英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

What is it about reunions that make some people reluctant to go to? 什么是聚会让一些人不愿意去？  Is it that they're afraid of being judged by people who they met in their heyday?  是怕全盛时期遇到的人评头论足吗？ Is it a fear of having betrayed high expectations? Or is it the risk of realising that the sparkle that held the group together is no longer there? 是害怕背叛了很高的期望吗？还...

We all hear about foreign actors making it big in Hollywood.  我们都听说过外国演员在好莱坞大放异彩。 But many acknowledge that they were shaking in their boots the first time they were waiting for the director to shout: 'Action!'Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, star of Zoolander-2 and Vanilla Sky, is a respected actress with a Hollywood career.  但许多人承认，当他们第一次等待导演大喊：“行...

How do you pay for your coffee? Is it with change? I use my tap-and-go card.  你如何支付咖啡的费用？是变化吗？我使用我的即插即用卡。 I don't even need to enter my PIN number or a signature to authorise payment.  我什至不需要输入我的 PIN 码或签名来授权付款。 It's quicker and everybody in the queue is happy. 它更快，队列中的每个人都很高兴。 Contactless payments are gaining popularity.&nbsp...

"Does my bum look big in this?" That's what I asked myself when I tried on the designer jeans I bought in the Christmas sales and the mirror… “我的屁股在这看起来很大吗？”当我试穿我在圣诞节销售时买的名牌牛仔裤和镜子时，我就是这么问自己的…… well, the mirror didn't actually say anything but I got the message: It's time to go on a diet! 好吧，镜子实际上并没有说什么，但我得到了信息：是时候节食了！ Some...

Bored with your life? Dreaming of something different? When I feel like that I look up and wonder what life would be like 400km above my head. 厌倦了你的生活？梦见不一样的东西？当我有这种感觉时，我会抬起头，想知道在我头顶 400 公里处的生活会是什么样子。 That's where the International Space Station orbits the Earth, with six astronauts living and working on board, for months at a time.那是国际空间站...

I'll be working this Christmas. My job? Santa Claus! White beard and red clothes are optional. 今年圣诞节我要工作。我的工作？圣诞老人！白胡子和红衣服是可选的。 I'll be joining thousands of volunteers in Britain who go and help homeless and elderly people as well as poor children.我将加入英国成千上万的志愿者，他们去帮助无家可归者、老年人以及贫困儿童。 Solidarity comes to life at this time of the ye...

Chat shows are the staple of late-night entertainment TV in many countries. 聊天节目是许多国家深夜娱乐电视的主要内容。 The US has some of the most famous hosts and the shows are syndicated worldwide.美国有一些最著名的主持人，这些节目在全球范围内联合举办。 Jon Stewart does comedy; Oprah Winfrey goes for heartfelt conversation. 乔恩·斯图尔特演喜剧；奥普拉·温弗瑞 (Oprah Winfrey) 进行了真诚的交谈。 Bu...

Do you usually go dutch when you take someone out to dinner? 当你带人出去吃饭时，你通常会AA制吗？ Do you expect your date to pay for the whole meal?你希望你的约会对象支付整顿饭的费用吗？ Many people say that as long as there's love, money doesn't matter much. 很多人说，只要有爱，钱就无所谓了。 But this might change when the relationship gets serious and it can involve mortgages, joint current acco...

For many of us, the relationship we have with sugar is love at first taste, and that love usually lasts a lifetime. 对于我们中的许多人来说，我们与糖的关系是一见钟情，而这种爱通常会持续一生。 But what price do we have to pay for this truly addictive, sugary love? Rotten teeth? Heavier bodies? Raised blood sugar levels? Or even type 2 diabetes?但是，我们必须为这种真正令人上瘾的甜蜜爱情付出什么代价？...

University - the best days of my life! I made lots of friends in my student dorm, went to great parties, joined the debating society… and, well, I did some work too 大学——我生命中最美好的时光！我在学生宿舍结交了很多朋友，参加了盛大的聚会，加入了辩论社……而且，我也做了一些工作 but I must confess my lecturers were very patient with my tardiness.但我必须承认，我的讲师对我的迟到很有耐心。 It's easy to...

Exam day - what do you do? I take a ring my grandfather gave me to the exam. 考试日——你做什么？我拿了一枚祖父给我的考试戒指。 It's a reminder of his affection and gives me a sense of security and calms my nerves. 这是对他的爱的提醒，给了我安全感，让我的神经平静下来。 My brother makes a fuss about wearing his green underwear.我哥哥对穿他的绿色内衣大惊小怪。 He's not alone in placing his hopes in a...

Go home and shut all the windows because Abigail is coming! In this case, Abigail is not a very angry lady, but the name of a storm chosen by the public in an initiative by the UK weather service, the Met Office, and its Irish counterpart Met Eireann.回家关上所有的窗户，因为阿比盖尔要来了！在这种情况下，阿比盖尔不是一位非常愤怒的女士，而是公众在英国气象局、英国气象局及其爱尔兰同行 Met Eireann 的一...

Do you like somewhere a little bit different to the usual types of places you find on the high street? 您喜欢与大街上常见的地方稍有不同的地方吗？  I do, so I'm glad to see new ones popping up everywhere in London. The so called pop-up shop is a temporary arrangement. 我会，所以我很高兴看到伦敦到处出现新的。所谓的快闪店是一种临时安排。 In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, many bus...

On 17 November 2007, a man was jailed for producing works of art. 2007 年 11 月 17 日，一名男子因制作艺术品被判入狱。  Why? Because the sculptures and artifacts Shaun Greenhalgh made were fakes: fakes that had conned museums and galleries out of over £500,000. 为什么？因为肖恩·格林哈尔制作的雕塑和手工艺品都是赝品：赝品让博物馆和画廊损失了超过 50 万英镑。 Shaun had left school with no qualific...

Brazilians certainly know how to  throw a party  – but will Rio be ready to welcome over 10,000 athletes and all the international visitors to the 2016 Olympics? At the moment, some natives of Rio (known locally as 'Cariocas') aren't too enthusiastic about the Games. They know they'll be putting up with a lot more roadworks and  infrastructure  building before the Olympic torch...

What do you read when you are travelling by train or bus?  What are other passengers reading? Perhaps a woman sitting near you is reading a  trashy   romantic novel . A man is reading a  serious   biography  about a politician. And there's a student reading an English  textbook . What do their  choices   say about them ? Do you  judge &nb...

The first year of school can be  stressful  – not for the kids, but for the parents! They want their little ones to do well at school and some  pushy parents  will already be thinking about how they can get their child to  the   top of the class. But some parents are  concerned  about the  rules  for when children should start school. The School&nb...

Have you ever taken a  sickie ? If so, what did you say to your boss? It seems many people in the UK like to blame their pets for their  absence .  One person said they couldn't come to work because their rabbit was missing. Perhaps that was a  white lie ; this next one though sounds more like a  porky . A worker said that he couldn't come to work because he had to take hi...

You’ve heard of Charles Darwin, right? The  celebrated  scientist who proposed a  theory of evolution . You might have just about heard of Alfred Russel Wallace, who co-authored, with Darwin, the revolutionary work On the Origin of  Species , published in 1859. But what about Patrick Matthew? ‘Patrick who?’ you might ask. Well, Darwin and Wallace got the fame but Matthew ...

Are bars places just to meet friends and chat casually about  mundane  things? Not any more. Scientists have been organising  periodic  lectures and experiments in bars in several cities in nine countries. In May, hundreds of them took part in a festival called  Pint  of Science. British  neuroscience  researcher Michael Motskin started the festival with a c...

Fashion and music are constantly looking back to the past. But would you be interested in  retro  video games? If so, you are part of a  growing trend . Vintage  video games are making their way back into living rooms. There is already a large market for 1970s and 80s  games consoles . Despite their limited  graphics  and sounds, original machines by Atari, Ninte...

Around the world, girls do better than boys at school. These are the findings of a recent study that looked at the test results of 1.5 million 15-year-olds in 74 regions across the globe. The level of  gender equality  in those regions made no difference to the results. Other  factors , such as the  income level  of the region also had little impact on the findings. In onl...

This time of year many of us  resolve  to get back into shape. But if you are having trouble fitting into your tight jeans, it may not be your fault. Scientists now believe that  willpower  alone is not enough lose weight. They say success depends on your  genes ,  hormones  and  psychology . A study of 75 people by BBC Science and Oxford and Cambridge Unive...

Social media is changing everything in trade. Even  reserved  Britons are losing their traditional aversion to  making a scene,  and using social media to complain about bad service provided by businesses. That's what a survey by the Institute of Customer Service suggests. They analysed data from 200 organisations, including banks,  utility companies  and  retail...

Everybody has looked in the mirror at some point in their lives and thought they  could do with  a smaller nose or fewer  wrinkles . Almost 10 million operations were performed in 2014, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Eyelid surgery topped the list of the five most popular  procedures , which included  breast augmentation  and...