Why water is one of the weirdest things in the universe | BBC Ideas Water. You might not see it, but this is probably the strangest things in the universe Here's why. Every molecule of water on the Earth and inside you or any other living thing has existed for billions of years. After it came to Earth, that water has been cycling through rocks, air, animals, plants and back again. Each molecule has been on an incredible voyage before coming to you. At some point, the water inside you would have been inside dinosaurs, bacteria, the oceans, storm clouds, the polar ice caps and much more. 水。你可能看不到它，但这可能是宇宙中最奇怪的事情，原因如下。地球上、你体内或任何其他生物体内的每一个水分子都已经存在了数十亿年。水来到地球后，一直在岩石、空气、动物、植物中循环，然后又回来了。每个分子在来到你身边之前都经历了一段不可思议的旅程。在某一时刻，你体内的水曾进入过恐龙、细菌、海洋、风暴云、极地冰盖等等。 All of the water on Earth is alien. They might be a familiar part of our world, but our oceans formed hundreds of millions of years after our planet took shape. The water arrived on asteroids and comets from space, objects from the edge of our solar system. They were leftovers of the vast clouds of dust and rocks that didn't quite make it into planets. This is the origin of all the water you can see on the Earth. 地球上所有的水都是外来的。它们可能是我们世界上熟悉的一部分，但我们的海洋是在地球形成后数亿年形成的。水从太空到达小行星和彗星上，这些物体来自我们太阳系的边缘。它们是没有形成行星的巨大尘埃和岩石云的残余物。这就是你在地球上看到的所有水的起源。 Water doesn't follow the normal rules of chemistry. For a start, it shouldn't really be a liquid on our planet. A water molecule is made from two very light atoms, hydrogen and oxygen. And at the temperatures and pressures on the surface of the Earth, rules of chemistry say that water should be a gas. And, unlike any other chemical, when water freezes it expands. And so ice floats on water. 水不遵循正常的化学规律。首先，它不应该是我们星球上的液体。水分子是由两个非常轻的原子——氢和氧构成的。在地球表面的温度和压力下，化学规则告诉我们水应该是气体。而且，与其他化学物质不同的是，当水结冰时，它会膨胀。所以冰漂浮在水面上。 Now you see this every day, but take a moment to think about how weird that is. Over time, this odd behaviour has been very useful. By insulating the water underneath, floating ice has enabled complex life to survive and evolve on our planet, despite the many ice ages that have frozen the Earth's surface solid. And the strangeness just goes on and on. Did you know that hot water freezes faster than cold? Yes, really. No-one knows why. 现在，你每天都能看到这种情况，但请花点时间想想这有多奇怪。随着时间的推移，这种奇怪的行为非常有用。通过隔绝下面的水，浮冰使复杂的生命得以在我们的星球上生存和进化，尽管许多冰河时期曾把地球表面冻得结结实实。奇怪的事情还在继续。你知道热水比冷水更快结冰吗？是的，真的。没人知道为什么。 Water molecules can float upwards, against the force of gravity. That's because they love to stick to each other. They're so good at it that they can actually pull each other up through tiny channels, such as the tiny blood vessels in your body. That's how oxygen and nutrients reach the edges of your brain. The same process, called capillary action, allows plants to move water from deep below the ground to nourish the leaves and branches that grow in the sunshine. 水分子可以克服重力向上漂浮。那是因为他们喜欢互相扶持。它们非常擅长这一点，以至于它们实际上可以通过微小的通道相互拉动，比如你体内的微小血管。这就是氧气和营养物质到达大脑边缘的方式。同样的过程被称为毛细作用，它能让植物把水从地下深处输送到阳光下滋养枝叶。 Our solar system is drowning in water. Once upon a time, we thought that we were alone on Earth with so much water, but in fact it's the second most common molecule in the universe. We now know there's water on the moon, on Mars, Pluto. In fact there's H2O on almost every object in our solar system. And where there's water, there could be life. 我们的太阳系正在淹没在水中。曾几何时，我们以为我们独自在地球上拥有如此多的水，但实际上它是宇宙中第二常见的分子。我们现在知道月球上有水，火星上有水，冥王星上有水。事实上，我们太阳系中几乎每个物体上都有H2O。哪里有水，哪里就可能有生命。 So pour yourself a glass of water now, and take a good look at this colourless, featureless and tasteless material. It's actually remarkable. It breaks so many rules of chemistry that scientists struggle to understand it. But without its rebel behaviour, none of us, nor our world, would exist. You're only here watching this video because water is so strange. 所以，现在给自己倒杯水，好好看看这种无色、无特征、无味的材料吧。事实上，它非常了不起。它打破了许多化学规则，以至于科学家们都很难理解它。但是，如果没有它的反叛行为，我们和我们的世界都不会存在。你之所以会在这里观看这段视频，是因为水太奇特了。 词汇表 molecule 分子，微粒 storm clouds 风暴云：暗示暴风雨即将来临的黑云。 polar ice caps 极地冰盖，两极冰帽 alien 外来的 asteroid 小行星，海星 comet 彗星，扫帚星 leftover 残存物，遗留物 atom 原子 hydrogen and oxygen 氢和氧 insulate 隔离，使绝缘，使免受（影响） blood vessels 血脉，血管细胞 capillary action 毛细管作用：液体通过毛细管的作用返回到热管的蒸发部分。 nourish 滋养，培养，养育 Pluto 冥王星，冥王 featureless 无特色的，平淡无奇的 rebel 叛逆的，反抗的 ★原视频及更多英语听力见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

The Deadly Portuguese Man O' War Blue Planet II | BBC Earth Over half of all animals in the open ocean drift in currents. Jellyfish cross entire oceans feeding on whatever happens to tangle with the tentacles. Some can grow to a meter, even two meters across. And when, by lucky chance, they encounter a patch of sea rich in plankton, their numbers explode. In such a successful strategy that jellyfish are one of the most common lifeforms on the planet. 在大海中，超过一半的动物都是随洋流漂流的。水母穿过整个海洋，以任何与触手纠缠在一起的东西为食。这些触手有些可以长到一米，甚至两米宽。当它们幸运地遇到一片浮游生物丰富的海域时，它们的数量就会激增。这种成功的策略使得水母成为地球上最常见的生命形式之一。 But among the jellyfish, and looking somewhat like them is a rather more complex and sinister creature--the Portuguese Man O' War. It floats with the help of a gas-filled bladder topped by a vertical membrane. With that serving as a sail, he maintains a steady course through the waves. Long threads trail behind it, some as much as 30 meters long. 但在水母中，有一种更复杂、更阴险的生物，看起来有点像水母——僧帽水母。它在一个顶部有垂直膜的充气气囊的帮助下漂浮。有了这个作为帆，他就能在海浪中保持平稳的航向。长长的丝线拖在它后面，有些长达30米。 Each is armed with many thousands of stinging cells. A single tentacle could kill a fish, or, in rare cases, a human. But among its lethal tentacles lurks a Man O' War fish that feeds by nibbling them. Whilst this fish has some resistance to the stings, it must still be extremely careful. Most other fish are not so lucky. 每一个都有成千上万的刺细胞。一条触手可以杀死一条鱼，或者在极少数情况下，甚至可以杀死一个人。不过，在它致命的触手中，潜藏着一种以啃食触手为生的僧帽水母鱼。虽然这种鱼对蜇伤有一定的抵抗力，但还是必须格外小心。大多数其他鱼类就没那么幸运了。 A tentacle has caught this one and reels it in. It's already paralyzed. Specialized muscular tentacles transfer the victim to others that digest the catch liquefying it with powerful chemicals. Eventually, all that is left is a scaly husk. This voracious Man O' War may collect over 100 small fish in a day. 一根触手抓住了这条鱼，把它卷了进去。它已经瘫痪了。特化的肌肉触手将受害者转移到其他触手处，用强力化学物质将捕获物液化。最后，只剩下一具鳞片状的躯壳。这种贪婪的僧帽水母 一天能捕获100多条小鱼。 词汇表 deadly/lethal 致命的，极其危险的 current 水流，洋流，气流 jellyfish 水母，海蜇 tangle with 与…纠缠，与…有瓜葛 tentacle （海洋动物的）触手，触角 a patch of 一片，一块 plankton 浮游生物 lifeform 生命形式，有机体 sinister 阴险的，凶恶的 Portuguese Man O' War 僧帽水母，葡萄牙战舰水母 gas-filled bladder 充气气囊 be topped by 被…覆盖，顶部有 membrane （动植物的）膜膜 sail 帆，蓬 trail behind 跟随，跟在…后头走 be armed with 装备有，配有 stinging cells （无脊椎）刺细胞 lurk 潜伏，潜藏 Man O' War fish 僧帽水母鱼，水母双鳍鲳（栖息于僧帽水母的触手保护伞下） nibble 啃，小口咬 reel in 卷进、拉回（勾住的鱼） paralyzed 瘫痪的，不能活动的 liquefy 溶解，液化 scaly 带鳞的，鳞状的 husk 皮，躯壳，无价值之物 voracious 贪婪的，贪食的 ★视频版见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Left-handed DNA found Around one in ten of us is left-handed - but why? A team at the University of Oxford analysed 400,000 people's DNA. They then compared lefties and righties in a giant game of genetic spot-the-difference. 每十个人中就有一个人是左撇子，但这是为什么呢？牛津大学的一个研究小组分析了 40 万人的 DNA（脱氧核糖核酸）。然后，他们通过一个基因 “找不同” 游戏对左撇子和习惯用右手的人进行了比较。 They found four genetic instructions that influenced left-handedness. These seem to work by altering how the brain develops. They're involved in building the intricate "scaffolding", known as the cytoskeleton that organises the inside of our body's cells and culminate in a brain that is wired differently in left-handed people. Scans showed regions of the brain involved in language were better connected and more coordinated as a result. 他们发现了影响左撇子的四种基因指令。这些指令似乎是通过改变大脑的发育来起作用的。指令参与构建复杂的 “脚手架”，即细胞骨架，它组织我们体内的细胞，最终形成一个构造有别于惯用右手的人的左撇子大脑。扫描结果显示，左撇子的大脑中与语言有关的区域连接得更好，也更协调。 The researchers speculate the findings may give left-handed people greater verbal skills. The study also showed slightly higher risks of schizophrenia and slightly lower risks of Parkinson's disease in left-handed people. 研究人员推测，这些发现可能证实左撇子拥有更强的语言能力。此项研究还显示，左撇子患精神分裂症的风险略高，患帕金森病的风险略低。 词汇表 left-handed 惯用左手的 lefties 惯用左手的人 righties 惯用右手的人 genetic 基因的，遗传信息的 spot-the-difference 找不同 instructions （基因）指令 intricate 错综复杂的 scaffolding 脚手架（这里指细胞组建） cytoskeleton 细胞骨架 culminate in 以……告终 wired （大脑的）构造 coordinated 协调的 verbal skills 言语技能 schizophrenia 精神分裂症 Parkinson's disease 帕金森病 更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Slow walking and ageing Getting old might not be something that's yet to cross your mind. But ageing is inevitably going to get the better of us one day, so it's something I'm sure we'd all like control. It would be great to have a long, healthy and happy life, and that's why scientists are constantly seeking out evidence that will show us what we need to do to achieve longevity. 变老可能还不是你要考虑的事情。但总有一天，衰老会不可避免地战胜我们，所以我相信我们都希望控制衰老。拥有长寿、健康和幸福的生活是件很棒的事情，这就是为什么科学家们一直在寻找证据，向我们展示我们需要做些什么才能长寿。 We all know that regular exercise is good for us. In recent years we've been told to aim to walk 10,000 steps a day to remain healthy, although other advice to do three brisk 10-minute walks a day is thought to be even more effective. But the latest piece of research might put a spring in your step if you're someone who walks at a fast pace. That's because, according to scientists, the speed at which people walk in their 40s is a sign of how much their brains, as well as their bodies, are ageing. 我们都知道经常锻炼对我们有好处。最近几年，我们被告知每天要走10,000步来保持健康，尽管其他建议每天三次10分钟的快步走被认为更有效。但是，如果你是一个走路速度很快的人，那么最新的一项研究可能会让你的脚步轻快起来。这是因为，根据科学家的说法，40多岁的人走路的速度是他们的大脑和身体老化程度的一个标志。 The BBC's Philippa Roxby writes that tests on 1,000 people from New Zealand born in the 1970s found that slower walkers tended to show signs of "accelerated ageing". Their lungs, teeth and immune systems were in worse shape than those who walked faster. And to add insult to injury, the study found not only did slower walkers' bodies age more quickly, their faces looked older and they had smaller brains. Professor Terrie E Moffitt, lead author of the study, told the BBC: "[it] found that a slow walk is a problem sign decades before old age." 英国广播公司的菲利帕 · 罗克斯比写道，对1000名上世纪70年代出生的新西兰人进行的测试发现，步行较慢的人往往表现出“加速衰老”的迹象。他们的肺、牙齿和免疫系统比那些走得快的人更糟糕。雪上加霜的是，研究发现，走路慢的人不仅身体衰老得更快，他们的脸看起来也更老，而且他们的大脑也更小。这项研究的主要作者特里 · E · 莫菲特教授告诉英国广播公司: “(研究)发现，在老年之前几十年，慢走是一个出现问题的征兆。” This might be seen as a wake-up call for people with a slower gait who might feel it's time to work out and get fitter. But it might be too late; researchers writing in JAMA Network Open say they were able to predict the walking speed of 45-year-olds using the results of intelligence, language and motor skills tests from when they were aged three. They also suggest that even in early life, there are signs showing which people will go on to have a healthier life. 这可能会被视为对步伐较慢的人的警钟，他们可能会觉得是时候锻炼身体了。但可能为时已晚；研究人员在《美国医学会杂志网络开放版》上撰文称，他们能够使用3岁时的智力、语言和运动技能测试结果来预测45岁人群的步行速度。他们还表明，即使在生命的早期，也有迹象表明哪些人会继续过上更健康的生活。 So, what's the point of knowing that a slower walking pace might mean a smaller brain? Well, researchers say measuring walking speed at a younger age, and understanding what this might mean, could be a way of testing treatments to slow human ageing. This might help us make lifestyle changes while we're still young and healthy. Any steps we can take to prolong a good mental and physical state is a no brainer! 那么，知道步行速度较慢可能意味着较小的大脑有什么意义呢？研究人员表示，在年轻时测量行走速度，并了解这可能意味着什么，可能是测试减缓人类衰老的治疗方法的一种方式。这可能有助于我们在年轻健康的时候改变生活方式。我们可以采取任何措施来延长良好的精神和身体状态，这是显而易见的！ 词汇表 to cross one's mind （念头）闪现，想起 ageing 衰老 to get the better of sb 击败 longevity 长寿 brisk 轻快的 effective 有效的 a spring in your step 步伐轻快 fast pace 快节奏，快步伐 a slower walker 走路速度慢的人 accelerated ageing 加速老化 immune system 免疫系统 lung 肺部 in worse shape 情况更糟糕 to add insult to injury 往伤口撒盐 a wake-up call 警示 gait 步伐，步态 work out 锻炼身体 treatment 治疗方法 make lifestyle changes 改变生活习惯 a no brainer 容易理解的事情 ✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Culture Book review 文艺版块 书评 Heaps of trouble 堆积如山的问题 Wasteland. By Oliver Franklin-Wallis. 《垃圾场》，奥利弗·富兰克林-沃利斯著。 In "our mutual friend", Charles Dickens's last complete novel, stray paper "hangs on every bush, flutters in every tree, is caught flying by the electric wires, haunts every enclosure". Since those words were published in the 1860s, the world's waste problem has changed in both scale and composition. 在查尔斯·狄更斯最后一部完整的小说《我们共同的朋友》中，废纸“挂在每一株灌木上，在每一棵树上飘动，飞舞中被电线缠住，出没于每一个圈地”。自从这些文字在19世纪60年代发表以来，世界垃圾问题在规模和构成上都发生了变化。 These days plastic in one form or another is strewn on verges, clogs rivers and swirls around oceans in vast gyres. Circulated by winds and tides, tiny nanoplastics have penetrated all manner of watery ecosystems, reaching both the Earth's poles and its highest peaks, with unknown consequences for the planet. 如今，各种形式的塑料遍布道路两旁，堵塞了河流，并在巨大的海洋漩涡中旋转。在风和潮汐的作用下，微小的纳米塑料渗透到各种水生生态系统中，到达地球的两极和最高峰，给地球带来了难以预知的后果。 Worried by the pollution caused by a throwaway culture, Oliver Franklin-Wallis-a British journalist who has written for The Economist-heads to places that best illustrate this profligacy. In "Wasteland" he visits an Indian landfill that is piled almost as high as the Qutub Minar, a well-known minaret in Delhi; Ghana's largest second-hand clothes market, through which 15m garments are thought to pass every week; a former mining area in America that is blighted by dumped lead, zinc and cadmium; and a defunct nuclear-power plant in the north-west of England, which contrasts starkly with the natural beauty of the nearby Lake District. 曾为《经济学人》撰稿的英国记者奥利弗·富兰克林-沃利斯对丢弃文化造成的污染感到担忧，于是他前往最能说明这种肆意挥霍的地方。在《垃圾场》一书中，他参观了一个印度垃圾填埋场，该垃圾填埋场的堆放几乎与德里著名的尖塔库图卜塔一样高；加纳最大的二手服装市场，据信每周有1500万件服装通过该市场；美国的一个旧矿区被倾倒的铅、锌和镉污染；以及英格兰西北部一座已停用的核电站，它与附近湖区的自然美景形成了鲜明的对比。 He sees these places as evidence of human myopia about the Earth's fragility and the finitude of its resources. Rubbish, the author notes, is often deposited "on the margins, and on the marginalised". He explains the concept of "toxic colonialism", whereby trash is shipped by wealthier countries to poorer ones, and shows its detrimental effects up close. But he also acknowledges that the waste trade can sometimes be beneficial to communities on the receiving end: what one person deems useless, another sees as a potential source of income. 他认为这些地方证明了人类对地球脆弱性和资源有限性缺乏远见。作者指出，垃圾通常被“丢弃在边缘地区和被边缘化的人身上”。他解释了 “有毒殖民主义”的概念，即富裕国家将垃圾运往贫穷国家，并近距离展示了其有害影响。但他也承认，废物交易有时对接收端的社区有益：一个人认为无用的东西，另一个人认为是潜在的收入来源。 Throughout his tour of disfigured landscapes and industrial incinerators, Mr Franklin-Wallis decries the tactic of "planned obsolescence": ie, the marketing of products that quickly need to be replaced. A notorious early-20th-century example was the "light-bulb cartel", who conspired to slash the lifespan of their filaments. These days items ranging from "fast fashion" to wireless earbuds are liable to be thrown away or forgotten in a drawer before long. 富兰克林-沃利斯在参观毁貌的风景和工业焚化炉的过程中，谴责了“计划性淘汰”的策略：即销售需要迅速更换的产品。20世纪早期一个臭名昭著的例子是“灯泡卡特尔”，他们密谋缩短灯泡灯丝的寿命。如今，从“快时尚”到无线耳塞，很多东西很快就会被扔掉或遗忘在抽屉里。 The book comes alive in its descriptions of people and places. A paper-mill worker in southern England is "bald and aquiline, monkish, with the gentle stoop of an under-watered tulip". The appearance of a zero-waste zealot in the north of England is "somewhere between affable climate activist and festival drug-dealer". The colours and buzz of a market day in Accra are sketched in short, lively sentences, as is the dusty decay of an abandoned town in Oklahoma. Happily, Mr Franklin-Wallis writes stylishly about ugly things: cranes at a site for burning garbage "move slowly, Damoclesian, their noise a deep rumble"; the flow of rubbish at a waste plant is "relentless, the choreography balletic". 这本书对人物和地点的描写栩栩如生。英格兰南部的一个造纸厂工人是“秃顶、鹰钩鼻的、像修道士一样的人，弯着腰，像一朵浸过水的郁金香”。在英格兰北部，一个“零废弃”的狂热分子的出现“介于和蔼可亲的气候活动人士和节日毒贩之间”。阿克拉集市日的色彩和喧嚣用简短、生动的句子勾勒出来，俄克拉荷马州一个废弃小镇尘土飞扬的衰败景象也是如此。令人高兴的是，富兰克林-沃利斯先生用时髦的笔触描写了一些丑陋的事情: 在垃圾焚烧场的起重机“行动缓慢，如同达摩克利斯之剑悬挂其上，发出低沉的隆隆的响声”; 垃圾处理厂的垃圾流动是“无间断的，如芭蕾舞编排一般流畅”。 "Wasteland" is heavy on facts, many of them interesting and sobering. Twenty thousand plastic bottles are sold around the world every second. The world produced 2bn tonnes of solid waste in 2016, a figure that will rise to 3.3bn tonnes by 2050. But the piles of numbers can occasionally be a strain. At such moments, readers may find themselves agreeing that waste is "not the most appealing subject" for a book, as the author himself admits near the beginning of his. Overall, however, he dispels that impression. "Wasteland" does not offer novel solutions to the problem of waste. Mr Franklin-Wallis wants you to buy less and recycle more, along with a crackdown on "greenwashing" (whereby companies make exaggerated claims about their environmental credentials). But he succeeds in outlining the size of the challenge. His book should prompt serious discussion in boardrooms and parliaments. ★字数限制，完整翻译和词汇表见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Who is Kamala Harris? You may have heard the name Kamala Harris quite a bit recently, but who is she? Kamala Harris is likely to be the Democratic candidate in the US election happening in November. That means that she could be going head to head with Donald Trump, and one of them would then become the new president. 你最近可能经常听到卡玛拉·哈里斯这个名字，但她到底是谁呢？卡玛拉·哈里斯很可能成为11月美国大选的民主党候选人。这意味着她可能会与唐纳德·特朗普正面交锋，然后他们中的一个会成为新任总统。 But who is Kamala Harris? Here are some facts. She's a history maker. In 2021, Kamala Harris became vice president of the United States after she and President Joe Biden beat Donald Trump. "While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last." She was the first ever female vice president and one of only three women to have ever been nominated. She was also the first ever nonwhite vice president. 卡玛拉·哈里斯是谁？以下是一些事实。她是一位创造历史的人。2021年，卡玛拉·哈里斯和乔·拜登总统一起击败了唐纳德·特朗普，从而当选为美国副总统。“虽然我可能是这个办公室的第一位女性，但我绝不会是最后一位。”哈里斯是美国历史上的第一位女性副总统，也是仅有的三位获得提名的女性之一。她还是史上第一位非白人副总统。 She grew up in California, in America. Her dad is from Jamaica and her mum is from India. She has one younger sister. She went to law school and then became the attorney general, which made her the top lawyer and lawmaker in all of America. She's also been a member of the US Senate, which is an important part of the US government which makes laws. 她在美国加州长大。她爸爸来自牙买加，妈妈来自印度。她有一个妹妹。哈里斯上了法学院，然后成为了司法部长，这让她成为了全美顶尖的律师和立法者。她也是美国参议院的成员，参议院是美国政府的重要组成部分，主要负责制定法律。 She actually wanted to run for president back in 2019, but lost out to her soon to be political partner, Joe Biden. So what are people saying about her chances? As vice president, she was tasked with looking at immigration, but opponents say she hasn't got to grips with the issue during her time in the job. While supporters say she's the right candidate as she's had a successful career prosecuting criminals. 早在2019年，哈里斯就想竞选总统，但输给了她即将成为政治伙伴的乔·拜登。人们对哈里斯胜选的机会有什么看法？作为副总统，她的任务是关注移民问题，但反对者表示，她在任职期间并没有认真处理这个问题。而支持者则表示，她是正确的候选人，因为她在追诉罪犯方面取得了成功。 If she wins the election, she will make history once again as the first female president. 如果哈里斯赢得了选举，她将再次创造历史，成为美国第一位女总统。 词汇表 Democratic candidate 民主党候选人：指参加美国民主党总统候选人提名竞选的人。 go head to head with 与……正面交锋，与……竞争：指与某人或某物直接对抗或竞争。 history maker 创造历史的人 vice president 副总统：一位在总统之后排名第二的官员，通常有权在总统无法履职时代理总统职务。 nonwhite 非白人的；非白人 Jamaica 牙买加（加勒比岛国） attorney general 司法部长，首席检查官 top lawyer 顶级律师，首席律师 lawmaker 立法委员，国会议员 Senate 参议院：美国、澳大利亚、加拿大、法国等国家的两个立法机构之一 lose out to 输给，处于劣势 soon to be 即将成为……的 get to grips with 认真处理，着手对付（问题或局面） prosecute criminals 追诉罪犯，追究犯罪责任 ★原视频见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

The science of falling in love 'Head over heels', 'butterflies in the tummy', 'the apple of my eye' – in English there are many idioms to describe what it feels like to fall in love. Aww, I didn't know you were such a romantic, Neil! But do you know what's actually happening in our brains when we fall in love? Because I'm sorry to say this, Neil, but it's more about brain chemistry than romance – specifically hormones, chemical messengers which the body releases into the blood to control our growth, mood, and yes – falling in love. Thanks for ruining my romantic ideas, Beth! And since my dreams are now shattered, why don't we spend the rest of this programme finding out exactly what is going on inside our bodies and brains when we fall in love. And, of course, learn some useful new vocabulary too. There's no doubt that being in love has the health benefit of reducing stress, even lengthening your life, but the hormones which the brain releases have an immediate effect as well. So, chemically speaking, what happens when lovers look into each others' eyes? Is it: a) their body temperature increases? b) their heartbeats harmonise? or, c) the hairs stand up on the back of their neck? Hmmm, is it… all three? No? OK then, I'll guess it's b) their heartbeats harmonise. OK, we'll find out if that's correct at the end of the programme. According to Helen E Fisher, self-help author and anthropologist at Rutgers University, there are three aspects of romantic love. Here's BBC Ideas to explain more: Often lust comes first, but not always. For some people who are asexual, it may not happen at all. But for those who do experience lust, it's driven by the hormones oestrogen and testosterone. It may feel purely carnal, but in fact it's about the urge to mate and pass on your DNA via offspring. Without lust, it's fair to say our species would not survive. Helen Fisher thinks the first aspect of love is purely physical – lust, the strong feeling of sexual desire for someone. Lust is driven by the hormones oestrogen in women, and testosterone in men. A few people are asexual, meaning they don't feel sexual attraction for anyone of any gender. Lust is hardwired into us through our DNA and it drives us to have children. Helen thinks it's fair to say that without lust, our species would not survive. Here, she uses the phrase it's fair to say to introduce an idea she believes to be true and reasonable. Of course, love is not just physical. Here's BBC Ideas again to introduce Helen Fisher's second aspect of love, attraction: The second aspect of romantic love is attraction, influenced by a neurotransmitter called dopamine. This is a feel-good substance released in our brain that is involved in driving us towards reward. Do something, get a dopamine hit, feel good. Eventually dopamine will push us toward repeating that behaviour. This is why intense attraction feels like an addiction to another human being. Some people get stuck in that loop, always chasing the dopamine-soaked excitement of a new relationship. This time, the hormone responsible is dopamine, a neurotransmitter that rewards our attraction to someone with pleasurable feelings. That's why dopamine is called a feel-good substance. The adjective feel-good can be used to describe anything causing happy and optimistic feelings about life, things like feel-good films or feel-good music. Here, though, there's a downside. The dopamine 'hit' of sexual attraction feels so good, we crave it more and more. Some people are always chasing the next relationship to get a new 'hit' of pleasure, and soon become stuck in a loop – an idiom meaning they're unable to break the habit of repeating the same patterns of behaviour over and over again. It's fascinating to see the power which hormones have over us, but if you're an old-fashioned romantic like Neil, don't despair. And speaking as a romantic, how about the answer to my question… Right, you asked me about the effect on the body when two lovers look deep into each others' eyes. I guessed it was that their heartbeats harmonise. Which was… the correct answer! In experiments, looking into the eyes produced hormones causing couple's hearts to beat in time. OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this programme starting with the idiom head over heels – to be completely in love with someone. Lust is a very strong feeling of sexual desire. Someone who is asexual does not feel sexual attraction towards anyone of any gender. The phrase, it's fair to say, is used to introduce a statement you believe to be true and reasonable. The adjective feel-good describes something which makes people feel happy and optimistic. And finally, the idiom stuck in a loop describes someone unable to break the habit of repeating the same negative patterns of behaviour over and over again. ★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】

What would Freud make of our obsession with selfies? Go to any of the most beautiful places in the world, and you'll see people taking pictures... of themselves. We think of this as a new thing. Selfie only made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013, when it quickly became word of the year. But selfies are about as old as photography. The first was taken in 1839 by an American named Robert Cornelius. So why have we used photography, this miraculous invention, to take pictures of something we can see in our bathroom mirror every morning? Something odd is clearly going on. And who better to explain human oddities than Sigmund Freud? 去世界上任何一个最美丽的地方，你都会看到人们在拍……自己。我们认为这是一个新事物。2013年，Selfie（自拍）才被收入《牛津英语词典》，并迅速成为年度热词。但自拍和摄影一样古老。第一张自拍照片是1839年由美国人罗伯特·科尼利厄斯拍的。那么，为什么我们要用摄影这个神奇的发明，来拍摄我们每天早上在浴室镜子里看到的东西呢? 奇怪的事情显然正在发生。还有谁比西格蒙德·弗洛伊德更能解释人类的奇怪呢？ Freud invented psychoanalysis and popularised many ideas like the ego, the unconscious, and talking to a therapist. One of those ideas is narcissism, or excessive self-love. In a Greek myth, a young man called Narcissus sees his reflection in a pool and spends so long staring at his own beauty that he loses touch with the rest of the world, and eventually drowns trying to embrace his own image in the water. 弗洛伊德发明了精神分析学，并普及了许多观念，如自我、潜意识和与谈话疗法。其中一个概念就是自恋，或者说过度的自爱。在一个希腊神话中，一个叫纳西索斯的年轻人在水池中看到了自己的倒影，他长时间凝视着自己的美貌，以至于与世界失去了联系，最终为了拥抱自己在水中的映像而溺水身亡。 Freud thought that a bit of self-love was a natural part of being human. But Freud also thought that self-love can turn into a psychological disorder, when someone loves himself to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. And that's what we usually mean by narcissism. Psychologists have developed tests for measuring personality traits like narcissism. Here are some results. Narcissists do tend to be more active on social media. And posting selfies is strongly related to narcissism - but only if you're a man. Women tend to be less narcissistic than men, even though women post more selfies. 弗洛伊德认为有点自爱是人类天性的一部分。但是弗洛伊德也认为自爱可以变成一种心理障碍，当一个人爱自己的时候，他会把所有人和所有事情都排除在外。这就是我们通常所说的自恋。心理学家已经开发出测试自恋等人格特征的测试。这里有一些结果。自恋者在社交媒体上的确更加活跃。发布自拍与自恋有很大关系——但只有在你是男性的情况下。女性往往不比男性自恋，尽管女性发布的自拍照更多。 Perhaps more worryingly, narcissism is rising. The psychologist Jean Twenge has shown that, over the past few decades, it's risen at roughly the same rate as obesity. Freud derived most of his insights from everyday life observations, so he would have been very interested in all this data. He would have concluded that narcissism is only part of what's going on in the rise of selfie culture. Some people are posting selfies not because they're in love with themselves, but because they want other people to be in love with them. 也许更令人担忧的是，自恋情结正在上升。心理学家让·特文格的研究表明，在过去几十年里，自恋的上升速度与肥胖的上升速度大致相同。弗洛伊德的大部分见解来自于对日常生活的观察，因此他会对所有这些数据非常感兴趣。他会得出这样的结论：自恋只是自拍文化兴起的一部分原因。有些人发布自拍照并不是因为他们爱上了自己，而是因为他们希望其他人爱上他们。 Freud would have seen that need for approval as neurotic or hysterical. Freud began his career in the late 1800s, a much more sexually repressed time. Men and women were kept strictly separated. And they were taught to be ashamed of feeling... sexy. Many of Freud's female patients in Viennese high society suffered from 'hysterical paralysis' - an inability to walk that had no physical cause. Freud believed that these women were, without knowing it, stopping themselves from walking because they wanted attention. 弗洛伊德会认为这种对认可的需求是神经质的或歇斯底里的。弗洛伊德的职业生涯开始于19世纪晚期，那是一个犹为性压抑的时代。男人和女人被严格分开。他们被教导要为性感的感觉感到羞耻。弗洛伊德的许多女性患者在维也纳上流社会遭受“癔症性瘫痪”——无法行走，但没有身体原因。弗洛伊德认为，这些女人在不自觉的情况下，阻止自己走路，是因为她们想引起别人的注意。 So, if we need attention so badly that we'll paralyse ourselves for it, why not post a few selfies? Isn't that better? Well, Freud would find something unhealthy about selfies - not just because of what they say about the people taking them, but also because of what they do to the people seeing them. Selfies show people's best moments, carefully curated and heavily stage-managed. So we're increasingly surrounded by images of other people's apparently perfect lives and bodies. 所以，如果我们迫切需要关注，以至于我们会为此麻痹自己，为什么不发几张自拍照呢？这样不是更好吗？弗洛伊德会发现自拍有一些不健康的地方——不仅是因为自拍者的表现，还因为自拍对看到自拍的人造成的影响。自拍展示了人们最美好的时刻，经过精心策划和刻意安排。因此，我们越来越多地被他人表面上完美的生活和身体的图像所包围。 Recent studies show that this makes us feel more envy, inadequacy, isolation and insecurity. Making us, in Freud's terms, more neurotic. Freud said, "the aim of psychoanalysis is to replace neurotic with ordinary human unhappiness." So next time you reach for the camera, remember Narcissus and focus on your friends instead. You may not get as many likes, but you'll get a thumbs up from Freud. 最近的研究表明，这让我们感到更多的嫉妒、信心不足、孤立和不安全感。用弗洛伊德的话说，让我们变得更加神经质。弗洛伊德说：“精神分析的目的是用普通人的不快乐取代神经质。所以下次你拿起相机的时候，记住纳西索斯，把注意力放在你的朋友身上。你可能不会得到那么多的赞，但你会得到弗洛伊德竖起的大拇指。 ★原视频及更多英语听力见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Bear Cubs' First Trip to the Seaside A mother black bear is looking for something suitable for her cubs. This is their first-ever trip to the seaside. In a few hours, the tide will return, so they must keep up with Mum. 一只黑熊妈妈正在为它的幼崽寻找合适的食物。这是它们第一次来到海边。再过几个小时，潮水就会退去，所以它们必须跟上妈妈的脚步。 Here's something tasty — crabs. Big crabs can give a nasty nip, so it's best to start off with smaller ones. During spring, three-quarters of the bears' food comes from the beach. 这里有些好吃的东西——螃蟹。大螃蟹咬起来很难受，所以最好从小螃蟹开始。在春天，熊四分之三的食物来自海滩。 But now this family is not alone. An adult male. He's double her size and they're in his territory. The cubs know that call. It's time to head for safety. 但现在这一家子并不孤单。一只成年公熊。他的体型是她的两倍，他们在他的领地里。幼熊们清楚这个叫声。是时候移往安全地带了。 Bears have poor eyesight, but their sense of smell is acute and the male has detected intruders. He knows exactly which tree they are in. If the cubs stay up there, they'll be safe but they're losing precious feeding time. For now, he's content to leave his scent mark, a warning note for trespassers. 熊的视力很差，但它们的嗅觉很敏锐，且公熊已经察觉到了入侵者。他确切地知道他们在哪棵树上。如果幼崽呆在上面，它们会很安全，但它们正在失去宝贵的进食时间。现在，他满足地留下自己的气味痕迹，以作为对闯入者的警告。 The family moves on. For the cubs, lunch today will have to be a takeaway. The tide comes in and within minutes, feeding time is over for another day. 一家人继续前进。对于幼熊来说，今天的午餐只能是外带了。涨潮了，几分钟后，又一天的进食时间结束了。 ★视频版见见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Sleep study: Simple sleep tweaks boost wellbeing Life can be hard for night owls. Their bodies are hard-wired to stay up late into the night. And a morning alarm clock can force them to get up for work hours before their body is ready. 生活对于夜猫子来说可能会比较艰难。他们的身体天生就会熬夜。早晨的闹钟总是迫使他们在自己身体准备好之前起床工作。 The study looked at 21 people who were regularly going to bed after 2am. They were instructed to get up and go to bed at the same times every day, do so hours earlier than usual, get loads of sunlight in the morning and have fixed meal times. 这项研究对21名经常在凌晨两点以后睡觉的人进行了跟踪调查。研究人员要求他们每天在相同的时间起床和睡觉 —— 这比平时早几个小时，上午多晒太阳，用餐时间也要固定。 On average people shifted their body clocks two hours earlier, were getting the same total shuteye but were reporting lower levels of sleepiness, stress and depression. The researchers said their methods may seem like obvious advice for good sleep hygiene, but they were surprised how effective such relatively simple strategies were. 平均来看，他们的生物钟提前了两个小时，总体睡眠时间和以往相同，但困倦、压力和抑郁的程度有所降低。研究人员说，虽然他们的方法看似是对养成良好睡眠卫生习惯最直白的建议，但他们对这个相对简单的方法的效果感到惊讶。 词汇表 词汇表tweak （对机器、系统等的）轻微调整 night owls 夜猫子 hard-wired 本能的，天生的 alarm clock 闹钟 instruct 指示，要求 sunlight 日光，阳光 fixed meal times 固定用餐时间 body clocks 生物钟 shuteye （俚）睡眠 sleepiness 困倦，睡意 sleep hygiene 睡眠健康，睡眠卫生 ★更多英语听力见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

The benefits of being an introvert From a young age, many of us learn the benefits of being an extrovert – those gregarious individuals who always seem to be the life and soul of the party, often outspoken and able to express their opinions easily. However, not all of us are wired that way – so is being an extrovert really better? 从很小的时候起，我们中的许多人就知道了外向的好处——那些善于交际的人似乎总是聚会的生命和灵魂，经常直言不讳，能够轻松地表达自己的观点。然而，并不是所有人都是这样的——那么外向的人真的更好吗? While thinking of extroverts, we imagine a character who is assertive, approachable, cheerful and charming. We are taught to admire these traits early on. Kids are often encouraged to interact, play and communicate with other children. It seems at times as though children are made to embrace a more outgoing lifestyle, with some people becoming pseudo-extroverts – introverts who mimic extrovert behaviour. While externally they may seem to enjoy the company of others, or being in the limelight, they can still become over-extended in intense social situations. 一想到外向的人，我们就会想到一个自信、平易近人、开朗、迷人的人。我们从小就被教导要欣赏这些品质。孩子们经常被鼓励与其他孩子互动、玩耍和交流。有时候，似乎孩子们被要求接受一种更外向的生活方式，有些人变成了伪外向者——内向的人模仿外向的行为。虽然从外表上看，他们似乎喜欢别人的陪伴，或者成为众人瞩目的焦点，但在紧张的社交场合，他们仍然会变得过度紧张。 So, while the positive aspects of being an extrovert are plain to see, what are the benefits of introversion? While extroverts thrive on social interaction, introverts are more comfortable with levels of isolation. According to Dr Berit Brogaard, a professor of philosophy, extreme solitude, such as times like the recent lockdown, does not affect introverts as much as extroverts. Lack of social contact, something extroverts thrive on, can lead to depression, loneliness, and even premature death. 所以，虽然外向的积极方面显而易见，但内向的好处是什么？外向的人在社交互动中获取能量，而内向的人则更享受独自一人的状态。哲学教授贝里特·布罗加德博士表示，极端的孤独（比如最近的封城）对内向者的影响不如外向者大。外向者最喜欢与人接触，而缺乏社交接触会导致抑郁、孤独，甚至过早死亡。 But it's not just in an extreme situation that the pros of being an introvert shine through. These people seem to have more time for contemplation and introspection and thus can become more balanced. They also tend to be good listeners and think before they speak, meaning they could become great friends. Finally, introverts are often fantastic observers, as sitting out of the focus can give you more time to watch the behaviour of others. 但并非只有在极端情况下，内向者的优势才会显现出来。这些人似乎有更多的时间来沉思和自省，因此可以变得更加平衡。他们也是很好的倾听者，说话前会三思，这意味着他们可以成为很好的朋友。最后，内向的人往往是出色的观察者，因为远离焦点可以让你有更多的时间观察别人的行为。 So, whatever your personality, either introvert or extrovert, there are clear advantages to being either, and if you meet an introvert, you might just end up with an amazing friend. 所以，无论你的性格是内向还是外向，都有明显的优势，如果你遇到一个内向的人，你可能会交到一个很棒的朋友。 词汇表 gregarious 爱交际的 life and soul of the party 社交场合的灵魂人物 outspoken 坦率的，直率的 assertive 坚定自信的 approachable 平易近人的 cheerful 乐观开朗的 charming 迷人的 trait （性格）特点 encourage 鼓励 interact 互动，相互交流 outgoing 开朗外向的 pseudo 假冒的，伪的 mimic 模仿 over-extended 吃不消，压力过大 thrive on 靠…获取能量 solitude 孤独 contemplation 沉思 introspection 反思 ★更多英语听力见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】

Utopia: the search for a perfect world Utopianism is the ism of utopias. It means a belief or interest in a perfect world - or at least a world designed to be perfect. The word 'utopia' was coined in 1516 by Sir Thomas More - writer, saint and opponent of Henry the VIII's marriage plans - in his book of the same name. Utopia has been taken by some people at face value as a book about a perfect land. But others point to the fact that the word 'utopia' literally means no place and that the book is a satire. But that hasn't stopped people. 乌托邦主义是乌托邦的主义。它意味着对一个完美世界的信念或兴趣——或者至少是一个被设计成完美的世界。“乌托邦”这个词是1516年由作家、圣人、亨利八世婚姻计划的反对者托马斯·莫尔爵士在他的同名著作中创造的。有些人从表面上认为《乌托邦》是一本描写完美国度的书。但也有人指出，“乌托邦”这个词的字面意思是没有地方，这本书是一部讽刺作品。但这并没有阻止人们。 Through the years there has been all sorts of ideas about a perfect society. Economic utopias with no poverty... ecological utopias where humans live in harmony with nature and so on and so forth. Many cultures and religions have a myth of a perfect society in the past, like the Garden of Eden. Communes, music festivals and naturist camps could all be seen as attempts to create a mini utopia on Earth. There are many kinds of utopias but one of the central qualities of any utopia, paradoxically, is that it doesn't exist. 多年来，关于完美社会有各种各样的想法。没有贫困的经济乌托邦...人类与自然和谐相处的生态乌托邦等等。许多文化和宗教在过去都有一个完美社会的神话，比如伊甸园。公社、音乐节和裸体主义者营地都可以被视为在地球上创造一个迷你乌托邦的尝试。乌托邦有很多种，但矛盾的是，任何乌托邦的核心特质之一就是它并不存在。 Being a utopianist essentially means being a dreamer. When John Lennon sang, "You may say I'm a dreamer" in his famous hit single and utopian anthem, Imagine, he was referring to exactly this quality. Utopianism's main flaw is its obsession with perfection. This can lead to absurdities like the Soviet Russian belief that one day all crime would be eradicated because under true socialism crime would not be necessary. Or the more sinister belief in fascist ideologies that racial purity would eliminate all evil from society. 乌托邦主义者本质上意味着梦想家。当约翰·列侬在他著名的热门单曲和乌托邦颂歌《想象》中唱“你可以说我是一个梦想家”时，他指的正是这种品质。乌托邦主义的主要缺陷在于对完美的痴迷。这可能会导致一些荒谬的事情发生，比如苏联人相信有一天所有的犯罪都会被消灭，因为在真正的社会主义制度下，犯罪是没有必要的。或者法西斯主义意识形态中更险恶的信念，即种族纯洁将消除社会中的一切邪恶。 Perhaps this is why much discussion of the topic is now confined to utopianism's dark side - dystopianism, a way of describing worlds, real or imaginary, in entirely negative terms. From George Orwell's 1984 to Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale, dystopian fiction has become increasingly popular in books, films and television. But interest in utopias isn't going anywhere - references within books have been on a steady rise since the 1900s with clear spikes in the 60s and also - perhaps surprisingly - in the 80s. 也许这就是为什么现在对这个话题的许多讨论都局限于乌托邦主义的黑暗面——反乌托邦主义，一种用完全负面的语言描述现实或想象世界的方式。从乔治·奥威尔的《1984》到玛格丽特·阿特伍德的《使女的故事》，反乌托邦小说在书籍、电影和电视中越来越受欢迎。但对乌托邦的兴趣并没有消失——自20世纪以来，书籍中对乌托邦的的引用一直在稳步上升，60年代出现了明显的峰值，80年代也出现了峰值，这或许令人惊讶。 And who could deny the perfection of the world - at least in microcosm - as you sit by an ocean and listen to the sound of the waves crashing on a beach. Or when you first see a blanket of bluebells in the spring. And without at least striving for a better world, where would we be? In chains, with rats chewing off our faces, that's where. 当你坐在海边，听着海浪拍打海滩的声音时，谁能否认世界的完美——至少在微观世界里是这样。或者，当你在春天第一次看到一片风铃草时。如果不努力创造一个更美好的世界，我们将何去何从？戴着镣铐，被老鼠啃食脸颊，就是这样。 词汇表 utopianism 乌托邦主义，空想的社会改良方案 utopia 乌托邦，理想国，空想的完美境界 saint 圣人，圣徒，道德高尚的人 satire 讽刺，讽刺作品 so on and so forth 等等，诸如此类 Garden of Eden (《圣经》中所说亚当和夏娃所住的)伊甸园 commune 公社，群居团体 naturist 裸体主义者（指认为裸体有益身心的人） paradoxically 矛盾地，荒谬地 utopianist 乌托邦主义者，空想家 anthem 颂歌，赞歌 absurdity 荒谬的事，荒唐事 Soviet Russian 苏联（人） eradicate/eliminate 根除，消灭 sinister 邪恶的，不祥的 fascist 法西斯主义者 racial purity 种族纯化，种族纯粹 dystopianism 反乌托邦主义 handmaid 女仆，侍女 spike 猛增，峰值 microcosm 微观世界，缩影 a blanket of bluebells 一片风铃草 chew off 嚼断，咬掉 ★原视频及更多英语听力见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】