英音听力｜BBC & 经济学人等 - 节目列表

Business Bartleby 商业板块 巴托比专栏 Managers v leaders 管理者vs领导者 A distinction that is both valid and unhelpful. 一种既有效又无益的区分。 If you were asked to imagine a manager, you might well conjure up someone comically boring, desk-bound and monotonal. Now do the same for a leader. You may well be picturing someone delivering a rousing speech. A horse may be involved. You almost certainly have different types in mind. There is indeed a distinction between managers and leaders, but it should not be overdone. 如果让你想象一个管理者的样子，你很可能会联想到一个无聊透顶、伏案工作的、单调乏味的人。现在，让你想象一位领导者。你很可能会想象一个人正在发表振奋人心的演讲。还可能会想到一匹马。你脑子里肯定有关于领导不同的类型。管理者和领导者之间确实有区别，但不应过分区分。 Various attempts have been made to pin down the differences between the two, but they boil down to the same thing. Managers, according to an influential article by Abraham Zaleznik in the Harvard Business Review in 1977, value order; leaders are tolerant of chaos. A later article in the same publication, by John Kotter, described management as a problem-solving discipline, in which planning and budgeting creates predictability. Leadership, in contrast, is about the embrace of change and inspiring people to brave the unknown. Warren Bennis, an American academic who made leadership studies respectable, reckoned that a manager administers and a leader innovates. 人们曾多次尝试明确两者之间的差异，但归根结底都是一样的。亚伯拉罕·扎莱兹尼克于 1977 年在《哈佛商业评论》上发表了一篇颇具影响力的文章，称管理者重视秩序，而领导者则容忍混乱。约翰·科特后来在同一刊物上发表的一篇文章将管理描述为一门解决问题的学科，其中计划和预算创造了可预测性。相比之下，领导力则是拥抱变化，激励人们勇敢面对未知。让领导力研究备受瞩目的美国学者沃伦·本尼斯认为，管理者负责管理，而领导者则负责创新。 Some of these definitions might be a tad arbitrary but they can be useful nonetheless. Too many firms promote employees into management roles because that is the only way for them to get on in their careers. But some people are much more suited to the ethos of management. They are more focused on process; they like the idea of spreadsheets, orderliness and supporting others to do good work. Shopify, an e-commerce firm, has created separate career paths for managers and developers with these differences in motivation in mind. 其中有些定义可能有些武断，但还是很有用的。有太多公司将员工提拔到管理岗位，因为这是他们职业发展的唯一途径。但有些人更适合管理的精神。他们更注重流程；他们喜欢电子表格、井然有序和支持他人做好工作。电子商务公司Shopify就考虑到了这些动机上的差异，为管理人员和开发人员创建了不同的职业发展路径。 The difference between managing and leading is not just a matter of semantics. Research by Oriana Bandiera of the London School of Economics and her co-authors looked at the diaries of 1,114 CEOs in six countries, and categorised their behaviours into two types. On their definitions, "leaders" have more meetings with other C-suite executives, and more interactions with multiple people inside and outside the company. "Managers" spend more time with employees involved in operational activities and have more one-to-one meetings. Leaders communicate and co-ordinate; managers drill downwards and focus on individuals. The research suggested that firms that are run by leaders perform better than those run by managers. 管理和领导之间的区别不仅仅是语义问题。伦敦政治经济学院的奥丽安娜·班迪埃拉和她的合著者研究了六个国家的1,114位首席执行官的日记，并将他们的行为分为两种类型。根据他们的定义，“领导者”与其他高管有更多的会议，以及与公司内外的多人有更多的互动。 But pointing to the differences between managers and leaders can also be unhelpful, for two reasons. The first is that being a leader seems so much sexier than being a manager. That is partly because leadership qualities are associated with seniority. As people scale the corporate ladder, they go on leadership courses, join leadership teams and start sentences with phrases like "as a leader". It is also because the two archetypes are not created equal. Would you rather be the person who likes to do budgeting or the one who holds others in thrall? The type that likes the status quo or the one that wants to change the world? "It takes neither genius nor heroism to be a manager," wrote Zaleznik. No wonder there are feted programmes for young global leaders but not for young global managers. The capacity to inspire others and to head into uncharted waters does become more salient the higher you rise. But management skill does not become less important. Dr Bandiera and colleagues concluded that although CEOs who displayed the behaviour of leaders were associated with better company performance overall, different firms may require different types of boss. Some would be better off with "manager" CEOs. And performance is independently correlated with other things, including the quality of management practices. The second unhelpful by-product of the debate about managers and leaders is that it tends to separate people into one camp or the other. In fact, bosses must combine the qualities of both. Just as it is hard to motivate people if you are highly efficient but have the inspirational qualities of feta cheese, so it is not much use laying out ambitious visions for the future if you don't have a clue how to make them reality. You need to turn the dial back and forth-from strategy to execution, change to order, passion to process, leader to manager. ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Why are People Worried About Young People Vaping? This small device is a vape, maybe you've seen one before. It's also known as an electronic or e-cigarette and should only be legally sold to and used by people over 18. Vapes work by heating a liquid which creates a vapour which is then inhaled by the person using it. Many vapes can contain nicotine, something which is also found in cigarettes. They can also contain many other harmful chemicals. 这个小装置是电子烟，也许你以前见过。它也被称为电子烟，只有18岁以上的人才能合法买卖和使用。电子烟的工作原理是通过加热液体产生蒸汽，然后被使用者吸入。许多电子烟都含有尼古丁，这种物质也存在于香烟中。它们还含有许多其他有害的化学物质。 Vapes are an alternative for adults who want to quit smoking, but there's a rising number of children and teenagers using them. The NHS say 9% of secondary school pupils aged 11-15 now vape, compared to 6% in 2018. These figures are a big concern with some children's doctors calling for a complete ban on e-cigarettes, and it's something you're noticing too. Research shows 2 out of 5 11-17 year olds said they smoke vapes just to give it a try, while 1 in 5 said other people use them so they join in. But many aren't aware of the possible dangers to their health. I'm here to meet Dr Ian to find out more. 对于想戒烟的成年人来说，电子烟是一种替代品，但越来越多的儿童和青少年使用它们。英国国家医疗服务体系(NHS)表示，目前有9%的11-15岁中学生使用电子烟，而2018年这一比例为6%。这些数据引起了一些儿童医生的极大关注，他们呼吁全面禁止电子烟，而这也是您正在注意到的问题。研究表明，五分之二的11-17岁的孩子说他们抽电子烟只是为了尝试，而五分之一的人说其他人吸电子烟，于是他们也加入其中。但许多人没有意识到可能对他们的健康造成的危险。我是来找伊恩医生了解更多情况的。 So why are people really worried about young people and vaping? If you vape it can be potentially damaging to the lungs and the airways of children. We always, as paediatric doctors who look after children, and in my team we're called the respiratory paediatricians, we look after children who've got breathing problems, and we're always thinking about the lungs of children and young people as being in a really important stage where they're developing, and when your lungs are developing in childhood up until the point where you become an adult, if there's anything that can damage the lungs then it can mean that you go through the rest of your life with lung problems, so we want to avoid that. 为什么人们非常担心年轻人吸电子烟？如果吸电子烟，可能会对儿童的肺部和呼吸道造成潜在伤害。我们作为照顾儿童的儿科医生，在我的团队里，我们被称为呼吸儿科医生，我们照顾有呼吸问题的儿童，我们一直认为儿童和年轻人的肺部正处于非常重要的发育阶段，当肺部在童年一直发育到成年时，如果有任何东西会损害肺部，那么这可能意味着你余生都会有肺部问题，所以我们希望避免这种情况。 Many vape products are displayed in brightly coloured packaging, some even with cartoons on. They also come in a variety of flavours, and vape companies have been accused of deliberately targeting children with their marketing. 许多电子烟产品的包装色彩鲜艳，有些甚至还印有卡通图案。电子烟也有多种口味，电子烟公司也因此被指控故意针对儿童进行营销。 The way vape products are packaged is something campaign groups want to see change quickly. Hazel is from the charity Ash. These disposable products, they're brightly coloured, they come in lots of exciting flavours, and those have become really, really popular over the last two years. In fact, nearly 70% of young people that are vaping, 11 to 17 year olds that are vaping, are using one of these disposable products. And for us, that really points to where the government could take action. They could pass rules to make them less appealing, to take the colours away, to take some of the cartoons and the other kind of promotional elements of them away. They could put tax on them that would make it harder to buy them because they would be more expensive. 电子烟产品的包装方式是运动团体希望看到迅速改变的东西。Hazel来自慈善机构Ash。这些一次性产品，颜色鲜艳，有很多令人兴奋的味道，在过去的两年里，它们变得非常非常流行。事实上，近70%的吸电子烟的年轻人，11到17岁的吸电子烟的人，都在使用这些一次性产品之一。对我们来说，这确实指出了政府可以采取行动的地方。他们可以通过一些规定来降低它们的吸引力，去掉颜色，去掉一些卡通和其他的宣传元素。他们可以对它们征税，这会让人们更难买到它们，因为它们会更贵。 As well as calling for a change in the way vape products are marketed, many want to see bigger punishments for those selling the products to children illegally. Some retailers have even given free samples to children, something which the government says they'll be taking action on. They also told us this. There's now a new team that's going to crack down on shopkeepers that sell underage. Also the prime minister is going to be writing out to police forces where they've got school liaison officers so that they can stop vapes in the schools to keep schools vape free. 除了呼吁改变电子烟产品的营销方式外，许多人还希望看到对那些非法向儿童销售产品的人进行更严厉的惩罚。一些零售商甚至向儿童提供免费样品，政府表示他们将采取行动。他们还告诉我们现在有一支新的队伍将打击向未成年人出售产品的店主。此外，首相还将致函那些有学校联络官的警队，让他们阻止学校里的吸食行为，以保证学校里没有吸食者。 As well as what the government told me, they also said there'll be online resources available from July to teach young people about the dangers of vaping. The government's plans have been welcomed, although some campaign groups have argued more urgent action needs to be taken to protect children. 除了政府告诉我的内容外，他们还表示，从 7 月开始将提供在线资源，向年轻人讲授电子烟的危险性。这些政府的计划受到了欢迎，尽管一些运动团体认为需要采取更紧急的行动来保护儿童。 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

What happens to our brain when we sleep? "I'm knackered - have you got any tips for a good night's sleep?" Not only is sleep a common feature of our small talk, we've also spent decades trying to understand and explain it. After all, we spend on average 26 years of our lives asleep. So, what do we know? Here are the highlights of the last decade of research. “我累坏了，你有什么睡个好觉的建议吗？”睡眠不仅是我们闲聊中的常见话题，我们还花了几十年的时间来理解和解释它。毕竟，我们一生中平均有26年是在睡眠中度过的。那么，我们知道些什么呢？以下是过去十年的研究重点。 One of the most intriguing developments is in the study of lucid dreaming – it seems it's possible to communicate with people while they're sleeping. In a study called 'Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep', researchers asked questions to participants in a lucid dream. The dreamers signalled the answers using pre-agreed eye or facial movements. They were accurate, suggesting they could access their cognitive functions such as working memory while sleeping. This interaction between dreamworld and reality has brought excitement to the sleep science community. 最引人入胜的进展之一是对清醒梦境的研究--似乎有可能在人们熟睡时与他们交流。在一项名为“快速眼动睡眠中实验者与做梦者之间的实时对话”的研究中，研究人员向清醒梦境中的参与者提出了问题。做梦者用事先商定的眼部或面部动作示意回答。他们的回答非常准确，这表明他们可以在睡眠中使用工作记忆等认知功能。梦境与现实之间的这种互动让睡眠科学界为之一振。 Sleep can also help our memory and problem-solving. A 2023 review of research by Denis and Cairney noted that brain regions that are used to learn new things, are reactivated during sleep. That means while we're sleeping, our brains replay our memories of what happened during the day, which is believed to be crucial for memory retention. And, if you've ever felt it was best to sleep on a tricky problem and solve it in the morning, you might have scientific backing! A 2019 study by Sanders and colleagues found that people were more likely to solve a tricky problem the next day if the problem had been activated in their brains during sleep. So, if you're stuck, rest up and return to it in the morning. 睡眠还能帮助我们记忆和解决问题。丹尼斯和凯尔尼在2023年的研究综述中指出，用于学习新事物的大脑区域在睡眠中会被重新激活。这意味着，当我们睡觉时，大脑会重放白天发生的事情，这被认为是保持记忆的关键。而且，如果你曾觉得最好先睡一觉再说，把棘手的问题留到明早再解决，这可能有科学的依据！桑德斯及其同事在 2019 年进行的一项研究发现，如果问题在睡眠中被激活，人们第二天就更有可能解决棘手的问题。所以，如果你卡壳了，可以休息一下，明天早上再解决。 What if you're unlucky enough to suffer with sleep deprivation? Unfortunately, you may be at higher risk of negative moods and worse emotional regulation, according to a 2021 meta-analysis called 'The effect of sleep deprivation and restriction on mood, emotion, and emotion regulation'. The good news is there are plenty of tips to help you with your sleep hygiene. The UK's National Health Service recommends having a set time to start winding down, meditation before bed, which they call 'beditation', and avoiding caffeine before bed. 如果你不幸遭受睡眠不足的困扰怎么办？不幸的是，根据 2021 年的一项名为“睡眠不足和限制对心情、情绪和情绪调节的影响”的荟萃分析，你可能面临更高的负面情绪和更差的情绪调节风险。好消息是有很多技巧可以帮助你保持睡眠健康。英国国家卫生服务局建议有一个固定的时间开始放松，睡前冥想，他们称之为“睡前冥想”，并在睡前避免摄入咖啡因。 词汇表 knackered 筋疲力尽的 a good night's sleep 睡个好觉 asleep 睡着的 lucid dreaming 清醒梦，在做梦时保持思考和记忆能力 dreamer 睡梦中的人 REM sleep 快速动眼睡眠 cognitive functions 认知功能 working memory 工作记忆，一种持续时间较短的记忆 dreamworld 梦中世界，梦境 memory retention 记忆保持，在记忆中保留信息或经验 sleep on something 把…留到下一天再作决定 rest up 得到充分休息 sleep deprivation 睡眠不足 sleep hygiene 睡眠健康 wind down 逐渐放松 beditation 睡前冥想 caffeine 咖啡因 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Is it wrong to eat plants? Many people these days choose not to eat meat, and for vegetarians, eating animals is wrong. But what about digging up a carrot, or picking apples from a tree? Is that wrong too? I don't think so, Neil. Plants aren't alive in the same way as animals, are they? They can't think or feel pain. And even vegetarians need to eat something. Fruit, vegetables, rice, beans – they all come from plants. It's true that plants don't have brains or nerves, but according to some scientists, they're much more than passive things rooted in the ground. Plants can learn and remember, they solve problems, and can even recognise other plants in their 'family'. So, given the amazing things plants do, is it right to eat them? That's what we'll be discussing in this programme, and as usual we'll be learning some new useful vocabulary as well. But first I have a question for you, Neil. Anyone who's seen cows grazing knows it's usually animals that eat plants, but some plants have turned the evolutionary tables to eat animals instead. So, which tropical plant is famous for trapping insects to eat? Is it: a) the corpse flower, b) the American skunk cabbage, or c) the Venus fly trap? I think it's c) the Venus fly trap. OK, Neil. We'll find out if that's the right answer later in the programme. Plants have been on the planet for hundreds of millions of years longer than humans, and have used that time to evolve special skills. Here's Professor Rick Karban, a biologist at the University of California, explaining more to James Wong, botanist and presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme, Is Eating Plants Wrong? Without eyes plants can perceive a lot of information about light, without noses plants can perceive chemical information, without ears plants can perceive sounds, and so we've come to realise that plants are very perceptive about what's going on in their environments. You could argue for example that plants can perceive most of the senses that humans can. I would agree with that and then some… What d'you mean, 'and then some'? Anyone who's had a dog knows that dogs have a much keener sense of smell than humans do, and we're now learning that plants are very responsive to chemicals in their environment. Even without ears, eyes, or a nose, plants are very perceptive – they notice things around them. In fact, Professor Karban says that plants perceive as much as humans and then some - an idiom meaning 'and even more' which is used to emphasise that what you mentioned before was an understatement. For example: Bill Gates is rich and then some! Like dogs, plants have a keen sense of smell, which they used to detect chemicals in the air. Here, keen means powerful and intense. OK, so plants can 'see' light and 'smell' the air, but does that mean they're intelligent? Maybe so. Studies modelled on the famous Pavlov's dog experiment, have trained pea seedlings to find the quickest route to light through a maze, and remember it – evidence of memory. In another experiment, potted plants were lined up with roots joining them like a chain of people holding hands. The plants talked to each other, passing along information about water and air temperature through their roots, like children playing a game where a message is passed on, in a whisper, through a chain of people, becoming distorted in the process. Distorted means changed from its original form. All this takes brain power, and there's clearly evidence that plants might have some kind of intelligence. So, given all of this, is it wrong to eat them? That's what James Wong asked, Michael Marder, professor of philosophy at the University of the Basque Country for his BBC Radio 4 programme, Is Eating Plants Wrong? Is it wrong to eat plants? It is not in and of itself wrong to eat plants, but we have to do so while keeping in mind the context in which we're doing this. We have to first of all think about what kinds of plants we are eating, what are the parts of those plants? Are we in fact destroying the entire living being, or just taking certain of its parts such as fruits and leaves that are not essential to it that can actually fall off without doing harm to the whole organism? Professor Marder says that eating plants is not wrong in and of itself – when considered alone, without taking anything else into account. But he thinks it's important to remember the context – the situation or circumstances in which something happens. Picking an apple, for example, is okay because it doesn't kill the tree itself which can go on to produce more fruit. It seems plants really are clever – but do they know the answer to your question, Rob? Ah yes, I asked you to name the famous insect-eating topical plant. And I said it was the Venus fly trap. Which was the correct answer. Well done, Neil. ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

The history of the universe Our Universe was created about 13.8 billion years ago in the Big Bang. At first, it was very simple, consisting of little more than hydrogen and helium and lots of energy. There were no stars or galaxies, no planets and certainly no living creatures. Then, gradually, more complex things appeared. 我们的宇宙产生于大约138亿年前的大爆炸。起初，它非常简单，仅由氢和氦以及大量能量组成。没有恒星或星系，没有行星，当然也没有生物。然后，渐渐的，更复杂的事物出现了。 The first stars and galaxies probably appeared within about 200 million years of the Big Bang. As big stars lived and died, they blew up and created new elements. Those new elements allowed the creation of new materials such as the dust and ice and rocks and minerals from which planets are made. 第一批恒星和星系可能出现在宇宙大爆炸后的大约 2 亿年内。随着大恒星的生灭，它们爆炸并产生了新元素。这些新元素产生了新的物质，如尘埃、冰、岩石和矿物，行星就是由这些物质构成的。 Our Sun and solar system appeared about 4.5 billion years ago, and by 4 billion years ago, it's likely that life had emerged on Earth. Life evolved and diversified but most of it consisted of tiny, single-celled organisms until, about 1 billion years ago, the first many-celled organisms appeared. From about five hundred million years ago, big creatures became much more common, from trilobites to trees to tyrannosaurus rex. 我们的太阳和太阳系大约在45亿年前出现，到40亿年前，地球上很可能已经出现了生命。生命不断进化和多样化，但其中大部分由微小的单细胞生物组成，直到大约10亿年前，第一批多细胞生物出现。从大约五亿年前开始，从三叶虫到树木再到霸王龙，大型生物变得更加普遍。 The first humans evolved very recently, just about 200,000 years ago. Though it wasn't obvious at the time, the appearance of humans turned out to be hugely important because humans were able to share ideas and information better than any other species that ever existed. Using that ability, our ancestors gradually built up stores of information that allowed them to control their environments more and more powerfully. 第一批人类进化得非常晚，大约20万年前。尽管当时并不明显，但人类的出现被证明是非常重要的，因为人类能够比任何其他物种更好地分享思想和信息。利用这种能力，我们的祖先逐渐建立起信息储存库，使他们能够越来越有力地掌控环境。 The process accelerated until, in just the last 100 years, we have become so powerful that what we do in the next few decades will determine the future of the oceans, the climate, and of most other species on Earth, including our own descendants. Many scholars believe that this represents a new geological epoch. The Anthropocene. In the last 50 years, we humans have begun to control energy and resources on such a vast scale that we are transforming the land, the seas and the atmosphere of the Earth. 这个过程不断加速，直到在过去的短短 100 年里，我们变得如此强大，以至于我们在未来几十年的所作所为将决定海洋、气候和地球上大多数其他物种（包括我们自己的后代）的未来。许多学者认为，这代表了一个新的地质时代。人类世。在过去的 50 年里，我们人类开始大规模地控制能源和资源，我们正在改变地球的陆地、海洋和大气。 So, planet Earth is at a turning point in its history. Humans, now the dominant species, will either lead the biosphere towards a flourishing future, or to catastrophe. Perhaps triggered by nuclear wars that could ruin swathes of the planet in just a few hours, or caused more slowly by the continued release of greenhouse gases until the land is flooded and global climates are too hot to grow enough food. This is a very, very big deal. Never before has a single species determined the future of the entire biosphere. 因此，地球正处于其历史的转折点。人类，这个现在占主导地位的物种，要么带领生物圈走向繁荣的未来，要么走向灾难。也许核战争会在几小时内毁掉地球上的大片土地，也许温室气体的持续释放会导致更缓慢的灾难，直到土地被淹没，以及全球气候太热，无法种植足够的食物。 这是一个非常非常大的问题。在此之前，从来没有一个物种能决定整个生物圈的未来。 The good news is that we understand the science, and we already have many of the technologies needed to build a sustainable future. What's missing now is the political technology. How can governments and peoples be encouraged to see the challenges that they all share, rather than simply defending their own local and immediate interests? Only by collaboration can we avoid the many dangers we face today. Can we steer planet Earth towards a prosperous future in which humans and all the other organisms on which we depend can flourish for thousands, even perhaps, for millions of years into the future? 好消息是，我们了解科学，我们已经拥有了许多建立可持续未来所需的技术。现在缺少的是政治技术。怎样才能鼓励政府和人民看到他们共同面临的挑战，而不仅仅是捍卫自己的地方和眼前利益？只有通过合作，我们才能避免我们今天面临的许多风险。我们能否引导地球走向一个繁荣的未来，使人类和我们赖以生存的所有其他生物在未来几千年，甚至几百万年里都能繁荣昌盛? 词汇表 Big Bang 宇宙起源的大爆炸(学说) hydrogen and helium 氢和氦：为宇宙最早元素，为恒星核聚变之源。 galaxy, star and planet 星系，恒星，行星 single-celled organisms 单细胞生物：包括细菌、藻类和原生动物等。 blow up 爆炸，爆发 trilobite [古生物] 三叶虫 tyrannosaurus rex 暴龙，霸王龙 stores of information 信息库，信息存储 geological epoch 地质时代：通常是数百万年到数千万年的时间跨度，用于描述地球历史上的重要事件和生物演化。 Anthropocene 人类世：人类自工业革命以来的活动对环境的影响可成立一个新地质时代的理论 on a vast scale 大幅度地，大规模地 dominant species 优势物种：通常对其他物种具有主导影响力或占据更多的生物量。 biosphere 生物界，生物圈 flourishing/prosperous 繁荣昌盛的，蓬勃发展的 catastrophe 大灾难，打灾祸 swathes of 大片的，大量的 immediate interests 切身利益，眼前利益 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Roadrunner's Race Against Time The great American deserts cover over two-and-a-half million square kilometres. Here, roasted by the sun and blasted by the wind, the rocks disintegrate and mountains, particle by particle, are reduced to sand. 美洲大沙漠的面积超过 250 万平方公里。在这里，经过太阳的炙烤和狂风的吹袭，岩石崩裂，山峦化为了一粒一粒的沙土。 These pillars are all that remain of a plateau where dinosaurs once roamed. Few animals can now survive here. In summer, as in all deserts, the enemy is heat. And it returns every day. At seven in the morning, the temperature is already 25 degrees Celsius. 这些石柱是恐龙曾经出没的高原仅存的遗迹。现在很少有动物能在这里生存。在夏天，就像在所有的沙漠一样，炎热是敌人。且每天往复。早上7点，气温已经达到25摄氏度。 The clock is ticking for one unusual descendant of the dinosaurs. A roadrunner, found only in the deserts of North America. Built for a life on the ground. He can run at over 30km an hour, but the prey he seeks are one step ahead. 对于一种不寻常的恐龙后代来说，时间正在流逝。他是走鹃，只能在北美的沙漠中找到。在地面上生活。他能以每小时超过30公里的速度奔跑，但他寻找的猎物却领先一步。 The roadrunner's challenge is picking the right target. A Gila Monster — too big. By mid-morning, it will be 40 degrees Celsius. Even the smallest lizards will soon head for cover. A centipede, slim pickings for a morning's work. 走鹃的挑战是选择正确的目标。毒蜥对他来说太大了。到上午10点左右，气温将达到40摄氏度。即使是最小的蜥蜴也会迅速寻找阴蔽之处。忙活一上午，也只收获了一只蜈蚣。 Hunting should get easier and prey will stay out longer once the summer's peak begins to fade. 一旦夏季的高温开始消退，狩猎应该会变得更容易，猎物也会停留更长时间。 词汇表 great American desert 美洲大沙漠：旧地理名称，原指北美、包括大平原地区在内的广袤半干旱地域。 roast 炙烤，暴露在太阳下使受热发烫 blast 吹袭， 喷射 (水流或气流) disintegrate 破裂，粉碎，瓦解 remain 遗迹，剩余物 plateau 高原 roam 出没，漫步，闲逛 clock is ticking 时间紧迫，时间流逝 descendant 后代，子孙 roadrunner 走鹃（杜鹃属，见于北美） prey 猎物，捕获物 one step ahead 领先一步，保持稍弱优势 Gila Monster 毒蜥（多出现在美国西南部沙漠） slim pickings 收获甚微，选择很少 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Streetlights linked to insect decline There’s growing alarm over plunging insect populations with climate change, habitat destruction and pesticides all thought to play a role. But now, scientists say there’s another culprit: artificial streetlights. 人们对昆虫数量的锐减愈发感到担忧，气候变化、栖息地被破坏和杀虫剂的使用都被认为是造成这一现状的因素。但现在，科学家指出还有另一个原因——人造路灯。 Researchers from the charity Butterfly Conservation counted caterpillars at the sides of brightly lit roads. Compared with similar stretches of unlit roads, caterpillar numbers were reduced by half, suggesting streetlights can affect the abundance of insects – at least on a local scale. 慈善机构蝴蝶保护委员会的研究人员在灯光明亮的道路两旁清点了毛虫的数量。与没有照明的类似路段相比，毛虫数量少了一半，这表明路灯可以影响昆虫数量是否充足，至少在当地范围内是如此。 The scientists say with insects in trouble, we should be doing all we can to reduce negative influences. But there are practical solutions such as dimming streetlights in the early hours, installing motion sensors, or using colour filters to modify the light. 科学家指出，由于昆虫陷入了生存困境，我们应竭尽所能减少对它们的负面影响。但同时，也存在一些切实可行的解决方案，比如在凌晨调暗路灯的灯光、安装运动传感器或使用彩色滤光片来改变光线。 词汇表 plunging 锐减 culprit 起因，罪魁祸首 artificial 人造的 streetlights 路灯，街灯 caterpillars 毛虫，蝶或蛾类昆虫的幼虫 stretches 路段 unlit 没有灯的，灯没有开的 abundance 大量，充足 dimming 调暗 installing 安装 motion sensors 运动传感器 filters 过滤器，此处指滤光片 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Is listening to a book better than reading it? Picture yourself sitting at home in a quiet reading nook, ignoring the world around you, engrossed in a tale. You read the blurb, instantly became intrigued and now you're in the middle of an absolute page-turner. But, there's a hot debate – physical books vs. e-books vs. audiobooks. Does the device you're using to read affect your reaction to the book? 想象一下，你坐在家中安静的阅读角落，无视周围的世界，全神贯注地阅读着一个故事。你看了简介，立刻就被吸引住了，现在你正沉浸在一个绝对令人目不暇接的故事中。但是，现在有一个热门话题——实体书与电子书、有声书之争。你使用的阅读设备会影响你对书的反应吗？ Generally, reading uses several areas of the brain. There's attention span, reasoning, reading fluency, memory and language comprehension. Reading is known to strengthen communicative ability, vocabulary and increase emotional intelligence and social perception. So, whichever way you're reading, there are definitely benefits. 一般来说，阅读会用到大脑的多个区域。包括注意力、推理能力、阅读流畅性、记忆力和语言理解能力。众所周知，阅读可以增强交流能力、词汇量，提高情商和社会感知力。因此，无论你以哪种方式阅读，肯定都有好处。 But, let's look at the pros to reading with your eyes – that's physical books and e-books. They can help to retain information better. This is because when you can actually see the words, your attention is held more closely. Add to this the fact that with physical books you can go back and find any part you missed, especially if your mind wanders, which it likely will at some point or other. 但是，让我们看看用眼睛阅读的好处——那就是实体书和电子书。它们可以帮助更好地保留信息。这是因为当你真正看到单词时，你的注意力会被更牢牢地抓住。此外，对于实体书来说，你还可以回过头来查找遗漏的部分，尤其是当你的思绪游离的时候，而这很可能会在某些时候发生。 On the other hand, there's the audiobook. Headphones in, you're switched off from life and the story really comes alive, almost like watching a film – in your head. From a scientific perspective, listening to an audiobook is likely to help you develop a greater sense of empathy as you hear the emotion of the narrator. We can more easily understand inflection and intonation. Hearing the story engages different parts of the brain, heightening the intensity and imagery, making you enjoy it more. Yet, going back to attention span, with an audiobook it's true that it's much harder to go back and listen again. 另一方面，还有有声读物。戴上耳机，你就会从生活中解脱出来，故事也就真正鲜活起来，就像在脑海中看电影一样。从科学的角度来看，听有声读物很可能会让你产生更多的共鸣，因为你能听到讲述者的情感。我们可以更容易地理解语气和语调。听故事可以调动大脑的不同部分，增强故事的强度和想象力，让你更喜欢听故事。然而，回到注意力集中的问题上，有声读物确实更难让人回过头来再听一遍。 All in all, it seems that there are advantages to both physical books and audiobooks. Perhaps, next time you find yourself browsing bookshop shelves, also consider the format. It may just change your whole literary experience. 总而言之，实体书和有声读物似乎都有优势。也许，下次你发现自己浏览书店的书架时，也要考虑一下阅读格式。它可能只是改变了你的整个文学体验。 词汇表 reading nook 读书角 engrossed 全神贯注的，专心致志的 tale 故事 blurb 简介 page-turner 令人爱不释手的书 e-book 电子书籍 audiobook 有声读物 attention span 注意力的持续时间，注意广度 fluency 流畅度 emotional intelligence 情商 social perception 社会知觉 retain 记住 attention is held 注意力集中 wander 走神，开小差 come alive 变得有趣，显得逼真 narrator 讲述者 inflection 音调变化 intonation 语调 imagery 意象，比喻 browse 随意看，浏览 bookshop shelves 书店的书架 literary 文学的 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Culture Johnson 文艺版块 约翰逊专栏 Talk with the hand 用手交谈 A new book shows that gestures are a subtle and vital form of communication. 一本新书展现手势是一种微妙而重要的交流方式。 "Tie an italian's hands behind his back," runs an old joke, "and he'll be speechless." The gag rests on a national stereotype: Italians are voluble and emotional, and all that arm-waggling supposedly goes to prove it. Susan Goldin-Meadow of the University of Chicago has a rather different view. Emotions come out in lots of ways: facial expressions, posture, tone of voice and so on. But people are doing something different when they use gestures with speech, which she sums up in the title of her new book, "Thinking With Your Hands". It is a masterly tour through a lifetime's research. “把一个意大利人的手绑在背后,”一个老笑话这样说道，“他会说不出话来的。”这个笑话基于一个国家的刻板印象: 意大利人口若悬河，情绪化，所有这些摇摆手臂的举动都可以证明这一点。芝加哥大学的苏珊·戈尔丁-梅多有不同的看法。表达情绪的方式有很多: 面部表情、姿势、语调等等。但当人们在说话时使用手势时，他们做的事情是不同的，她在新书《用手思考》的书名中总结了这一点。这本书是她毕生研究成果的精湛之作。 Virtually everyone gestures, not just Italians. Experimental subjects, told after a research session that they were being watched for gestures, apologise for not having made any-but were doing so the entire time. Conference interpreters gesture in their little booths, though no one is looking. People born blind gesture when they speak, including to each other. A woman born without arms but with "phantom limb syndrome" describes how she uses her phantom arms when she talks-but not when she walks. All this suggests that cognition is, to some extent, "embodied"; thinking is not all done in your head. The gesture under discussion here is mostly the "co-speech" kind. It is much more abstract than mime (in which exaggerated acting tells a story). Nor are these "emblematic" gestures like a thumbs-up or a finger over the lips for "Silence!" Like words, those are fixed within cultures (but vary between them). Instead, gestures that accompany speech are a second channel of information. Subjects watch a film in which a cat runs but are told to lie and say it jumped. They do so in words-while their hands make a running motion. People who say they believe in sexual equality but gesture with their hands lower when talking about women are not indicating women's shorter stature; they can be shown to have biases of which they may be unaware. Gesture is also not sign language. Sign languages have clearly defined words and grammar, and differ from place to place just as spoken ones do. Professor Goldin-Meadow spends a lot of time on homesign-systems of signs typically developed by deaf children in hearing families who are not exposed to (and so never learn) a conventional sign language. Such children are essentially inventing rough but rich languages out of nothing, with features such as fixed word order and hierarchical grammatical structures much like those in fully fledged languages. Such homesign systems far outstrip their parents' gestures; a parent's raised finger meaning "Wait" may be adopted by a child to connote events in the future. Returning to conventional gesture, the author keeps her focus on child development. Some students who fail at a tricky mathematics problem may gesture in a way that indicates they are on the verge of getting it; they should be taught differently from the ones whose gestures suggest that they are entirely at sea. Children who still use only one word at a time may combine a word and a gesture; this successfully predicts that two-word phrases ("Give ball") are just around the corner. And those taught to move their hands about when discussing a moral quandary with several perspectives soon start to see the problem from different points of view. All this is rounded out in a final section offering practical advice. Teachers are encouraged both to use gestures themselves and to observe those their students make. Parents are taught to fill in the word a child is most likely to be missing when they gesture ("That's a dog") rather than adding information ("That's a fluffy one"). Children with language delays caused by brain injuries at or around birth, but who nonetheless gesture as much as their peers, are likely to catch up verbally by the age of about 30 months. Those who gesture less are more likely to need intensive early intervention. Children with Down's syndrome may express themselves better when taught to use a mix of gesture and speech rather than speech alone. Psychotherapists can be trained to look out for gestures hinting that patients are thinking something they are not yet ready to say. In "The Crown", Lady Diana is warned that her hands may betray her real emotions, which could be dangerous; they are tied together so she can learn to speak without gesticulating. No one who reads this book could ever again think that gesturing shows only a lack of control. It is about thinking and communication, and is a sophisticated aid to both. ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

The History of Hip Hop What do Dave, Nicki Minaj and Drake all have in common? They're all considered hip-hop artists, but the groundbreaking genre has been 50 years in the making. But wait, what exactly is hip-hop? Dave、Nicki Minaj 和 Drake 有什么共同点？他们都被认为是嘻哈艺术家，但这种开创性的流派已经酝酿了50年。但是等等，到底什么是嘻哈音乐？ Typically, hip-hop can be characterized as music with artists rapping, talking and sometimes even singing over a beat. Something similar to this. So, we know what it is, but where did it start? Let's go back in time all the way back to the 70s. 通常，嘻哈音乐可以被描述为一种音乐，艺术家们随着节拍说唱、交谈，有时甚至唱歌。类似于这个。我们知道它是什么，但它是什么时候开始的呢？让我们回到70年代。 Wait, where have I ended up? What? America? One of the poorest parts of New York, the Bronx had a lot of problems, including fighting between gangs. People needed an escape and they found it through music and parties. One of these parties in particular is widely thought to be the start of what we now know as hip-hop. 等等，我到哪儿啦？哪一个？美国？布朗克斯是纽约最贫穷的地区之一，问题很多，包括帮派之间的争斗。人们需要逃避，他们通过音乐和派对找到了出路。其中一个派对被广泛认为是 我们现在所知的嘻哈音乐的开端。 This man, called DJ Cool Herc, was playing at a party in building 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on August 11th, 1973. DJs back then used turntables to play music using vinyls, which is like a big CD. DJ Cool Bill Herc was different in that he was one of the first to use two at once and focus on playing the section of songs without words. Having two meant the music, and the party, never stopped. And this became the basis of hip-hop. 1973年8月11日，这个名叫 DJ Cool Herc 的人在塞奇威克大道1520号大楼的一个派对上表演。当时的 DJ 使用唱盘播放音乐，唱盘就像一张大 CD。DJ Cool Bill Herc 的与众不同之处在于，他是第一批同时使用两台唱机并专注于播放无词歌曲的人之一。有了这两台设备，就意味着音乐和派对永不停歇。这也成为嘻哈音乐的基础。 But since then it's grown into a massive multi-billion dollar industry, influencing everything from culture, to language, to fashion. It's also created some pretty big legends. Artists such as Jay-Z and Diddy are considered as hip-hop's first billionaires. Artists like Missy Elliott and Outkast are considered as some of hip-hop's most creative and trailblazing artists. 但从那以后，它已经发展成为一个价值数十亿美元的庞大产业，影响着从文化、语言到时尚的方方面面。它也创造了一些相当大的传奇。像Jay-Z和Diddy这样的艺术家被认为是嘻哈界的第一批亿万富翁。像Missy Elliott和Outkast这样的艺术家被认为是嘻哈界最具创造力和开拓性的艺术家。 But hip-hop is more than just an American scene. The genre has grown so big that it's inspired genres and artists all around the world. Think of your Stormzy's, your Little Sims and even Ed Sheeran. All have been inspired and shaped by hip-hop in some way. And to think, all of this started with a guy and two turntables. Imagine if he had three. 但是，嘻哈音乐不仅仅是美国的一个场景。这一流派已经发展得如此之大，以至于启发了世界各地的流派和艺术家。想想你的Stormzy's、Little Sims）甚至Ed Sheeran。他们都在某种程度上受到了嘻哈音乐的启发和影响。想想看，这一切都源于一个人和两台唱机。想象一下，如果他有三台转台，那将会是怎样的一番景象。 词汇表 groundbreaking 全新的，开创性的 genre (文艺作品的) 类型，流派 gang （青少年的）帮派，团伙；犯罪团伙 turntable （留声机、电唱机的）转盘，唱盘 trailblazing 开创性的，开拓性的 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Ecotourism: good or bad? Nowadays, the word 'safari' is often used negatively. For many people, the idea of killing animals for sport is unacceptable. As the popularity of hunting declines, safaris are swapping their guns for cameras, offering tourists the chance to photograph wild animals in their natural habitat. In recent years, nature and wildlife tourism, also called ecotourism, has grown massively. But the story is complex. While money from ecotourism is supposed to support threatened wildlife and traditional local cultures, the reality is sometimes different. In this programme, we'll be asking: is ecotourism good or bad? And, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well. Most tourists on safari are looking for 'the big five', the name given to Africa's most iconic large animals. But which animals are 'the big five'? Is it: a) the lion, leopard, giraffe, baboon and buffalo; b) the lion, leopard, tiger, elephant and buffalo or c) the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo? I guess it's a) the lion, leopard, giraffe, baboon and buffalo. The balance between the good and bad things ecotourism can bring is well understood by Vicky Smith, whose website, Earth Changes, matches ecotourists with environmentally-friendly travel companies. Here is Vicky talking with BBC Radio 4 programme, Costing the Earth. Just because tourism is nature-based, it doesn't mean to say it's necessarily responsible or sustainable. So, there's a lot of animal activities in tourism that we know which are, you know, highly irresponsible and unsustainable, like a performing whale and dolphin shows, or swimming with dolphins, elephant-riding, tiger selfies where the tigers are drugged. Genuine ecotourism is sustainable – designed to continue at a steady level which does not damage the environment. Not every travel company which calls themselves eco-friendly acts sustainably, and may still advertise irresponsible tourist activities, including tiger selfies – having your photo taken with a captive wild tiger. There are two requirements travel companies should meet to qualify as genuine ecotourism. First, tourists' main motivation should be to appreciate and observe the natural world without interfering, and second, the money they spend should support traditional communities. Clearly, having your photograph taken with a chained and drugged tiger does not meet these requirements. But not all companies claiming to be ecotourism behave so irresponsibly. According to Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent, who runs small scale wildlife expeditions to some of the most remote places on Earth, it's possible to put travel companies on a sliding scale from good to bad. On BBC Radio 4's programme, Costing the Earth, Antonia discussed her work in Tajikistan, a country where ecotourism is making a positive impact on both animal and human communities. At the other end of the scale is Tajikistan, where I work a lot, which gets less than two dozen wildlife tourists a year, and the money these visitors bring is essential to the conservation work that grassroots NGOs are doing. So those few tourists… their money goes a very long way and the animals people are looking at… snow leopards, rare mountain ungulates like Bukharan markhor, they are being observed from a distance, their behaviour is not being affected in any way, and the local communities are genuinely benefiting. Antonia uses the phrase at the other end of the scale as a way of contrasting irresponsible tourist companies with what's happening in Tajikistan. There, animals including snow leopards and mountain ungulates, are being protected by ecotourist projects run by non-governmental organisations, or NGOs - organizations trying to achieve environmental or social aims outside of government control. These NGOs are grassroots organisations meaning that they are run from the bottom up, by ordinary people rather than leaders. Despite getting very few ecotourists a year, the money they spend in Tajikistan goes a long way, in other words, the money is an important factor in achieving their goals, which in Tajikistan at least, means protecting rare wild animals. Ecotourism – travel to places of natural beauty where the tourists' motivation is to appreciate nature and support the local culture. The adjective sustainable describes actions designed to continue at a steady level so as not to damage the environment. A tiger selfie means having your photo taken with a captive wild tiger, not something to be advised! The phrase at the other end of the scale is similar in meaning to the phrase, 'by contrast'. A grassroots NGO is a non-governmental organisation which tries to achieve its aims through the actions of local ordinary people rather than leaders. And finally, if something goes a long way towards a certain goal, it's an important factor in achieving that goal. ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Could our society survive without the state? Could we survive without rulers? Without the state? 没有统治者、没有国家，我们能生存吗？ We have survived for centuries despite them and they're destructive wars and stifling oppression. Crippling taxes suck half our wealth away, sprinkling just a fraction back. 尽管统治者和国家已存在几个世纪，我们仍然身处破坏性的战争和令人窒息的压迫中。沉重的税收吸走了我们一半的财富，只剩下一小部分。 It has been done before. Archaeology shows some of our ancestors living in peace for a few thousand years before armed rulers appear on the scene. Not in caves, but in cities with tens of thousands enjoying civilisation we would recognise. 以前也有人这样做过。考古学表明，在武装统治者出现之前，我们的一些祖先和平地生活了几千年。不是在洞穴里，而是在城市里，成千上万的人享受着我们所认识的文明。 What would life be like without the state? Less complicated, divisive and confusing for a start. Poverty would be slashed with half our wealth back in circulation and none wasted on wars and political schemes. Enterprise and innovation flourish without the regulation that favours large corporations. 如果没有国家，生活会变成什么样？首先，没有那么复杂、分裂和混乱。我们的财富将有一半重新回到流通领域，不会再浪费在战争和政治计划上，从而减少贫困。没有偏袒大公司的监管，企业和创新将蓬勃发展。 We do things voluntarily, never because we are threatened with damage for non-compliance. It is a climate in which our cooperative and charitable nature can flourish. When join up in a free system we find effective ways to meet our community's needs. We develop systems in which cream rises to the top, instead of scum. Online vendors value their reputations. 我们是自愿做事的，从来不会因为不遵守规定而面临受损的威胁。在这种氛围中，我们的合作和慈善天性得以释放开来。当我们在一个自由的系统中联合起来时，我们就能找到满足社会需求的有效方法。我们开发的系统中，精英辈出，而不是人渣横行。网上销售商也会重视自己的声誉。 The states only vital function is protecting us from other versions of itself. Everything else we could do ourselves. We could even develop a less rigid justice system with no victimless offenses, that benefits from a reduction in crime and fear. We could deter, punish and protect with levels of digital exile tailored to the offense. Jails are just so last century. 国家唯一重要的功能就是保护我们不受国家之外其他版本的伤害。其他一切我们都可以自己来做。我们甚至可以建立一个不那么僵化的司法系统，不存在无受害人犯罪，并从减少犯罪和恐惧。我们可以根据违法行为的不同程度进行数字流放，从而起到威慑、惩罚和保护的作用。那样监狱就是上个世纪的事了。 Civilisation developed through the connection and cooperation of people. We are more connected now than at any time in human history. We have the tools to develop structures that self-govern from the bottom up, evolving as times change. Could we survive a crash of the global banking system and the nation states they underwrite? We could survive and eventually thrive! 文明的发展离不开人与人之间的联系与合作。我们现在比人类历史上任何时候都更加紧密地联系在一起。我们拥有各种工具来发展自下而上的自治结构，并随着时代的变化而不断发展。如果全球银行体系及其所支持的民族国家崩溃，我们还能生存吗？我们可以生存下来，并最终茁壮成长！ 词汇表 crippling 极有害的，有严重后果的 sprinkle a fraction 撒一点，留下一小部分 armed ruler 武装统治者 divisive 分裂的，造成不合的 slash 大幅削减，劈砍 circulation（货币、消息等的）流通，流传，发行 political schemes 政治阴谋，政治计划 non-compliance （尤指对行业法规的）不服从，不遵守 charitable nature 慈善本性 cream 精英 scum 社会败类，无用之人 vendor 供应商，销售商 rigid 僵硬的，死板的 deter 威慑，使不敢 be tailored to 为……量身定制的 from the bottom up 自下而上的，彻底的 underwrite 提供财力支持，为…承保 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】