验莎翁剧作里的悲欢离合，嬉笑怒骂> 深入解读时代背景，主题隐喻，搞懂文化梗> 学习深远影响英语表达的“莎派”语言> 听主播精彩飙戏，演绎经典片段Drunk and standing up maybe in the rain. Now that sort of explains why a lot of the plotlines seem a bit overly dramatic.我读莎士比亚的时候, 觉得他有的时候里面的语言超级夸张, 超级戏剧化.That's the only way you could keep their attention.Imagine Shakespeare's writing for group of normally men who have been drinking all day. If they didn't like the play, they will be more than happy to start throwing food and start fights.And back then remember that all men would carry a sword or dagger.Wow, 所以大家去想象莎士比亚那个剧最开始在莎士比亚还活着的时候上演的, 这种场景绝对不是我们今天这种很有文化的感觉, 而是当时很多老百姓站在底下, 然后也都喝醉了, 大部分都是男的, 他们如果看不到那种打斗或者很精彩的这种很dramatic的剧情就会往上丢东西.我们现在只是说 boo就是嘘人家下台, 他们那时候直接就东西砸上去.I would say probably the closest equivalent is imagine being an actor and you’re performing in front of a group of gangsters who are very angry and very drunk.I see. so that probably would give you a better idea of how Shakespeare's plays were originally performed.Yes.Now back to our course, our album.How do we introduce his play in this course? 那可能很多小伙伴就想问, 刚才说的这么精彩, 让我也开始对莎士比亚的剧有点兴趣了. 在我们的莎士比亚扫盲班里，到底是怎么样分析这些剧的呢?Because we're assuming that you're not drunk or violent as you listen to our course, we're a little bit more gentle in introducing Shakespeare's plays than it used to be in the past.But we don't assume you know anything about it.That's right.We're gonna really break it down to you. First, starting with each play’s background.首先我们是选了10部莎士比亚最有名或者是最有特点的剧, 不同时期的都有, 像大家都耳熟能详的, 比如说是Romeo and Juliet《罗密欧与朱丽叶》, the Merchant of Venice《威尼斯商人》, 还有像Macbeth《麦克白》 都在里面. 首先我们会介绍background, 它的背景.Yeah, that's right.So we'll describe the background, and describe a little bit of the history as well. So for example, with Romeo and Juliet, we discuss what it would have been like for Elizabethan women or women during Shakespeare's time;And for the Merchant of Venice, we talk a little bit about the history of Venice, and also relationships with Jewish people.And then usually 安澜 will walk us through the plot line. 接着就是安澜带着我们走整个的故事线, 每次都很为难安澜, 因为这个剧都比较长, 安澜会用比较简单的语言给我们总结一下, 把这里面的情节, 我也会在旁边帮大家梳理所有这些人物和剧情.Yes, I will break down the plot. I'll try to keep it as simple as possible. I'll be focusing on the main plotlines, and making it as easy as possible for you to understand what the story is. 经常听我们节目的小伙伴都知道我们是英语占绝大部分. 不过在解释莎士比亚这个剧情的时候, 因为有很多的名字, 所以我也会适时的在中间补一些中文, 这样保证大家不迷路. 这个课程里面每一部剧我们都是分为上下集的, 上集讲完了这个故事和背景, 下集我们就会讲theme.

关注luluxjg2获取文稿啦~Hi everyone, and welcome back to酒馆. Good news, we have another new course!Yeah! By the way, hi, 安澜. Hello. 我们的新专辑【莎士比亚扫盲班】, the Bluffer's Guide to Shakespeare上线了, 璐璐和安澜陪你走进莎士比亚十部最有名的戏剧, 解读文豪笔下的喜怒哀乐, 嬉笑怒骂, 让沙翁的戏剧不再遥远. I think the last time we did this was to introduce our course the Bluffer's Guide to Literature. 上一次和安澜录发刊词还是在录上一个专辑【英文名著扫盲班】. Yes, that's right. And as we were doing that course, we realized we didn't actually put any Shakespeare into that particular course. So I thought we should do one on Shakespeare. The Bluffer's Guide to Shakespeare. I think everyone has heard of Shakespeare even if they have never really read anything that he wrote. 就算你没有读过任何莎士比亚的东西, 但至少也知道莎士比亚这个人. Exactly. Famous all around. Pretty much. Do you guys actually have to read Shakespeare in school? Of course, pretty much in every English-speaking country, you have to study Shakespeare. When I was younger, I had to read, I think it was about two of his plays? and then when I went to college, before going to university, I also read another one of his plays as well. So a lot of the kids, even if they don't want to, they have to read Shakespeare. They have to read it, they have to do exams on Shakespeare. Yeah, I would say a lot of kids don't really like it. It is quite old-fashioned. But for me I personally loved it. I love Shakespeare. Well, put it this way, his works are the second most published in the English speaking world. 是英语世界里出版次数第二多的. What's the first? The Bible. Of course. I know the 3rd one is Agatha Christie. 第三名是阿加莎·克里斯蒂. That’s right. He wrote many plays and also poems. Yeah, he's famous for writing 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Sonnet就是14行诗，是一种特别的诗体. Yeah, it's a particular form of poetry. Because of his plays and also his poetry, he was regarded as a literary genius from the very moment he died. 中文里也把它叫做“文豪”, 这也是为什么很多时候我们听到说“莎翁”，这个就是对他的一个尊称.And he also was famously inventing a lot of words. That's right. It’s difficult to really calculate how many words he invented, but it's around 1,700. And some of the words you wouldn't imagine was invented by him, was actually invented by him, like ‘advertising’ was invented by Shakespeare. Yeah, luggage, gossip, and ... I'm a little bit confused about this myself, but apparently Shakespeare invented the word elbow. 就是一个肘部, 手肘, elbow. Gossip, 八卦这个词是莎士比亚创造的, 我能信. Yeah. This were obviously things that if you check online, you would find about him, the fact sheets.Who is Shakespeare? Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in a small town called Stratford-upon-Avon.That's why he was known as the Bard of Avon.That's right. Now Shakespeare's family was, I won't say wealthy, but they were kind of relatively well off, they had money. But when he was a child, his family actually lost a lot of that money, so he was unable to go to university even though that he went to the local school and learnt Latin.The two facts that I know about Shakespeare's personal life is, first of all, he married early and his wife's name is Anne Hathaway, 就是安妮·海瑟薇, 现在女演员的名字. Her parents probably got it from Shakespeare's wife.Pretty much. So he married Anne Hathaway when he was only 18. And Anne Hathaway was actually quite a bit older than him.这也是姐弟恋的先锋.And also the other fact is one of his kids was actually named Hamlet or Hamnet, something like that.That's right. His only son was called Hamlet or Hamnet, both forms of the name were used back then. It was when he died that Shakespeare wrote his famous play Hamlet.So that's a bit of a sad story, background story.Now of course, everyone knows Shakespeare is a famous playwright, 他是一个非常伟大的剧作家, but he was actually acting himself.Well, yeah. There are quite a few plays where scholars think Shakespeare was playing maybe the lead or one of the supporting roles.His money came from writing plays,

可以搜索公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】加入社群，查看文稿和其他精彩内容哦~ Hi, everyone. And welcome back to America Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话美国】.Actually, this is a special edition. Hi James.Hi, lulu, hi everyone, special edition. Why is it special? Yes, because instead of talking about American society, American life, today we are gonna talk about you. Me? Why would people want to hear about me? People, our audience they know you, they are interested in your life as well. Actually James just had a major, I would say, a major change in his life. Before he was teaching in university. And then recently you joined an international school in Beijing. Indeed I did, I have changed my jobs. I've gone from teaching college students to teaching middle schoolers at an international school. Okay. So first of all, congratulations on the new job.Thank you.But what is it like?Today I thought we would just invite James to share with us a little bit of… about his life in international school in Beijing which I'm assume… the thing is our audience, I think there are lots of parents as well, and then maybe there are also international school students. Can be.So this would be an interesting topic, a bit more personal touch to it.First of all, when did you make the move, like it was a month, 2 months ago? I started applying for the job earlier this year. I managed to land the job in May. And I began working for the school in August, so I've been teaching here for 2 months now. Ok, and you're fully settled there, right? Yeah, I've…Fully settled in.I moved out here and have been teaching and my life is… here now and I'm really comfortable where I am. Okay. First of all, you're in the outskirts of Beijing?I wouldn’t say it's the outskirts. It's right next to the outskirts. I see. It's a nice sort of natural surrounding. It's much better than us here, just the hustle and bustle. You've got mountains, you've got green, lots of greenery. Yeah, that's pretty common for a lot of international schools. They tend to get built more in the suburban areas of cities as there's more land available.Where my campus is, we got… were surrounded by mountains, parks, not… sadly does come with a few disadvantages. There aren't restaurants or supermarkets that are super close by. I see. Well, you can't have the cake and eat it too usually, it's the convenience or the quiet… right, it’s the quiet suburban life. I like the quiet. But let's talk about the school, let's talk about your work environment. So the people that you work with, are they mostly Chinese or mostly non-Chinese like the other teachers? It's actually 50:50, so my colleagues are a mix. And all of them, they come from all over the world, like I have a supervisor from Venezuela. I have colleagues that are from Pakistan, America, Australia, France, Mexico. And everyone is well educated. My Chinese colleagues have Masters Degrees from top universities. Everyone tends to be have education certificates or trained in education.

"欢迎来到英文小酒馆的迷你双语板块【Buzzword Mix】-新词特饮，短短几分钟，让不同段位的你掌握最新最地道的英文谈资！关注公号【璐璐的英文小酒馆】，获取更多有趣节目内容和文稿哦~" In today's Buzzword Mix, we're gonna talk about something more light-hearted. So the buzzword of the day is Plogging.P-l-o-g-g-i-n-g, haven't heard of it? it's understandable because this new word really has only been around for 5 or 6 years, and also it wasn't originally an English word. This word comes from Swedish. 这个词本来是瑞典语, 即使是在瑞典语里, 它也是一个拼接成的新词。It's a combination of the Swedish verb “plocka upp”, which means “pick up”, 是瑞典语的捡起来, and “jogga ”, to jog, 和 “慢跑” 这两个词组成的新词, 瑞典语里是 “plogga”. But when it spreads around the world, especially getting into the English language, people just call it plogging. So what is plogging？The idea is very simple. It's a combination of jogging and picking up litter. Litter means trash, rubbish. 中文把它翻译成 “拾荒慢跑”.It sounds a bit strange, doesn't it？I know a lot of people in China also have the habit of jogging on a regular basis. Plogging simply takes advantage of jogging and other outdoor sports to pick up the litter that spoils our cities and natural spaces. 其实这个概念很好理解, 我知道很多小伙伴应该也有定期户外慢跑的习惯, 所以plogging就是在你慢跑的时候看到垃圾就随手捡来放在一个垃圾袋里, 然后集中处理, 相当于一边健身一边保护环境。The idea of this sustainable initiative is simplicity itself. The participants or the ploggers take to the streets with rubbish bags to pick up the litter they come across while exercising. 而这些手拿垃圾袋一边慢跑运动, 一边捡垃圾保护环境的小可爱们就被叫做ploggers. The founder of this activity was Erik Ahlström, a Swedish guy who on leaving his hometown in 2016 to settle in Stockholm started to clean up the rubbish in the areas where he practiced his sport.

"英文小酒馆致力于打造沉浸式英语学习社群，无论是微信社群、有声节目、线上活动和课程，我们都全心全意为爱好英语的你带去一份专属于英语的快乐。公号: 【璐璐的英文小酒馆】 查音频节目文稿，了解广阔的世界。跟随我们的脚步，体会英语的温度。" Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope Advanced. In our previous episode we confused you a lot with the idea of the British government and how our government is formed. Mhm. Thanks a lot for tuning into this episode where we’re probably going to try and confuse you even more. Hi, Lulu.Hi, Anlan. I'm sure I get thoroughly confused. So I have a question first. Yes. We were talking about the two houses. Now let's talk about the Prime Minister. Uh, yes.I always wondered, see, when you hear president or chairman, you know they're the top guy. Yeah.But Prime Minister, it’s prime ministers like top minister, which means he essentially is still a minister. Yeah. Or she. Yes, she or he. Sorry being unintentionally sexist, but he or she is still a Prime Minister. That's right.Is that where the word comes from? The idea is the Prime Minister is a First Among Equals, so the Prime Minister acts as the leader of the government in the name of the King. Uh, it’s the representative. Somewhat like a representative, but essentially the Prime Minister is acting within the blessing of the King or Queen. I see, and how long have you been having Prime Ministers?Since the 18th century. Originally, we had a Prime Minister because they were, I should say, representing the King, because we had a King, King George I, who was German and couldn't speak English. So the first Prime Minister was like a glorified translator?Uh, pretty much, Wow.George I and Robert Walpole, his name was Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, they had to speak in Latin, so because King George I couldn't learn English. He was a bit older at this time. They had a prime minister.I see. I see. Now the Prime Minister lives, as you all know, at No.10 Downing Street which is close to the government departments in White Hall and the Houses of Parliament. And what about those parliamentary debates that we constantly see on TV, sometimes get really heated and people were shouting, they're basically booing the Prime Minister. Oh, yeah. That is very traditional. Oh.What you're probably seeing is what we call Prime Minister's Question Time. Okay.Now Prime Minister's Question Time is when any MP can ask the Prime Minister a question and the Prime Minister has to defend their stance, or sometimes attack the stance of the Opposition, or the leader of the Opposition in particular.It looks brutal. It looks really… they look really aggressive, the people who are asking questions, the Opposition.Yeah.

"英文小酒馆致力于打造沉浸式英语学习社群，无论是微信社群、有声节目、线上活动和课程，我们都全心全意为爱好英语的你带去一份专属于英语的快乐。公号: 【璐璐的英文小酒馆】 查音频节目文稿，了解广阔的世界。跟随我们的脚步，体会英语的温度。" Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Britain under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜. Hi Lulu, hi everyone. 安澜, can I propose a topic today?Yeah, of course.You know I've been following up on the latest news in the UK, yeah. I think I know what topic you would propose. It looks a bit messy. It is very, very messy. And it's also quite difficult for people who are not British to really understand. So I thought it would be an interesting idea for us to actually talk about the government and the political system in the UK to give people just a general idea. Yeah, well, to be honest it’s confusing for us as well. But I think if you don't understand the British government and the British political system, it can get very, very confusing. So first things first, your political system is called君主立宪制, 叫constitutional monarchy. Yes, we have a monarch, we have a king. But the king's actual power isn't really that big, they have a lot of authority, they have a lot of influence, but no real political power, so political power goes to our government, our Parliament. All that I know about your government is that your government consists of two houses. 我就知道英国有上院和下院, 上院叫什么House of Lords. The House of Lords and the House of Commons.House of Commons. So there is no actual Constitution in the UK, is there? it’s not like in United States. No, unlike many countries, the UK doesn't actually have a constitution. Instead, it based on presidents. 我听过一个叫做constitutional conventions, 叫宪法惯例, 就是没有实际明文的宪法, 但是有宪法惯例. So for example, we would have one law and then the judges would decide on how to interpret that law, and then there might be another law, then another law, then another ruling, and eventually it builds up into just common practice. And this has been going on for centuries. So it's basically just referring back to how it was done before…And changing when it needs to be changed.But it wasn't always like that, was it? Like before at one time in your history, obviously, king or queen, the monarch did have actual power. Oh, yeah. I would say that was years and years and years ago because there's actually been some kind of parliament since the 13th century over 750 years ago, we had a few rather bad kings, so the nobles actually tried to limit their power. And the first attempt to doing this was the Magna Carta.Magna Carta meaning The Great Charter.The Great Charter.中文翻译叫大宪章.The Magna Carta, which means “great charter” in Latin, was drawn up by English barons (nobles) and church leaders to limit the king’s power. In 1215 they forced the tyrannical King John to agree to the charter. The Magna Carta stated that the king must follow the law and could not simply rule as he wished.Yeah, so that was 1215, and you might hear British people talk about Magna Carta, but to be honest, not many people really understand what it was. It’s probably what you learned in history classes. But there are some very important things that were added to the Magna Carta including if you are convicted of a crime, you have the right to be judged by a jury. So let's bring it back to the actual political system. We talked about the two houses. 我们就来说说英国这个议会制度, 首先说上院 House of Lords, obviously, this consists of lords. Yes, so historically they were upper class lords, so they were the aristocracy, but nowadays it has slightly changed. There are around 700 lords and ladies, but most of them are what we call Life Peers. Life peers, I think I've heard of this翻译叫做 “终身贵族”, 听起来好像很高大上, but it actually means they are only nobleman or noble woman for their lifetime. Yeah, so they'll have the title for their lifetime, but their children won't have it. So this is the difference between what we call Hereditary Peers. 就是Life Peers实际上是不能世袭的, 像Hereditary Peers是可以父传子，子传孙这样的.Yeah但是life peer… it's just…it’s not so elitist. The idea of having a