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The American space agency NASA's human-like robot Valkyrie looks powerful. It stands 188 centimeters tall and weighs 136 kilograms.  美国航天局NASA的仿人机器人Valkyrie看起来很强大。 身高188厘米，体重136公斤。  Valkyrie is named after supernatural females in Norse mythology. The robot is being tested at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.  瓦尔基里（Valkyrie）以北欧神话中的超...

The two-metre-long skull of the pliosaur is exquisitely preserved. Its crocodile-like snout is filled with dozens of razor-sharp teeth, and huge holes in its jaws would have been packed out with muscle, giving it an incredibly powerful bite.  这只上龙的头骨化石长两米，保存得极为完好。它形似鳄鱼的口鼻上长满了几十颗锋利的牙齿，颌骨间的大洞里曾长满了肌肉，这给了它极其强...

What motivates you to work or study harder? Is it the thought of success and all the amazing things that you can achieve, or is it the fear of failure and worry about all the things that can go wrong for you? Leaders, managers, and teachers have often used one of these ideas to inspire people to work harder and achieve more. But is one better than the other?  是什么促使你更加努力地工作或学习...

Alessandra Zarelli works to keep the artwork of the Vatican Museums in good condition. She says, whenever she works on a masterpiece, she must calm her heart so her thinking can center on her work.  Alessandra Zarelli 致力于保持梵蒂冈博物馆艺术品的良好状态。她说，每当创作杰作时，她必须让自己的心平静下来，这样她的思想才能集中在作品上。  Vatican City is a small country surrounded by the It...

The disease dengue is spreading across the Western Hemisphere in numbers not seen since record-keeping began in 1980. Experts are warning that rising temperatures and growing cities are increasing the rate of infection.  登革热正在西半球蔓延，其数量是自 1980 年有记录以来从未有过的。专家警告说，气温上升和城市扩张正在增加感染率。  More than 4 million cases have been reported throughout the...

The earliest presidents who lived in the White House did not want the large outdoor areas that the monarchs of Europe might enjoy.  最早住在白宫的总统并不想要欧洲君主可能享受的大型户外区域。  Marta McDowell is writer of All the Presidents’ Gardens. She said, “You can understand that, given our democratic form of government.” But she said she thinks that a visit to the home of the British...

A new study adds to evidence that obesity is becoming more common in young children in America. 一项新的研究进一步证明肥胖在美国幼儿中变得越来越普遍。  The study appeared in the medical publication Pediatrics.  该研究发表在医学出版物《儿科》上。  The findings are similar to other national data, which suggests around 2.5 percent of all preschool-aged children were severely obese duri...

Our solar system had a violent beginning. Worlds crashed into each other as they formed, disturbing their orbits and eventually leading to the planets of vastly different sizes that we know today.  我们所在的太阳系的初始环境充斥着剧烈运动。太阳系中的天体在相互碰撞中形成了各个星球，并扰乱了彼此的运行轨道，最终形成了我们今天所知的大小截然不同的行星。  But a hundred light years away, astron...

More than half the world's population are city dwellers, and, by 2050, the United Nations predicts that seven in ten people will be. With that in mind, architects are having to consider how architecture influences our emotional wellbeing in urban settings.  世界上一半以上的人口是城市居民，联合国预测到 2050 年，这一比例将达到十分之七。 考虑到这一点，建筑师必须考虑建筑如何影...

A large Swedish study has found an unexpected finding about people diagnosed with extreme fear of serious illness. It found they are more likely to die earlier than people who are not as concerned about their health.  瑞典的一项大型研究发现了一个关于被诊断出对严重疾病极度恐惧的人的意外发现。研究发现，与那些不那么关心自己健康的人相比，他们更有可能早逝。  Hypochondriasis, now called illnes...

Artificial intelligence (AI) became a popular subject in 2023. Still, the technology has a long way to go to meet people’s futuristic expectations of human-like machines.  人工智能 (AI) 在 2023 年成为热门话题。尽管如此，该技术距离满足人们对类人机器的未来期望还有很长的路要走。  ChatGPT was central to this year’s attention on AI. The chatbot showed the world recent developments in computer...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released its most recent estimate for adults with chronic fatigue syndrome. 美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 发布了对患有慢性疲劳综合症的成年人的最新估计。 People with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) suffer from at least six months of severe tiredness that is not helped by rest. They can also report pain and mental  confusion . 患有慢性疲劳...

The researchers from Sorbonne Paris Nord University say they were surprised by how efficient and reliable the ants were in  sniffing out  cancer. 70 ants belonging to the species known as Formica fusca were  exposed  to  urine  samples from mice with and without  cancerous  cells. 来自巴黎第十三大学（又称 “索邦-巴黎北大学”）的研究人员表示，他们对蚂蚁能如此高...

High school students in the United States can earn college credits by taking and passing Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The classes, developed by The College Board, cover many subjects, including English, history, math, and sciences among others.  美国的高中生可以通过参加并通过大学先修课程 (AP) 课程来获得大学学分。 这些课程由美国大学理事会开发，涵盖许多科目，包括英语、历史、数学和科学等。&n...

An early version of Mickey Mouse, the famous Disney character, will soon belong to you, me and everybody else.  著名的迪士尼角色米老鼠的早期版本很快将属于你、我和其他所有人。 The mouse that started a Hollywood empire, along with several other characters, movies, and books will enter the public domain on January 1st.  开创好莱坞帝国的老鼠以及其他几个角色、电影和书籍将于 1 月 1 日进入公共...

The deep very low frequency song of the blue whale is difficult for us to hear. Depending on what device you're listening on, it might be too low for your speakers.  我们人耳很难听到蓝鲸发出的低沉、低频的叫声。你在这段音频中能不能听到它们的叫声取决于你使用的音频播放设备，因为蓝鲸叫声的频率可能低于一些扬声器可播放的频率范围。  But it's the tell-tale loud pulsing call of the world's larges...

Meat, milk, cheese – just some of the things provided by goats. But now we can also add fire safety to this list. As wildfires damage increasingly large areas of the planet each year, goat herds may offer a way of reducing the risk.  肉、牛奶、奶酪——只是山羊提供的一些东西。 但现在我们还可以将消防安全添加到这个列表中。 随着野火每年对地球造成的损害越来越大，山羊群可能会提供一种降低风险的方法。&...

Archaeologists were excavating Britain's largest Scandinavian cremation mounds when they found the animal remains mixed in with humans. By using a technique called strontium isotope analysis, the scientists from Durham University could trace back the origin of the bones to Scandinavia. They say it's the first scientific evidence that animals travelled with the Vikings to England on their longboats...

News reporters, politicians and public figures have had trouble saying some of the words that relate to the top stories of the year year. Last week, the online language learning company Babbel released its lists of the most mispronounced words in the United States and Britain.  新闻记者、政治家和公众人物在说出一些与年度头条新闻相关的词语时遇到了困难。 上周，在线语言学习公司 Babbel 发布了美国...

European nations reached an agreement on rules for artificial intelligence (AI) last week. Some experts say the regulations will affect people around the world.  欧洲国家上周就人工智能（AI）规则达成了协议。一些专家表示，这些规定将影响世界各地的人们。  Here are some of the details of the agreement reported by the Associated Press: 以下是美联社报道的该协议的一些细节： The AI Act aims to re...

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide are killed every year by malaria and other diseases that are spread through mosquito bites.  全世界每年有数十万人死于疟疾和其他通过蚊虫叮咬传播的疾病。 Female mosquitoes are responsible for these deadly bites because they have a special mouth design that male mosquitoes do not have.  雌性蚊子对这些致命的叮咬负有责任，因为它们具有雄性蚊子没有的特...

Researchers say their robotic hand can handle items that are currently too delicate for machines. The hand uses wrist movements and has sensors that developers liken to skin.  研究人员表示，他们研发的机械手可以操控目前对其它机器人来说过于精致小巧的物品。机械手通过手腕运动工作，装有被研发人员称作像皮肤一样能感知物体的传感器。  The robot is able to judge how much pressure should be applied...

In school, kids are told to drink water in class, tannoy announcers encourage us to remember our bottles on public transport, and we're reminded by experts that water will help us have glowing skin and regulate our weight. But how much should we actually be drinking?  在学校里，孩子们在课堂上被告知要喝水，天朗播音员鼓励我们在公共交通工具上记住我们的瓶子，专家提醒我们，水可以帮助我们拥有容光焕...

he sound of a very close bond. A killer whale mother and son surfacing together, because in orca family life, offspring stay by their mother's side into adulthood.  从这段声音中可以听出虎鲸亲密的母子关系。音频中的虎鲸母子一起浮出水面，因为在虎鲸的家庭生活中，后代直至成年之后一直待在母亲身边。  But sons are particularly dependent on their mums. Well into adulthood, males will demand to be...

Officials in the American city of Detroit, Michigan, have equipped a piece of road with technology designed to charge electric vehicles (EVs) on the path.  美国密歇根州底特律市的官员为一条道路配备了专门为路上的电动汽车（EV）充电的技术。 The roadway is meant to serve as a demonstration project for the technology, which could be expanded to larger road systems. Leaders of the project say it is...