英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

This is a slime mold. Cat Chang is an urban designer. But in her spare time, she likes to examine other life-forms.
这是一种黏菌。凯特·张是一名城市设计师。但在业余时间，她喜欢研究其他生命。

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been interested in the natural world. We're native Hawaiian. Our family and my grandmother would take me around her yard.
从我还是个小女孩起，我就对自然界感兴趣。我们是夏威夷原住民。我的家人和祖母会带我在她的院子里转转。

She would show us all the plants and how you use them. And later when I was interested in learning about fungi, I didn't have anybody to help me with it.
她会向我们展示所有的植物以及如何使用它们。后来当我对学习真菌感兴趣时，却没有人能在这方面帮助我。

Someone suggested iNaturalist to me, and it's on your cell phone.
有人向我推荐了iNaturist， 在手机上就可以使用。

iNaturalist is a joint initiative of National Geographic and the California Academy of Sciences.
iNaturist是国家地理和加州科学院联合发起的应用。

Essentially, people can take a photo of anything living, plants, animal, fungus, slime mold, put it on the website and other people identify it.
从本质上讲，人们可以给任何生物拍照，比如植物、动物、真菌、黏菌，然后把照片上传到网站上，由其他人来识别它们。

The app compares the image with those already in the database to begin the identification process. But ultimately, human experts weigh in.
该应用程序将图像与数据库中已有的图像进行比对，以启动识别过程。但最终，还需要人类专家进行评估。

The best part of it is there's a community of people that can also participate.
最棒的部分就是有一个我们可以参与进来的社区。

It's used by scientists to collect data, and actually write papers, as well as just amateur people who are really interested in getting more involved and caring more about nature.
科学家们用它来收集数据，甚至撰写论文，同样适用于那些真正热衷于更深入参与、更加关心自然的业余爱好者。

This time of year, I'm particularly looking for salamanders. Oh, there he is poking out of the wood although.
每年这个时候，我特别喜欢找蝾螈。它正从木头里探出头来呢。

And I always like to see mammals, they're one of my favorites, and birds of course. I have almost 55,000 observations. It's a lot.
我总是喜欢观察哺乳动物，它们是我的最爱之一，当然还有鸟类。我已经记录了近55000条观察记录。这数量相当多。

iNaturalist has observations from every country in the world. Right now, I believe we have over 26 million observations and about 700,000 active users.
iNaturalist拥有来自世界各国的观察记录。目前，我相信我们已经收集了超过2600万条观察记录，拥有约70万活跃用户。

This collaboration across continents led recently to a surprising discovery in California.
这种跨大洲的合作最近在加利福尼亚州有了一个惊人的发现。

The type of giant sunfish whose normal habitat is thousands of miles to the south, an indication perhaps of a rapidly changing world.
这种巨型太阳鱼的正常栖息地在数千英里以南，这或许表明世界正在迅速变化。

My name is Dwayne Hendrickson and I'm from Minot, North Dakota, about 50 miles out of Keif.
我叫德韦恩·亨德里克森，来自北达科他州米诺特市，距离基夫约50英里。

But my grandparents lived on a farm near Kief prior to 1968 and a small-town community that everybody knew everybody and everybody helped everybody.
但在1968年之前，我的祖父母住在基夫附近的农场里，那是一个小镇社区，每个人都认识彼此，每个人都互相帮助。

And it was just a different atmosphere, a different atmosphere of listening to people who didn't speak English, and you were trying to figure out what they were saying.
那是一种不同的氛围，人们听着那些不会说英语的人讲话，然后试图弄明白他们在说什么。

My father came from Germany. He's a Helme from Germany. His dad got on a ship over at Odessa, Russia and came over here in 1902.
我父亲来自德国。他是德国赫尔姆人。他的父亲在1902年从俄罗斯的敖德萨登上一艘船来到了这里。

And then he homesteaded in 1905. He found some land and he homesteaded.
然后他在1905年申请了宅基地。他找到了一块地并申请了宅基地。

And if they homesteaded, was I believe 160 acres, and if they lived on it for five years, then they got the title.
他们安顿下来后，我记得是160英亩，要是他们在那片土地上住满五年，就能获得土地所有权。

The train came out here and this is what they used to call a tank town. They had a big water tank for the old steam locomotive.
火车开到这里，这就是他们过去常说的“水塔镇”。他们为老式蒸汽机车建了一个大水塔。

It would stop here and fill up water and then go again. And that's where people settled because they were able to ride the train and the train brought in all the goods.
它会在这里停下来加水，然后再出发。而人们之所以在此定居，是因为他们可以乘坐火车，火车还运来了各种货物。

Mainly lumber, mainly lumber so that they could build houses and stuff and then, passengers stopped riding it. It was back in the 50s.
主要是用来建房子之类的木材；后来，乘客不再乘坐它了。那是在20世纪50年代。

My folks were born, I mean, born here and stuff. My mom is a German and my dad is a Russian or a Ukrainian. A lot of them got old.
我的父母是在这里出生的。我妈妈是德国人，我爸爸是俄罗斯人或乌克兰人。他们很多人都老了。

I mean, like, Michalanko's up there. They had a gas station there. And then Benny Krueger's, he just passed away a few years ago.
比如，米哈兰科一家住在那里。他们在那里开了个加油站。还有本尼·克鲁格，他几年前刚去世。

A lot of them got old. I mean like Ischenkos, Shevchenko's, Karoenkos, Dislevys.
很多人都变老了。像依科兰克斯、史福克兰可、卡罗恩克斯和迪斯莱维斯都老了。

The researchers discovered that the European hedgehog can hear up to 85kHz, a frequency that's considered ultrasonic, far higher than humans who stop hearing past 20kHz.
研究人员发现，西欧刺猬能听到达到 85 千赫的声音，这已属于超声波频段，远高于人类 20 千赫的听觉上限。

The team now wants to develop sound repellents to be used in cars or lawnmowers that could emit noise at a frequency to scare off hedgehogs.
基于此发现，该团队目前正致力于开发出能安装在汽车或割草机上的声音驱赶器，通过发射特定频率的噪音来吓跑刺猬。

Thousands of hedgehogs a year are killed in road collisions, and the scientists say the discovery could be a game changer. It could also reveal if the animals communicate to each other using noises that humans can't hear.
每年都有数千只刺猬在马路上被撞死，而科学家们表示，这项新发现可能会彻底改变现状。它或许还能揭示这些动物是否会利用人类听觉范围之外的声音进行交流。

Lots of places sell or advertise collagen supplements, but what are the benefits of taking them on a daily basis? A new scientific review by a team from Anglia Ruskin University, published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum, has looked into exactly this, and here's what it found.
很多地方都销售或宣传胶原蛋白补充剂，但每天服用胶原蛋白究竟有哪些益处？安格利亚鲁斯金大学的一个团队在《美容外科杂志开放论坛》上发表了一项研究，针对这个问题进行了深入探讨，以下是其研究发现。

Let's start with the basics. What is collagen? Well, it's a type of protein found naturally in the body. It supports and strengthens the skin, nails, bone and connective tissues. But the amount the body makes drops with age.
首先从最基本的概念说起。胶原蛋白是什么？它是一种天然存在于体内的蛋白质。胶原蛋白支撑并加固皮肤、指甲、骨骼和结缔组织。但其合成速度随着年龄增长而下降。

The team behind this review assessed the results of 113 trials involving nearly 8,000 people, and say it brings together the strongest evidence to dateon collagen supplements. They say it shows the pills orpowderscan offer some realskin-rejuvenatinggains. Taken daily, the protein can improveskin toneorelasticityandmoisture, but it doesn't appear to prevent other signs of ageing, such aswrinkles. The researchers also say supplements can boost collagen levels to easejoint painandstiffnessfromwear-and-tear arthritis.
该研究团队评估了涉及 8000 人的 113 个试验结果，并表示这是迄今为止对胶原蛋白补充剂的效果最强有力的证据。研究指出，服用胶原蛋白片或胶原蛋白粉确实能带来一定的 “焕肤” 功效。坚持每天服用，胶原蛋白可以改善肤色、弹性和水分，但似乎无法预防其它老化痕迹，比如皱纹。研究人员还表示，这些补充剂可以提升胶原蛋白水平，从而缓解由磨损性关节炎导致的关节疼痛与僵硬。

Experts say consumers should be cautious about bold anti-ageing claims and weigh up the potential benefits against the price. And there are several types of supplements people can take, including marine from fish, bovine from cows and vegan collagen. The review was unable to show if any worked better than the others.
专家表示，消费者应该警惕夸张的抗衰老宣传，并权衡潜在的益处和价格。目前市面上有多种胶原蛋白补充剂可供选择，包括鱼胶原、牛胶原和纯素胶原蛋白。这篇综述尚无法证实其中哪一种的效果更好。

We all know the feeling. You have a big, difficult task to complete, but your phone is on the desk next to you, teasing you with endless distraction opportunities. What's happening on social media? What's going on in the news? Who's messaging me? This constant bombardment of information through our screens, coupled with a tendency to outsource even basic tasks to technology, might be making us unhappier and more resistant to difficult tasks. Is 'friction-maxxing' the answer?
我们都知道这种感觉。 你有一项艰巨的任务要完成，但你的手机就放在你旁边的桌子上，给你带来无尽的分心机会。 社交媒体上发生了什么？ 新闻里发生了什么？ 谁给我发消息？ 这种通过屏幕不断轰炸的信息，加上甚至将基本任务外包给技术的趋势，可能会让我们更加不快乐，并且更加抵制困难的任务。 “最大摩擦力”是答案吗？

Humans like to choosethe path of least resistance to conserve energy, but actually, tasks that require more effort often feel more meaningful. Friction-maxxing is a new trend which aims to rebuild our tolerance for inconvenience. In a basic sense, this involves adding more 'friction' to tasks so that they require more time, effort or patience, which, in theory, leads to greater feelings of satisfaction and reward. A series of experiments carried out in 2012 by researchers Norton, Mochon and Ariely found that when people built their own furniture, they had a greater sense of their own competence and pride in their creations.
人类喜欢选择阻力最小的路径来节省能量，但实际上，需要付出更多努力的任务往往感觉更有意义。 最大摩擦是一种新趋势，旨在重建我们对不便的容忍度。 从基本意义上讲，这涉及给任务增加更多的“摩擦”，从而需要更多的时间、精力或耐心，从理论上讲，这会带来更大的满足感和奖励感。 2012 年，研究人员 Norton、Mochon 和 Ariely 进行了一系列实验，结果发现，当人们自己制作家具时，他们对自己的能力和创作的自豪感会更强。

Our brains operate on a 'use it or lose it' principle, says Gloria Mark, psychologist and author of book 'Attention Span'. To keep new brain neurons alive, we must keep using them by continuing to do effortful tasks. If we rely too much on technology, we risk weakening our mental skills. Many of us use GPS apps to direct us around a city, but overusing these apps appears to be reducing our natural sense of direction, according to a study published in the Scientific Reports journal by Dahmani and Bohbot. On the other hand, studies show that cognitively stimulating activities which require more patience, like reading, doing puzzles and learning an instrument, can preserve our brain function as we age.
心理学家、《注意力广度》一书的作者格洛丽亚·马克 (Gloria Mark) 表示，我们的大脑遵循“使用它或失去它”的原则。 为了让新的大脑神经元保持活力，我们必须通过继续完成艰苦的任务来继续使用它们。 如果我们过度依赖技术，我们的心理技能就有可能被削弱。 根据 Dahmani 和 Bohbot 在《科学报告》杂志上发表的一项研究，我们中的许多人都使用 GPS 应用程序在城市中导航，但过度使用这些应用程序似乎会降低我们自然的方向感。 另一方面，研究表明，需要更多耐心的认知刺激活动，如阅读、做谜题和学习乐器，可以随着年龄的增长保护我们的大脑功能。

Some are unconvinced by the 'friction-maxxing' trend. Psychologist and author of 'The Distracted Mind', Larry Rosen, believes it's too hard to resist the convenience technology provides. The trend doesn't hurt, says Gloria Mark. "If people are putting in effort, it makes them more intentional and thoughtful." Perhaps by taking the easy route, we're missing out on some of life's enjoyment.
有些人对“最大摩擦”趋势不相信。 心理学家、《分心的思维》一书的作者拉里·罗森认为，人们很难抗拒科技带来的便利。 格洛丽亚·马克 (Gloria Mark) 表示，这种趋势并没有什么坏处。 “如果人们付出努力，他们就会变得更加有意和周到。” 也许因为走捷径，我们会错过一些生活的乐趣。