英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

2020 is a leap year, and as we all know leap years happen every four years, right? Wrong. That extra day in February is designed to keep the Earth in sync with the astrological or seasonal year. But, what you might not realise is that the maths isn’t that simple and occasionally we have to wait eight years. 2020年是闰年，众所周知，闰年每四年发生一次，对吧？错误的。2 月额外的一天旨在使地球与占星术...

For me, it was bacon. There I was, standing in the streets of Medellin, Colombia, looking hungrily at a delicious empanada. The sign read 'queso y tocino'. Because I'd got my tongue round some essential Spanish vocabulary, I knew that 'queso' was cheese. But 'tocino'? I typed it into my smartphone translation app. What came back? 'Tocino'. I later learned that means 'bacon' in the local lingo. 对...

If you’re in a job performing tedious tasks, you might think that a robot could do the work instead. But perhaps we underestimate how much technology already helps with the activities that we would otherwise have to do.  And as artificial intelligence progresses we might find it replaces us in the workplace altogether. 如果您的工作是执行繁琐的任务，您可能会认为机器人可以代替您完成这项工作。但...

One of the problems damaging our planet is the number of things we throw away. Rubbish of all kinds is piling up in landfill and polluting our rivers and oceans. A more recent addition to the list of things we chuck away is e-waste – electronic items that are broken and not recycled. Now solutions are being found to give this stuff a new life. 破坏我们星球的问题之一是我们扔掉的东西的数量。各种垃圾...

Have you ever eaten kosher food? That's food which conforms to the Jewish dietary regulations of kashrut. These regulations forbid consuming pork or shellfish of any kind, for example. Meat from other animals, such as cows and lamb, are OK provided restrictions are met. But they must be slaughtered according to set guidelines. All kosher rulings are overseen by trained rabbis from a kosher certifi...

How are you feeling today? Often when we ask people that question, they reply ‘not bad’, or ‘could be worse’. But what would make us feel ‘perfect’? Maybe we could live better by being healthier, less stressed, more motivated – but how? 你今天感觉如何？通常当我们问人们这个问题时，他们会回答“还不错”，或者“可能会更糟”。但是什么会让我们感觉“完美”呢？也许我们可以通过变得更健康、压力更小、更有动力来生...

Grimy coffee cups, dirty clothes all over the floor and uninvited guests – and they're not even yours! These are the joys of flatsharing. So why do we do it? Well, for many, buying a house or flat is just too expensive. In fact, according to the Guardian, the total amount of rent paid by tenants in Britain in 2017 rose to more than £50 billion – more than double the level of ten years prior. And f...

There’s no place like home. It’s the place where we’re surrounded by our possessions and creature comforts. We purchase things to give our homes a personal touch and create a certain ambience. And one thing we’re buying more of is houseplants. But are these ‘living’ additions to our homes good for us and the environment? 金窝银窝不如自己家里的狗窝。这是我们被我们的财产和物质享受所包围的地方。我们...

It's the most popular drink worldwide. According to the British Coffee Association, approximately two billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. But after the beans have been picked, roasted and brewed, the grounds are often disposed of as waste. With the environment and resource consumption such hot topics at the moment, wouldn't it be great if we could reuse this waste to make something usef...

What did you want to be when you were growing up? A doctor, an engineer - or maybe a footballer or actor? We all had big plans for our futures and believed there was a dream job waiting for us – one that would pay well and give great job satisfaction. But how realistic was that? 你长大后想成为什么样的人？医生、工程师——或者可能是足球运动员或演员？我们都为自己的未来制定了宏伟的计划，并相信有一份梦想...

Have you ever woken up with a sore throat and blocked nose and wondered if you should take the day off work? Some of us just soldier on, hoping the office environment and banter with work colleagues will perk us up. Others will make a hot drink, return to bed and have a ‘duvet day’. But what is the right approach to take? 您是否曾经因喉咙痛和鼻塞而醒来，想知道您是否应该请假一天？我们中的一些人只是...

If you go to work, you’re probably familiar with the routine of travelling to the office, hunting for an available desk, completing your tasks and then enduring your commute home. In many ways, it seems like an outdated working practice. And maybe that’s why more and more of us are now choosing to work from home. 如果你去上班，你可能很熟悉去办公室旅行、寻找可用办公桌、完成任务然后通勤回家的例行公...

It's a touchy subject. Talking socially about money can make people feel uncomfortable. But at work, have a conversation about how much people earn, and things can not only get awkward, but, in some cases, it can get you sacked. 这是一个敏感的话题。在社交场合谈论金钱会让人们感到不舒服。但是在工作中，谈论人们挣多少钱，事情不仅会变得尴尬，而且在某些情况下，它可能会让你被解雇。 According to a survey...

Yawning is something we all do – maybe because we’re bored carrying out tedious tasks or because we’re tired. Sometimes, just seeing other people yawn can set you off. But is this biological function really contagious, and why do we do it in the first place? 打哈欠是我们所有人都会做的事情——也许是因为我们厌倦了执行乏味的任务，或者是因为我们累了。有时，仅仅看到别人打哈欠就会让你反感。但是这种生物学...

Everyone loves a holiday! A little time off for some much-needed R & R can be exactly the thing to rejuvenate and refresh. That said, if you're struggling to think of your next destination then look no further. Don't waste time debating, let your blood decide. 每个人都喜欢假期！一些急需的 R & R 的休息时间正是恢复活力和刷新的事情。也就是说，如果您正在努力考虑下一个目的地，那就别无所求。不要...

We know it’s good to learn another language. It opens doors, makes you more employable, helps you make new friends, and it’s fun too. But to improve our linguistic skills, many of us have to endure hours of school lessons or evening classes, with our heads buried in textbooks. It’s no wonder then that technology appears to be providing a better and more accessible way of learning. 我们知道学习另一...

The veggie burger: this humble non-meat burger  substitute  is a staple of many a vegetarian meal. Though vegetarianism has a long history that reaches as far back as Egyptian times, and while many a vegetable-only  stand-in  patty is likely to have been used in the interim, the term veggie burger is commonly attributed to a Gregory Sams of London, who in 1982 created the 'Vege...

From Monday to Friday, many of us have an early start and a long day. By the time we've gone to bed and managed to fall asleep, we've been woken up by the alarm to do it all again. Come the weekend, and we're totally exhausted. We sleep in way past our usual wake-up time just to stay  in sync  enough to start again on Monday. 从周一到周五，我们中的许多人都早早开始了漫长的一天。当我们上床...

There's no doubt that one of the greatest achievements by humankind is the exploration of space. Ever since cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to journey into space in 1961, scientists have been exploring it and pushing the boundaries to try and go further and discover things that are yet to be discovered. But probably the only thing that's certa...

For many it means nothing at all, but to others it is the epitome of their identity. As humans, our appearance is often important to us and our hair plays a huge role. Whether you have long flowing  locks  or a swept back  do , the way you wear your hair can say something about you. But what if you start to lose it? 对许多人来说，这根本没有任何意义，但对其他人来说，这是他们身份的缩...

What do you do when you have a problem? Do you go to an expert, ask your friends to  come up with  an idea? Or, given the chance, would you ask a crowd of strangers for a  solution ? It may sound strange, but it has  spurred  more than a few successful  innovations . That’s the thinking behind a 'challenge prize'. 当你遇到问题时你会怎么做？你会去找专家，请你的朋友想出...

There's no doubt that I have a  sweet tooth  – I  crave  cakes and biscuits and could happily finish off a bar of chocolate in minutes. I'm sure I'm not alone, the sweet sugary taste is addictive but the big question is, is it bad for me? I think I know the answer! 毫无疑问，我爱吃甜食——我想吃蛋糕和饼干，并且可以在几分钟内愉快地吃完一块巧克力。我确信我并不孤单，甜甜的味道让人上...

Have you ever taken a taxi? In the past, doing so meant finding one, flagging it down and telling the driver where you wanted to go, paying, and possibly, adding a tip. And while this still happens, it’s less common than it used to be. These days, it’s much easier to open a ride-hailing app. All of the boring stuff gets taken care of. It’s a perfect solution! 你坐过出...

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘festival’? Is it music? Maybe it’s film. Or could it be food? Food festivals are a common occurrence in the UK and take place in all sorts of places and at all sorts of times: from Taste of London, in Regent’s Park each June to Aldeburgh Food Festival in Suffolk in September. Whatever your  taste , there’s a food festival to match – no matter how s...

There's no doubt that I have a  sweet tooth  – I  crave  cakes and biscuits and could happily finish off a bar of chocolate in minutes. I'm sure I'm not alone, the sweet sugary taste is addictive but the big question is, is it bad for me? I think I know the answer! 毫无疑问，我爱吃甜食——我想吃蛋糕和饼干，并且可以在几分钟内愉快地吃完一块巧克力。我确信我并不孤单，甜甜的味道让人上...