MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/116.mp
中英文稿：
Hello I’m Neil. Welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m joined today by Finn. Hello Finn.
大家好我是Neil。歡迎大家來到BBC6分鐘英語。今天和我一起的是Finn。你好，Finn。
Hello Neil.
你好Neil。
Now, I have a question for you: what age did you leave home?
現在我有個問題問你：你什麼時候離家的？
I left home at 18, Neil.
我離家的時候18,Neil。
That’s quite young, isn’t it? Why did you leave home?
這麼小，不是嗎？你為什麼要離開家呢？
雖然 medicine 跟 drug 都有「藥」的意思，但還是有差喔！medicine 指的是專門用來治療或預防各式疾病的藥物；drug 則通常是指麻醉劑、迷幻劑或興奮劑。drug 會使人心智麻木，不當使用的話可能會上癮，也因此 drug 通常帶有貶義，有毒品的意思。
除了上面兩個字外，也別忘了學學跟「治療」相關的字喔：
吃藥千萬別講 eat medicine ！那是直接翻譯的中式英文。吃藥正確的用法是 take medicine！
A: Are you feeling better now?
B: Yes, much better. I’ve been taking the medicine for three days.
A: Okay. Rest when you can!
A: 你有好點了嗎？
B: 有好多了。我已經吃了三天的藥。
A: 好，多休息！
Antibiotic cures illnesses and infections caused by bacteria.
抗生素是用來治療細菌引起的疾病與感染。
也可以衍生為對某種情況的解藥或是矯正方法。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2016/20160516sa_earth.mp3
中英文稿：
Plants, just like animals, get injured. For plants, it's often because some herbivore is snacking on them. And, also like animals, plants usually seal those wounds up quickly to avoid infection or the loss of important materials.
植物和動物一樣，也會受傷。由於一些食草動物以植物為食，所以植物經常受傷。同樣，植物也和動物一樣，會為自己迅速療傷，以防傷口感染或者重要物質流失。
But scientists recently found a plant that does not seal up a wound. Instead, a type of nightshade called Solanum dulcamara does its version of bleeding, releasing drops of an unusual liquid at the wound site.
但是最近科學家們發現了一種不自我封閉傷口的植物。這種叫做小癲茄的茄屬植物會讓傷口滲出物質，在傷口處釋放奇怪的液滴。
“What we found is that the plant is actually damaged by herbivores like most plants are in nature. And in response to that it secretes sugar secretions from the wound edges where the herbivores have damaged the plant.” Tobias Lortzing is a graduate student at Freie Universität Berlin and one of the study authors.
“我們發現這種植物和自然界的多數其他植物一樣，經常遭到食草動物的傷害。對此，小癲茄會在食草動物對自己造成的傷口邊緣分泌出醣類。” Tobias Lortzing是柏林自由大學的畢業生，也是該項研究的作者之一。
The researchers at first thought the flow could be just a passive bleeding, where the plant lost some of the sugar solution being transported internally.
研究人員最初認為傷口處的這種分泌行為是被動的，可能是由於植物在內部營養運輸時流失了一部分糖物質。
[TL:] “But it might also be and that is what we finally could show that the plant is excreting the stuff on purpose. So it's changing the chemical composition and it also controls the amount of secretion that it produces.”
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/119.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello I’m Rob. Welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m joined today by Neil. Hi Neil.
大家好我是Rob。歡迎來到BBC6分鐘英語。今天和我一起的是Neil。你好Neil。
Hi Rob.
你好Rob。
Today we’re talking about something many of us are familiar with – drinking in a bar or a pub. Now Neil, do you have a favourite bar or pub?
今天我們討論的是我們大家都很熟悉的事--在酒吧或俱樂部喝酒。Neil，你有很喜歡的酒吧或俱樂部嗎？
Well, I have a few favourites. One in particular is a pub I used to go to after work with friends and colleagues where you got personal service – they brought the drink to you, which is very unusual in this country.
是啊，有幾個比較喜歡的。尤其是有一個酒吧，我以前經常下班後和朋友還有同事去那裡，那裡有針對個人的服務，你喝的東西，在這個國家是非常特別的。
It certainly is! I like the old-fashioned-style English pubs, with plenty of ale on offer, cosy little corners to sit in and a roaring log fire. I’m not so keen on those bright, loud and modern bars – and the drinks are expensive there too!
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/…/20160515sa_science.mp3
中英文稿：
There's nothing like that fresh, rain-washed air after a storm, right? "The idea has always been 'the rain is cleaning.'" Mary Gilles, a chemist at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. She and her colleagues study microscopic airborne particles, so "normally we don't collect during rain. Because our intuition is, 'the air's clean, why would we be collecting right now?'"
“暴風雨過後，清新的雨後空氣是無可比擬的。人們一直認為雨水有淨化的作用。”瑪麗•吉利斯，是勞倫斯伯克利實驗室的化學家。她和自己的同事們研究微小的大氣顆粒，所以“通常，我們不會收集雨水。以前我們認為‘空氣很乾淨，為什麼要收集空氣呢?’”
Two years ago, they went against that intuition and collected after a rainstorm, at a field in northern Oklahoma. And what they found was actually a wealth of particles—about half a micron in diameter, nearly spherical, and glassy-looking under the microscope. Lab analysis revealed the miniscule bits to be carbon-based blobs of soil material—like decayed bits of plants and soil-dwellers.
兩年前，他們推翻了上述想法，因為他們在暴風雨過後，在奧克拉荷馬州北部的田地裡收集了空氣。並且他們研究發現實際上空氣中包含大量的顆粒。這些顆粒直徑約半微米，基本成球形，在顯微鏡下光亮透明。實驗分析表明這些微乎其微顆粒是以土壤為基礎的，如腐爛的植物和其他土壤寄居物。
But how they got airborne was a mystery. The researchers think that what’s happening, based on a follow-up experiment, goes something like this. The rain leads to puddles. Organic matter leaches into those puddles, forming a film on top of the water. Then, as raindrops strike, they form tiny air bubbles. These bubbles rise to the surface and burst through that layer of organic material, catapulting the soil particles into the air. The study is in the journal Nature Geoscience.
但是，它們如何成為空氣顆粒是一個謎題。研究人員認為基於以下的實驗，發生的情況類似如下。下雨會導致地面形成水坑。有機物質滲入水坑，就會在水面上形成一層薄膜。隨著雨滴繼續下落，它們就會形成微小的氣泡。這些氣泡浮到水面，並衝破最上面的一層有機材料，並將土壤顆粒攜帶到空氣中。該研究結果發表在《自然地球科學》雜誌上。
Tiny as they may be, the particles may actually affect the climate. "We think that they have the potential to actually be absorbing incoming solar radiation, and then that feeds back into global climate change." Meaning we might want to factor them into climate models. ‘Cause they appear to be more than just dust in the wind.
儘管這些土壤的顆粒非常微小，但是也會影響氣候。“我們認為這些可以吸收太陽輻射，然後影響全球氣候變化。”這意味著我們要把這些顆粒考慮到氣候模型中。“因為，它們似乎不僅僅是風中之塵。”
日本人最擅長開會嗎？揭秘不同國家的會議文化
Do the Japanese run the best meetings?
If you want to get your point across in a meeting in Finland, keep quiet; and let your counterparts deliberate. Of course, that won't work at all in, say, Canada.
在芬蘭，如果你想在會議上讓別人明白你的觀點，就要學會安靜，讓對方思考一下。當然在加拿大，這個方法卻一點兒也不適用。
As more of us do business across cultures and far-flung offices, every meeting can feel like a riddle. What do the long silences, idle chitchat and serious faces really mean in context?
現在，更多人把生意擴展到不同的文化地域，辦公室遍佈世界各地，每次開會都感覺像是一個謎。長時間的沉默、漫無目的的閒聊、認真嚴肅的表情在不同語境中究竟意味著什麼呢?
It's best to prepare ahead of time so you can quickly zero in on cultural quirks before you head to the meeting table. Here are five rules of thumb for different countries to make navigating your next international meeting a little less nerve-wracking.
走向會議桌之前，你最好提前準備一下，才能很快明白不同文化的特殊習慣。這裡列舉出了五個針對不同國家的經驗法則為你保駕護航，下一次開國際會議就不會再這麼傷腦筋。
Stick to the schedule
嚴格遵守時間表
➤Where: Germany, Austria, Japan
國家：德國，奧地利，日本
We've all been to meetings that have a loose agenda, if any at all. They don't start on time and they seem to repeat as stragglers wander in. Not so in these countries. Japanese users of Do.com
, an online meeting platform, are more likely to create a detailed agenda and pass out supporting documents several days prior to a meeting than meeting goers in any other country, according to founder Jason Shah.
我們開過會的人應該都參加過時間規劃鬆散的會議。開會時間不準時，遲到的人進來，還要重複一遍之前的話。但在這些國家就不是這樣。線上會議平臺網站Do.com的創始人傑森•沙阿說，利用他們的平臺，日本人比其它國家的會議組織者更傾向於創建詳細的會議日程，開會前幾天就把輔助文件分發出去。
"People [in Japan] are cognisant of how much time remains and don't go over," said Shah. It's expected that you'll understand the written materials ahead of the meeting. If a meticulously planned meeting runs over the allotted time, the gathering might be deemed unproductive, he adds. Ultimately, it can lead to a negative outcome because participants may be seen as inefficient.
沙阿說，“日本人能夠意識到還剩多少時間，並且不會重複已經說過的話。”他還說，你應該開會之前就對書面材料有所瞭解。如果精心規劃的會議超出了預定時間，那麼他們就會認為這次會議是低效的。最終可能會導致不好的結果，因為管理者可能會認為與會者沒有效率。
Germans and Austrians have a similar sentiment, said Stuart Friedman, founder of Global Context, a cross-cultural communication firm based in Redwood City, California in the US. In the US, a well-planned gathering that exceeds its scheduled time might signal great interest or excitement over the topic, but meetings that run long in Germany are often taken to mean that the parties are not communicating efficiently, he said.
位於美國加利福尼亞雷德伍德城的“全球語境”是一家跨文化交流公司，其創始人斯圖爾特•弗里德曼說，德國人和奧地利人與日本人觀念相似。在美國，如果一次精心準備的會議超出了既定時間，可能說明人們對會議話題很感興趣、很有激情。但是在德國，這樣的會議通常意味著與會各方交流不暢。
Don't even think about a brainstorm
頭腦風暴？想都別想
➤Where: China, Malaysia, Singapore
國家：中國，馬來西亞，新加坡
Backtracking or debating a topic can go against the traditional Chinese concept of "saving face", which is meant to avoid any mistakes or actions that could bring embarrassment. Laughing at even an obviously amusing answer, pointing out a potential mistake or even being too straightforward in an answer can derail the entire meeting.
試圖改變或爭論議題不符合中國傳統的“留面子”理念，“留面子”就是指他們會避免任何錯誤或可能引起尷尬的行為。聽到一個明顯可笑的回答而發笑、指出潛在的錯誤，甚至回答得太直接，都會打亂整個會議。
Meetings in a number of Asian countries typically have a desired outcome, without much room for taking a new direction. Knowing the meeting's outcome saves participants from any confrontation or debates, but can be an odd experience for westerners.
很多亞洲國家的會議一般都有一個預期的結果，沒有太多改變方向的空間。與會者已經知道了會議結果，就不會再爭論或起衝突，但西方人會覺得這樣非常奇怪。
"Some people will fly to attend a meeting that they hope to be a brainstorming session, but [in China] brainstorming doesn't take place in meetings," Friedman explained.
弗里德曼解釋說：“一些人本以為他們飛去參加的是一個頭腦風暴會議，但是（在中國）會議中並沒有頭腦風暴。”
Savour the interruptions
應對干擾
➤Where: Italy, France, Spain
國家：義大利，法國，西班牙
When Pascal Soboll meets with clients in Italy or Spain, he's no longer offended if they duck out early or arrive late. Rather than attend the entire three-hour meeting, the managing director at innovation and design firm Daylight Design, has learned that his counterparts there — and in some parts of France — attend based on their own timetable.
如果創新設計公司“日光設計”總經理斯卡爾•索伯爾會見義大利或西班牙的客戶，他就不會再因為他們遲到或早退而生氣了。因為他已經認識到，他在義大利、西班牙和法國一些地方的生意夥伴們是遵照自己的時間表參加會議的，而不是開完整整三個小時的會。
"People change their schedules very spontaneously," said Soboll. "They tend to come and go."
索伯爾說：“他們會隨意更改行程，他們一般都是想來就來想走就走。”
For Soboll that means tweaking his own German-based expectations of client behavior. Rather than expecting the same group to sit through his entire presentation (often analyzing the company's existing strategy) he makes it easier for people to turn up as needed. Those who have missed a portion of the presentation can then review and ask questions to avoid information lapses, he adds.
對索伯爾來說，這意味著要扭轉他對客戶行為的德國式看法。他允許人們視情況需要來開會，而不再期待同樣的一群人聽完他整個陳述（通常是分析公司當前的戰略）。他補充道，那些錯過了一部分陳述的人可以在之後回顧會議內容、問問題，避免資訊遺漏。
Please, no small talk
請不要再聊天了
➤Where: Finland, Sweden
國家：芬蘭，瑞典
While chitchat about everything from the weather to the latest sport scores can be good way to ease into more serious meeting discussions in North America, this type of warm-up exercise isn't acceptable in places like Finland and Sweden where non-meeting related discussions can be perceived as a way to veer away from a formally-set agenda and as a waste of other people's time.
在北美，聊一聊天氣、最新的運動賽事比分等所有事情都是輕鬆過渡到更嚴肅的會議討論的好方法。但這種熱身運動在芬蘭和瑞典並不為人接受，因為與會議無關的討論都被視作偏離正式議程的行為，會浪費別人的時間。
In some countries, including Finland, there are long pauses in the conversation, which can make visitors feel like there's an awkward silence. Don't try to fill it, though, with small talk or anything else. In parts of Northern Europe business people are more comfortable with pauses that can be as long as a minute peppered throughout the conversation, explained Friedman.
在芬蘭以及其它一些國家，談話中會有長時間的停頓，來訪者會覺得這樣的沉默很尷尬。但是，不要試圖打破沉默，閒談什麼的都不可以。弗里德曼解釋說，部分北歐地區的商人更習慣談話中時不時地來段長達一分鐘的沉默。
These breaks are used as a way to process what the other person is saying without interrupting. But a clashing of customs can make it easier to distrust the other side during a meeting, so it's crucial to keep this difference in mind.
沉默是因為他們要思考一下對方說的是什麼，不希望受到打擾。但是在會議中，習慣不同很容易導致對對方失去信任，因此記住這個區別至關重要。
"The Americans' insistence on breaking the silence causes [the Finnish] to not trust [them]," for instance, said Friedman. "If someone Finnish gets quiet we wonder what excuses they are contemplating."
比如，弗里德曼說：“美國人總是要打破沉默，導致（芬蘭人）不信任（他們）。如果芬蘭人不說話了，我們就會想他們在找什麼藉口。”
Decode the feedback culture
破解回饋文化
➤Where: South Korea, Germany
國家：韓國，德國
When Soboll visits Seoul for business meetings, he anticipates the sort of feedback he will get by first making sure he understands the relationships of those across the table from him. The most junior team member speaks first to give some initial input and the decision maker typically speaks last to make the final call. The feedback order creates a formality to the meeting that helps the participants to understand the significance of each person's input, he adds.
索伯爾去韓國進行商業洽談的時候，他要首先確保自己瞭解桌子對面的人都是什麼關係，據此預計會得到什麼樣的回饋。首先說開場白的人是最初級的團隊成員，而決策者往往做最後一項陳述。他補充說，這樣的發言順序是會議的正規程式，有利於與會者理解每個人發言的重要性。
German meetings, to that end, can feel equally cool, he said. There's often no way to tell how things are going. "German clients don't applaud or jump for joy," he said. "No one is going to spontaneously say how much they love this work."
他表示，德國人開會在這方面也挺酷。你通常無法預測事情進展如何。他說：“德國客戶高興的時候不會鼓掌或跳起來。沒有人會自發地說自己有多喜歡這項工作。”
【Vocabulary】
zero in: 瞄準
rule of thumb: 經驗法則
deliberate: 仔細考慮；商議
straggler: 落後者
savour: 品嘗；享受
backtrack: 改變主意；原路返回
文章來源： http://goo.gl/Z24Flf
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