The hidden life of buffets Have you ever been to an all-you-can-eat buffet, Sam? You know – a meal in a restaurant where you can eat as much food as you like. Yes, I went to an Indian buffet once. I didn't eat all day before the meal, but I only managed to finish three or four plates… well, maybe five! It sounds like your eyes were bigger than your belly, or stomach – a phrase describing someone who has taken more food than they can eat. In this programme we'll be discussing buffets – a feast of many different food dishes where diners are allowed to eat as much as they want – or as much as their stomachs will allow. And, of course, we'll be learning some new vocabulary as well. The popularity of buffets is booming, especially in Middle Eastern and Asian countries where the variety of foods means there's something for everyone. But feasts are big and boastful - usually too much is cooked, and buffets have been criticised for waste. We'll hear more soon, but first I have a question for you, Sam. The word 'buffet' originated from the French name for the table on which food was served, but buffets themselves don't come from France. So in which country did buffets begin? Was it: a) The United States of America, b) Sweden or c) China? Well, the US is famous for supersizing food so I'll guess a) America. OK, Sam. We'll find out the answer later in the programme. John Wood, owner of cooking company Kitchen Cut, knows a lot about buffets – he used to run a one thousand seat breakfast buffet at the five-star Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai. Here John shares his observations on human buffet behaviour with BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain. There are different people that treat buffets in different ways. Some people think this is a great opportunity to try little bits and lots of everything, and we come back as many times as I like. And other people just - whether they don't like getting up and down, which is understandable from their table - just want to pile it high, and people they want to get value for money. So, if you're paying $100, $200 a head for a buffet, you're gonna pile it up high and take the most expensive things you can you know, and get your money's worth. John says buffet diners want to get their money's worth – get good value for the money they spend, so they often pile up food on their plate. If you pile something up, you gather a large amount of it into one place to build what's called a pile. But buffets are not just about eating until you explode - they're also an opportunity to show off to your friends. Weddings are big in India, and usually include a buffet. The richer the people getting married, the bigger the buffet, sometimes inviting as many as five thousand guests. If each guest eats around six dishes, we're taking about a seriously big buffet! Sandeep Sreedharan is a wedding caterer from Goa in South India – he owns a company which provides the food and drink for special social occasions. Here he talks with Ruth Alexander, presenter of BBC World Service, The Food Programme, about organising an Indian wedding buffet: It's a very vicious circle, I think, right? Everybody wants to overwhelm everybody around you. --OK. That's the aim. They are out to impress - they want to 'wow' the guests - knock their socks off. --Knock their socks off. They should just go back saying, 'I couldn't eat even half of it!', you know. Some people just come for eating. They don't even worry about who's wedding it is … They know that… 'Who's the caterer?'. Ah, these guys are catering. Oh my God, this is gonna be great. Wedding buffets are designed to amaze and overwhelm the guests with their huge displays of food. They need to 'wow' the guests, or knock their socks off – an idiom meaning to amaze and impress someone. The problem is that no matter how extravagant and expensive one buffet is, the next one has to be even more impressive, something Sandeep calls a vicious circle – a difficult situation which has the effect of creating new problems which then make the original situation even worse. It seems the secret to enjoying a buffet is trying a little bit of everything, without stuffing yourself until you can't move – although in the past, I think, that was exactly the idea. OK, it's time to reveal the answer to my question - where did the buffets originally come from? I guessed it was from the United States. Was I right? That was… the wrong answer, I'm afraid, Sam. In fact buffets are thought to have come from Sweden in the Middle Ages. ★字数限制，完整文本和翻译见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

New study re-explores mystery behind zebra stripes It's something that's puzzled biologists for over a century. You might think if you're trying to avoid being hunted down and eaten, that sporting a striking black and white pattern isn't exactly the best way to do it. 这是困扰了生物学家一个多世纪的难题。你可能觉得，如果在试图避免被捕捉并被吞食的命运，那一身醒目的黑白图案可不是最好的办法。 But early naturalists thought otherwise. They put forward the theory of 'motion dazzle', believing that it's hard for predators to estimate the speed or direction of patterned prey while it's running. 但早期的博物学家却不这么认为。他们提出了 “运动眩晕” 理论，认为掠食者很难估计身上有图案的猎物在奔跑时的速度和方向。 And somewhat in the spirit of that, dazzle patterning was used on ships in the First World War to help them evade being spotted. But can this really be the case? 本着这一认识，在第一次世界大战中，令人眩晕的图案被应用于船只上，使其不易被发现，但这样做真的有效吗？ It's counter-instinctive, perhaps. And scientists in Exeter have been taking a much closer look. They've been testing the theory using a touch-screen game called Dazzle Bug. That's where you have to catch a rectangular bug, but it keeps changing its pattern in an effort to stop you doing so. What the scientists found was that even when they were moving, the bugs still tended to lose that clear patterning. 这个理论也许与我们的直觉相反。对此，英国埃克塞特的科学家们进行了更为仔细的研究。他们用一款名为 “眼花虫（Dazzle Bug）” 的触屏游戏来测试 “运动眩晕” 理论。游戏中，玩家需要捕捉一条长方形的虫子，但这条虫子会不断改变它身上的图案，以防被玩家捉到。科学家们发现，即使在移动过程中，这些虫子仍然容易失去醒目的图案。 It's the strongest evidence yet against the 'motion dazzle' hypothesis. And as a consequence, the scientists suggest that protection in motion may rely on a completely different mechanism. Where that leaves the zebra is anyone's guess. But while the results may raise more questions than they answer, it does reinforce the idea that even for scientists, nature is a constantly moving target. 这是迄今为止反驳 “运动眩晕” 假说的最有力证据。因此，科学家们认为，如何在移动的时候保护自己可能依赖于一种完全不同的机制。斑马身上的条纹该如何解释，谁也说不准。尽管研究结果引出的问题可能比它们给出的答案多，但研究确实进一步证实了这样一个观点：即使对科学家来说，大自然也是一个变幻莫测的研究对象。 词汇表 puzzled 迷惑了，困惑了 hunted down 被捉捕 sporting 穿戴，装点 pattern 图案 naturalists 博物学家 predators 掠食者，掠食动物 patterned prey 身上长有图案的猎物 evade 逃避，避开 spotted 被发现 counter-instinctive 与直觉相反的 touch-screen 触摸屏的 hypothesis 假说 mechanism 机制 reinforce 进一步证实 target 目标，对象 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

How music takes us back to our past It's happened to all of us: a song comes on the radio, and we are immediately transported to a time in our past. But what is it that makes music so effective at doing this? 我们每个人都会遇到这种情况：收音机里传来一首歌，我们就会立刻被带到到过去的时光。是什么让音乐能如此有效地做到这一点呢？ There are a few things that link tunes with our memories. Paul Donoghue, writing for ABC News, reminds us that the emotional nature of music helps make it particularly memorable. And Kelly Jakubowski, an assistant professor in music psychology, adds that music and singing are often part of many important life events and rituals, and that it is also very effective in grabbing our attention. These things combined mean that music and these life events are likely to be encoded together in our memories. 有一些东西将曲调与我们的记忆联系在一起。保罗·多诺霍在为美国广播公司新闻撰稿时提醒我们，音乐的情感属性有助于让人特别难忘。音乐心理学助理教授凯利·雅库博斯基补充说，音乐和歌唱通常是许多重要生活事件和仪式的一部分，它还能非常有效地吸引我们的注意力。这些因素结合在一起，意味着音乐和这些生活事件很可能会一起编码在我们的记忆中。 Music itself is easy to remember. Tiffany Jenkins, writing for BBC Culture, tells us how throughout history oral cultures have passed important knowledge from generation to generation through song. The rhythm, rhyme, melody and alliteration in lyrics all serve as memory aids. 音乐本身很好记。蒂芙尼·詹金斯为BBC文化撰稿，她向我们讲述了在历史上，口述文化如何通过歌曲将重要的知识代代相传。歌词中的节奏、韵律、旋律和典故都能帮助记忆。 She goes on to say that pop music especially can be associated with a particular moment in time. As Shahram Heshmat, writing in Psychology Today highlights, we often become familiar with a piece of music because we hear it as background music. Familiarity is important. Jakubowski, tells us that the more familiar a piece of music is, the more effective it is at bringing back memories. 她接着说，流行音乐尤其可以与特定的时刻联系在一起。正如沙赫拉姆·赫什马特在《今日心理学》上所强调的那样，我们经常熟悉一段音乐，因为我们听到它是背景音乐。熟悉度很重要。雅库博夫斯基告诉我们，一段音乐越熟悉，它就越能有效地唤起人们的记忆。 This applies to music more than other cultural products because we are far more likely to hear a song over and over again than watch a film or a TV programme in the same way. Heshmat points out that our musical preferences usually form during our teens, and this corresponds with what many experts call the 'reminiscence bump', where we make our strongest memories between the ages of 10 and 30. 与其他文化产品相比，这一点更适用于音乐，因为我们反复聆听一首歌曲的可能性要远远大于以同样的方式观看一部电影或电视节目。赫什马特指出，我们的音乐偏好通常是在十几岁时形成的，这与许多专家所说的“回忆高峰 ”相吻合，即我们在 10 岁到 30 岁之间的记忆最为深刻。 It's clear that our memories and music are closely linked – to the point that music is being used to help dementia sufferers access memories that they thought they had lost. 很明显，我们的记忆和音乐是紧密相连的——以至于音乐被用来帮助痴呆症患者获得他们认为已经失去的记忆。 词汇表 come on the radio 在广播中播放 tune 旋律，曲子 music psychology 音乐心理学 singing 歌唱 grab our attention 吸引我们的注意力 encode 把…译成电码（或密码）；把…编码 rhythm 节奏，韵律 rhyme 押韵 melody 旋律，曲调 alliteration 头韵 lyrics 歌词 pop music 流行音乐 piece of music 一段音乐 background music 背景音乐 cultural product 文化产品 musical preferences 音乐偏好 reminiscence bump 回忆高峰：指人们在回忆过去时，对某一特定年龄段（通常是青少年和早期成年时期）的记忆更加清晰和详细的现象。 dementia 痴呆，精神错乱 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

World's Smallest Wild Dog Five and a half million square miles of sand. The size of China. The Sahara smothers six percent of the world's land. Yet this vast, unforgiving place is home to the world's smallest wild dog, the fennec fox. 550万平方英里的沙地。相当于中国的面积。撒哈拉沙漠覆盖了全球百分之六的土地。然而在这片广袤无垠的土地上，却生活着世界上最小的犬科动物——耳廓狐。 Barely the size of a walking boot, this tiny fox goes head-to-head with the desert every day. The Sahara is filled with millions upon millions of grains of sand, and every grain acts as a radiator. Sand absorbs heat, and the hotter it gets, the more heat it radiates. The temperature here spirals to over 100 degrees. 这只小狐狸只有一只步行靴那么大，每天都要与沙漠正面交锋。撒哈拉沙漠充满了数以百万计的沙粒，每一粒沙粒都是一个散热器。沙子吸收热量，温度越高，散发的热量就越多。这里的温度飙升到 100 度以上。 In such sizzling conditions, the fennec's size matters. A small body can shed heat faster than a large one, and to lose heat even faster, the fennec's ears act like sophisticated air conditioning units. The network of veins cools the blood to lower the temperature. Despite such capable cooling, not even a fennec can endure the heat of the Saharan Sun. 在这种炙热的环境下，耳廓狐的体型非常重要。体型小的比体型大的散热更快，为了更快地散热，耳廓就像一个精密的空调装置。静脉网络可以冷却血液，降低体温。尽管有如此强大的散热能力，但即使是非洲狐狸也无法忍受撒哈拉太阳的炙烤。 There's no shade. But fennecs are masters of their environment. Moisture concentrates at the foot of the dunes, so the sand here is firm enough to dig a burrow. Home sweet home for a pair of fennecs. They have shelter from the worst of the heat, but they must eventually leave the safety of their den to find food. 没有阴凉处。但耳廓狐是环境的主人。水分集中在沙丘脚下，所以这里的沙子足够坚固，可以挖洞。对一对耳廓狐来说，这里就是甜蜜的家。它们可以躲避最炎热的天气，但它们最终必须离开安全的洞穴去寻找食物。 And this enormous desert is a dangerous place for a tiny, wild dog. An unwary fennec is small enough to be caught by feral dogs and even eagle owls. But their camouflaged coats make them less conspicuous. 这片广袤的沙漠对一只小小的野犬来说是个危险的地方。一个不小心，耳廓狐会小到足以被野狗甚至雕鸮抓住。但它们伪装的皮毛使它们不那么显眼。 In the fading light of dusk, she makes a run for it. Zig-zagging and jumping, she uses the dunes to mask her location. The grains of sand are constantly shifting, but the pads on her feet are furry for maximum traction. Few can keep tabs on her whereabouts. 在暮色中，她跑了出去。她曲折地移动并跳跃着，利用沙丘来掩盖自己的位置。沙粒在不停地移动，但她毛茸茸的爪垫让她能获得最大的牵引力。很少有人能监视到她的行踪。 词汇表 Sahara 撒哈拉大沙漠 smother 覆盖，掩盖 unforgiving （环境等）恶劣的，不利的 wild dog 野狗；野生犬科动物 fennec fox 耳廓狐，沙漠狐狸 walking boot 步行靴 go head-to-head with 与…正面对抗 grains of sand 沙粒 radiator 散热器，冷却器 spiral 盘旋上升（或下降），急剧增长 sizzling 酷热的，热烈的 shed heat 散发热量 sophisticated 精密的，复杂的 network of veins 静脉网 shade 背阴处，阴凉处 dune 沙丘 burrow （动物挖掘居住的）洞穴，地道 den （动物的）巢穴，窝 unwary 粗心的，不警惕的 feral 野生的，凶猛的 eagle owls 雕鸮：一种大型猫头鹰 camouflaged 伪装的，隐蔽起来的，有保护色的 conspicuous 显眼的，醒目的 Zig-zag 呈之字形移动，曲折行进 pad（猫或狗的）肉趾，爪垫 traction 牵引力，拉力 keep tabs on 监视，密切注意 whereabouts 下落，所在，去向 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Plastic pollution in the ocean creates new habitat There are at least five hotspots of floating plastic in the global ocean. 全球海洋中至少有五个漂浮着塑料的热点地区。 These are gyres, where circulating currents trap debris. This one ­– the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch – is the largest, with almost 80,000 tonnes distributed over 600,000 square miles. 这些都是海洋环流地带，而环流会聚集残渣。其中，这个被称为 “太平洋垃圾带” 的区域最大，有8万吨垃圾分布在60万平方英里范围内。 The scientists teamed up with a charity that collects old fishing gear and other litter from the ocean, and gathered hundreds of plastic items to study in the lab. 科学家们与一家从海洋中收集旧渔具和其它垃圾的慈善机构合作，采捞了数以百计的塑料物品，送到实验室进行研究。 They found plants and animals, including anemones, tiny marine bugs, molluscs, and crabs on 90% of the debris they examined. 他们在90%的塑料残渣上发现了动植物，包括海葵、微小的海洋昆虫、软体动物和螃蟹。 As well as creating a semi-permanent floating habitat for coastal species in the open ocean, the researchers say all this plastic could be providing invasive species with rafts that allow them to cross the Pacific. 研究人员表示，这些塑料除了在开阔海洋中为沿海物种创造了一个半永久性的漂浮栖息地以外，也可以成为入侵物种的 “筏子”，使其穿越太平洋。 This, they say, is yet another unintended consequence of plastic pollution for the ocean. 他们指出，这是海洋塑料污染的另一个意想不到的后果。 词汇表 hotspots 热点地带 gyres 海洋环流 circulating 循环流动的 debris 碎片，残渣 Great Pacific Garbage Patch 太平洋垃圾带：指位于北太平洋中央的一个巨大的垃圾聚集区。 fishing gear 渔具，打捞装置 litter 垃圾 anemones 海葵 molluscs 软体动物 invasive species 入侵物种 rafts 筏子，浮垫 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

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】