英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

As fall and winter come to some parts of the world, daylight hours grow shorter. This lack of light can cause seasonal depression.  随着秋季和冬季的到来，世界上一些地区的白天时间变得越来越短。光照不足会导致季节性抑郁症。  “It (is) a feeling of panic, fear, anxiety and dread all in one,” said Germaine Pataki. The 63-year-old woman living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, is among t...

The basic building blocks of humans are cells. When embryos are first fertilised, they're all the same. But after three weeks, they begin to specialise and clump together to form the various bits of the body.  人体结构最基本的组成是细胞。当胚胎刚受精时，它们的细胞是完全相同的。但三周后，细胞会开始分化并分别凝聚形成人体的各个部分。  The secret to learning how humans are built [lies] deep...

Squashed noses, scratched cheeks and t-shirts covered in sticky drinks. These are just some of the things that people are complaining about following the introduction of a new style of plastic bottle lid. Regulations in Europe now require manufacturers to tether lids to plastic drink bottles, making them difficult to remove.  鼻子被压扁，脸颊被抓伤，T 恤上沾满了粘稠的饮料。这些只是新型塑料瓶...

It would not be autumn without planting advice from Associated Press gardening expert Jessica Damiano.  如果没有美联社园艺专家杰西卡·达米亚诺的种植建议，就不会有秋天。  Damiano recently wrote about her experience planting garlic cloves. She was concerned not just about protecting them from low winter temperatures. She was worried that animals would dig up her bulbs and eat them.  达...

Researchers in Mexico have discovered a large, lost Mayan city.  墨西哥的研究人员发现了一座失落的大型玛雅城市。  The major urban settlement, named Valeriana, is hidden deep in the southern forest of Campeche.  主要城市定居点瓦莱里亚纳 (Valeriana) 隐藏在坎佩切南部森林深处。  The discovery adds to existing knowledge about ancient Mayan settlements.  这一发现丰富了有关古代玛...

British health officials say they have identified four cases of the new, highly infectious version of mpox that first appeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  英国卫生官员表示，他们已经发现了四例新型高传染性MPOX病例，该病例首次出现在刚果民主共和国。  The announcement marks the first time the variant has caused a group of illnesses outside of Africa. Scientists said the risk to...

The clear-winged, yellow-bellied moths made an improbable journey from the jungle of Guyana to Pontardawe in South Wales before being discovered. One was spotted on a windowsill at home by ecologist Daisy Cadet, whose mother had visited South America on a photography trip three months earlier. The pair later found the remains of two cocoons in the bag she'd used to carry her boots on the journey.&...

So, you've reached an intermediate level of English – congrats! You can understand most things about familiar topics and can express yourself in most situations. But maybe you've been here a while, and now you're stuck in what we call the 'intermediate plateau'. Often when we begin learning something, progress is fast and noticeable, but perhaps now it's difficult to see your improvements. Let's s...

Fruit flies can walk, hover and the males can even sing love songs to woo females. All this, and these flies have a brain that's tinier than a pinhead. Researchers have taken a closer look and found that it's a tangle of more than 130,000 separate wires called neurons – all packed together, making more than 50 million separate connections to each other.  果蝇能行走和盘旋，雄性果蝇甚至能够通过...

What do these three things have in common: a grumpy baby, Harry Potter puppets singing, and a challenge where you pour a bucket of icy water over your head? The answer – they have all 'gone viral'.  这三件事有什么共同点：脾气暴躁的婴儿、哈利·波特木偶的歌声以及将一桶冰水倒在头上的挑战？答案是——它们都“病毒式传播”了。  The world is becoming more and more digital, and we can't stop it. While...

In the Japanese village of Kamimomi, a small group of farmers began gathering their rice in extreme heat, two weeks earlier than usual.  在日本的上莫米村，一小群农民开始在酷暑中收割稻谷，比平时提前了两周。  Kamimomi is in Japan’s western Okayama prefecture. The area is called "the Land of Sunshine" because of its good weather. But farmers working in the mountainside rice fields say clima...

Researchers say a large fish that was thought to have disappeared from Asia’s Mekong River has been seen in the waterway in recent years.  研究人员表示，一种被认为从亚洲湄公河消失的大型鱼类近年来在该水道中被发现。  The fish is called a giant salmon carp. A recent study detailed the most recent sightings of the fish. The lead writer of that study said the fish was seen at least three time...

South Korean researchers have developed a drone designed to stay level when transporting goods over many kinds of surfaces.  韩国研究人员开发了一种无人机，旨在在多种表面上运输货物时保持水平。  A team at Seoul National University of Science and Technology built a prototype, or test model of the drone. The team recently demonstrated the aircraft for reporters from Reuters.  首尔国立科...

A new government study suggests U.S. teen smoking rates reached an all-time low this year.  一项新的政府研究表明，今年美国青少年吸烟率达到历史最低点。  The study was a survey of American youth carried out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  该研究是美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）对美国青少年进行的一项调查。  The survey involved middle school students –...

The Grand National, regarded by many as the world's most famous horse race, features  jockeys  and horses  negotiating  30  fences  over more than four miles, and is watched by an estimated six hundred million people  worldwide . 英国国家障碍赛马大赛被许多人认为是世界上最著名的赛马比赛，骑手们需驾驭马匹在超过四英里长的赛程中跨越30道障碍。每年全球约有六亿人观看这...

“No pain, no gain” is an old saying in English. It means that one has to suffer or work hard in order to succeed or make progress.  “没有付出，就没有收获”是英语中的一句老话。它意味着一个人必须受苦或努力工作才能成功或取得进步。  The expression is now often used to push people to train harder or exercise more to get good effects.  现在这个词经常被用来督促人们更加努力地训练或...

October 31 is Halloween. But many Americans have been preparing for the holiday for weeks. And businesses are hoping for good profits from Halloween purchases.  10月31日是万圣节。但许多美国人已经为假期做准备了数周。企业希望从万圣节采购中获得丰厚利润。  The National Retail Federation (N.R.F.) is the largest U.S. trade group representing sellers of material goods. It expects total Hallowee...

Octopuses are usually considered to be solitary creatures, but this study suggests they may have richer social lives than previously thought.  章鱼通常被认为是独居动物，但这个研究表明它们的社交生活可能比此前人们认为的更加丰富。 Researchers found they work together with different species of fish when hunting for prey, even making decisions on behalf of the pack and sharing leadership responsib...

Suddenly a sound rings out, stopping you in your tracks. Panicking, you search for where it could be coming from. It's your phone, and if you're like a quarter of 18 to 34-year-olds in a recent British study, you probably won't answer it. The same study found that 70% of people in this age group prefer text messages to phone calls. Why do so many people hate phone calls?  突然，一道声音响起，...

A new study says humanity is hitting the upper limit of life expectancy.  一项新的研究表明，人类正在达到预期寿命的上限。  Developments in medical technology and genetic research are not leading to major increases in lifespan overall, the researchers said.  研究人员表示，医疗技术和基因研究的发展并没有导致整体寿命的大幅延长。  The study was published recently in Nature Aging...

In Pakistan, polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign. Violence targeting health workers has also hurt years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.  在巴基斯坦，在新的疫苗接种活动之前，脊髓灰质炎病例正在上升。针对卫生工作者的暴力行为也损害了该国多年来为消除脊髓灰质炎所做的努力。  The World Health Organization says polio is a highly infectious disease caused by...

“There was a trend, it happened when COVID hit, to stop reading full-length novels because students were in trauma; we were in a pandemic. The problem is we haven’t quite come back from that,” she said.  “当新冠疫情来袭时，出现了一种趋势，即停止阅读长篇小说，因为学生们正处于创伤之中；我们正处于大流行之中。问题是我们还没有完全恢复过来，”她说。  Other teachers blame standardized testing an...

Teachers in many English classes across America are having students read fewer full-length books.  美国许多英语课堂的老师都在减少学生阅读长篇书籍的数量。  Recently, the Associated Press explored the issue in education.  近日，美联社就教育问题进行了探讨。  It reports that students instead are given only short parts of books. Educators said this is because they believe current st...

A new state law will soon require school districts in California to create new rules restricting student smartphone use.  新的州法律很快将要求加州学区制定新规则，限制学生使用智能手机。  California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the law recently. The legislation makes California the latest state to try to reduce student phone access. Florida, Louisiana, Indiana, and several other states hav...

Early education expert Dan Gartrell says the most important civics lesson that preschools can teach is “social democracy.”  早期教育专家丹·加特雷尔表示，幼儿园可以教授的最重要的公民课程是“社会民主”。  Gartrell wrote a book about teaching democracy to preschoolers. It is called Education for a Civil Society. The book is used by the ACCA Child Development Center near Washington, D.C. in No...