英音听力｜BBC & 经济学人等

How exercise could boost your exam grades Has exam season got you hitting the books instead of the gym? Study is important, but if you're not keeping up with your exercise, you might be missing out. It turns out that regular physical exercise can boost your memory, focus and reasoning skills. One study even found that Scottish teenagers who got 60 minutes of exercise a day scored a whole grade higher on national exams. Physical exercise has been linked to a number of positive changes inside our brains. Regular aerobic exercise appears to be linked with an enlarged hippocampus. That's the area of the brain linked to learning and memory. Other studies have suggested that exercise four hours after learning allows new information to be better integrated into our memories. Looking inside our brains, it seems that exercise triggers tiny bursts of electrical energy, known as 'brain ripples' which are thought to be connected to the process of storing and organising memories. Exercise could also lead to improved executive function. This is the part of our brain that's responsible for things including working memory and self-control. A recent study showed that students who carried out 10 minutes of moderate exercise showed improved cognitive performance afterwards. As well as the direct physical benefits of exercise on our brains, there are other associated advantages. Exercise leads to the release of endorphins. These chemicals help to alleviate the effects of stress and can improve our mood. Exam preparation can be both a cause of stress and something that's adversely affected by it. Exercise reduces your stress so that you can focus on your revision. Good sleep habits are also important for brain health and function. And this is another area where exercise helps out. Regular exercise has been shown to lead to better sleep and fewer episodes of insomnia. A study from the University of Texas also linked it to longer instances of deep sleep. When you're asleep, your body processes memories, so it's another way that exercise can take you to higher grades. Exercise benefits both our mental and physical health and has clear benefits for academic performance. So, while it's important to spend time studying, don't forget to keep some time back for physical activity. 词汇表 hit the books 用功读书，刻苦学习，埋头苦读 keep up with 跟上，保持，继续做 miss out 遗漏，错过，错失良机 reasoning [ˈriːzənɪŋ] n. 逻辑推理能力 score [skɔː(r)] v. 得分，获得（分数） aerobic exercise [eəˈrəʊbɪk] 有氧运动 enlarged [ɪnˈlɑːdʒd] adj. 增大的，扩大的 hippocampus [ˌhɪpəˈkæmpəs] n. 海马体（大脑中负责学习和记忆的区域） be integrated into [ˈɪntɪɡreɪtɪd] 被整合到…中，融入 brain ripples [ˈrɪpəlz] 脑涟漪（与记忆存储和组织相关的微小电能量爆发） executive function [ɪɡˈzekjətɪv] 执行功能（大脑负责工作记忆和自我控制等的能力） working memory 工作记忆（短期存储和处理信息的能力） associated [əˈsəʊsieɪtɪd] adj. 相关的，伴随的，有关联的 endorphins [enˈdɔːfɪnz] n. 内啡肽（运动时释放的能缓解压力、改善情绪的化学物质） alleviate [əˈliːvieɪt] vt. 缓解，减轻 adversely [ˈædvɜːsli] adv. 不利地，有害地，负面地 revision [rɪˈvɪʒən] n. 复习，温习 episode [ˈepɪsəʊd] n. （疾病等的）发作，发病 insomnia [ɪnˈsɒmniə] n. 失眠，失眠症 academic performance 学业表现，学习成绩 📖 翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

Making cities feel quieter Neil Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. Georgie And I'm Georgie. Neil, I'm going to play you two sound recordings, and I want you to tell me how you feel when you hear them. Neil OK. Georgie First this… And now this. Neil Oh, well, that first clip made me feel really relaxed. But the second one – oh, it's horrible! I felt quite stressed out actually. Georgie Oh no! Well, this little experiment shows how much we are affected by the noise around us. And that's a problem if you're one of the four billion people around the world who live in cities. Neil Yes, whether it's the rattle of train tracks, honking car horns, or the roar of aeroplanes overhead, modern cities are full of noise and this can have serious effects. The World Health Organisation reports that by 2050, around 2.5 billion people will experience hearing loss, and exposure to loud noise has been linked to stress and anxiety. Georgie In this episode, we'll be hearing about ways to make our cities quieter, more relaxing places. Neil But now I have a question for you, Georgie. Sound is measured in units called decibels. But how many decibels would it be if I whispered? A whisper is speaking like this. Is it: a) 3 decibels, b) 13 decibels, or c) 30 decibels? Georgie Oh, that's really hard. I'll go for b) 13 decibels. Neil Well, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme. Let's start in one of the noisiest cities in the world – Mumbai in India, where daytime noise levels regularly hit 80 decibels, which is over 20 decibels higher than World Health Organisation recommendations. Listen to Mumbai native Chhavi Sachdev share her experiences of living in this noisy city with BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World. Chhavi Sachdev I mean, India in general is just really loud. We are a loud people. We dress loud, we talk loud, we celebrate loud, we watch movies loud. When people ask me what I miss about living abroad, I tell them it's the quiet, because after 12 years of living in the US and Europe, when I got back, I realised I couldn't handle it anymore. I'd gotten used to lower levels of noise. Georgie Chhavi says, "Indians talk loud, celebrate loud and dress loud." To dress loud means to wear clothes with bright colours and large, bold patterns. Neil When Chhavi returned to India after living overseas, she says she couldn't handle the noise. If you can't handle something, you find it difficult to deal or cope with. Georgie So, what can be done to tackle noise in cities like Mumbai? One interesting approach involves using sound itself to make things feel quieter. Soundscaping is the idea of adding certain sounds to busy public spaces so that they sound and feel more relaxing. Neil Sound artist Charles Montambault lives near the Parc des Madelinots, a busy city park in Montreal, Canada. Charles was inspired to recreate the ocean sounds he heard on holiday in the Magdalen Islands in his city park back home. On BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World, he tells reporter Natasha Fernandes that these sounds included ocean waves and some unusual-sounding sand. Charles Montambault The sand on the Magdalen Islands can sing. When you walk into the sand firmly, the sand makes some squeaky sounds, so that's one sound that is kind of funny, kind of special. Natasha Fernandes Inside the small park, surrounded by busy roads, Charles and his team set up an immersive sound art installation in the form of speakers planted in flower beds. Charles Montambault So, the art installation was really to make this park a little quieter by adding some quiet noises. So, it's counterintuitive, but you can make a park less noisy by adding some calmer sounds. Georgie The sand on the Magdalen Islands is squeaky – it makes a high-pitched sound called a squeak when stepped on. Charles played recordings of this sand, ocean waves and other relaxing sounds through speakers hidden in the park. He created an art installation – a work of art designed to give people an interactive experience. Neil By adding more relaxing sounds, Charles' art installation actually made the park feel quieter. It's an example of something that's counterintuitive, meaning it happens differently from how you would expect. Georgie What a great idea! And similar soundscapes are now helping city dwellers relax in other cities too, including Tokyo and Barcelona. Now Neil, you asked me a question about a very quiet sound – a whisper. So, are you going to reveal the correct answer? Neil I asked you how loud a whisper is. Georgie Yes, and I said 13 decibels. Neil Well, 13 is an unlucky number and you are wrong. Georgie Ah! Neil It was actually 30. OK. Let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with decibel – the unit for measuring sound. Georgie Someone who dresses loud likes to wear clothes with bright colours and bold designs. Neil If you can't handle something, you find it difficult to deal with. Georgie An art installation is an artwork designed to create an interactive experience in a certain space. Neil The adjective squeaky describes things which make a high-pitched sound like a mouse. Georgie Squeak, squeak! And finally, if you call something counterintuitive, you mean it happens differently from how you would expect. Once again, our six minutes are up. See you again soon. But for now, it's goodbye. Neil Goodbye...! 词汇表 decibel [ˈdesɪbel] n. 分贝（声音强度单位） dress loud 穿得鲜艳，穿着抢眼 can't handle something 无法忍受，无法应对，承受不了 art installation [ˌɪnstəˈleɪʃn] 艺术装置（给人们带来互动体验的艺术作品） squeaky [ˈskwiːki] adj. 吱吱响的，发短促尖声的 counterintuitive [ˌkaʊntərɪnˈtjuːɪtɪv] adj. 反直觉的，与预期相反的 sound recordings 录音 clip [klɪp] n. 片段，剪辑 the rattle of train tracks [ˈrætl] 铁轨的咔嗒声 honking car horns [ˈhɒŋkɪŋ][hɔːnz] 汽车喇叭的鸣笛声 the roar of aeroplanes [rɔː(r)][ˈeərəpleɪnz] 飞机的轰鸣声 overhead [ˌəʊvəˈhed] adv./adj. 在头顶上，在空中 hearing loss 听力损失，听力丧失 whisper [ˈwɪspə(r)] n./v. 低语，耳语，小声说话 bold [bəʊld] adj. （颜色、图案）鲜明的，醒目的，大胆的 soundscaping [ˈsaʊndskeɪpɪŋ] n. 声景设计（在公共空间中添加特定声音以营造氛围） recreate [ˌriːkriˈeɪt] vt. 重现，再现 unusual-sounding adj. 听起来不寻常的 immersive [ɪˈmɜːsɪv] adj. 沉浸式的，身临其境的 speaker [ˈspiːkə(r)] n. 扬声器，喇叭 high-pitched [ˌhaɪ ˈpɪtʃt] adj. 高音调的，尖声的 squeak [skwiːk] n. 吱吱声，短促尖声 soundscape [ˈsaʊndskeɪp] n. 声景，声音景观 city dwellers [ˈdweləz] 城市居民，都市人 📝 翻译及pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

Why swearing might mean you're smarter Bloody hell, shit, bugger. There, I said it. You've probably been told that swearing reflects poor vocabulary or bad manners. But that assumption doesn't really hold up. Several studies suggest that people who use more profanity don't just score higher on IQ tests, they also tend to have broader vocabulary overall. So why would swearing be linked to intelligence? In 2015, linguist Kristen and Timothy Jay ran a study comparing people's performance on a verbal fluency test, the COWAT, with their ability to generate swear words. Participants who performed best linguistically were also the ones who could produce the most taboo terms. The takeaway? Knowing and using profanity doesn't signal weak language skills. If anything, it can reflect the opposite. The research also suggested that people comfortable using coarse language often score higher on openness, one of the five major personality traits in psychology. And there's more. Psychologist Emma Serpala at Stanford tracked 600 parents and children over two decades. Her findings indicated that people who express their emotions more freely, including through swearing, also tend to score higher on measures of intelligence. According to her interpretation, that emotional expressiveness can reflect stronger cognitive and emotional abilities. And can being rude actually be good for your health? Some evidence suggests it might. UK researcher Richard Stephens has shown that swearing can have a real therapeutic effect. Profanity provides an emotional release, helping reduce stress and soothe nerves. A British-Swedish study published in 2022 points in the same direction. Participants were asked to submerge their hands in ice water, and those allowed to swear tolerated the discomfort longer. Similar effects appear during physical effort. Repeating a swear word before exertion seemed to boost strength and power. One explanation is that the brain processes taboo words differently, activating emotional and memory-related regions and triggering a small surge of adrenaline. There you have it. 词汇表 bloody hell [ˌblʌdi] （英式粗话）见鬼，该死 bugger [ˈbʌɡə(r)] int. （英式粗话）该死，妈的 swearing [ˈsweərɪŋ] n. 说脏话，咒骂 hold up （论点、理论等）站得住脚，成立 profanity [prəˈfænəti] n. 亵渎语言，脏话，不敬的言语 linguist [ˈlɪŋɡwɪst] n. 语言学家 verbal fluency [ˈvɜːbl ˈfluːənsi] 言语流利度，口语流畅性 linguistically [lɪŋˈɡwɪstɪkli] adv. 在语言学上，语言方面地 taboo terms [təˈbuː tɜːmz] 禁忌词汇，避讳用语 takeaway [ˈteɪkəweɪ] n. 要点，主要结论 coarse [kɔːs] adj. 粗俗的，粗鲁的，无礼的 openness [ˈəʊpənnəs] n. （人格特质）开放性 five major personality traits 五大核心人格特质 expressiveness [ɪkˈspresɪvnəs] n. 表达能力；表现力 therapeutic [ˌθerəˈpjuːtɪk] adj. 治疗的，有疗效的 soothe nerves [suːð nɜːvz] 安抚神经，缓解紧张 submerge [səbˈmɜːdʒ] v. （使） 潜入水中，浸没 exertion [ɪɡˈzɜːʃn] n. 用力，努力，体力消耗 a small surge of adrenaline [əˈdrenəlɪn] 少量肾上腺素的释放，轻微的肾上腺素激增 🪴翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】

Could one sound save thousands of hedgehogs? The researchers discovered that the European hedgehog can hear up to 85kHz, a frequency that's considered ultrasonic, far higher than humans who stop hearing past 20kHz. The team now wants to develop sound repellents to be used in cars or lawnmowers that could emit noise at a frequency to scare off hedgehogs. Thousands of hedgehogs a year are killed in road collisions, and the scientists say the discovery could be a game changer. It could also reveal if the animals communicate to each other using noises that humans can't hear. 词汇表 hedgehog [ˈhedʒhɒɡ] n. 刺猬 kHz (kilohertz) [ˈkɪləhɜːts] n. 千赫（声音的频率单位） ultrasonic [ˌʌltrəˈsɒnɪk] adj. 超声波的，超声的 repellent [rɪˈpelənt] n. 驱虫剂，驱赶器，驱避剂 lawnmower [ˈlɔːnməʊə(r)] n. 割草机 emit [iˈmɪt] vt. 发出，散发（声音、光、气味等） frequency [ˈfriːkwənsi] n. （声波的）频率 scare off 吓跑，吓退 road collisions [kəˈlɪʒnz] 道路碰撞，交通事故 game changer 打破现状的关键因素，规则改变者，变革者 🗒️翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】