MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/594.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, I’m Feifei…
大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語，我是菲菲…
… and hello I’m Rob.
大家好，我是羅布。
Rob, thanks for giving me a lift home from the station tonight.
羅布，謝謝你今晚讓我從車站搭你的車回家。
No problem Feifei. Happy to help…and look we’re almost home…just turn this corner.
沒事的菲菲。很樂意幫忙…看我們快到家了…拐過這個彎就到了。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2016/20160821sa_earth.mp3
中英文稿：
By human standards, a few vertebrate species have incredible longevity. Some tortoises live for nearly 200 years. Bowhead whales can live even a decade or two longer. But now there's a new champion: the Greenland shark—which conservative estimates have swimming in the seas for almost three centuries.
按照人類的標準，有一些脊椎動物壽命非常的長。有些海龜可以活將近200年。弓頭鯨可以活一二十年。但是人們發現了一個新的長壽王——格陵蘭鯊魚——保守估計，它們已經在海裡生活了將近3個世紀。
Julius Nielsen is a marine biologist and PhD student at the University of Copenhagen. While on a research vessel in Greenland where such sharks were accidentally caught, Nielsen became curious about the creatures.
茱莉葉斯•尼爾森是一名海洋生物學家同時也是哥本哈根大學的博士生。在格陵蘭的一艘科學考察船上，人們無意之間逮捕了格陵蘭鯊魚，尼爾森對這個生物充滿的好奇之心。
“And perhaps the biggest of all the mysteries were how long do these sharks actually live. Because it has been expected that they can get very old, and that's based on some observations of very, very slow growth…so the longevity could be exceptional and extreme, but it has just never been possible to investigate.”
可能最大的謎團是格陵蘭鯊魚的壽命到底有多久。因為基於對格陵蘭鯊魚的觀察，它們生長的非常的緩慢，所以它們的長壽現像也是非常的罕見的，但是調查其長壽的秘訣也並不是不可能的。
That's because Greenland sharks don't have the same body structures used for gauging the age of most fish or even other sharks. So Neilsen and colleagues used a new technique based on the lens of the eye. The centers of the lenses can be analyzed by radiocarbon dating to determine about when the shark was born. They tested 28 female sharks.
因為格陵蘭鯊魚不具備大多數魚類甚至其他鯊魚可以測量年齡的身體結構。所以，尼爾森和同事們採用了一項以眼睛晶狀體為基礎的新技術。人們可以通過放射性碳分析鏡片的中心來決定鯊魚出生的時間。研究人員檢測了28頭雌性鯊魚。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/595.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Feifei…
大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語。我是菲菲…
… and hello, I'm Rob. So Feifei, how was your holiday –did you go anywhere special?
…大家好，我是羅布。菲菲，你的假期過得怎麼樣？去什麼特別的地方了嗎？
Yes, I did. I went walking.
對，去了。我去遠足了。
Very healthy. And where did you go?
非常健康呀。你去哪裡了？
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2016/20160820sa_earth.mp3
中英文稿：
Over the last year, beekeepers in the U.S. lost nearly half their honeybee hives. And there are a lot of suspected culprits for this so-called beepocalypse—from parasitic mites, to viruses, to simple land use changes. But a study out earlier this year pointed to another possibility: poor sperm quality among the drone bees, leading to colony crashes. And now another group of researchers may have found a reason for the subpar sperm: neonicotinoid pesticides. These substances contain chemicals similar to nicotine and affect insect nervous systems.
在過去一年，美國的養蜂人員蜜蜂數量減少了一半。對於這次蜜蜂的大災難，有很多的嫌疑犯哦——如病毒寄生、土地使用的簡單的變化。但是，今年年初發表的一項研究指出了另外一種可能：雄峰的精子品質不良，導致了這場種族災難。現在另外一組研究人員發現了雄峰精子品質不正常的原因：堿類農藥殺蟲劑。這些農藥中含有類似尼古丁的物質，這種物質會影響蜜蜂的神經系統。
"So for the drones that were exposed to pesticides during development, it appears there were more dead sperm in their reproductive tracts." Geoff Williams, an entomologist at the University of Bern in Switzerland and Agroscope, a Swiss federal research facility.
在雄峰成長的過程中，接觸了殺蟲劑，這導致其生殖過程中，會產生更多的死精子。傑夫•威廉姆斯是瑞士伯恩大學的昆蟲學家。Agroscope是瑞士聯邦的一所研究所。
Williams and his colleagues studied the effects of two neonicotinoid pesticides on honeybee drones, genetically assigned to mate with queens. "They've got really big eyes so they can identify these queens flying through the air. They eat and have sex. Or try to have sex at least."
威廉姆斯和同事們研究了兩種煙鹼類農藥對雄峰的影響，確切地來說，是對蜂王交配的雄蜂的影響。“這些雄蜂長著大大的眼睛，在空中飛行，他們可以認出這些蜂王，與之交配。抑或試圖與蜂王進行交配。”
But in 20 honeybee hives Williams and his collaborators found that those drones exposed to standard environmental levels of the pesticides were shorter-lived, thus having fewer opportunities to mate. And even if the drones did survive, they had nearly 40 percent fewer living sperm than did control bees—meaning the pesticides were acting like honeybee contraceptives. The study appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
但是，在威廉姆斯和同事們研究的20個蜂巢中，這些雄蜂接觸了正常環境中殺蟲劑，而導致壽命減少，這使其與蜂王交配的機會減少。即使雄蜂未被殺蟲劑殺死，但其精子的數量與實驗室的蜜蜂相比減少了40%，這就相當於農藥充當了蜜蜂的避孕藥。該研究結果發表在《皇家協會B》雜誌上。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/596.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello welcome to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. I’m Rob.
大家好，歡迎來到BBC地道英語。我是Rob。
Oh hello…I’m Feifei.
大家好，我是菲菲。
Err Feifei, what are you doing?
菲菲，你在做什麼？
Cleaning… this place is so dirty… in fact Rob, have you got any soap I could borrow?
打掃衛生，這裡太髒了。 Rob，你有肥皂可以借我用下嗎？
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/…/20160819sa_science.mp3
中英文稿：
Are you afraid of sharks? What about snakes or spiders? Put those fears aside: because in the US you're far more likely to be killed or injured by a deer bounding across the road.
你害怕鯊魚嗎?那麼蛇和蜘蛛呢?先把這些恐懼放到一邊：因為在美國，你受傷或者喪命的原因可能是由於馬路上亂跑的鹿。
Bambi and his kind cause more 200 humans deaths each year, plus some 29,000 injuries, all because of 1.2 million collisions between vehicles and deer. Most incidents occur in the eastern US, where deer thrive without natural predators like wolves and mountain lions.
鹿每年都會導致200多人喪命，此外，還有約2.9萬人受傷，事件的原由就是車輛和鹿發生了多次碰撞。大多數事故都發生在美國東部，由於沒有狼、美洲獅等自然捕食者，這裡的鹿的數量猛增。
"That's the region in the US where deer-vehicle collisions are such a problem, and where it seems like an effective large carnivore restoration could make a really big difference."
在美國該地區，鹿和車輛發生的碰撞事件是個難題，似乎大型肉食動物的存在可以導致巨大的差別。
University of Washington wildlife biologist Laura Prugh. She thinks it would help to reintroduce predators like mountain lions, also known as cougars, pumas or panthers, to parts of their historic range from which they've been driven out.
華盛頓大學的野生動物學家勞拉•魯。她認為將之前被驅逐的美洲獅引入會有幫助。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/600.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Callum.
大家好，歡迎收聽地道英語。我是卡勒姆。
And I'm Feifei.
我是菲菲。
Feifei, what kind of workers are we –would you describe us as blue-collar workers or white-collar workers?
菲菲，我們是哪種工作者呢？你會用藍領還是白領來描述我們呢？
Well, looking at our clothes, you are a T-shirt-no-collar worker and I'm a yellow-with-polka-dot-collar worker. How about that?
嗯，看我們的衣服，你是T恤無領工作者，我是黃色帶圓點領子的工作者。你認為這個回答怎麼樣？
Come on, Feifei, you know that this has nothing to do with fashion! It's about colours and what they represent when we're talking about the world of work.
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2015/20150121sa_space.mp3
中英文稿：
Space, the final frontier, is also the most expensive one.
太空——最後也是最昂貴的前沿。
\Reaching Earth orbit typically costs between ten- to twenty-thousand-dollars per kilogram. That's because rocketry is the only form of transportation where you throw away your vehicle once you’ve reached your destination. But that might change as soon as January of next year, when Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, plans to launch a rocket into space, then bring the rocket’s first stage back for a precision landing.
到達地球軌道的成本通常是每公斤十幾萬到二十幾萬美元。因為火箭是唯一的交通工具，且一旦達到目的地就會被扔掉。但是，也許到明年1月這種情況會有所改變，空間探索科技公司，又名“SpaceX”，計畫將火箭發射到太空，然後使火箭第一級精確著陸。
After launching a payload on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, Space X’s Falcon 9 first stage will deploy hypersonic stabilizing fins and fire its engines four times, steering itself to an upright touchdown on a robotic barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Think of a 14-story building moving faster than a kilometer per second. And now imagine slowing it down, balancing it on a jet of rocket exhaust and landing it with an accuracy of 10 meters on a target smaller than a football field.
將再補給任務的有效載荷發射到國際空間站後，“SpaceX”的“獵鷹9號”運載火箭第一級將展開高超音速穩定翼並四次啟動引擎，然後自我掌舵垂直著陸到大西洋上的機器人駁船上。想像一下一個14層的高樓以每秒1公里的速度移動。然後再想像一下讓它慢下來，在一架火箭的排氣裝置上使其平衡，最後以10米的精度著陸在一個比足球場還小的地方。
It won’t be easy—company representatives only give the precision landing 50–50 odds. But if successful, SpaceX’s audacious test could soon lead to cheaper, fully reusable rockets that make the final frontier not quite so financially challenging.
這並不容易——公司代表只給這次精確著陸打出一半的勝算。但是如果它成功了，“SpaceX”這次大膽的實驗很快將引領更便宜、完全可重複使用的火箭，使這片最後的前沿在經濟方面不再那麼具有挑戰性。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/1052.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，歡迎收聽六分鐘英語，我是愛麗絲。
And I’m Neil.
我是尼爾。
So, Neil, what’s the best holiday you’ve ever had?
尼爾，你度過最美好的假期是做什麼？
That would be scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. It was awesome! I saw sharks, sea turtles, manta rays...
是在澳大利亞大堡礁潛水。那段經歷太棒了！我看到了鯊魚、海龜、蝠鱝……
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/2015/20150114sa_tech.mp3
中英文稿：
We'll be hearing a lot more about the so-called “Internet of things” in 2015. But what good are all these intelligent, network-connected appliances in your home if you can't easily control them?
2015年，我們將會聽到更多關於“物聯網”的消息。但如果不能輕易地操控它們，那家裡這些智能的、連網設備對你還有什麼好處可言?
\Fear not! A couple of teenagers at England's Manchester Creative Studio have developed a wristband that tracks your pulse—so it can turn on your TiVo box when you nod off, ensuring that you don't miss the rest of your show. The device can also trigger the TiVo to resume the program when it senses that you've woken up.
別擔心！英國曼徹斯特創意工作室的兩個少年發明了一個可追踪你脈搏的腕帶——它能在你打盹的時候，打開數位錄像盒，確保你不會錯過任何節目。當它感覺到你醒來時，該裝置還可以觸發錄像機使節目恢復播放。
The students built what they call the KipstR with support from Virgin Media, as part of the company's Switched on Futures initiative. Virgin Media customers will be able to try out the KipstR during the Christmas holiday.
作為該公司“開啟未來”創新合作項目的一部分，這兩個學生在維珍傳媒支持下研發了他們稱之為“KipstR”的腕帶。聖誕期間，維珍傳媒的客戶將能夠試用“KipstR”腕帶。
Beyond guaranteeing that you don't miss a moment of valuable television programming, such biometric gizmos someday might be able to sleep-control other aspects of your domestic Internet of things. Imagine the lights dimming and the thermostat lowering automatically when slip off to dreamland.
除了能確保你不會錯過一個有價值電視節目的任何一刻，這種生物識別裝置將來有可能從其它方面“睡眠控制”家中的“物聯網”設備。想像一下當你進入夢鄉時，燈光能夠自動調光、調溫器能夠自動降溫。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/602.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
大家好，歡迎收聽BBC英語教學的地道英語。我是尼爾。
Hello, I’m Helen. Neil, can I ask you about something?
大家好，我是海倫。尼爾，我能問你一些事情嗎？
Yeah, sure. What’s on your mind?
嗯，當然。你心裡在想什麼呢？
Well, Theodora and Alma are my best friends, but they are not talking to each other because of a straw.
嗯，希歐多爾拉和阿爾瑪是我最好的朋友，但卻因為一根稻草不跟彼此說話了。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2014/20141003sa_space.mp3
中英文稿：
The universe seems to be full of dark matter, yet no one knows what it's made of. The best guess is that invisible particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, contribute all this missing mass. And that idea matches the latest data generated by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, experiment. This instrument lives on the International Space Station, and it may be seeing direct signs of dark matter. The study is in the journal Physical Review Letters. [M. Aguilar et al, (AMS Collaboration ), Electron and Positron Fluxes in Primary Cosmic Rays Measured with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station]
宇宙中似乎充滿了暗物質，但是沒有人知道暗物質是由什麼成分組成的。現在的最佳猜想就是，暗物質是由我們肉眼所看不見的，被稱為大質量弱相互作用粒子所組成的（簡稱WIMP）。且這一猜想和阿爾法磁譜儀（AMS）實驗所得出的最新數據相吻合。阿爾法磁譜儀被安放在國際空間站，而且是可能看到暗物質直接徵象的儀器。這項研究被發表在《物理評論快報》上。
The AMS catches charged particles flying through space. Its new results show more positrons than expected. Positrons are the antimatter counterparts to electrons. Normal astrophysical processes create some positrons, but not as many as AMS registered. One possible explanation is that these excess positrons are a by-product of dark-matter interactions. That is, they're being created by the elusive WIMPs.
阿爾法磁譜儀觀測到帶電粒子從太空中飛過。新的觀測結果顯示，這些電離子所攜帶的正電比預期要多，正電子是電子的反物質。正常的天體物理運動過程中是會產生一些正電子的，但是並不像阿爾法磁譜儀中所觀測的那樣多。這就是說，這些正電子是由神秘的大質量弱相互作用粒子所產生的。
When two WIMPs collide, they can annihilate each other, giving rise to other particles—such as positrons. The data from AMS so far match these predictions.
當兩個大質量弱相互作用粒子相互碰撞時，它們就會彼此進行消滅，來產生像正電子這樣的另外的粒子。到目前為止，來自阿爾法磁譜儀的數據與這些預測相符。
The positrons might also have a more mundane source, such as the spinning stars called pulsars. Time will tell if the space-based AMS has indeed seen the first sign of what makes up dark matter—or if we're still stuck in the dark .
—Clara Moskowitz
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://x8.tingvoa.com/…/Submerged-Lost-City-Really-Bacteria…
中英文稿：
Tourists snorkeling off the Greek island of Zakynthos in 2013 thought they had made a fabulous discovery: the remains of a lost city. They saw what appeared to be paving stones and the bases of columns in the blue water. But when the Greek government sent in researchers, they didn't find any other remnants of human activity, such as pottery. So scientists at the University of Athens and the University of East Anglia in Englandteamed up to investigate.
在2013年希臘紮金索斯島潛游的旅客們認為，自己發現了一項了不起的建築：一座消失城市的殘骸。他們在藍色的海水裡看到了鋪石路以及圓柱。但是，當希臘政府派研究人員調查時，他們沒有發現人類活動所留下的任何殘骸，如陶瓷。所以，雅典大學和東安格利亞大學的科學家開始進行調查。
Julian Andrews, professor of environmental sciences at East Anglia, at first questioned his Athens colleague, geologist Michael Stamatakis.
朱利安•安德魯斯，是東安格裡亞大學的環境科學的教授，首先，提問了他的雅典同事，一位地質學家。
“When I first saw the pictures I said to Michael, 'are you sure they're not real?' Because they really do look like columns. And he said, 'No no, definitely there's definitely something going on here more than more than that.'
當我第一次見到時，我跟邁克爾說，“你確定嗎”?因為，看起來只像幾個柱子。邁克爾說,”絕對不止這些。”
After analyzing the mineral content of the formations, Andrews agreed.
在分析其構成的礦物質成分後，安德魯表示同意。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/2016/20160621sa_tech.mp3
中英文稿：
LEDs use only a quarter the energy of incandescent bulbs. But despite their efficiency, there is one thing they're not that good at: "They have a hard time giving directional light." Sangam Chatterjee, a physicist at the University of Marburg and the University of Giessen, in Germany.
LED燈使用的電量僅為白熾燈的1/4。但是儘管LED燈高效節能，但是它的一個缺點就是：不能發射平行光。Sangam Chatterjee是德國瑪律堡和吉森大學的物理學家。
Chatterjee and his colleagues may have fixed that. They devised a highly focused, but still energy-efficient light beam, by starting with something that's already a highly focused beam: a laser. The key is what they shoot the laser at: a substance with a particular structure. "I'm always tempted to say "white powdery substance" but I guess there's some connotation on that."
Chatterjee和同事們修復了這個缺憾。他們通過高度聚焦的光束——鐳射，設計了高度集中、但是節能的光束。關鍵就是利用雷射光束射擊一種有固定結構的物質。“我一直想說白色粉末的物質，但是其實關鍵的是內部的東西。”
They synthesized the material from cages of tin and sulfur atoms decorated with hydrocarbon molecules. The laser-produced infrared light—which the human eye cannot see—goes in, but what comes out are many different optical wavelengths. "It's a molecular light converter.
他們分析了材料的成分，烴分子修飾的錫和硫原子組成的結構。鐳射會發出紅外線——肉眼看不到——射入，但是會產生很多不同的波長。“這種材料就成為了光轉換器。”
It basically changes the color of the light, while retaining the directionality of the lasers. So you can make something like a white laser beam containing many, many colors." That mix of colors, overall, glows bright white, like a halogen bulb in a beam. The study is in the journal Science.
它基本上改變光的顏色，但同時保留鐳射的方向性。“白色光束包含多種顏色，你可以製作類似的光束。”混合的顏色就會發出像燈泡一樣白色的光芒。該研究結果發表在《科學》雜誌上。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/599.mp3
中英文稿：
Oh, hello, Feifei. Already here to present The English We Speak.
噢，嗨，菲菲。你已經在這兒錄《地道英語》啦。
What do you mean by ’already here’, Callum?!And what are all these bags you have with you?
你說“已經在這兒”是什麼意思，卡勒姆？！還有這些袋子，你是去幹什麼了？
Shopping.
購物啊。
Shopping?!I’m here in the studio, waiting for you and you went shopping?! This is absurd.
購物？！我在演播室裡等著你，你卻去購物了？！這真是太荒唐了。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/1051.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，歡迎收聽六分鐘英語，我是愛麗絲。
And I’m Neil. Did you have a good weekend, Alice?
我是尼爾。週末過得愉快嗎，愛麗絲？
Yes, but it flew by – which means it went quickly – and here we are again, back at work!
挺好的，但是時間飛逝，也就是說時間過得好快。我們又回到這裡，開始工作了！
Hm. I know what you mean. Though I must say, time really dragged for me – and that means it went slowly. I was on a train, which broke down.
我懂你的意思。但是我必須說，時間是拖著我走，對我來說時間走得太慢了。我坐的那輛火車臨時出故障了。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voa…/2016/20160803sa_health.mp3
中英文稿：
For thousands of years, what’s called the Silk Road was a group of land and sea trade routes that connected the Far East with South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe. Of course, when humans travel they carry their pathogens with them. So scientists and historians have wondered if the Silk Road was a transmission route not just for goods, but for infectious disease.
千百年以來，絲綢之路由連接遠東、南亞、中東、西歐的海上和陸上路線組成。不言而喻，人們旅行的時候，隨身攜帶的還有病原體。所以，科學家和歷史學家懷疑，絲綢之路運輸的不僅僅是貨物，還有傳染性疾病。
Now we have the first hard evidence of ancient Silk Road travelers spreading their infections. The find comes from a 2,000-year-old latrine that had first been excavated in 1992. The report is in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
現在，我們有了第一個確鑿的證據，證明古代絲綢之路的遊客傳播了自身的疾病。這項結果來自於在1992年發掘的一個有2000年歷史的茅廁。該項研究結果發表在《考古科學：報告》雜誌上。
“So the site is a relay station on the Silk Road in northwest China. It's just to the eastern end of the Tarim Basin, which is a large arid area just to the east of the Taklamakan desert, and not far from the Gobi Desert. So this is a dry part of China.”
“這裡是中國西北部絲綢之路的一個中轉站。其位於塔里木盆地的東端。塔里木盆地這塊廣闊乾旱的地區位於塔克拉瑪幹沙漠的東部，距離戈壁沙漠不遠。是中國的一個乾旱地帶。”
Piers Mitchell, paleopathologist at the University of Cambridge, and one of the study’s authors, along with his student Ivy Yeh and colleagues in China.
皮爾斯•米切爾是劍橋大學的研究古代疾病的病理學家，同時也是該報告的作者之一。他和自己的學生艾薇以及來自中國的同事們一同進行了該項研究。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voa…/2016/20160802sa_health.mp3
中英文稿：
Ever order a drink, and feel stiffed on the pour? Well, before you bother the bartender, take a closer look at the size of your glass. "So people will generally perceive there to be less in larger containers, than in smaller ones." Theresa Marteau, a behavioral scientist at the University of Cambridge, in England.
是否有過這樣的感受?點了一杯酒，但是杯子裡的酒卻讓人心生鬱悶。不要著急埋怨酒保，先看看你的酒杯大小吧!“與小的酒杯相比，人們會認為同樣多的酒，在大的酒杯裡，酒就會顯得很少。”特麗莎•瑪律托是劍橋大學的行為科學家。
She and her colleagues had analyzed how larger portions—and larger plates—lure us into eating more food. And they wondered: could the same be true for alcohol?
她和同事們分析了大份量——以及較大的盤子——如何讓我們吃更多的食物。之後，她們懷疑，同樣的理論是否也適用於喝酒呢?
So the researchers convinced the staff at a local bar to run an experiment: every two weeks, for four months, they'd rotate the bar's wine glasses from the standard 300 milliliter size, to either slightly larger—370 milliliters, or slightly smaller—250 milliliters. And see how the size of the glass affected patrons' drinking habits, even though the pour, the volume of alcoholic beverage, was unchanged.
所以，研究人員說服了在當地酒吧的一些員工進行了一次實驗：四個月內，每兩周，他們就會將酒吧的標準300毫升的酒杯，換成370毫升或者250毫升的酒杯。並研究酒杯的大小是如何影響顧客的飲酒習慣的，但是酒精飲料的總量是不變的。
Turns out, serving wine in smaller glasses had no measurable effect. But the large glasses boosted wine sales 10 percent—even after controlling for day of the week, temperature, holidays and so on. The reason? "When the wine, the same volume, is being served in a larger glass, then people are probably perceiving they've got less in there." Which, she says, means they might drink more, assuming they haven't hit their nightly limit. Or, they might just feel less satisfied with the pour, and buy another round. The study appears in the journal BMC Public Health.
結果表明，用較小的酒杯不會產生太大的影響。但是用較大的酒杯，則使酒類的銷售量提升了10%——即使控制了天數、溫度、假期等其他因素。為什麼會產生這樣的結果呢?因為，同樣多的酒，當放在較大的杯子時，人們可能會感覺酒似乎非常少。瑪律托解釋到，這就意味著人們會增大飲酒量，因為他們覺得這還沒達到自己的酒量呢!或者，也可能是他們覺得這點酒還不夠，還需要再來一杯。該研究結果發表在《BMC公共衛生》雜誌上。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/598.mp3
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Rob and I've won yet another card game! Yes!
大家好，歡迎來到BBC地道英語。我是Rob，又贏了一次牌。太好啦！
Hello everyone. I'm Feifei and I've just lost to him again...
大家好，我是菲菲，我剛剛又輸給
Rob了。It's not surprising. You've been very distracted all morning.
這並不奇怪。你一上午都心神不寧。
There's a promotion coming up and I wonder if I'll get it.
公司將會有次晉升，我在想我能否得到這次機會。
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：
http://online1.tingclass.net/voaspe/2016/20160801sa_mind.mp3
中英文稿：
Just like humans have to learn to talk, songbirds aren't just born singing—they have to learn to carry a tune. "So in the beginning they just babble." Raissa de Boer, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. "And they learn from a tutor, so they need an example song in order to learn it."
就如同人們必須學說話一樣，鳴禽也並不是天生就會唱歌——它們必須學會唱歌不跑調。“所以，開始它們只是呀呀學語。”Raissa de Boer，是比利時安特衛普大學的行為生態學家。“它們跟從導師學習，為了學會，它們都需要一首典型歌曲。”
She says the example song might come from the chick's father. And over time, the baby bird tweaks that tweet, to make it its own. "And then it takes almost a year until they're fully adult, until the next spring, for the final song to come out."
Raissa de Boer表示，這首典型的歌曲可能來自於幼鳥的父親。隨著時間的推移，幼鳥吱吱的叫聲，最後變成自己的歌聲。幼鳥完全長成成鳥，大約需要一年的時間，直到來年春天，最終的歌曲終於成形啦!
De Boer and her colleagues investigated that song-learning process in canaries, using two groups of baby birds: the first consisted of inbred birds, whose parents were siblings; the second had parents that were. And the researchers found that the songs of inbred birds [sound of inbred birds singing] and those of the other, outbred birds sound… pretty similar to the human ear. "I cannot tell the difference."
Raissa de Boer和同事們利用了兩組幼鳥，調查了金絲雀學習唱歌的過程：第一組是近親繁殖生出的幼鳥，幼鳥的雙親是兄妹;而第二組幼鳥有父母陪伴。研究人員發現，第一組和第二組鳥兒的歌聲對人耳都非常的熟悉。“我不能分辨兩者的區別。”
But computer analysis revealed that the inbred birds sang notes at slightly different pitches—and with tones that were not quite as pure. "So basically they sang out of tune, in comparison to outbred birds." The results appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
但是電腦分析表明，近親生出的鳥兒唱出的哥兒音高不同——音調不純。“所以，基本上與非近親生出的鳥兒相比，第一組鳥兒已經跑掉啦!”該研究結果發表在《 皇家學會學報B》
