英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

Would you like to speak with a British accent? What if I told you that there is no singular 'British' accent? In fact, linguists estimate that there are 40-60 regional accents across the UK, some of which exist very close together geographically. For instance, you can listen to Manchester's 'Mancunian' accent and then Liverpool's distinct 'Scouse' accent after just a 50-minute car or train ride. Some southern English accents, such as 'Received Pronunciation', are associated with social prestige, but can the south claim to have the oldest English accent? Or does another UK region take the title? The story is messier than you might expect.
你想用英国口音说话吗？ 如果我告诉你没有单一的“英国”口音怎么办？ 事实上，语言学家估计英国各地有 40-60 种地方口音，其中一些在地理上非常接近。 例如，只需乘坐 50 分钟的汽车或火车，您就可以听到曼彻斯特的“Mancunian”口音，然后再听到利物浦独特的“Scouse”口音。 一些南方英语口音，例如“公认发音”，与社会声望有关，但南方人能声称拥有最古老的英语口音吗？ 或者英国的另一个地区是否会获得冠军？ 这个故事比你想象的要混乱。

The first version of English, Old English, originated in the 5th and 6th centuries when tribes from northern Germany arrived in east England, a region now called 'East Anglia'. Their Germanic languages mixed with existing Latin and Celtic languages and became Old English. "It makes sense to think of East Anglia as being the source of the earliest variety of English as we know it," says Kerri-Ann Butcher, a lecturer in English Language at the University of Leeds. Over the next few centuries, English absorbed many other languages arriving from places like the Netherlands and Scandinavia. The associated linguistic changes did not happen in an orderly way across the country.
英语的第一个版本是古英语，起源于 5 世纪和 6 世纪，当时德国北部的部落抵达英格兰东部，该地区现在称为“东安格利亚”。 他们的日耳曼语言与现有的拉丁语和凯尔特语混合，成为古英语。 利兹大学英语讲师克里-安·布彻 (Kerri-Ann Butcher) 表示：“认为东安格利亚是我们所知道的最早的英语种类的起源是有道理的。” 在接下来的几个世纪里，英语吸收了来自荷兰和斯堪的纳维亚半岛等地的许多其他语言。 相关的语言变化并没有在全国范围内有序发生。

With all these different influences, the English language became messy and inconsistent. But in 1476, some spelling norms became standardised with the arrival of the printing press. Nowadays, the words 'blood', 'food' and 'good', which all contain two letter Os, sound different, but back then, they might have rhymed. Between the 12th and 18th centuries, something known as the Great Vowel Shift happened, where some vowel sounds across the country changed. For example, the vowel sound in 'foot' and 'strut' used to be pronounced the same, but then people in the south began pronouncing 'strut' differently. Danielle Turton, sociolinguist at Lancaster University, says the northern pronunciation is absolutely the original one. "It was the south that branched off and created this new vowel."
由于所有这些不同的影响，英语变得混乱且不一致。 但到了 1476 年，随着印刷机的出现，一些拼写规范变得标准化。 如今，“血液”、“食物”和“好”这三个词都包含两个字母O，听起来不同，但在当时，它们可能是押韵的。 在 12 世纪和 18 世纪之间，发生了被称为“元音大转变”的事情，全国各地的一些元音发音发生了变化。 例如，“foot”和“strut”的元音过去发音相同，但后来南方人开始以不同的方式发音“strut”。 兰卡斯特大学社会语言学家丹妮尔·特顿表示，北方发音绝对是最原始的发音。 “正是南方分支并创造了这个新的元音。”

So, there you have it. While East Anglia may have been the home of the earliest English sounds, it did not stick to the original pronunciations like accents in northern England did. And while many think Received Pronunciation is an older-sounding English, in fact, it didn't exist until the 18th century. The north of England wins!
那么，你就明白了。 虽然东安格利亚可能是最早英语发音的发源地，但它并不像英格兰北部的口音那样坚持原始发音。 尽管许多人认为标准发音是一种听起来更古老的英语，但事实上，它直到 18 世纪才出现。 英格兰北部获胜！

More hostages might be released in Gaza. VOA's Jeff Caster reports.
加沙可能会释放更多人质。美国之音记者杰夫·卡斯特（Jeff Caster）报道。

The U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas said in a statement Friday it is willing to release an American-Israeli hostage, Eden Alexander, along with the bodies of four dual nationals who died in captivity.
被美国认定为恐怖组织的哈马斯周五在一份声明中表示，愿意释放一名美裔以色列人质伊登·亚历山大（Eden Alexander），以及四名在囚禁期间死亡的双重国籍者。

The statement on Telegram did not say when the release would take place or what the group expected in return.
Telegram上的声明没有说明释放时间或该组织期望的回报。

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office is questioning the offer, accusing Hamas of trying to manipulate the ongoing cease-fire talks in Qatar.
以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的办公室对这一提议提出质疑，指责哈马斯试图操纵卡塔尔正在进行的停火谈判。

Netanyahu's office said the prime minister will meet with his ministerial team Saturday night to receive a detailed report from negotiators and decide on next steps for the release of hostages. Jeff Caster, VOA News.
内塔尼亚胡办公室表示，总理将于周六晚会见他的部长团队，听取谈判人员的详细报告，并决定释放人质的下一步措施。美国之音新闻记者杰夫·卡斯特报道。

South Africa's ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in the U.S. That's according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a post on X on Friday afternoon.
南非驻美国大使不再受到美国欢迎，从美国国务卿马尔科·卢比奥周五下午在X上的一篇文章中可以看出。

Rubio accused Ibrahim Rasool of being a "race-baiting politician" and declared him "persona non grata." No additional details were available from the State Department.
鲁比奥指责易卜拉欣·拉苏尔（Ibrahim Rasool）是“种族歧视政客”，并称他为“不受欢迎的人”。美国国务院没有提供更多细节。

An executive order was signed in early February by President Donald Trump that cut aid to the Black-led South African government.
2月初，唐纳德·特朗普总统签署了一项行政命令，削减了对黑人领导的南非政府的援助。

Trump said South Africa's white Afrikaners were targeted in a new law that allows the government to "expropriate private land."
特朗普表示，南非白人是新法律的目标，该法律允许政府“征用私人土地”。

Tit-for-tat tariffs from Mexico, Canada, the EU and China continue as the U.S. is set to impose new tariffs on April 2. VOA's Carolyn Presutti has the story.
随着美国定于4月2日征收新关税，墨西哥、加拿大、欧盟和中国继续针锋相对地征收关税。美国之音新闻记者卡罗琳·普雷苏蒂（Carolyn Presutti）报道了这一消息。

The unpredictability drives U.S. stocks wild. Analysts say if it continues, all governments lose. Jeffrey Schott is with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
这种不可预测性导致美国股市疯狂上涨。分析师表示，如果这种情况持续下去，所有政府都会蒙受损失。杰弗里·肖特（Jeffrey Schott）是彼得森国际经济研究所的研究员。
"They think that if they protect their economy, they're going to increase the productivity and the competitiveness of industries in their own market.
“他们认为，如果他们保护自己的经济，他们就会提高自己市场中各行业的生产力和竞争力。

And actually what they're doing is putting them at a disadvantage in terms of price and access to global markets."
而实际上，他们所做的是让他们处于价格和全球市场准入方面的劣势。”

The U.S. argues economic pain now will yield great results later. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: "the tariffs, we've got strategic industries we've got to have. We wanna protect the American worker that a lot of these trade deals haven't been fair."
美国认为，现在的经济痛苦将在以后产生巨大的效果。财政部长斯科特·贝森特说：“关税，我们必须拥有战略产业。我们想保护美国工人，因为很多贸易协定并不公平。”

The administration is sending a signal that it's not business as usual here. It's now more exports and less imports.
政府发出信号，表明这里的情况并不正常。现在是出口增加，进口减少。

The next round of tariffs goes into effect April 2. Carolyn Presutti, VOA News, the White House.
下一轮关税将于4月2日生效。美国之音新闻记者卡罗琳·普雷苏蒂在白宫报道。

Two astronauts who have been living on the International Space Station since June of last year are about to get their ride back to Earth.
自去年6月以来一直生活在国际空间站的两名宇航员即将乘坐飞船返回地球。

SpaceX launched four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday night to the space station.
SpaceX于周五晚上将四名宇航员从佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心送往空间站。

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been on the space station since their Boeing Starliner capsule suffered a malfunction and returned to Earth without them.
自从波音星际客机太空舱发生故障并独自返回地球后，巴里·威尔莫尔和苏尼·威廉姆斯就一直在空间站上。

Wilmore and Williams are expected back on Earth next week.
威尔莫尔和威廉姆斯预计将于下周返回地球。

Britain's leader encouraged his global counterparts to continue pushing for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine at the start of a virtual meeting Saturday intended to end the fighting between the two countries.
英国领导人在周六旨在结束两国战斗的虚拟会议开始时鼓励全球同行继续推动俄罗斯和乌克兰停火。

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a virtual meeting of mostly European leaders that "sooner or later" Russia would have to engage in talks on reaching a ceasefire in the three-year conflict.
英国首相基尔·斯塔默在主要由欧洲领导人参加的虚拟会议上表示，俄罗斯“迟早”必须参与谈判，以达成为期三年的冲突的停火协议。

He addressed the group, described as a "coalition of the willing,"
他向这个被描述为“自愿联盟”的组织发表讲话，

of mostly European leaders as well as those from Australia, New Zealand and Canada but not the United States.
该组织主要由欧洲领导人以及来自澳大利亚、新西兰和加拿大的领导人组成，但不包括美国领导人。

"Sooner or later, he's going to have to come to the table," Starmer said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
斯塔默谈到俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京时说：“迟早，他必须坐到谈判桌前。”俄罗斯于2022年2月24日入侵乌克兰。

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Moscow to accept a ceasefire deal agreed to by U.S. and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said "the ball is in Russia's court."
此前，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普敦促莫斯科接受美国和乌克兰代表团在沙特阿拉伯达成的停火协议，美国国务卿马尔科·鲁比奥曾表示“球在俄罗斯手中”。

Putin has said he agrees with a ceasefire in theory, but Russia still has certain conditions and questions that must be addressed before accepting any agreement.
普京表示，他理论上同意停火，但俄罗斯在接受任何协议之前仍需解决某些条件和问题。

In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that Putin is stalling and has demanded so many preconditions "that nothing will work out at all."
乌克兰总统泽连斯基在晚间视频讲话中暗示，普京在拖延，并提出了如此多的先决条件，“以至于什么都行不通”。

Meanwhile, the U.S. has expanded sanctions on Russian oil and gas as well as its financial sectors.
与此同时，美国扩大了对俄罗斯石油和天然气以及金融部门的制裁。

Saturday's discussion among world leaders could address future military and financial support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy's security concerns if a peace deal is reached.
如果达成和平协议，世界各国领导人周六的讨论可能会涉及未来对乌克兰的军事和财政支持以及泽连斯基的安全担忧。

Zelenskyy attended Saturday's online video session.
泽连斯基参加了周六的在线视频会议。

Visitors come to the U.S. Botanic Garden to enjoy the variety of plants and the peace and serenity of nature. This woman works nearby.
游客们来到美国国家植物园观赏各类植物，享受大自然带来的和平与宁静。这位女士在附近工作。

"Feels like a forest in a city, so I can be thinking about something else that worked for almost for 5 minutes, which is sometimes very nice."
“感觉就像城市里的森林，这样我能有大约五分钟时间思考其他事情。这一点很赞。”

Located on the national mall, the Botanic Garden is made up of 65,000 indoor and outdoor plants, some more than 165 years old.
这座植物园位于国家购物中心，植物园里共有65000株室内和室外植物，有的已经生长了165年多了。

Inside the conservatory, the greenhouse, there are rooms with plants that thrive in different environments, like this tropical room.
温室里有很多不同的房间，这些植物在不同的环境里生长，比如这间热带植物房。

Since its beginning, visitors have been educated about the value of plants.
从建园开始，植物园就一直向参观者们展示植物的价值。

"We still have a very important role to play in educating people about the importance of plants,
“我们在向公众普及植物重要性方面仍扮演着至关重要的角色。

particularly in urban audiences where people may not have a direct connection to a farm, may not understand where food in particular comes from."
尤其是对城市居民而言，他们可能从未接触过农场，甚至不清楚食物究竟从何而来。”

One of the Garden's main attractions are the four thousand orchid plants that come from around the world.
植物园的主要景点之一是来自世界各地的四千株兰花。

During the annual spring orchid show, a sea of flowers bloom including some that are endangered.
在一年一度的春季兰花展上，花海绽放，其中还包括一些濒危品种。

During the Christmas season, a very popular exhibit showcases toy trains, chugging through plants and structures made from plant-based materials.
圣诞节期间会有一场很受欢迎的展览，玩具小火车穿梭于由植物材料制成的植物和建筑之间。

As part of the bicentennial, the newest exhibit "Deeply Rooted, Branching Outward",
作为建园二百周年庆典的一部分，最新的展览“深根延展”，

highlights the scientific exploration of plants, which the garden hopes will give visitors.
突出展示了人类对植物的科学探索，园方期望借此为游客带来启发。

"So just a greater appreciation for plants, for plant discovery, for plant exploration."
“我们可以更好地观赏植物、重视植物发现、关注植物探索。”

The U.S. Botanic Garden is free and open every day, with more than 1 million visitors a year.
美国国家植物园每天都免费开放， 每年有100多万游客。

It has enlightened its guests for two centuries and will continue to for generations to come.
过去两百年以来，它一直启发着游客，并将继续为后世带来启示。

Candles, flowers, and handcrafted signs surround the United States Supreme Court in memory of justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died Friday. It just kind of crushed me.
蜡烛、鲜花和手工制作的标语环绕在美国最高法院周围，以纪念周五去世的大法官露丝·巴德·金斯伯格。这真的让我心碎。

While Ginsburg's health had been deteriorating for the past several years, her death stunned many Americans including president Donald Trump.
尽管金斯伯格的健康状况在过去几年里一直在恶化，但她的去世还是令包括总统唐纳德·特朗普在内的许多美国人感到震惊。

She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman.
她度过了非凡的一生。你还能说什么呢？她是一位了不起的女性。

Whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. I'm actually saddened to hear that. I am saddened to hear that.
无论你是否认同，她都是一位拥有非凡人生的非凡女性。听到这个消息我真的很难过。

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said she was not only a giant in the legal profession but a beloved figure.
民主党总统候选人乔·拜登表示，她不仅是法律界的巨擘，还是一位深受爱戴的人物。

She practiced the highest American ideals as a Justice: equality and justice under the law, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg stood for all of us.
作为大法官，她践行了美国最崇高的理想：法律面前人人平等与正义；露丝·巴德·金斯伯格代表着我们所有人。

I don't know a woman who's not going to be affected by this, I don't know a single one.
我认识的所有女性都受到了她的影响。

Ginsburg's advocacy for women's rights propelled her beyond legal stardom and into American pop culture.
金斯伯格对女性权利的倡导使她不仅成为法律界的明星，还融入了美国流行文化。

People started calling her the Notorious RBG, a reference to the famed rap artist Notorious B.I.G.
人们开始称她为“声名狼藉的RBG”，这是对著名说唱歌手声名狼藉先生的致敬。

Her status as a cultural icon grew when it was discovered the octogenarian worked out at the gym religiously, something that continued through the coronavirus pandemic.
当人们发现这位八旬老人一直坚持去健身房锻炼，甚至在新冠疫情期间也未曾中断时，她作为文化偶像的地位便愈发稳固。

Tributes to Ginsburg plastered the Brooklyn New York neighborhood in which she grew up.
向金斯伯格致敬的标语贴满了她成长的纽约布鲁克林社区。

William Brenneisen owns Ginsburg's childhood home.
威廉·布伦内森拥有金斯伯格童年时期的故居。

We've been here 47 years and we still hear her name during the course of all year, so she's not really forgotten.
我们在这里已经47年了，一整年里我们仍会时不时听到她的名字，所以她并没有真正被遗忘。

It was not lost on American Jews that Ginsburg died on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
美国犹太人都注意到，金斯伯格是在犹太新年前夕去世的。

But it was her fierce defense of women's rights that defines how she is being remembered.
但正是她对女性权利的坚定捍卫，定义了人们如何铭记她。

Well, she stood up for women. She was not swayed, easily swayed.
她为女性发声。她不会轻易动摇。

And she just had people's best interests at heart, viewed the world differently to a lot of men. I have great respect for her.
她只是把人们的最大利益放在心上，看待世界的方式与许多男性不同。我非常尊敬她。

Ginsburg will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, next to her husband Martin who died in 2010.
金斯伯格将被安葬在阿灵顿国家公墓，与她2010年去世的丈夫马丁葬在一起。