Is technology harmful to youngsters? Neil: Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. Sam: And I'm Sam. Neil: When you were a teenager did your parents worry that you were watching too much television, Sam? Sam: They used to tell me that watching too much TV would turn my eyes square - but they were only joking. Neil: When I was growing up there were only three or four television channels. For parents today, there are hundreds of TV channels to worry about, not to mention the internet, video games and social media – and all of it is accessible through a smart phone. No wonder parents are worried about the impact of technology on young people! Sam: I don't think it's all bad news, Neil. In fact, in this programme we'll be taking a look at a new report which finds little evidence to link technology with mental health problems in adolescents – that's young people who are in the process of developing from children into adults. Neil: I'm not convinced, Sam. Think about how much time youngsters spend staring at screens every day. Sam: True, but unlike passively watching television today's technology is interactive, connecting teenagers to their friends around the world. Neil: Well, maybe my quiz question will change your mind. Are you ready? On average how many hours per day do British teenagers spend on their screens? Is it: a) 5 and a half hours? b) 6 and a half hours? or c) 7 and a half hours? Sam: I'll say it's b) 6 and a half hours. Neil: That sounds a lot to me! Sam: Well, whatever Neil thinks, a new study from the Oxford Internet Institute paints a more hopeful picture. The study analysed data from over 400,000 British and American teenagers and found little or no link between adolescents' tech use and mental health problems. Neil: Listen to Gareth Mitchell and Ghislaine Boddington, co-presenters of BBC World Service's, Digital Planet, as they discuss the report's findings: Gareth Mitchell: Ghislaine Boddington - you've been looking at some of the findings yourself, haven't you? So, what's your response so far? Were you expecting, Ghislaine, to see some kind of smoking gun? Some kind of link that would say, 'Here we are. Here are the harms'? Ghislaine Boddington: Not really, because I think we're at a point where teenagers are much more savvy than many adults think, so we are at risk, all of us as journalists and research community to assume, maybe, this is a more a terrible terrible problem than we understand… because I know the teenagers around me and one thing that they do all have is app blockers on their sites and they are actually quite aware of the addiction problem - the design - you know, designed for addiction. Neil: Many people assume that social media harms teenagers, so Gareth asks Ghislaine whether she was expecting to find a smoking gun in the report. Sam: The expression a smoking gun means evidence that proves something is true, for example, evidence proving that technology is harmful to young people. Neil: But Ghislaine doesn't think this is true. Actually, she calls teenagers savvy, meaning that they have practical knowledge of technology and a good understanding of how to use it. Sam: One example of teenagers being technologically savvy is their use of app blockers - software that prevents unwanted apps and websites from popping up and allows users to set timers which limit screen time. Neil: And reducing screen time is important because nowadays most video games and social media are designed for addiction – intended to manipulate human psychology to make the user want to keep playing. Sam: But it seems that today's adolescents are savvy enough to know how to use electronic devices sensibly. How else can we explain the fact that, according to this research, there's no clear link between using tech and mental health problems? Neil: Yes, that's certainly the view of the research team leader, Dr Matti Vuorre. Here he is speaking with BBC World Service programme, Digital Planet, about an interesting and very modern term – see if you can hear it: Dr Matti Vuorre: We often hear the term, digital native, you know you grow up with a device in your hand almost, and then it's not a surprise that you are skilled in using those technologies to your benefit. Neil: Did you hear the expression Dr Vuorre used, Sam? Sam: Yes. He called teenagers digital natives, meaning someone who is very familiar and comfortable using computers and digital technology because they've grown up with them. Neil: So maybe there are benefits to spending hours looking at screens, after all. In my quiz question I asked Sam about the average daily screen time for British teenagers. Sam: I said it was b) 6 and a half hours. 📝字数限制，完整文本，词汇表，翻译及pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

Why Small Pleasures Are a Big D. .e al? We're surrounded by some powerful ideas about the sort of things that will make us happy. We tend to think that really to deliver satisfaction, the pleasures we should aim for need to be rare – we've inherited a romantic suspicion of the ordinary, which is taken to be mediocre, dull and uninspiring, and work with a corresponding assumption that things that are unique, hard to find, exotic, or unfamiliar are naturally fitted to delight us more. Then we want things to be expensive, we like economic endorsement. If something is cheap or free, it's a little harder to appreciate. The pineapple, for instance, dropped off a lot of people's wish list of fruit when its price fell from exorbitant (they used to cost the equivalent of hundreds of pounds) to unremarkable. Caviar continues to sound somehow more interesting than chicken eggs. Then we want things to be famous. In a fascinating experiment, a celebrated violinist once donned scruffy clothes and busked at a street corner and was largely ignored, though people would flock to the world's great concert halls to hear just the same man play just the same pieces. Lastly, we want things to be large-scale. We are mostly focused on big schemes that we hope will deliver enjoyment: marriage, career, travel, getting a new house. These approaches aren't entirely wrong, but unwittingly, they collectively exhibit a vicious and unhelpful bias against the cheap, the easily available, the ordinary the familiar and the small-scale. And yet, the paradoxical and cheering aspect of pleasure is how weird and promiscuous it can prove to be. It doesn't neatly collect in the most expensive boutiques. It can refuse to stick with us on fancy holidays. It is remarkably vulnerable to emotional trouble, sulks and casual bad moods. A fight that began with a small disagreement about how to pronounce a word can end up destroying every benefit of a five-star resort. A pleasure may look very minor – eating a fig, having a bath, whispering in bed in the dark, talking to a grandparent, or scanning through old photos of when you were a child, and yet these pleasures can be anything but small: if properly grasped and elaborated upon, these sort of activities may be among the most moving and satisfying we can have.

50% adults overweight or obese by 2050: Global study What's described as one of the most comprehensive global studies of the rise in unhealthy weights, published in the journal The Lancet, makes for grim reading. The proportion of people who are overweight or obese has more than doubled in the past 30 years, but it's predicted that by 2050, this will include well over half of all adults and a third of children and adolescents. Obesity rates are surging right now. By the end of the decade, more people are forecast to be classed as obese than overweight. The picture is wildly uneven across the globe, with some of the biggest increases seen in lower- and middle-income countries. But the study doesn't take into account the impact that new weight loss medications might have. And experts say if governments take urgent action now, there's still time to prevent what they describe as "a profound tragedy". 词汇表 comprehensive [ˌkɒmprɪˈhensɪv] 全面的，综合的 The Lancet [ˈlɑːnsɪt] 《柳叶刀》（英国医学刊物） make for grim reading [ɡrɪm] 读起来令人担忧（或悲观），情况严峻 overweight [ˌəʊvəˈweɪt] 超重的，过重的 obese [əʊˈbiːs] 肥胖的，臃肿的 obesity rate [əʊˈbiːsəti] 肥胖率 surge [sɜːdʒ] 激增，急剧上升 forecast [ˈfɔːkɑːst] 预测，预报 wildly uneven [ˈwaɪldli ˌʌnˈiːvn] 极不均衡的 lower - and middle - income countries [ˈɪnkʌm] 低收入和中等收入国家 take into account [əˈkaʊnt] 考虑到，顾及 weight loss medication [weɪt lɒs ˌmedɪˈkeɪʃn] 减肥药 profound tragedy [prəˈfaʊnd ˈtrædʒədi] 重大悲剧 🗒️翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

What happens inside us when we sing? | BBC Ideas Your first communication with the outside world is sound and that's why I think it gets all of those hormones going because it's the first communication you ever have. So all the emotions that music can show to people are in those first moments. I often feel that my voice is stuck, when I'm having conversations or I don't know what to say or I'm shy. With the singing, it just cuts through all this. I'm quite a fragmented person but somehow I just keep coming back to this. You're aligning your voice, your inner self with lots of other people that you may not even know. Your voice is so personal to you compared to an instrument. That's why we're so sensitive about singing in front of people but it's also why it gives us such a buzz because we are being watched for exactly who we are, no holds barred. If you're really low and down, then singing could be scariest thing you could think of doing. So if you can get over that fear by having a supportive environment like a choir, then you're off. I was happily married with three children for 20 years and then the wife turned round and divorced me, and I was thrown out with no money, no job, no children, nowhere to live. We're all different people, with different problems and when we're there we're all one. We've got to all depend on each other. Music accesses more parts of the brain than nearly any other activity. They're also making pathways between each side. It fires off so many different parts of the brain that surely things are going to be starting to change. We've evolved to be a species who want to be in communication with other people. Music has actually evolved to be a tool to do that. It's like a biotechnology. You have to breathe together, you have to sing in tune. Well, you don't have to. But you have to sing in rhythm with each other, you might move together. You're suddenly in it together and that builds trust because you know that everyone is doing it for the group. This particular choir is unique because it gives you courage. It makes you feel connected. It's a bit like having a hug I suppose, it brings you back to being a human being. Singing is an unusual expression, it sort of throws your insides out. It doesn't bother me now that I am not a perfect musician. It just matters that I can actually stay alive. I found that so much working in the mental health world is that somebody would be very happy to sing a very intensely emotional song, but to talk about anything afterwards would be really difficult because they don't know where it's going to go, but they know the song is going to end. When I had a spine problem, I had chronic depression. Your physical health can lead to your mental health. You don't have to be good. First thing you have to feel that I want to sing and that's it. You know you don't have to be 100% because you don't have to be a hero in a day. In philosophy, there's epistemological solipsism, your brain makes up your world. So we've all got our own little worlds in our head. And so we're all very individual because all our brains are not linked by the internet. That's where music is such an important, vital tool, because if we're all individual we could just say, "I want your cheese sandwich, I'm just going to take it." Or "I want your house, I'm just going to move in." Or "Actually I want your wife, I might just kill you." These are the animalistic kind of things that an individual, primal being would do. So the way that we can then process these primal feelings, is to do it through a safe way, sublimate it and do it through music. 词汇表 hormone [ˈhɔːməʊn] 激素，荷尔蒙 stuck [stʌk]（读书或回答问题等）卡壳的，难住的，答不上来的 cut through 穿透，克服（困难等） fragmented [ˈfræɡmentɪd] 破碎的，分裂的，不完整的 align with [ə'laɪn] 与…一致，使对齐 buzz [bʌz] 兴奋，快乐 no holds barred [bɑːd] 毫无保留，不受限制 be low and down 情绪低落，意志消沉 choir [ˈkwaɪə(r)] 合唱团，唱诗班 throw out 赶走，抛弃 pathway [ˈpɑːθweɪ] 路径，通路 fire off 激发，触发 biotechnology [ˌbaɪəʊtekˈnɒlədʒi] 生物技术 sing in tune [tjuːn] 唱得合拍，唱歌不走调儿 sing in rhythm 节奏一致地唱，按节奏唱歌 feel connected 感到紧密联系，感到共鸣 inside out 彻底地，全面地，由内而外 intensely emotional [ɪn'tensli] 情感强烈的，情绪激烈的 spine problem [spaɪn] 脊椎问题 chronic [ˈkrɒnɪk] 慢性的，长期的，习惯性的 be a hero in a day 短期内成为佼佼者，一日成名 epistemological solipsism [ɪˌpɪstɪməˈlɒdʒɪkl ˈsɒlɪpsɪzəm] 认识论上的唯我论 animalistic [ˌænɪməˈlɪstɪk] 动物的，兽性的 primal [ˈpraɪml] 原始的，最初的 sublimate [ˈsʌblɪmeɪt] 使升华，使高尚 💡 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 best way to apologize TED-Ed • Dec 2022 Over the years, people have come up with some truly awful apologies. From classic non-apologies to evasive excuses, and flimsy corporate promises, it's all too easy to give a bad apology. But researchers have found that good apologies generally share certain elements and thoughtfully considering these factors can help you make amends in a wide variety of situations. Since public apologies have their own unique complications, we're going to focus on some person-to-person examples. So, picture this: your new office has free ice cream sandwiches in the communal fridge— or at least that's what you thought. But on Friday, when you're helping your co-worker Terence set up another colleague's birthday party, he finds that half the ice cream he bought for the celebration is gone. While this is obviously an embarrassing accident, coming forward and apologizing is still the right thing to do. Understanding and accepting responsibility for your actions is what some researchers call the "centerpiece of an apology." But it's okay if this feels difficult and vulnerable— it's supposed to be! The costly nature of apologies is part of what makes them meaningful. So while you might be tempted to defend your actions as accidental, it's important to remember that a good apology isn't about making you feel better. It's about seeking to understand the perspective of the wronged party and repair the damage to your relationship. This means that while clarifying your intentions non-defensively can be helpful, your mistake being an accident shouldn't absolve you from offering a sincere apology. But what if your mistake wasn't an accident? Consider this: you promised your friend Marie that you'll attend her championship football match. But another friend just called to offer you an extra ticket for your favorite musician's farewell tour. You know this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and you can't pass it up. Plus, you figure Marie wouldn't mind if you miss the game— she always has plenty of fans supporting her. But the next day, Marie tells you she was really hurt when she didn't see you in the crowd. You feel terrible for upsetting her and genuinely want to apologize. But while you regret hurting Marie, you're not actually sure if you made the wrong choice. So how can you reach beyond that terrible non-apology, "I'm sorry YOU feel this way"? In situations like this, it can be easy to focus on rationalizing your actions when you should be working to understand the other person's perspective. Consider asking Marie how you made them feel to better understand your offense. In this case, Marie might explain that she was disappointed you broke your promise, and she was really counting on your support. This kind of clarity can help you recognize your wrongdoing and honestly accept how your actions caused harm. Then you can frame your apology around addressing her concerns, perhaps by admitting that it was wrong of you to break your promise, and you're sorry you weren't there for her. Clearly acknowledging wrongdoing indicates that you know exactly how you messed up, and it can give Marie faith that you'll behave differently moving forward. But it's always helpful to indicate exactly how you'll change and what you'll do to repair the damage caused by your offense. Researchers call this the "offer of repair," and it's often rated as one of the most critical parts of an apology. In some cases, these gestures are straightforward, like offering to replace the ice cream you eat. However, with less tangible transgressions, this might need to be more symbolic, like expressing your love and respect for someone you wronged. One common offer of repair is a verbal commitment not to make the same mistake again, but promising to do better only works if you actually do better. Taking the victim's perspective, accepting responsibility, and making concrete offers of repair are just a few of the elements of a good apology. But remember, apologies aren't about getting forgiveness and moving on; they're about expressing remorse and accepting accountability. And the best apologies are just the first step on the road to reconciliation. 🎬词汇表、翻译、视频和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1" 可加入【打卡交流群】

Can people be persuaded not to believe disinformation? Science and technology 科技板块 Debunkology 辟谣学 Suspending disbelief 暂停怀疑 Chatbots and high-temper music 聊天机器人与节奏明快的音乐 New tools to fight against conspiracy theories 对抗阴谋论的新工具 Anyone following American politics in recent months will have been treated to their fair share of bogus claims: USAID, the country's main development agency, sent $50m worth of condoms to the Gaza Strip; tens of millions of deceased centenarians are continuing to receive social-security payments; disaster-relief funding was spent on housing migrants in luxury hotels in New York City. That so many people believe them nonetheless highlights how an age of social media and political polarisation has blurred the lines between truth and conspiracy theory. Debunkology, or how to unpick beliefs once they take root in people's brains, is struggling to catch up. The immediate approaches many reach for—argumentation and debate—rarely work, says Kurt Braddock, who researches the persuasive effects of propaganda, and how to counter it, at the American University in Washington, DC. What's more, they often have the opposite effect, further entrenching opinions, he adds. But new work is showing that persuasion may work better when the interlocutor is a generative artificial-intelligence (AI) model. In September 2024 Thomas Costello at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his colleagues published a study of what happens when ChatGPT attempts to talk self-professed believers in conspiracy theories out of their beliefs. The study, which put 2,190 believers into conversation with the GPT-4 model that underpins the chatbot, reduced the self-reported strength of their beliefs by 20% after three rounds of conversation. One in four participants disavowed their beliefs entirely. Dr Costello believes chatbots work where humans fail because they offer rational responses instead of letting emotions get the better of them. What's more, they are able to comb through their extensive training data to offer precise counter-arguments, rather than the generalised ones humans often reach for in debates. The use of AI chatbots may also help address another problem with human-led debunking. In a paper published in PNAS Nexus in October 2024, some of Dr Costello's colleagues at MIT suggested those whose beliefs are challenged often look for secret motives their self-appointed debunkers may be hiding. Of course Democrats would shoot down the notion that votes were stolen in America's presidential election in 2020, a Republican might say, because they have a vested interest in upholding the result. An AI system presented as holding the world's collective knowledge may seem more trustworthy. Not all believers will be accommodating enough to argue with a machine on command. For those looking to stop a belief from taking root, it might be more effective to prebunk, rather than debunk. This idea has been around since the 1960s, albeit with a less catchy name: attitudinal inoculation. Coined by social psychologist William McGuire, the approach involves telling people that outlandish beliefs and outright disinformation exist, followed by showing them specific examples and suggesting strategies to avoid and overcome them. Provide someone with a refutation, says Dr Braddock, and they're more likely to resist disinformation. A study from 2023 looking at a wider range of interventions found that inoculation of this kind had what the authors described as "medium" or "large" effects on countering such beliefs. But how long prebunking lasts is questionable, says Karen Douglas, a psychology professor at the University of Kent. There are other ways of "hacking" people's attention: an analysis published in August by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests the debunking messages posted by medical experts on TikTok are more effective if overlaid with high-tempo music. The academics believe the music helps swamp the brain's ability to present counter-arguments, making the message more persuasive to the listener. Deploying strong narratives to accompany a particular message, including characters and rich description, is another way of overwhelming the brain's ability to battle back against spurious claims, prior research has shown. Many of these techniques can, of course, be co-opted by the bunk-spreaders as well as the debunkers. One notable exception is critical-thinking education, which consists of being taught how to evaluate evidence in order to make informed judgments. One study on 806 university students in 2018 found that such education had the ability to reduce belief in aliens as well as health pseudoscience. It was less good at countering, among other things, Holocaust denial and a belief that the Moon landing was faked. 🔆完整文本、词汇表、翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

The benefits of spending money on life experiences What's best: a brand new phone or a day out with your friends? Is it better to spend money to buy things or to do things? A study of UK consumers showed that six in ten people would rather spend their money on experiences than material possessions. Those aged 18-34 reported spending the highest amount on fun activities. Possessions can last for many years, while experiences are fleeting. This, however, might be the wrong way to look at things. Psychology professor Thomas Gilovich discovered that the happiness that objects provide can fade quickly. We adapt to having new possessions, so that rather than being something we are excited by, they just become our new normal. Soon we may even want to buy a better version of the things we own. Our feelings around possessions can also be affected by others. We tend to compare what we have with other people. If someone else has something better, we can start to feel envious. A holiday or a day out may have a short duration, but the happiness it provides can last much longer. Waiting for our latest purchases to be delivered is frustrating, but waiting for an exciting event gives us a feeling of anticipation. Experiences are often shared, so we gain pleasure from social connection and time spent with other people. Memories of our experiences become part of our identity. As Gilovich points out, we are the sum of our experiences. Indeed, the very fact that experiences last for a limited time can give them value. A physical good deteriorates over time, while our memories of an experience can give us pleasure year after year. Of course, it's not always that simple. Other studies have suggested that happiness gained from experiences might depend on your personality type, and how many possessions you already have. People with more introverted personality types may get less benefit from social occasions and those with few possessions may get greater benefit from objects. However, for many of us, it could be that when choosing how to spend our disposable income, we'll get far more benefit by spending on something to do, rather than something to have. 词汇表 brand new [brænd] 全新的，崭新的 material possessions [məˈtɪəriəl pəˈzeʃnz] 物质财产 fleeting [ˈfliːtɪŋ] 短暂的，转瞬即逝的 fade [feɪd] 褪色，逐渐消失 new normal 新常态 envious [ˈenviəs] 羡慕的，嫉妒的 duration [djuˈreɪʃn] 持续时间，期间 frustrating 令人沮丧的，令人懊恼的 anticipation [ænˌtɪsɪˈpeɪʃn] 期待，预期 the sum of [sʌm] …的总和，…的集合 deteriorate [dɪˈtɪəriəreɪt] 恶化，变坏 introverted [ˈɪntrəvɜːtɪd] 内向的；内倾的 personality type 性格类型 disposable income [dɪˈspəʊzəbl ˈɪnkʌm] 可支配收入 📖 翻译、pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

From 53% to 38%: What's behind Argentina's poverty rate drop? Host: Argentina is South America's second largest economy, but for decades it's been a byword for corruption and chaos, with three-figure inflation and an almost worthless currency. Javier Millet, the president elected in 2023, was widely mocked for his Trumpian rhetoric and promised to take a chainsaw to an oversized and inefficient administration. But has it actually worked? Figures show Argentina's poverty rate, which was at just over 40% when he took power, surged to 53% in the first part of 2024, and then dropped just over 38%. Annual inflation plummeted to 66.9% last month, compared to over 276% a year earlier. So what's going on? With me now is Fermin Koop, the journalist and commentator in Buenos Aires. Fermin, thanks for being with us. How did this drop in poverty come about? Fermin Koop: Well, thanks for the invite, first of all. Great to be here. so the figures are quite impressive. We are at 38.1% of the Argentines under the poverty line. We used to be at 52.9% last year, so the drop is definitely quite significant. The main reason of this is the drop on the inflation rate. As you well said, Argentina is quite famous around the world because of its really skyrocketing inflation rates. We used to have figures around 300% a few years back. And Millet definitely took a big drop into that. The change saw, as you said. There's a few things to bear in mind as well. The inflation index in Argentina is contested by some economists, so it's not perfect. There are a few figures in there that could be challenged. For example, the consumer price index is largely based on a basket of basic goods that comes from 2004. So there are researchers that say that nowadays this has changed quite significantly, so we need an upgrade of this basket. So we should take kind of a pinch of salt while looking at those figures. Host: Well, I was going to say, does it actually feel like that? Because I've spoken to yourself as well, but others as well in the past who said, you know, it's just incredible how you have to go out and the money you've got in the morning is worth nothing in the evening. Has that changed? Koop: Well, you're very right. Not that much. The feeling is still of an economy in quite a big of a mess. As you may know, Argentina is actually negotiating a new deal with the IMF right now. And Millet is traveling to the U.S. right now to agree on those details. But the economy is still on a very unstable time with the currency still being quite weak and subject to foreign pressures as well. And it doesn't feel that the economy is doing well. The poverty levels are still quite high. 38% is still quite significant. And if you go out and speak to the people, they will tell you that they are not necessarily better off compared to last year. Host: But Fermin, is what President Millet is doing, is it having an effect? Because it seems previous administrations didn't even achieve this. Koop: Well, the roots of the problem are quite deep in the economy of Argentina. We are basically not exporting as much as we should, so we don't have enough foreign currency coming in in the country. So the reforms that Milley are doing are baby steps compared to the changes that Argentina need to do. But they are definitely taking shape. I mean, it's something that nobody believed that he would be doing anything. As you well say, he was kind of a crazy guy with the change. So what we are seeing now with Elon Musk, basically. But the fact is that, well, we do have some initial results. But yeah, he has one year in office. He still got three more. Host: I was going to say, see what happens next early days. But, Fermin, thank you so much for updating us on that. Furman Coop there in Buenos Aires. Koop: Thanks for having me. 词汇表 Argentina [ˌɑːdʒənˈtiːnə] 阿根廷（南美洲国家） byword [ˈbaɪwɜːd] 代名词，代表；俗语，谚语 corruption [kəˈrʌpʃn] 腐败，贪污；堕落 chaos [ˈkeɪɒs] 混乱，无序 inflation [ɪnˈfleɪʃn] 通货膨胀，通胀率 worthless currency [ˈwɜːθləs ˈkʌrənsi] 毫无价值的货币，不值钱的货币 mock [mɒk] 嘲笑，嘲弄；模仿 Trumpian rhetoric [ˈtrʌmpiən ˈretərɪk] 类似特朗普的言辞，具有特朗普风格的言辞 chainsaw [ˈtʃeɪnsɔː] 链锯；用链锯割（这里指大力整治） oversized [ˌəʊvəˈsaɪzd] 过大的，超大号的，臃肿的 inefficient administration [ˌɪnɪˈfɪʃnt ədˌmɪnɪˈstreɪʃn] 低效的政府机构 take power 掌权，上台 plummet [ˈplʌmɪt] 暴跌，骤降 commentator [ˈkɒmənteɪtə(r)] 评论员，解说员 Buenos Aires [ˌbwenəs ˈaɪriz] 布宜诺斯艾利斯（阿根廷首都） Argentine [ˈɑːdʒəntaɪn] 阿根廷人；阿根廷的 skyrocketing [ˌskaɪˈrɒkɪtɪŋ] 飞涨的，急剧上升的 contest [kənˈtest] 质疑；竞争，比赛 consumer price index [kənˈsjuːmə(r)][ˈɪndeks] 消费者物价指数 take a pinch of salt [pɪntʃ][sɔːlt] 持保留态度，有所怀疑 IMF (International Monetary Fund) 国际货币基金组织 better off 境况更好，生活更富裕 baby steps 非常小的一步或进展 take shape 成形，形成，有进展 🌟翻译，pdf及更多文本内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可加入【打卡交流群】

How Social Media Affects Our Self-Worth Early on in every life, a child will look up and – implicitly – ask the world: Am I OK? Do I deserve goodwill and sympathy? Am I on track? And, most commonly, the person who first answers these questions is a parent. Perhaps this parent happens to be generous and sympathetic, they are warm and understanding of the challenges of being alive – in which case the child develops an easy conscience. In the years to come, they appraise themselves with benignancy, they don't continuously have to wonder whether they have a right to exist. They are comfortably on their own side. But if the parent is more punitive, the picture grows darker: approval is always uncertain, there is a constant fear of being called arrogant or of being upbraided for something one hadn't thought about. What's tricky is that consciences don't stay neatly identified with those who kickstarted them. It's rare to find an adult who actively still wonders what their parents think. But that isn't to say that we aren't wondering about our value in more general terms. It's just that we may, without noticing, have taken the question somewhere else – and very often, to particularly harsh modern figure of authority: media and social media. To this pitiless arena, the self-doubting person now directs all their fears of unworthiness and panicked desire for reassurance. To a system set up to reward sadism and malice, they constantly raise their phones and implicitly ask: Do I deserve to exist? Am I OK? Am I beautiful or respectable enough? And because social media is built on the troubles of the individual soul, the verdict is never a reliable yes. One is never done with cycles of fear and reassurance-seeking. Every time their spirits sink (which is often), the self-doubting sufferer picks up their phone and begs to know whether they have permission to go on. If this might be us, we should grow curious about and jealous of people who are free. They are so because someone long ago settled the question of what they were worth and the answer has seemed solid ever since. Social media is a roar in the next valley, not a mob in their own mind. Learning from these calm souls won't just involve deleting a few apps, we will have to go further upstream, back to the baby self, whose alarmed enquiries we must quiet once and for all with ample doses of soothing, and till-now absent kindness. 词汇表 implicitly [ɪmˈplɪsɪtli] 含蓄地，暗中地 goodwill [ˌɡʊdˈwɪl] 善意，友好，亲切 on track [ɒn træk] 在正轨上，朝着正确的方向进行 sympathetic [ˌsɪmpəˈθetɪk] 同情的，有同情心的 easy conscience [ˈkɒnʃəns] 问心无愧，内心坦然 appraise [əˈpreɪz] 评价，评估，估量 benignancy [bɪˈnaɪɡnənsi] 善意，仁慈；良性 punitive [ˈpjuːnɪtɪv] 惩罚性的，严厉的，苛刻的， arrogant [ˈærəɡənt] 傲慢的，自大的，自负的 upbraid [ʌpˈbreɪd] 责备，责骂，训斥 identify with 与…密切相关，认同 kickstart [ˈkɪkstɑːt] 启动，发起，促使…开始 pitiless arena [ˈpɪtiləs əˈriːnə] 无情的舞台，冷酷的竞技场 self - doubting [self ˈdaʊtɪŋ] 自我怀疑的，缺乏自信的 unworthiness [ʌnˈwɜːðinəs] 无价值，不值得，不配 panicked [ˈpænɪkt] 惊慌的，恐慌的，慌乱的 reassurance [ˌriːəˈʃʊərəns] 安慰，慰藉，安心 sadism [ˈseɪdɪzəm] 病态的残忍；施虐癖；虐待狂 malice [ˈmælɪs] 恶意，怨恨，恶念 respectable [rɪˈspektəbl] 值得尊敬的，体面的，相当好的 verdict [ˈvɜːdɪkt] 裁决，判断，定论 spirits sink [ˈspɪrɪts sɪŋk] 情绪低落，精神消沉 be jealous of [ ˈdʒeləs] 嫉妒，羡慕 solid [ˈsɒlɪd] 结实的，可靠的，坚实的 roar [rɔː(r)] 吼叫，咆哮，轰鸣 mob [mɒb] 喧嚷的群众，暴民 upstream [ˌʌpˈstriːm] 向上游，逆流；（某事件的）前阶段 alarmed enquiry [əˈlɑːmd ɪnˈkwaɪəri] 惊恐的询问，担忧的询问 once and for all 一劳永逸地，彻底地，永远地 ample doses of soothing [ˈæmpl ˈdəʊsɪz][ˈsuːðɪŋ] 大量的安抚；充足的慰藉 till-now 到现在为止的，一直以来的 🏫翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】

Five tips to get a new habit to stick | BBC Ideas I've always been a dedicated and compliant tooth brusher but I was never really encouraged to floss. A few years ago, I went to see my dentist and he said to me, "Listen, your teeth are fine but you need to start flossing." "OK." I said. "No problem. How hard can flossing be?" I got all the kits, I bought all the tape, the sticks, everything. Day one, I did it. Day two, I did it. Day three, I didn't do it. And then the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and I was back at my dentist. Again he told me I needed to floss. Some nights I did, some nights I didn't, there were so many excuses. "I'm tired." "It's boring." "I'm going to punch myself in the face again by accident." But now I'm a dedicated flosser. So what changed? Sean Covey, author of the best-selling book, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" once said, "Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do." Some of these habits are helpful and healthy and some not so good, but what they all have in common is that we're unaware we're doing them because they become automatic and repetitive. Our habits combine like steps on a journey in life. They determine our direction and that's pretty scary considering most of the time we're not really consciously in control of them. So why are habits so difficult to break and new ones so difficult to make? Neuroscience tells us our brains set up things called habit loops. These habit loops consist of three stages. Stage one is a cue. This is a trigger — it could be from your external environment or your internal environment — for example, your emotional state. Stage two is a routine behaviour. It's the action you take in response to that cue. Stage three is the reward, so the release of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of pleasure. Because you've had that release of dopamine which has made you feel good you're more likely to repeat that behaviour in response to the cue next time and that's why a habit is hard to break and hard to make because those neural connections are strong. But the good news is nothing's set in stone. Breaking old habits and making new ones can be done, but it takes an extraordinary amount of self-awareness and effort. So here are some top tips to help you through it and it may even save your gums at the same time. It worked for me. Tip one, find your motivation. Why do you want to change? What are the benefits? What are the repercussions if you don't change that habit? And do you want those repercussions? Write them down and read them often. Tip two, be specific. What exactly do you want to achieve and how are you going to do it? Make space and time in your diary to put the effort towards changing that habit. Take practical steps that will help you break that cycle of cue and response. Tip three, small steps are better than giant leaps. Try the 1% idea where each day you improve or change something by 1%. That way you start to see progress and you're not put off by failure. Tip four, don't stop when you're on a roll and celebrate your success. Keep the momentum of that new habit going, however small it is. The continuous nature of changing something about your behaviour will signal to your brain that this is an important change and one that you need to continue. Chart your progress and celebrate your achievements with a treat so you still get that dopamine hit. Tip five, be patient. A study in 2009 showed that on average it takes 66 days to form a new habit — with some easier habits being formed in 18 days and some harder ones being formed in 254 days. So changing habits can change your life. I think that once you notice a habit is unhelpful and you know why you want to change it then really, the rest is a piece of cake. So good luck, go forth and break some habits. 词汇表 dedicated [ˈdedɪkeɪtɪd] 专注的，献身的，尽心尽力的 compliant [kəmˈplaɪənt] 顺从的，服从的，听从的 tooth brusher [tuːθ ˈbrʌʃə(r)] 刷牙者 floss [flɒs] 牙线，丝线；用牙线清洁（牙缝） kit [kɪt] 成套工具，用具包，装备 tape [teɪp] （牙线等）带状物；胶带，磁带 stick [stɪk] （牙线等）棒，棍，枝条 punch myself in the face [pʌntʃ] 打自己的脸，给自己一拳 flosser [ˈflɒsə(r)] （经常）使用牙线者 automatic [ˌɔːtəˈmætɪk] 自动的，无意识的，不假思索的 repetitive [rɪˈpetətɪv] 重复的，反复的 neuroscience [ˌnjʊərəʊˈsaɪəns] 神经科学 habit loops [luːps] 习惯循环（由提示、习惯性行为和奖赏组成的循环模式） trigger [ˈtrɪɡə(r)] 触发因素，起因；引发，触发 external [ɪkˈstɜːnl] 外部的，外面的 internal [ɪnˈtɜːnl] 内部的，内心的 routine behaviour [ruːˈtiːn] 习惯性行为，惯常行为 dopamine [ˈdəʊpəmiːn] 多巴胺 neurotransmitter [ˌnjʊərəʊˈtrænzmɪtə(r)] 神经递质 set in stone [stəʊn] 一成不变，固定不变 gum [ɡʌm] 牙龈；口香糖；树胶 repercussion [ˌriːpəˈkʌʃn] 后果，影响，反响 giant leap [ˈdʒaɪənt] 巨大的飞跃，巨大的进步 put off 使却步，使排斥，推迟，拖延 on a roll [rəʊl] 连连成功，一帆风顺 chart [tʃɑːt] 记录，跟踪（进展或发展） a piece of cake 小菜一碟，轻而易举的事 go forth [fɔːθ] 向前，前进，出发 💡 翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】

Healthy meals on a budget Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Pippa. --And I'm Georgie. In this programme, we're talking about saving money on food. Pippa, are you good at saving money on your food shop? --I think I'm quite good. I plan what I like to cook so I don't waste money in the supermarket. How about you, Georgie? --I'm not very good. I usually go to the supermarket when I'm hungry, so I end up buying lots of snacks. --Oh, that's a terrible idea. Well, in this programme we'll be learning about one way to save money on the food we eat. But first, I've got a question for you, Georgie. The most expensive restaurant in the world is thought to be a restaurant called Sublimotion in Ibiza, which only has 12 customers each night. But how much in euros is a meal per person at the restaurant? a) 650 euros b) 1,650 euros or c) 2,650 euros --The most expensive… I'll go with c) 2,650 euros. --Well, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme. Now, food in the UK is getting more expensive, as it has been in many parts of the world, and some people are struggling to afford their food shopping. But BBC World Service programme, People Fixing the World, has been finding out about a project called 'Bags of Taste' which helps people save money on their food shopping and improve their diet at the same time. Bags of something is an informal way to say a lot of something. The founder of Bags of Taste, Alicia Weston, became concerned that people in the UK with less money found it difficult to afford a healthy diet. People in poverty are eating the worst diets and they are getting sicker younger. And we know that diets are the single largest cause of health inequalities in the UK. Alicia found that people didn't know how to cook the kinds of meals they'd like to eat, and they couldn't afford to experiment. Imagine spending lots of money on ingredients and then wasting them by cooking them badly or burning the food. People also thought making healthy food would be too expensive and take too much time. So ultimately, we've been able to come up with a programme that basically can tackle all of these issues. So what we do now is we deliver all of the ingredients to their door, because ultimately, behaviour change starts with actually changing your behaviour at home. Alicia says that ultimately, she's been able to come up with a solution to help people save money on healthy food. We can use the adverb ultimately to mean finally, after a series of events have happened. Alicia wants to tackle the things that stop people eating healthy food on a budget. If you tackle a problem, you try to deal with it. Alicia's solution involves delivering ingredients and recipes to people and then using a WhatsApp group to talk to participants. Each WhatsApp group has a mentor who shares cooking tips and advice. To give you an idea of how this works, the team at People Fixing the World read out some of the messages on one of the 'Bags of Taste' WhatsApp chats. Amy, mentor: Remember to put the fridge bag in the fridge. Can we aim to cook recipe one by Tuesday evening? Our first recipe, chana masala is a classic. It needs an onion, which can be a pain to chop. So, try our way. [video posted] Ally: Love this method [chef emoji]. First time I've chopped an onion like this and it's so neat and easy. Georgia: I'm going to cook mine tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Ally: I've finished making my chana masala. I was a bit too heavy-handed with the chilli. My husband likes a lot of spice. So, I'd reduce that next time. The mentor in the group, Amy, describes the recipe for chana masala as a classic. We call something a classic to say that it is well-known and of good quality. We can also describe a particular book, film or song as a classic. Amy sends a video to show a technique for cutting onions, which she describes as a pain to chop. If something is a pain to do, it is difficult or annoying to do. One of the participants, Ally, said that when she made the chana masala, she was a bit heavy-handed with the chilli. If you are heavy-handed with an ingredient, you use too much of it, and so Ally's chana masala was very spicy! Bags of Taste helps people learn new recipes and cook healthy food without spending too much money. It's certainly a lot cheaper than a meal at the restaurant in my question, Georgie. I asked you how much it costs for a meal at Sublimotion, thought to be the most expensive restaurant in the world. --Yes, I said a meal was 2,650 euros. --Well, you were wrong. It's actually 1,650 euros, but I think that's still pretty expensive. --It definitely is. 📝 完本文本，词汇表、翻译及pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复1可加入【打卡交流群】

4 Signs of Emotional Abuse Viann Nguyen-Feng | TED-Ed • March 2022 Emotional abuse can be incredibly damaging, increasing a person's chances of developing depression and anxiety sometimes for decades after the fact. Broadly speaking, emotional abuse involves one person controlling another by undermining their sense of self-worth and personal agency. But emotionally abusive behaviors can be subtle and difficult to spot, both from within and outside the abusive relationship. That's partly because emotional abuse often exploits or creates power imbalances between individuals, especially in relationships where safety, care, and trust are supposed to be guaranteed, like the relationship between a caregiver and a child, healthcare provider and patient, teacher and student, or intimate partners. It's especially insidious because it often makes people doubt their perceptions of their own mistreatment. So let's walk through some of the most common signs of emotional abuse, to make these behaviors and patterns easier to spot in real life. First, the content of someone's words: criticism that's out of proportion to a situation, excessively harsh or personal, or makes sweeping generalizations or baseless negative predictions for the future is a warning sign of emotional abuse. Statements like, "You always make such stupid decisions," "You never do anything right," and "Nobody else will ever love you," aren't constructive; they're never warranted, and someone's use of them is a red flag. Second, tone and non-verbal cues: yelling, ignoring and showing contempt through body language are all ways to degrade someone. Dismissive behaviors like eye rolling, glaring, or refusal to make eye contact, along with refusing to speak to someone or acknowledge their presence – sometimes called "the silent treatment" – can all feature in patterns of emotional abuse. These behaviors can painfully transform the meaning of spoken statements that might otherwise seem benign. Third, how someone reacts to being told they've said or done something hurtful can give important insight: do they apologize sincerely and act differently in the future, or do they dismiss and minimize the pain they've caused? It's common for abusers to try to undermine their target's perceptions of events – this is sometimes referred to as "gaslighting." Following up demeaning, humiliating, or threatening remarks with comments that dismiss the impact of those remarks, like "I'm just trying to help you improve yourself – you should be grateful," or "It's really you that's selfish and manipulative – you're hurting me," are examples of this behavior. Lastly, when someone directs any of these behaviors at you, take note of whether this is part of a pattern of behavior from them. A one-time incident of name-calling or a demeaning insult might not be emotional abuse, while repetition over time can have a much more serious impact. Both frequency, how often these behaviors occur in a given period of time, and duration, or how long they last, whether days or years, can contribute to the severity of the abuse. It's also important to remember that abusers rarely engage in abusive behaviors 100% of the time – moments of kindness or calm don't invalidate moments of abuse, but are actually part of the cycle of emotional manipulation. So what can you do if you think you or someone you care about is experiencing emotional abuse? Maintaining interpersonal ties with people other than the abuser is crucial, as abusers often try to isolate their targets from others close to them. If you think you might be experiencing emotional abuse, consider sharing your experiences with a trusted friend or relative to get outside support. Or you can seek local or national confidential advocacy centers that can provide helpful resources. And if you think someone you know is being emotionally abused, check in with them. Let them know you're thinking of them and that you're ready to listen whenever they'd like to share. While emotional abusers may convince people that they deserve to be mistreated, nobody does: everyone deserves kindness and respect. 🎬词汇表、翻译、视频和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1" 可加入【打卡交流群】