Eating together: What's so good about it? "Dinner's ready!" Do you recognise that familiar call for everyone to gather round the table and tuck in? Whether it's a takeaway with friends or a family get-together during holiday seasons, humans have been eating together for thousands of years. But why? The discovery of fire may have kickstarted communal eating for our hunter-gatherer ancestors, according to primatologist Richard Wrangham. Cooking a meal all those years ago required a social group – you needed someone to hunt the food, someone to protect the food from thieves or predators, and of course, someone to cook. And once enjoying the feast, evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar speculates that the fire's bright light may have given the humans longer nights and provided great opportunities for bonding over food. But modern humans don't face the same threats as we used to – we can cook and eat a meal by ourselves. So why should we still make group meals a ritual? In Dunbar's 2017 study 'Breaking Bread: the Functions of Social Eating', they found communal eating increased feelings of wellbeing and connectedness with the community. Despite this, the study found a third of weekday evening meals in the UK are eaten in isolation – the main cause being busy work schedules. Today's reality is that having meals together can be difficult. Time management, fussy eaters, and family tensions are all things that can get in the way. But, in an article about overthinking family meals, Susannah Ayre and colleagues write 'Five tips to ease the pressure', including dropping the need for perfection. "There is no shame in reheating a frozen meal" or "eating on a picnic rug in the living room". Sharing meals may look different today than it did for our ancestors, but the essence stays the same: food is more than just fuel. It can be a way to connect, share stories and strengthen bonds. 词汇表 gather round 聚到一起 tuck in [tʌk] 大吃一顿，尽情享用 takeaway ['teɪkəweɪ] 外卖 get-together 团聚，聚会 kickstart [ˈkɪkstɑːt] 启动， 促使…开始 communal [ˈkɒmjʊn(ə)l] 群体的，集体的，公共的 hunter-gatherer ancestor [ˈɡæθərə(r)][ˈænsestə(r)] 狩猎采集祖先 primatologist [ˌpraɪməˈtɒlədʒɪst] 灵长类动物学家 predator [ˈpredətə(r)] 食肉动物，捕食者，掠食者 feast [fiːst] 盛宴，宴会，大餐 evolutionary psychologist [ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n(ə)ri][saɪˈkɒlədʒɪst] 进化心理学家 speculate [ˈspekjʊleɪt] 推测，猜测，推断 bond [bɒnd] 建立纽带，联合，团结 ritual ['rɪtʃuəl] 仪式，惯例，习惯 wellbeing 身心健康，幸福 connectedness [kə'nektɪdnəs] 连结性，联系感 isolation [aɪsə'leɪʃ(ə)n] 独立，孤立 work schedule [ˈʃedjuːl] 工作时间表，工作日程 fussy eater ['fʌsi] 挑食者，偏食者 tension ['tenʃ(ə)n] 矛盾，紧张的关系 reheat [ˌriːˈhiːt] 重新加热（凉了的熟食） picnic rug [rʌɡ] 野餐垫，野餐地毯 essence [ˈes(ə)ns] 本质，实质 strengthen bonds [ˈstreŋθ(ə)n] 增进关系，加强联系 📖 翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

Human activity makes forests emit carbon Oct, 2021 There are 257 forests with Unesco World Heritage status. They cover an area twice the size of Germany and are formally listed, studied and protected for their global scientific and natural significance. This was the first assessment of exactly how much planet-warming gas they absorb from the atmosphere. It showed that collectively, these forests soak up 190 million tonnes of carbon every year. But it also revealed that human activity has turned some of them into net emitters of carbon. Illegal logging, agriculture and increasingly frequent wildfires, driven by climate change over the past two decades, have resulted in ten protected forests releasing more greenhouse gas than they absorb. Just days ahead of the critical UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, the researchers say the world needs to act now to slash the emissions that have turned some of the most protected forests on Earth into sources of planet-warming gas. 词汇表 Unesco World Heritage [juːˈnɛskoʊ]['herɪtɪdʒ] 联合国教科文组织世界遗产 status ['steɪtəs] 身份，地位 assessment [ə'sesmənt] 评估，评价 planet-warming 导致全球变暖的 collectively [kə'lektɪvli] 全体地，共同地 soak up [səʊk] 吸收，吸取 net emitter [ɪ'mɪtə] 净排放源（释放量大于吸收量的事物） illegal logging [ɪˈliːɡ(ə)l][ˈlɒɡɪŋ] 非法伐木 greenhouse gas [ˈɡriːnˌhaʊs] 温室气体 UN Climate Conference 联合国气候大会 Glasgow [ˈɡlɑ:sɡəu] 格拉斯哥（英国） slash [slæʃ] 大幅削减，大幅减少 🗒️翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

Should We Be Able to Choose Our Own Death Imagine a world where we get what we all deserve -- a good death. Nothing seems much different. The world is much the same as it is now. People do the same sorts of things, have much the same joys and pains. They're born, they grow up, they work, they play, have families, love, argue, enjoy their brief time on Earth. And die. It's just that if you go to the outskirts of any town, there's a new facility there. It looks like a medical center. In a way, it is. A well-designed building with nice landscaping and a free car park. If you go inside you'll discover what's going on. The receptionist can explain. There are leaflets too. Everything is well ordered and calm. Doctors, psychologists, counsellors and nurses work here. But so too do specialists lawyers. This is the "Good Death Centre", provided on the National Health Service. Those who don't want to descend into the indignity of extreme dementia, or doubt the ability of palliative care to ease their exit from life, will come here when the time is right. They'll choose the moments of their own deaths. Most of us have a death plan and a living will now. It's a great comfort to know that the option exists if the going gets too tough. We've had euthanasia for pets for a very long time, but before the Good Death Centres, we forced our friends and relatives to endure months and sometimes years of agony and indignity against their will. For what? It now seems so cruel, so unnecessary, so pointless. Of course there are safeguards. No one gets to use the facility without thorough psychological examination and counselling. This choice is only for the sound of mind and those who have demonstrated a genuine desire to die by these means. You need a good reason such as a painful terminal illness or the first signs of dementia. Consent has to be informed. Life is much better now. It's reassuring to know you don't have to endure it even when you've lost the power to take your own life. I have my own death plan. If I don't die my sleep, I expect to die in a Good Death Centre. It's a comforting thought. You should think about it. 词汇表 good death 善终，安乐死 outskirt ['aʊtˌskɜːt] 郊区，市郊 medical center ['medɪk(ə)l] 医疗中心 well-designed 精心设计的，设计巧妙的 landscaping ['lændskeɪpɪŋ] 景观美化 car park 停车场，车库 receptionist [rɪˈsepʃ(ə)nɪst] 接待员，招待员 leaflet [ˈliːflət] 传单，小册子，活页 well ordered 井然有序的，有条理的 counsellor ['kaʊns(ə)lə(r)] 顾问，辅导顾问 specialists lawyers [ˈspeʃəlɪsts] 专业律师 National Health Service （英国）国民医疗服务体系 descend into [dɪ'send] 陷入（糟糕的状态） indignity [ɪn'dɪɡnəti] 侮辱，轻蔑，伤尊严 dementia [dɪ'menʃə] 失智症，痴呆症 palliative care [ˈpæliətɪv] 姑息疗法，缓和医疗（专注于缓解和预防患者的痛苦） exit from ['eksɪt] 退出，离开 living will 生前意愿，生前遗嘱 going 处境，状况 euthanasia [ˌjuːθəˈneɪziə] 安乐死 agony ['æɡəni] 极度痛苦，苦恼 safeguard [ˈseɪfˌɡɑː(r)d] 保障条款， 保护措施 psychological examination 心理检查，心理测验 counselling [ˈkaʊns(ə)lɪŋ] 咨询，辅导 terminal illness [ˈtɜː(r)mɪn(ə)l] 绝症，不治之症，晚期疾病 consent [kən'sent] 同意，允许，赞同 reassuring [ˌriːəˈʃʊərɪŋ] 令人欣慰的，令人放心的 take one's own life 自杀，结束自己的生命 comforting [ˈkʌmfə(r)tɪŋ] 安慰的，令人欣慰的 💡 翻译、视频版和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

Do This When Your Battery Is Running Low There's a most basic fact about a child: it never knows when it's tired. It just grows convinced that it now hates mummy, that little brother should die, that the button falling off the cardigan is a catastrophe, that its self-respect depends on being allowed to throw the bread knife out of the window sharp end first. And it's the role of the parent to notice what is being overlooked – and say very gently but with deep conviction: Enough, we need to get you to bed, fast. We do ourselves no such service. We pay no such heed to how our bodies work and when our minds have ceased to do so. Imagine it's past 7pm; we might have had six hours of patchy sleep, been awake since 6.30am, had four cups of coffee, answered 67 emails, crossed town twice, had four meetings, given two presentations, eaten four slices of pizza, watched 45 short viral films, read about fifteen conflicts and twelve scandals – and now, unbeknownst to us, we have entered a perilous zone in which we need to exercise extraordinary care to have any chance of managing a safe landing. We need to sense how much danger we are in; the danger of seeing only the idiocies of others as opposed to the reasons they might have committed them; the danger of perceiving accidents as intentions; the danger of being drawn to wind up someone close to us to alleviate our rage at what the world in general has done to us; the danger of thinking that shouting might every now and then solve something. We're in danger of forgetting how much the day has gradually depleted our sense of perspective. We might not have done anything momentous or heroic, not have climbed a mountain or performed heart surgery – and that is some of the problem. What will kill us in the end will not be one big obvious thing but many decades of invisible minor aggravations and low-grade frictions. There is so much that we mustn't do. For example, talk about the need to tidy the upstairs cupboard. Bring up what we might do for the holidays; ask why we no longer have any fun. Pick this moment to go through the finances. We must insist to our passionate minds that our mounting anger about the chip in the wall, the missing sellotape or the way the partner said 'really' must be about something else – and this we will have to address at another time. We need to flag up to those we care about that, though this doesn't read on our faces, that we have slipped into a hugely fragile state. With a mild smile, we can confess that we have, to all intents, gone a bit mad. So we need to show our love by escaping; we need to give ourselves a long bath and put ourselves in bed not much past nine, early for an adult but a very good time for an exhausted small bunny who has been very active since just after dawn. As kind people have been telling us from the start, it will all seem a lot more bearable in the morning. 词汇表 convinced [kən'vɪnst] 确信的，深信的 cardigan [ˈkɑː(r)dɪɡən] （开襟）羊毛衫 catastrophe [kə'tæstrəfi]灾难，灾祸 self-respect 自尊，自重 conviction [kən'vɪkʃ(ə)n] 坚信，深信，确信 do someone a service 帮忙某人，做好事 cease (to do) [siːs] 终止，结束，停止 patchy sleep ['pætʃi] 断断续续的睡眠 slice [slaɪs] 薄片，切片 short viral films ['vaɪrəl] 热门短视频 scandal ['skænd(ə)l] 丑闻，流言蜚语 unbeknownst to someone [ˌʌnbɪˈnəʊnst] 不知不觉地，不知情的情况下 perilous zone ['perələs][zəʊn] 危险地带 safe landing 安全着陆 idiocy ['ɪdiəsi] 愚蠢，白痴，愚蠢行为 wind up [waɪnd] 惹恼，使心烦 alleviate the rage [əˈliːvieɪt][reɪdʒ] 缓解愤怒 every now and then 偶尔，有时，不时地 deplete [dɪˈpliːt] 耗尽，使枯竭 sense of perspective [pə(r)ˈspektɪv] 洞察力，远见，视角 momentous [məʊˈmentəs] 重要的，重大的 heroic [hɪˈrəʊɪk] 英雄的，英勇的 minor aggravation [ˌæɡrəˈveɪʃ(ə)n] 小烦恼 low-grade friction ['frɪkʃ(ə)n] 轻度的摩擦 tidy the cupboard ['taɪdi][ˈkʌbə(r)d] 整理橱柜 passionate ['pæʃ(ə)nət] 热烈的，充满激情的 mounting anger ['maʊntɪŋ] 加剧的愤怒 chip [tʃɪp] 缺口，碎屑 sellotape [ˈseləˌteɪp] 透明胶带 flag up [flæɡ] 指出，使注意 slip into [slɪp] 陷入；溜进，滑入 fragile [ˈfrædʒaɪl] 脆弱的，易碎的 confess [kən'fes] 承认，坦白；忏悔 to all intents [ɪn'tent] 实际上 bunny ['bʌni] 小兔子 dawn [dɔːn] 黎明，拂晓，破晓 bearable [ˈbeərəb(ə)l] 承受得起的，可忍受的 🏫翻译、视频版和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】

For the love of foreign languages Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Rob. Bonjour, Rob! Kon'nichi'wa! --Excuse me?-- ¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás? --Oh, OK, I think Neil's saying 'hello' in different languages-French, was it? And then...Japanese? And... Spanish? Is that right? --¡Si, muy bien! The English are famously slow to learn other languages. But it seems that Rob and I, and of course you, our global audience here at 6 Minute English, are good examples of polyglots-people who speak more than one language, sometimes known as 'superlinguists'. People who speak multiple languages benefit from many advantages, as we'll be hearing in this programme. --That word polyglot sounds familiar, Neil. Doesn't the prefix-poly – mean 'many'? --That's right, like polygon-a shape with many sides. --Or polymath-someone who knows many things. And speaking of knowing things, it's time for my quiz question. The word polyglot comes from Greek and is made up of two parts: poly, which as Rob says, means 'many', and 'glot'. But what does 'glot' mean? What is the meaning of the word polyglot? Is it a) many words, b) many sounds, or c) many tongues? --Well, there's three syllables in 'polyglot', Neil, so I reckon it's b) many sounds. --OK, Rob, we'll find out if that's right at the end of the programme. But leaving aside the origins of the word, what exactly does being a polyglot involve? British-born polyglot, Richard Simcot speaks eleven languages. Listen to his definition as he speaks to BBC World Service programme, The Documentary. A polyglot for me can be anyone who identifies with that term-it's somebody who learns languages that they don't necessarily need for their lives, but just out of sheer enjoyment, pleasure or fascination with another language or culture. For Richard, being a polyglot simply means identifying with the idea-feeling that you are similar or closely connected to it. He says polyglots learn languages not because they have to, but for the sheer enjoyment, which means, 'nothing except' enjoyment. Richard uses the word sheer to emphasise how strong and pure this enjoyment is. As well as the pleasure of speaking other languages, polyglots are also better at communicating with others. My favourite quote by South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, is: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." --How inspiring, Rob-I'm lost for words! Here's another: 'To have another language is to possess a second soul'. --So language learning is good for the head, heart and soul-a person's spirit or the part of them which is believed to continue existing after death. Yes, and what's more, language learning is good for the brain too. That's according to Harvard neuroscientist, Eve Fedorenko. She's researched the effects of speaking multiple languages on the brains of growing children. Eve predicted that multilingual children would have hyperactive language brains. But what she actually found surprised her, as she explains here to BBC World Service's The Documentary. What we found-this is now people who already have proficiency in multiple languages-what we found is that their language regions appear to be smaller, and that was surprising. And as people get better and better, more automatic at performing the task, the activations shrink, so to speak, over time, it becomes so that you don't have to use as much brain tissue to do the task as well, right, you become more efficient. Eve was testing children who already have language proficiency-the skill and ability to do something, such as speak a language. Her surprising discovery was that the language regions of these children's brains were shrinking-not because their speaking skills were getting worse, but the opposite; as they learned and repeated language patterns, their brain tissue became more efficient-worked quicker and more effectively. It's suggested that this increased efficiency is a result of exposure to different languages. So that proves it, Neil: speaking many languages is good for the head, heart, mind and soul! --You took the words right out of my mouth! --And speaking of words, what does the 'glot' in polyglot actually mean? Was my answer correct? --Ah, that's right. In my quiz question I asked you for the meaning of the word 'polyglot'. --And I said, b) many sounds. --But in fact the correct answer was c) many tongues. You may be a polyglot, Rob, but you're not quite a polymath yet! 📝字数限制，完整文本， 翻译及pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

Business Bartleby 商业板块 巴托比专栏 Walking in employees' shoes 站在员工的角度想 It is hard for bosses to understand what life is like for staff. But not impossible 老板不容易理解员工的处境，但并非全不可能 Any manager worth their salt knows the value of spending time "walking in their customers' shoes". There are many ways to do it. You can observe customers in their natural habitat. Pernod Ricard's boss recently told Bloomberg, a news service, about his habit of bar-hopping in order to see what people want to drink. Such research is a lot less fun if your company makes soap dispensers for public toilets but the same principle applies. You can be a customer yourself, buying your company's products, ringing your own helplines and enduring the same teeth-grinding muzak. Or you can hear from your customers directly. Jeremy Hunt, who has just been appointed Britain's finance minister but was once its longest-serving health secretary, started each day in that job by reading a letter of complaint from a patient or their family, and writing back to each correspondent personally. If you cancel one internal meeting a week and use that time to hear from customers instead, you will come out ahead on the trade. This idea does not apply only to customers. It can also be useful inside the organisation. Walking in employees' shoes is a way for bosses to understand what impedes productivity, what saps morale and what makes workers feel valued. A sense of affinity can come from living in the same community as other members of staff. Recent research found that CEOs in Denmark who lived within 5km of their offices seemed to foster better work environments than those who lived farther away. But short of moving house, how else can managers get inside workers' heads? Even if a boss genuinely wants to hear the unvarnished truth, employees may not be comfortable delivering it. Anonymous surveys can help encourage honesty, as can exit interviews, but even in these settings, workers may temper their views. Reviews on sites like Glassdoor can be brutal, but the motives of the people posting them are not always transparent. Corporate-messaging apps like Slack can provide a partial window into how some teams are getting on, but surveillance is not a form of empathy. And none of this is the same as knowing what it is actually like to be an employee. It is very hard for managers to replicate the experiences of normal employees. Rooms will magically become available if the boss asks for one; everyone else has to roam around the building like wildebeest that have become separated from the herd. Managers do not have to remind people of their names. They are less likely to suffer some of the common feelings that undermine workers' enthusiasm for their jobs: rare is the boss who feels overlooked or underappreciated. And they are also much less likely than employees to encounter incivility from colleagues. One option is to appear on "Undercover Boss", an entertaining reality-TV show in which executives put on preposterous disguises, work in their own organisations and discover what life is really like for their workers. If you go down this route you will learn a lot, but you will have to admit to an audience of millions that you have absolutely no idea what is going on in your own organisation. (A less involved option is not to bother with the cameras and to wear your own home-made disguise in the office, though there is a risk your moustache will fall off at a pivotal moment.) Even without disguises it is good for managers to spend time doing the same work as their underlings. (It is also good for them to stop referring to people as underlings.) Airlines and retailers have run schemes that involve executives working in front-line roles in airports and on shopfloors. DoorDash, a delivery app, has a programme called WeDash that requires salaried employees to make regular drop-offs. And bosses can do things for themselves that people without assistants must navigate alone. Filling out expense forms is a chore: everyone should have to do their own, at least occasionally. By default bosses should fly in the same airline class as their colleagues do. And so on. If managers can learn a few things by walking in employees' shoes, there is also value in workers thinking about what life is like as a boss. It is not all business-class travel and people agreeing with you. Imagine getting in a lift and conversation around you always dying. Imagine being grumbled about all the time, or knowing that your absence causes a general lightening of the mood. Imagine not being able to kick a difficult decision upstairs. The boss wears much nicer shoes but they can still pinch. 🔆翻译、词汇表、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

What can we learn from silence?｜BBC Ideas In today's world, it can feel like there's no space for silence. Like we're always required to be responding to something, to be saying something new. Whether that's answering a text or an email, a tweet, a WhatsApp message, or even the phone. My name's Harriet Shawcross. I'm a filmmaker and a journalist, and I think we would all benefit from a little bit more silence in our lives. One of the reasons I'm interested in silence, and in what can and can't be said, is that when I was a teenager, there was about a year when I didn't really talk to people at school. I would answer direct questions if a teacher asked them or I would read out loud, but the kind of communication that makes us human -- spontaneous conversation, sharing jokes -- was something that I wasn't able to do. And it had a huge impact on me and was really formative in terms of how I relate to people both professionally and personally. So what's so great about silence? While in the course of researching my book, I came across several studies into the impact that silence can have on both the body and the brain. In one study involving mice, silence was shown to promote the growth of brain cells in the part of the brain responsible for memory related to the senses. Scientists played mice a selection of sounds, including baby mouse cries, white noise, and silence, and observed that during silence there was cell growth in the hippocampus. Another study looked at the impact of listening to music on the body and the researchers found that if silence was inserted into a track of music, the blood pressure dropped, the heart rate reduced and the subject relaxed much more than when listening to a relaxing piece of music. This only happened when the silence was inserted in the middle of the tune itself. It didn't work for silence at the beginning or end of the experiment. So there's something about silence that comes in the middle of noise that's particularly beneficial. So silence can also enable people to actually say things that they've never been able to say before. I looked into the formation of the Samaritans, a support service for people that are feeling despairing or suicidal. The service was set up in the 50s by a vicar, and he started it because he had to conduct the funeral of a young girl who had taken her own life. The reason she took her own life is that she'd started her periods and thought she'd contracted some terrible disease and was dying. She was deeply ashamed of what was happening to her and had no one to talk to about it. It was this that inspired the vicar, Chad Varah, to set up the Samaritans as he didn't want people to feel that there were things that they couldn't talk about, particularly things that they were ashamed of. They believed that you should be able to sit with someone, no matter what they're going through, without feeling the need to answer back or offer solutions or problem solve. And a really central way of doing that is through using silence and giving them space to explain what's going on for them. And frankly, if normal conversations could involve a little bit more silence like that, I think the world would be a much happier place. So silence is also at the heart of most major world religions. In Buddhism silence is really highly valued and conversation can be seen as something that gets in the way of our experiences. And if you strip away all of that language, you're left with a deeper understanding of your own experiences in the world and your connection to other people. But can too much silence be a bad thing? There's a condition known as Assidy, which was experienced by monks who spent prolonged periods in silence, and it's basically distinguished by a feeling of torpor, of not being able to do anything, and that's specifically associated with spending long periods of time without speaking to anybody. I also spoke to people who had spent more time than probably most of us would want to in silence. One of them was a Buddhist who spent nine months on a silent and solitary retreat, and the silence had a really profound effect on him. After a certain amount of time, he felt like he was losing control of both his mind and his body. He actually felt like he was having a heart attack. He knew logically he'd just pulled a muscle in his chest, but without anyone to say, "I've pulled a muscle in my chest" to, the pain that he was feeling, the sensations of panic meant that he actually really thought that he was dying, and the only way that he could snap out of that was by calling a friend of his. And it was only once he had words and language to attach to what was happening to him that he was able to make sense of it and eventually feel better. 💡 完整文本、翻译、视频版和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

A new hobby for a new year It's the end of one year and the start of another. You've probably been considering New Year's resolutions and you may have decided to take up something new for the year ahead. Perhaps, like Debbie Gustig, you could start ballet classes. At the age of 53, Debbie stepped into the dance studio, where, for a while, it feels like 'the outside world is on pause'. Hobbies are a way for us to keep busy and take our minds off the realities of work and life. People crave time to pursue interests that are valuable and satisfying. Humans have indulged in pastimes since the beginning of time, from drawing on cave walls to playing video games. Some hobbies involve collecting things. That means acquiring, possibly cataloguing, and then displaying or storing something precious, whether that be stamps, antiques or comic books. Linda de Ruiter turned her hobby into a job. She is a yarn maker and now the owner of a small business. After helping out a friend with a stand at a craft market, she realised she wanted a stand for herself. She told the BBC she always thought yarn making would just be 'a glorified hobby' for her, but she's glad to have been proven wrong and says she is "having a ball". People often pursue hobbies as a way of de-stressing. In Canada, axe throwing is on the rise. In fact, there is even an axe-throwing league with branches across the country and more than 1,500 members. League founder Matt Wilson told the BBC that it's "a zen sort of experience because it's really not about power, but there is definitely something cathartic about the activity". So, ballet, collecting stamps, yarn making, axe throwing? What will you pursue in the new year? 词汇表 New Year's resolutions [ˌrezəˈluːʃ(ə)n] 新年计划，新年决心 take up 开始从事，着手做 ballet [ˈbæleɪ] 芭蕾舞 dance studio [ˈstjuːdiəʊ] 舞蹈室，练舞房 be on pause [pɔːz] 暂停，处于停顿状态 take one's mind off 转移某人的注意力，让某人暂时忘记忧虑之事 crave [kreɪv] 渴望，热望 pursue [pə(r)ˈsjuː] 追求，追逐，从事 indulge in [ɪn'dʌldʒ] 沉溺于，尽情享受 pastime [ˈpɑːsˌtaɪm] 消遣，休闲活动 cave walls [keɪv] 洞穴壁 catalogue [ˈkætəlɒɡ] 将…编入目录，记录，分类 stamp [stæmp] 邮票，印记 antique [ænˈtiːk] 古董，古物 comic books [ˈkɒmɪk] 漫画书，连环画 yarn [jɑː(r)n] 纱，纱线 stand （零售）摊位，货摊 craft market [krɑːft] 手工艺品集市 glorified [ˈɡlɔːrɪfaɪd] 美化的，吹捧的，吹嘘的 have a ball 极为享受，玩得开心 de-stress [ˌdi: 'stres] 放松，减压 axe throwing [æks] 扔斧头，掷斧运动 be on the rise 在兴起，呈上升趋势 branch [brɑːntʃ] 分支机构，分部，分行 zen [zen] 令人放松的；禅 cathartic [kəˈθɑː(r)tɪk] 宣泄情绪的；导泻的 📖 翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

Paper-saving 'de-printer' Making paper takes lots of energy, and the pulp and paper industry is a huge emitter of greenhouse gases. So, welcome to the de-printer, a machine that allows you to re-use a sheet of A4 ten times over. The secret's in a special, ultra-thin coating that's applied to the paper to stop the ink sinking in. To return the sheet to pristine white, you zap it with a high-powered laser and vaporise the ink, which can be trapped and used again. It's said to use a fraction of the energy taken to make new paper, but there's no guarantee it will be commercially viable. 词汇表 pulp [pʌlp] 纸浆，浆状物 emitter [ɪ'mɪtə] 排放源，发出者；发射体 greenhouse gase [ˈɡriːnˌhaʊs] 温室气体（尤指二氧化碳） de-printer [ˈprɪntə(r)] 去墨打印机 a sheet of [ʃiːt] 一张，一片（纸、布等） ultra-thin coating ['ʌltrəθɪn] [ˈkəʊtɪŋ] 超薄涂层 apply to 涂，敷，抹 sink in [sɪŋk] 渗入，渗透 pristine [ˈprɪstiːn] 纯洁的，质朴的，崭新的 zap [zæp] （用激光等）快速照射 high-powered laser [ˈleɪzə(r)] 高功率激光 vaporise ['veɪpəraɪz] 使汽化，蒸发 a fraction of ['frækʃ(ə)n] 一小部分 guarantee [ˌɡærənˈtiː] 保证，担保 commercially viable [kəˈmɜː(r)ʃ(ə)li]['vaɪəb(ə)l] 商业上可行的 🗒️翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

How to avoid 'burnout' Whether it's studying for exams, working on a project or struggling with a dissertation, we've all been under immense stress at some point. When it gets a bit overwhelming, we can reach a level of exhaustion that is unprecedented – the dreaded burnout. However, that feeling of exhaustion is not just physical; it can be mental as well. According to 'Psychology Today', burnout isn't just caused by working long hours; it is more about prolonged or repeated exposure to a stressful situation. The result can be feelings of cynicism, depression and lethargy. A feeling of loss of control in a work scenario can create a conflict with the sense of self – which can lead to burnout. Suffering from burnout can stifle our creativity and productivity. Ironically, this means that striving to be more efficient can result in a reduction in our productivity. But what can we do to avoid the evils of burnout? Well, there are some tips that may help you. Psychologist Albert Bandura's idea of self-efficacy – which is the theory that you should believe in your ability to complete a task at hand - may assist you. A feeling that the task is achievable and that you are capable of succeeding means that a difficult task might be less gruelling. Finding ways to express your creative side may help. Not everyone has creative aspects to their jobs, and, therefore, they need to find other outlets. They could paint, write or take part in local theatre. All of this may help to detach them from the overwhelming stress that may exist in their working life. Looking after yourself and your surroundings can also be beneficial. The consequence is that you are surrounded by a cleaner and more positive environment. This, in turn, leads to another tip, which is to have healthy and positive thoughts. Being negative can be incredibly draining. Having a positive mental attitude towards everything you do means that you may feel more capable as well. Burnout is a common condition associated with the pressures of the modern world. It's not just a physical condition; it has psychological effects that can impact heavily on your work and life in general. Taking steps to avoid burning out can benefit not just us, but our bosses and families. 词汇表 dissertation [ˌdɪsə(r)ˈteɪʃ(ə)n] 专题论文， (学位) 论文 immense [ɪ'mens] 巨大的，大量的 overwhelming [ˌəʊvə(r)ˈwelmɪŋ] 难以抵挡的，难以承受的 exhaustion [ɪɡˈzɔːstʃ(ə)n] 精疲力尽，疲惫不堪 unprecedented [ʌnˈpresɪˌdentɪd] 空前的，前所未有的 dreaded [ˈdredɪd] 令人畏惧的，可怕的， burnout [ˈbɜː(r)naʊt] 过度疲劳，精疲力竭，职业倦怠 prolonged [prəˈlɒŋd] 长期的，持久的 exposure [ɪkˈspəʊʒə(r)] 接触，暴露，面临 cynicism [ˈsɪnɪˌsɪz(ə)m] 愤世嫉俗，冷嘲热讽 depression [dɪ'preʃ(ə)n] 抑郁，沮丧，消沉 lethargy [ˈleθə(r)dʒi] 无精打采。无生气，懒散 work scenario [səˈnɑːrioʊ] 工作场景 sense of self 自我感知，自我意识 stifle ['staɪf(ə)l] 扼杀，抑制，（使）窒息 ironically [aɪˈrɒnɪkli] 具有讽刺意味地，出乎意料的是，意想不到的是 strive [straɪv] 奋斗，努力 self-efficacy [ˌselfˈefɪkəsi]自我效能 achievable [ə'tʃi:vəbl] 可完成的，可实现的，可达到的 be capable of ['keɪpəb(ə)l] 有能力做某事 gruelling ['ɡruːəlɪŋ] 折磨人的，使人精疲力尽的 outlet [ˈaʊtˌlet] 施展的机会，发泄途径；出口，出路 detach from [dɪ'tætʃ] 脱离，摆脱。分离 draining [ˈdreɪnɪŋ] 使人心力交瘁的，耗尽的 positive mental attitude 积极心态 📖 翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

Are you a hedgehog or a fox in predicting the future?｜BBC Ideas Are you a hedgehog or a fox? Are you able to deeply focus on one specific activity, such as rolling up in a spiky ball and sleeping through the winter? Or are you alert to changing circumstances and keep your eyes and ears open to new threats and opportunities? My name's David Spiegelhalter, and I'm a statistician and fascinated by the problems of risk and prediction. Philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote a famous essay, The Hedgehog and the Fox, after a famous poem by the Greek poet, Archilochus, who said, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." Think of the people you know, either privately or public figures. Are they hedgehogs, with one overarching way of looking at the world, through which they interpret all around them? Or are they foxes, with no big principles of philosophy, who muddle along adapting to what turns up and changing their minds along the way? Politicians, of course, tend to be hedgehogs. But some are more pragmatic and foxy than others. Now, who would you trust most to make predictions about the future? A confident hedgehog or an uncertain and vacillating fox? This was put to the test in a long series of experiments by political scientist, Philip Tetlock, who studied 284 experts, making 28,000 predictions about long term events. Tetlock was looking at who predicted best. And mainly it made no difference whether the forecaster was an optimist or a pessimist, conservative or liberal. The only consistent pattern was how they thought, not what they thought. He found that foxes were much better at predicting than were hedgehogs. And hedgehogs were particularly poor at subjects at which they were experts. They were just too confident in their forecasts. A classic hedgehog was the historian Arnold Toynbee, who in 1947 was declared TIME magazine's Man of the Year. Others wrote that he was the most renowned scholar in the world or a universal sage, largely because his great work, A Study of History, spoke to the biggest fear of the time that nuclear weapons were going to end civilization. Toynbee made the confident and comforting prediction that this wouldn't happen. Because it was an opposition to his self-proclaimed scientific theory of history. Toynbee thought that Western civilization wasn't nearly done yet, because it hadn't reached the stage of universal government and a religious renaissance. All 23 civilizations he had studied had done so before they collapsed, and so would the West. He thought the golden age of universal government and religious observance would start around the year 2000. His peers were skeptical and they were right. Today Toynbee is hardly remembered, except perhaps as a classic hedgehog. In his book, Future Babble, Dan Gardner identifies three characteristics of good forecasters. Number one: aggregation. They use multiple sources of information, are open to new knowledge and are happy to work in teams. Number two: metacognition. They have an insight into how they think and the biases they might have, such as seeking evidence that simply confirms pre-set ideas. Number three: humility. They have a willingness to acknowledge uncertainty, admit errors and change their minds. Rather than saying categorically what is going to happen, they are only prepared to give probabilities for future events. Acknowledging, in the words of that great sage, Donald Rumsfeld, both the known unknowns and unknown unknowns. So when someone is telling you what is in store for you, the country, the world, just ask yourself, are they a hedgehog or a fox? 词汇表 hedgehog [ˈhedʒˌhɒɡ] 刺猬 roll up in a spiky ball ['spaɪki] 蜷缩成一个刺球（指刺猬） be alert to / keep your eyes and ears open to [əˈlɜː(r)t] 对……保持警觉，保持警惕 statistician [ˌstætɪˈstɪʃ(ə)n] 统计学家，统计员 be fascinated by [ˈfæsɪneɪt] 着迷于，对…极感兴趣 overarching [ˌəʊvərˈɑː(r)tʃɪŋ] 支配一切的，包罗万象的，首要的 interpret [ɪnˈtɜː(r)prɪt] 解释，说明，理解 muddle along ['mʌd(ə)l] 漫无目的地行动；混日子，得过且过 pragmatic [præɡ'mætɪk] 务实的，实用主义的 foxy [ˈfɒksi] 狐狸似的，狡猾的 vacillating ['væsɪleɪtɪŋ] 犹豫的，摇摆不定的 put to the test 使经受考验，试验 forecaster [ˈfɔː(r)ˌkɑːstə(r)] 预测者；天气预报员 optimist [ˈɒptɪmɪst] 乐观主义者 pessimist ['pesəmɪst] 悲观主义者 conservative [kənˈsɜː(r)vətɪv] 保守的，守旧的；保守派 liberal ['lɪb(ə)rəl] 自由的，开明的；自由主义者 consistent pattern [kən'sɪstənt] 一致的模式 renowned [rɪ'naʊnd] 著名的，有声望的 universal sage [ˌjuːnɪˈvɜː(r)s(ə)l][seɪdʒ] 普世智者 nuclear weapon [ˈnjuːkliə(r)] 核武器 self-proclaimed [ˌself prəˈkleɪmd] 自称的，自命的，自封的 religious renaissance [rɪˈneɪs(ə)ns] 宗教复兴 collapse [kə'læps] 瓦解，崩溃，倒塌 religious observance [əbˈzɜː(r)v(ə)ns] 宗教仪式 peer [pɪə(r)] 同辈，同行，同等地位的人 skeptical [ˈskeptɪk(ə)l] 怀疑的，持怀疑态度的 babble ['bæb(ə)l] 胡言乱语，嘈杂的人声，含混不清的话 aggregation [ˌæɡrɪ'ɡeɪʃ(ə)n] 聚合，聚集 metacognition [me'tækɔ:gnɪʃən] 元认知（指对自身认知活动的认知） have an insight into [ˈɪnsaɪt] 洞悉，深入了解 bias ['baɪəs] 偏见，成见 pre-set ideas 预设想法 humility [hjuːˈmɪləti] 谦逊，谦虚 categorically [ˌkætəˈɡɒrɪkli] 明确地，直截了当地 💡 翻译、视频版和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

The rise of performative work Business Bartleby 商业板块 巴特比专栏 Office theatrics 办公室表演 It's not what you do. It's how ostentatiously you do it 做什么不重要。做得招摇才重要 In an episode of "Seinfeld", a vintage TV sitcom, the character of George Costanza reveals the secret of pretending to work: act irritated. He shakes his head, frowns and sighs to demonstrate the technique. "When you look annoyed all the time, people think that you're busy. "In comments posted below this clip on YouTube, visitors report with delight that the tactic really does work and offer a few tips of their own: walk around the office carrying manila envelopes, advises one. Before the pandemic turned everyone into remote employees, managers worried that working from home would be a paradise for slackers like George. People would be out of sight and out of mind: starting late, clocking off early and doing nothing in between. The reality of remote working has turned out to be different. Days have become longer and employees are demonstratively visible. Work has become more performative. The simple act of logging on is now public. Green dots by your name on messaging channels are the virtual equivalents of jackets left on chairs and monitors turned on. Calendars are now frequently shared: empty ones look lazy; full ones appear virtuous. Communication is more likely to happen on open messaging channels, where everyone can see who is contributing and who is not. Emails can be performative, too—scheduled for the early morning or the weekend, or the early morning on the weekend, to convey Stakhanovite effort. Repeated noises like Slack's knock-brush provide a soundtrack of busyness. Meetings, the office's answer to the theatre, have proliferated. They are harder to avoid now that invitations must be responded to and diaries are public. Even if you don't say anything, cameras make meetings into a miming performance: an attentive expression and occasional nodding now count as a form of work. The chat function is a new way to project yourself. Satya Nadella, the boss of Microsoft, says that comments in chat help him to meet colleagues he would not otherwise hear from. Maybe so, but that is an irresistible incentive to pose questions that do not need answering and offer observations that are not worth making. Shared documents and messaging channels are also playgrounds of performativity. Colleagues can leave public comments in documents, and in the process notify their authors that something approximating work has been done. They can start new channels and invite anyone in; when no one uses them, they can archive them again and appear efficient. By assigning tasks to people or tagging them in a conversation, they can cast long shadows of faux-industriousness. It is telling that one recent research study found that members of high-performing teams are more likely to speak to each other on the phone, the very opposite of public communication. Performative celebration is another hallmark of the pandemic. Once one person has reacted to a message with a clapping emoji, others are likely to join in until a virtual ovation is under way. At least emojis are fun. The arrival of a round-robin email announcing a promotion is as welcome as a rifle shot in an avalanche zone. Someone responds with congratulations, and then another recipient adds their own well wishes. As more people pile in, pressure builds on the non-responders to reply as well. Within minutes colleagues are telling someone they have never met in person how richly they deserve their new job. Theatre has always been an important part of the workplace. Open communication is a prerequisite of successful remote working. But the prevalence of performative work is bad news—not just for the George Costanzas of the world, who can no longer truly tune out, but also for employees who have to catch up on actual tasks once the show is over. By extension it is also bad for productivity. Why, then, does it persist? One answer lies in the natural desire of employees to demonstrate how hard they are working, like bowerbirds with a keyboard. Another lies in managers' need to see what everyone is up to. And a third is hinted at in recent research, from academics at two French business schools, which found that white-collar professionals are drawn to a level of "optimal busyness", which neither overwhelms them nor leaves them with much time to think. Rushing from meeting to meeting, triaging emails and hitting a succession of small deadlines can deliver a buzz, even if nothing much is actually being achieved. The performance is what counts. 🔆翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】