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】

Adorable Seal Pup Starts to Explore He may not be keen to take the plunge. The saltwater is -2°C after all. Pups start with a doggy paddle. Mum stays reassuringly close. 他可能并不热衷于冒险。毕竟海水的温度是零下 2 摄氏度。 小海豹从狗刨开始。妈妈紧紧跟在它身边，让它安心。 Still developing his insulating blubber, a pup is at risk of hypothermia, so needs to rest and warm up. Each day he puts on another two kilos... and practices swimming for just a little longer. 小海豹的隔热脂肪仍在发育，有体温过低的危险，因此需要休息和取暖。每天，它的体重都会增加两公斤......练习游泳的时间也会更长一些。 Since birth, this pup has tripled in weight... and he's now at ease in this curious other world. 12 days gone by... a mother's work is done. Surviving on his fat reserves as his downy fleece is replaced by a sleek coat more suited to swimming. 自出生以来，这只小海豹的体重增加了两倍......现在，他在这个充满好奇的另一个世界里自在地生活着。12 天过去了......母亲的工作完成了。他的绒毛被一件更适合游泳的光滑外皮所取代，靠着他的脂肪储备生存。 But temperatures in the Arctic are now rising faster than ever before. Creating storms that break up the ice floes earlier each spring. Harp seal pups are being tipped into freezing waters before they're ready to endure long periods at sea. In some pupping areas, almost none survive. 但现在北极地区的气温上升速度比以往任何时候都快。每年春天都会出现暴风雪，使浮冰提前碎裂。竖琴海豹幼崽在准备好长期在海上生活之前，就被扔进了冰冷的海水中。在一些海豹幼崽生长区，几乎无一存活。 词汇表 be keen to 热衷于，渴望 take the plunge 冒险，尝试 pup （海豹等的）幼崽 doggy paddle 狗刨式游法 reassuringly 令人心安地 insulating 绝缘的，隔热的，保温的 blubber 鲸脂；多余的脂肪 hypothermia（因持续寒冷而）体温过低 triple （使）成三倍，（使）增加两倍 fat reserves 脂肪储备 downy fleece 绒毛 sleek coat 光滑的外皮 ice floes 浮冰 Harp seal 竖琴海豹：一种北大西洋的海豹，身体颜色通常为变化多样的浅灰色。 tip into 扔进，倾斜或倒下 ★视频版见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Killer whale mothers look after sons for life The sound of a very close bond. A killer whale mother and son surfacing together, because in orca family life, offspring stay by their mother's side into adulthood. 从这段声音中可以听出虎鲸亲密的母子关系。音频中的虎鲸母子一起浮出水面，因为在虎鲸的家庭生活中，后代直至成年之后一直待在母亲身边。 But sons are particularly dependent on their mums. Well into adulthood, males will demand to be fed fish by their mothers, even though they're much larger than females. 然而，雄性虎鲸尤其依赖于它们的母亲。即便早已成年，雄性虎鲸仍会要求母亲给它们喂鱼，尽管它们远大于雌性虎鲸。 But that close family bond comes at a cost. This new study showed that having a son cut by half a mother's chance of reproducing again in the future. The scientists believe that mothers invest so much of their energy and effort in their male offspring because the biggest, oldest ones tend to father most of the new calves in a killer whale pod. 但建立这种亲密的家庭关系是要付出代价的。这项新的研究表明，养育一头雄性虎鲸会使虎鲸母亲未来再次生育的几率减半。科学家们认为，虎鲸母亲将如此多的精力投入到雄性后代身上是因为体型最大、最年长的雄性后代往往会成为虎鲸群中大部分新生幼崽的父亲。 As well as providing an insight into the complex, close-knit lives of these marine mammals, the findings could help us protect them. Understanding how much it costs to raise the next generation of orcas is an insight into what these mammals need to survive. 这些发现不仅能让我们深入了解虎鲸这种海洋哺乳动物复杂而亲密无间的生活，还能帮助我们保护这一物种。了解虎鲸养育下一代所付出的代价让我们更深刻地认识到这类哺乳动物生存的基本所需。 词汇表 bond 关系，纽带 surfacing 浮出水面 offspring 后代 adulthood 成年（期） reproducing 生育，繁殖 close-knit 亲密无间的 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Forever chemicals Almost all of us have them in our body, they accumulate throughout our lives and they may be causing serious health conditions. They've been called 'forever chemicals', but what are they, where do they come from, and what can we do about them? 几乎我们所有人的体内都有它们，它们会在我们的一生中积累，并可能导致严重的健康状况。它们被称为“永久性化学物质”，但它们是什么，它们从哪里来，我们能做些什么？ 'Forever chemicals' take their name from the fact that they contain fluorine-carbon bonds, and because they last, if not forever, for a very long time. These chemical bonds are incredibly difficult to break down, which means that contaminants from these chemicals build up over time in our environment. As well as in our bodies, they've been found in the soil and in drinking water. “永久性化学物质”之所以得名，是因为它们含有氟碳键，而且即使不是永久的，它们也会持续很长时间。这些化学键难以分解，这意味着这些化学物质的污染物会随着时间的推移在我们的环境中积累。它们不仅存在于我们的体内，还存在于土壤和饮用水中。 While some have now been banned, these chemicals have been used in a wide range of consumer products. They have a repellent effect on oil and water and so have been used for stain-proofing furniture and carpets. Forever chemicals have been used to make non-stick pans and grease-proof food packaging. You can find them in waterproof clothing and bicycle lubricants. Particular concern has been raised about their use in cosmetics and other personal care products. These products are often used near mucous membranes, like those in our eyes and mouths, which could make it easier for chemicals to be absorbed into our bodies. 虽然有些现在已经被禁止，但这些化学物质已被用于广泛的消费品中。它们对油和水有排斥作用，因此被用于防污家具和地毯。永久性化学物质被用于制造不粘锅和防油食品包装。你可以在防水衣服和自行车润滑剂中找到它们。人们特别关注它们在化妆品和其他个人护理产品中的使用。这些产品经常用在粘膜附近，像我们眼睛和嘴巴里的粘膜，这使得化学物质更容易被我们的身体吸收。 The exact level of risk is uncertain, but studies have suggested links between these compounds and conditions such as cancer, reproduction problems, developmental problems in children, and reduced immunity to disease. However, the level of exposure at which people become at risk is not yet clear. 确切的风险程度尚不确定，但研究表明，这些化合物与癌症、生殖问题、儿童发育问题和免疫力下降等疾病之间存在联系。然而，人们暴露于何种程度的风险尚不清楚。 It may be impossible to completely avoid these chemicals, but people can take steps to reduce their exposure. Air and water filters, as well as reducing the amount of dust in our living spaces is one way to do this. Another way is to carefully check the ingredients of cosmetics as well as the materials in carpets and furniture before buying them. 要完全避免这些化学物质也许是不可能的，但人们可以采取措施减少接触。空气和水过滤器，以及减少我们生活空间中的灰尘量，就是一种方法。另一种方法是在购买化妆品以及地毯和家具材料之前，仔细检查其成分。 词汇表 accumulate 积聚，堆积 fluorine-carbon bond 氟碳键 break down 分解 contaminant 污染物 build up （逐渐）积累 consumer product 消费品 repellent effect 驱避作用 stain-proof 作防污处理 non-stick （厨具）不粘食物的 grease-proof 防油的 waterproof 防水的 lubricant 润滑油，润滑剂 cosmetics 化妆品 personal care product 个人护理产品 mucous membrane 黏膜 absorb 吸收 compound 化合物 developmental problem 发育问题 immunity 免疫，免疫力 exposure 暴露，接触 filter 过滤器 ✔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 How to write well 如何写好 A new book lays out the data in favour of sharp, simple writing. 一本新书列出了支持简明写作的数据。 Do you edit text messages carefully before sending them? If so, you may be the kind of person who takes pride in crafting even the simplest message. If you do not, you may see yourself as a go-getter for whom verve and speed outrank care: get it done decently now rather than perfectly later. A new book makes the argument for being the careful kind of writer, even in informal, throwaway messages. Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink are behavioural scientists, both at Harvard. Their "Writing For Busy Readers" is cleverly titled: all readers are busy nowadays. People are bombarded constantly with messages, from the mailbox to the inbox to the text-message alert. (They can also be distracted by TikTok or "Candy Crush" at any moment.) What to read, what to skim and what to ignore are decisions that nearly everyone has to make dozens, or even hundreds, of times a day. The authors present well-established principles that have long been prized in guides to writing including The Economist's style book (which Johnson helped update): cut unnecessary words, choose those that remain from the bedrock vocabulary everyone knows and keep syntax simple. But "Writing for Busy People" brings evidence. Take "less is more". Most books on writing well preach the advice to omit needless words. The authors, however, have tested the notion. For example, in an email to thousands of school-board members asking them to take a survey, cutting the length from 127 to 49 words almost doubled the response rate (from a paltry 2.7% to 4.8%). The researchers found that a longer message makes recipients think the task (such as filling out a survey) will take longer, too. The same applies to text messages. In another experiment, a pandemic-era message to parents first included a few sentences acknowledging the difficulties of home-schooling, then asked them to take a survey. A shorter message inviting them to take the survey got more responses. Writers must sometimes opt for being brusque but effective instead of sympathetic but ignored. Often it is not just what you say but how briskly you say it. The value of brevity applies even when asking people to donate money, such as to political candidates. It is plausible that potential donors would be more likely to open their wallets if they could understand as many reasons as possible to do so. But in an experiment for an American candidate, simply deleting every other paragraph in a fundraising email increased donations by 16% (though it resulted in a disjointed message). Even political obsessives do not want to read endless self-justification. Word-count is not the only thing to cut. Keeping messages to a single idea-or as few as absolutely needed-helps ensure that they will be read, remembered and acted on. Reducing the number of possible actions has the same effect, too: a link in an email (from, appropriately enough, Behavioral Scientist magazine) attracted 50% more clicks when it was solo than when it was sent alongside a second, "bonus" link. Syntax and word-choice matter, too. Short and active sentences, with common words that everyone uses, are best. From Facebook posts to online-travel reviews, even brief, informal pieces of writing that follow these rules get more likes, shares and so on. Serious writers should also take note. A study of the ethics codes of 188 public companies found that those using long sentences and complicated words were seen as less moral and trustworthy. The authors' other points are less about writing than about design and informational packaging. Organisation matters: a redesigned summons issued by New York City police (for small offences on the street) reduced court no-shows by 13%. Bullet points, headings and formatting for emphasis are good-when used judiciously. But mixing up different forms of emphasis like highlighting, bolding and italics are the "equivalent of a peanut butter, ham and Gorgonzola sandwich on banana bread: a combination of ingredients that add up to an unpleasant, off-putting whole". If everyone is a busy reader, everyone is a busy writer, too. That may make it tempting to fire off as many messages as quickly as possible and hope for the best. But from essays to text messages organising dinner plans, devoting time to the needs of readers has provable benefits. If you are so busy that you write an undisciplined message that readers scan, ignore and delete, then you might as well have not written it at all. ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

How scientists are helping coral? Now, earlier this month, we brought you the story of coral turning white in oceans all over the world. It's known as coral bleaching and happens because of rising sea temperatures. And one of the causes is climate change. A BBC wildlife documentary called Our Changing Planet has been looking at the effects this has been having on coral and meeting the people who are trying to help. Nina spoke to one of the show's presenters, Liz Bonin, to find out more. 本月初，我们为您报道了世界各地海洋中珊瑚变白的故事。这种现象被称为珊瑚白化，发生的原因是海水温度上升。其中一个原因就是气候变化。BBC的一部名为《我们星球的变化》的野生动物纪录片一直在关注气候变化对珊瑚造成的影响，并采访了试图提供帮助的人们。妮娜采访了该节目的主讲人之一莉兹·博宁，以了解更多信息。 Hey Liz, thank you so much for joining us on Newsround. First off, can you just explain what is coral and why is it so important to us? Corals are extraordinary little animals. We don't often think of them as animals, we think of these amazing multi-coloured reefs and with this sort of hard exoskeleton, this hard structure. But actually, corals are little polyps, little They're almost like little jellyfish, miniscule jellyfish that live in huge colonies and they're some of the most extraordinary animals I've ever had the pleasure to learn about. 嘿，丽兹，非常感谢你参加我们的Newsround。首先，你能解释一下什么是珊瑚，以及为什么它对我们如此重要吗？珊瑚是一种非同寻常的小动物。我们通常不认为它们是动物，我们认为它们是色彩斑斓的珊瑚礁，有着坚硬的外骨骼，这种坚硬的结构。但实际上，珊瑚是小珊瑚虫，小珊瑚虫就像小水母，微小的水母生活在巨大的群落中，它们是我有幸了解过的最奇特的动物。 When people ask me what my favourite animal is, I often say coral and they're a bit surprised but it's because they're capable of building things so much bigger and vaster than themselves. They also live in symbiosis, so in a kind of a mutually beneficial relationship with these little algae that live in their tissues. And the algae use the light to produce energy for the coral animals to survive. And in return, the corals give the algae safety. 当人们问我最喜欢的动物是什么时，我经常说珊瑚，他们有点惊讶，但这是因为它们能够建造比自己更大、更广阔的东西。它们也生活在共生关系中，因此与生活在它们组织中的这些小藻形成了一种互惠互利的关系。藻类利用光为珊瑚动物的生存提供能量。作为回报，珊瑚为藻类提供了安全保障。 The biggest threat to corals is climate change, warming oceans. When the oceans get too hot, the corals get stressed and they release those little algae that they rely on to get their energy from and they can recover them if the oceans cool again. But more and more we're seeing the oceans are staying warm for far too long. So it makes the corals stress for too long and then eventually they die and they starve. 珊瑚面临的最大威胁是气候变化和海洋变暖。当海洋变得太热时，珊瑚就会受到压力，释放出它们赖以获取能量的小藻类，如果海洋再次冷却，它们就能恢复过来。但我们越来越发现，海洋的温度持续时间太长了，这会让珊瑚承受了太长时间的压力，最终导致它们饿死。 And as part of that episode, you go out and you meet people who are doing their best to help coral. What are they doing to help? So basically, we feature all sorts of different scientists and different individuals who have come together and collaborated with others to find really novel, new, exciting solutions to the coral crisis. 作为这一集的一部分，你走出去，遇到了那些尽最大努力帮助珊瑚的人。他们正在提供什么样帮助？基本上，我们特邀了各种不同的科学家和不同的个人，他们聚集在一起，与他人合作，为珊瑚危机找到了真正新颖、新的、令人兴奋的解决方案。 Do you think all this effort is going to help? There's no question that all of these projects are giving corals a lifeline. Without them I don't think corals would have any chance of surviving and that's quite a big statement to make but the truth is we've lost over 50% of our coral reefs around the world. And we stand to lose all of them in the next 20 or 30 years. So what each of these amazing individuals, and by the way, there are more. We featured some scientists in Florida, and there's lots of people doing amazing things. Without them, I don't think I'd be as positive about the future of coral reefs. 你认为所有这些努力都会有帮助吗？毫无疑问，所有这些项目都在为珊瑚提供命脉。如果没有这些项目，我认为珊瑚将没有任何生存的机会，这个话说的很大，但事实是，我们已经失去了全世界 50%以上的珊瑚礁。在未来的二三十年里，我们将失去所有的珊瑚礁。所以，这些了不起的人，顺便说一句，还有更多。我们介绍了佛罗里达州的一些科学家，还有很多人在做着了不起的事情。如果没有他们，我想我不会对珊瑚礁的未来如此乐观。 Lovely to hear from Liz, and to know more, the special episode of Our Change in Planet about coral is available on the BBC iPlayer. 很高兴听到利兹的发言，想要了解更多，关于珊瑚的《我们星球的变化》特别集可以在BBC iPlayer上观看。 词汇表 coral bleaching 珊瑚白化：指珊瑚礁因为压力而失去共生藻类而导致颜色褪色的现象。 multi-coloured reefs 色彩斑斓的珊瑚礁 exoskeleton（昆虫和甲壳纲等动物的）外骨骼 polyp （水螅型）珊瑚虫，息肉 jellyfish 水母，海蜇 colony 群体，群落；聚居地 symbiosis （动物或植物间的）共生 mutually beneficial relationship 互惠互利关系 algae 藻类，海藻 feature 特邀，以……为特色，起重要作用 novel 新颖的，独创的 lifeline 命脉，生命线，救生索 stand to lose 面临损失，可能失掉 ★视频版见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

What can we learn from toddlers? A toddler is a young child usually between two and four years old who is learning to walk, or 'toddling'. It's an important stage in a child's development as they learn to move and understand the world around them. It's also known as the 'terrible twos'. When toddlers can't do the things they want to they experience frustration which often leads to tantrums, a sudden and noisy outburst of anger. We've probably all seen the tears and screams when a young child can't have what they want! Yes, the famous temper tantrums! But being a toddler is also an exciting time as a child's personality starts to develop. So what can we adults learn from toddlers? Being a toddler is certainly an important stage in a child's growth, but which of the following statements is true? a) toddlers are attracted to shapes that resemble the human body b) toddlers are more active than at any other time in their lives, or, c) toddlers can grow up to three centimetres during sleep time Hmm, I think toddlers can grow up to three centimetres while they sleep. OK, Beth, we'll find out if that's the correct answer later in the programme. At two or three years old, there's not much toddlers can do for themselves. They depend on mum or dad to feed, clothe and care for them, so it's strange to think there's anything adults could learn. But not according to Dr Hasan Merali, author of a new book 'Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas' and father to his own toddler, who spoke with BBC Radio 4 programme, Woman's Hour: When I see the toddlers by themselves they're doing a lot of things out loud. Little Julie's putting on her mitts and saying, "Julie can do it". And Coltan's over in the side, and he's looking down at his boots, and they're on the wrong way, and so he says "Oh, Coltan did this wrong!" And this idea of self-talk is really a way to decrease stress in anxiety provoking situations. Dr Merali observed toddlers talking to themselves out loud. When you talk out loud you speak so that other people can hear you. But it's what the toddlers were saying that's really interesting. When a little girl called Julie learned how to put on her gloves, she told herself, 'Julie can do it!' This is a special kind of talking out loud known as self-talk. Self-talk means the messages that you tell yourself, and the way in which you tell them. It's your inner voice, and in toddlers it's usually positive and encouraging. Unfortunately, as we grow up our self-talk often becomes less encouraging and more critical. Instead of a positive, loving inner voice, as adults we tend to tell ourselves: 'You can't do it!' or 'you're no good!' Here's Dr Merali again, explaining more to BBC Radio 4 programme, Woman's Hour: We often get into the cycle of negative self-talk, and I think one of the best strategies that we can do is give ourselves more positive self-talk, so an easy way to do it is when you're down on yourself, and angry with yourself, think about talking to yourself as a good friend instead of actually you, and you'll notice that difference in how you talk to yourself. As an adult, you might be down on yourself. If you're down on yourself, you feel disappointed and self-critical about yourself. When this happens your self-talk gets very negative, for example telling yourself you're no good, and this can lead to a negative cycle, a pattern of repeating the same negative thoughts over and over again. This can be a problem, but not for toddlers who are naturally good at talking kindly to themselves and celebrating the little things, like learning to get dressed. The solution for over-critical grown-ups? According to Dr Merali, pretend you're talking to a good friend instead of to yourself, just like toddlers do! It seems us adults can learn something from young children, after all – being kind to ourselves. When they're not having tantrums, toddlers really are wonderful little creatures, which reminds me of your question, Neil. Right, I asked you which statement about toddlers was true. And I said it was that toddlers can grow up to three centimetres while they sleep. It's true that toddlers do grow when sleeping, but not as much as three centimetres. In fact, the correct answer was that being a toddler is the most active period of your whole life – which isn't hard to believe if you live with one! Toddlers, young children who are 'toddling' or learning to walk. A tantrum is a noisy, uncontrolled outburst of anger, usually from a young child. If you say something out loud, you say it in a way that other people can hear. Self-talk refers to the messages that you tell yourself, and the way in which you tell them. It's your inner voice. The phrase to be down on yourself means to feel disappointed and self-critical about yourself. A negative cycle is a pattern of repeating the same negative thoughts over and over again, something a toddler would never do! 字数限制，翻译见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Tips to improve your work-life balance Hi, I'm Bruce Daisley. I work at Twitter but in my spare time I've been studying work culture and how we can be happier at work. Work has become this sort of colossal game of Jenga where we're trying to add things on top or still keep everything standing up and stable. I've put together some thoughts on ways that we can make our lives a lot less stressful. 嗨，我是布鲁斯·戴斯利。我在推特工作，但在业余时间，我一直在研究工作文化，以及我们如何在工作中更快乐。工作已经成为一种巨大的叠叠乐游戏，我们试图在上面添加东西，或者让一切都保持稳定。我整理了一些想法，可以让我们的生活压力小很多。 Half of all people who have checked their emails outside of work hours show signs of high levels of stress. The very easiest thing you can do to reduce your stress levels from work is take the number off your email app that single act is the simplest thing we can do to reduce our stress levels. 有一半的人在工作时间之外查看过自己的电子邮件，这表明他们的压力很大。要想减轻工作压力，最简单的办法就是删除电子邮件应用程序中的号码。 The second best change that anyone can make is to take a lunch break. The habit of eating 'al desco' has become so common now it's contributing to an increase in our stress levels and I understand when you're sitting at your desk you're thinking you've got a hundred emails left walking away and taking a break can feel really counter-intuitive but scientists have found the best way to ensure that you feel energised is to take that pause. 任何人都可以做出的第二个最好的改变是午休。现在，在办公桌前用餐的习惯变得如此普遍，这会导致我们的压力水平增加。我知道，当你坐在办公桌旁时，你会认为自己还有一百封电子邮件要发，休息一下可能会违反了你的直觉，但科学家们发现，确保你感到精力充沛的最佳方法是暂停一下。 You might want to try a monk mode morning. More and more of us are finally get hard to get things done because of all the interruptions. A guy called Cal Newport who's a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, he wrote a book called Deep Work and one of the ideas he gave was that we should think about having a monk mode morning. Well monk mode is where we go somewhere that is silent, there's no interruptions, we maybe get a block of ninety minutes work done, maybe twice a week, then we go to the office as normal, added advantages we've missed the commute, and got our emails and our meetings done. 你可能想试试僧侣模式的早晨。越来越多的人最终因为所有的干扰而难以完成任务。卡尔·纽波特是华盛顿乔治城大学的教授，他写了一本书叫《深度工作》他提出的一个想法是我们应该考虑一个僧侣模式的早晨。僧侣模式是指我们去一个安静的地方，没有打扰，我们可能会用90分钟的时间来完成工作，可能一周两次，然后我们像往常一样去办公室，增加了我们与通勤错峰的优势，完成了邮件和会议。 Some interesting research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that one of the best ways to increase workplace creativity is to increase the amount of chat, and actually that can be chat about last night's TV that can be chat about what's happening in sports games because normally those conversations then lead to work discussions. It's a strange thing that by encouraging people to have more chats we're actually going to be achieving more at work. But the research seems to suggest that the most creative offices are the ones that chat the most. 来自麻省理工学院的一些有趣的研究表明，提高工作场所创造力的最好方法之一就是增加聊天的次数，实际上，聊天可以是聊昨晚的电视节目，也可以是聊体育游戏中发生的事情，因为通常这些对话会导致工作上的讨论。通过鼓励人们有更多的聊天，我们实际上会在工作中取得更多的成就，这是一件奇怪的事情。但研究似乎表明，最有创造力的办公室是那些聊天最多的办公室。 Ben Waber, one of the researchers, said that one of the best ways to increase creativity in your office is to move the location of the coffee machine. By having the coffee machine, the kettle, the water cooler, in a different place you'll actually lead to more people having discussions, conversations. 研究人员之一本·瓦伯说，提高办公室创造力的最好方法之一就是移动咖啡机的位置。通过把咖啡机、水壶、饮水机放在不同的地方，你会让更多的人进行讨论和对话。 Scientists have found that one of the biggest barriers to being creative in our jobs is stress, and all of us with our phones feel more stressed than ever before. You need to give yourself permission to have a digital Sabbath, to take time away from your work at the weekend, for a bit of refreshment, a bit of renewal. Discourage your boss from emailing at the weekend because it leads to people feeling anxious when they come back to work on Monday. Anxious people can't be creative. 科学家们发现，在工作中发挥创造力的最大障碍之一就是压力，而我们所有人在使用手机时都会感到前所未有的压力。你需要允许自己有一个数字安息日，在周末从工作中抽出时间来休息一下，重新振作一下。劝阻你的老板不要在周末发送电子邮件，因为这会导致人们在周一上班时感到焦虑。焦虑的人不可能有创造力。 I think in the current world we often celebrate overwork and people working long hours. The magazine profiles we read, the TV profiles we see are about people who work these enormous long working weeks. And in fact all of the evidence is starting to point to the fact that maybe that's not the best idea. Maybe 40 hours of work a week is the right amount. Use our breaks and our evenings as times to re-energise ourselves so when we come back to our desks we're full of life. Doing 40 hours of work is probably enough. 我认为，在当今世界，我们常常赞美过度工作和长时间工作的人。我们在杂志和电视上看到的都是那些工作时间超长的人。而事实上，所有的证据都开始表明，也许这并不是最好的主意。也许每周工作40小时才是合适的。利用我们的休息时间和晚上为自己重新注入活力，这样当我们回到办公桌时，我们就会充满活力。做40个小时的工作可能就足够了。 词汇表 colossal 巨大的，庞大的 Jenga 层层叠，叠叠乐 lunch break 午休，午餐休息 al desco 在办公桌前用餐 counter-intuitive 违反直觉的，与预期相反的 monk mode morning 僧侣模式的早晨 a block of(time) 连续的时间段 commute 通勤，上下班 water cooler 饮水机，工作场所聊天地点 digital Sabbath 数字安息日 refreshment 恢复活力，焕发精神 视频见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】