英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

Have you ever heard someone say, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, or give you advice about why it’s vital to start the day with a healthy breakfast? It seems that this feast, for many of us, is necessary for our day to start well, but is it really that important? 你有没有听过有人说“早餐是一天中最重要的一餐”，或者告诉你为什么以健康的早餐开始新的一天很重要？对于我们中的许多人来说，...

Charles Darwin once said “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life”. If you live one hundred years, that only equates to twelve-hundred months – and when you break it down even further into days, hours and minutes, it gets more frightening. Why is this relevant? Well, quite simply put: life is short. Spending eight hours every day in a slumber means you’re los...

Procrastination is often seen as the enemy of productivity. Images of lazy people with feet up on desks or wasting time to dodge work spring to mind at the very mention of the word. And there are many things which indicate that procrastination is a problem which needs addressing. But could there be some benefits to it too? 拖延通常被视为生产力的敌人。一提到这个词，人们就会想到懒惰的人把脚放在桌子...

Rolling hills and endless green pastures – those images are easy to conjure when thinking of the idyllic country lifestyle. When lockdowns descended upon many countries across the world during the pandemic, social media seemed to be dominated by pictures of cottages and village life – people getting away from it all. So, why is living in the countryside becoming a modern fantasy – and are there be...

How do you consume your music? What format do you listen to it on? Technology now allows us to stream and download our favourite songs through websites and apps. This means it’s easy to access and it’s very portable, so we could enjoy it whenever and wherever we like. So, it’s surprising to know that the popularity of some old tech is increasing. 你如何消费你的音乐？你用什么格式听的？现在，技术允...

Do you like to keep fit? We’re always told that regular exercise is good for our body and mind. More and more people are taking up activities that improve their fitness. But is there a risk some of us might get obsessed and overdo it? 你喜欢保持身材吗？我们总是被告知定期锻炼对我们的身心都有好处。越来越多的人开始从事可以提高身体素质的活动。但是我们中的一些人可能会痴迷并过度使用它吗？ Well, for some...

If you could travel back in time, which period of history would you visit? It’s a great question to ask your friends, and time travel is the subject of many science fiction films. Of course, sci-fi is familiar to most of us, but what is cli-fi? The simple answer is climate fiction – a genre which focuses on the subject of climate change. 如果时光倒流，你会去哪个历史时期？问你的朋友是一个很好的问题...

Should you eat to live or live to eat?... a question posed by French playwright Moliere in his work ‘The Miser’. While eating is functional, and our bodies need the fuel that food provides, dining with friends or loved ones can be a wonderful experience. However, some of us often find ourselves reserving a table for one in a restaurant. But is dining alone really that bad? Maybe not. 你应该为生活...

Have you ever made a promise to yourself that you didn’t keep? Commonly, when the new year ticks over, we make resolutions: going to the gym, studying harder or giving up a bad habit. Sadly, not long after we’ve made the promise, we often end up breaking them. But what if you want to create a new good habit? Well, it’s possible, but willpower might not be the only thing you need. 你有没有对自己做...

‘We are what we eat’ – or so the saying goes. From calorie-inducing meals to low-fat lunches, much of our health depends on what we eat. We know about the benefits of eating properly for our physical wellbeing, but food – and cooking it – is proving to be good for our mental wellbeing as well. “我们就是我们吃的东西”——或者俗话说。从卡路里诱导餐到低脂午餐，我们的健康很大程度上取决于我们吃的东西。我...

Our working lives are becoming more flexible. The coronavirus pandemic has made us rethink how and where we work. For many, working from home has become the new norm, with some people finding the cosiest place to do this is in bed! But is this really the best place for your mind and body to carry out your job? 我们的工作生活变得更加灵活。冠状病毒大流行使我们重新思考我们的工作方式和地点。对于许多人...

The chicken or the egg – which came first? It’s probably one of the most commonly cited paradoxes – a chicken hatches from an egg, so the egg came first, right? But then what laid the egg? The two ideas seem contradictory, and that’s exactly what a paradox is – a problem that seemingly has no definitive solution and can’t be logically solved. 先有鸡还是先有蛋？这可能是最常被引用的悖论之一——鸡从鸡...

‘Time waits for no man’ – or so the saying goes. We can’t stop time and we can’t control it, although sometimes, in our minds, we think time flies – for example, when the weekend arrives, we feel it’s over in no time! But if this year in particular feels like it’s passing more quickly than others have done, there could be a scientific explanation why. “时间不等人”——或者俗话说。我们无法停止时间，也...

From pixel representations of table tennis in the 1970s to modern day cinematic storytelling, video games have evolved a lot and become more immersive. But it’s not just the graphics and gameplay mechanics that have changed – it has also opened up a range of career options, including that of professional gamer. 从 1970 年代乒乓球的像素表示到现代电影叙事，电子游戏已经发展了很多，变得更加身临其境。...

You may well have heard of the term ‘spring cleaning’: the act of giving your house a deep clean in the spring months. Even though, for many of us, that ritual of a once-a-year blitz of dirt and grime is dying out, some of us still practise it. However, there could be a good reason the tradition isn’t as popular as it was. 您可能听说过“春季大扫除”这个词：在春季对您的房子进行深度清洁。尽管对我们中...

The telephone was an amazing invention. People could finally speak to each other instantly from one home to another. The mobile phone took this technology further, meaning we could make contact with people to and from almost anywhere in the world. But despite having the instant ability to talk to one another, it seems many of us prefer to communicate by text. 电话是一项了不起的发明。人们终于可以从...

Are you learning another language? Maybe you’re trying to get to grips with it for work or study, or maybe you’re trying to master it just for the fun of it? Language learning is nothing new, of course, but technology has made it easier than ever to grasp. 你在学习另一种语言吗？也许您正试图在工作或学习中掌握它，或者您可能只是为了乐趣而试图掌握它？当然，语言学习并不是什么新鲜事，但技术让它比以往任...

Ask most people which day of the week they dread the most and the answer is likely to be Monday. The first day of the week can make us grouchy and depressed, which is why the feeling is described as the Monday blues. But what is it exactly that makes us feel down and does it affect everyone? 问大多数人他们最害怕一周中的哪一天，答案很可能是星期一。一周的第一天会让我们不高兴和沮丧，这就是为什么这种...

There’s nothing better than a walk in the countryside for lifting our spirits. Connecting with nature has been proven to help our mental health. For some, the best tonic is to stroll through a forest, but as we admire the trees that surround us, it’s worth knowing these trees are doing more than just being nice things to look at. 没有什么比在乡间散步更能振奋我们的精神了。事实证明，与大自然联系有助...

For some people, there’s no better companion than man’s best friend – a dog. This four-legged canine can bring comfort and joy and provide much-needed exercise for you when it needs walkies! This probably explains why dog ownership increased last year because people spent more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. 对于某些人来说，没有比人类最好的朋友——狗更好的伴侣了。这只四足犬可...

As winter takes its icy grip, and we head outside into a cold and crisp morning, we might be dreaming of warmer and sunnier days that lie ahead. Although, for many, summer might give us the most clement weather, our changing climate might mean that our chilly winter season becomes a thing of the past. So maybe we should enjoy it while we can. 随着冬天的冰冷，我们走到外面进入一个寒冷而清爽的早...

Have you got any gadgets hanging around your home that you no longer want or use? Between us, we have millions of bits of tech stockpiled in drawers that could be given a new lease of life. 你家里有没有你不再想要或不再使用的小玩意儿？在我们之间，我们有数以百万计的技术储存在抽屉里，可以赋予新的生命。 Part of the problem for our unloved gadgets is that many become obsolete quickly because their soft...

We are all aware of the damaging pollution that’s created by driving petrol and diesel vehicles. Many of the world’s cities are clogged with traffic, creating fumes containing gases such as nitrogen oxides. The solution for a cleaner, greener future could be electric vehicles. But how optimistic should we be? 我们都知道驾驶汽油和柴油车辆会造成破坏性污染。世界上许多城市都被交通堵塞，产生含有氮氧化...

What are the things that scare you: snakes, spiders or creepy crawlies? Or maybe you have a fear of heights or visiting the dentist. Although some of us just get scared or a bit nervous about these things, for others it can cause an irrational reaction that can’t be controlled – something we call a phobia. It occurs when someone develops an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situat...

Warning! This article could be bad for your health! As many of us endure the long, cold winter, we are tempted to tuck into some filling and fattening foods. This is sometimes because it helps us to keep warm and to give us energy, but often it’s because we need something to cheer us up. And, for a short while at least, it makes us feel better – which is why we call it ‘comfort food’. 警告！这篇文...