Hello. This is 6 Minute English and I'm Rob.

大家好。這里是六分鐘英語，我是羅伯。

And I'm Neil.

我是尼爾。

Today we're talking about buttons.

今天我們將要討論“buttons”。

Yes, buttons. Buttons are what we have on our clothes to fasten them, but the word is also used for things that we push to make things happen.

是的，“buttons”?！癇uttons”是我們衣服上扣緊的東西，但是那個(gè)單詞同樣用來指我們另事情發(fā)生所按下的東西。

Things like your bedside alarm, radio, toaster, kettle. We press hundreds of buttons every week without thinking about it. Not everyone likes buttons though, particularly the ones we have on our clothes. It's a recognised phobia. What is this fear called?Is it

A: buttonophobia B: koumpounophobia, or C: coulrophobia?

Any ideas Neil?

像是你床頭的鬧鐘，收音機(jī)，烤箱，電燒水壺。我們每周不假思索地按上百次的按鈕。然而并不是每個(gè)人都喜歡“buttons”，特別是我們衣服上面的紐扣。它是一種公認(rèn)的恐懼癥。這種恐懼被叫做什么？是A：buttonophobia B： koumpounophobia，還是 C：coulrophobia？有什么想法嗎，尼爾？

Er, I think I've got a fear of pronouncing these words!No idea what the answer is, I think buttonophobia is much too obvious, so it's one of the others or is it?It's a hard one.

額，我覺得我有這些單詞發(fā)音的恐懼癥。答案是什么并沒頭緒，我覺得“buttonophobia”太明顯，所以是另外兩個(gè)中的一個(gè)，或者就是它？題很難。

Well, I'll have the answer later in the programme. Thinking Allowed is a BBC Radio 4 programme which covers a range of interesting topics. Recently, they featured a discussion about buttons and how important they are to everyday life. Steven Connor, Professor of English at the University of Cambridge, was on the programme and he talked about appeal of buttons. What does say about children and buttons?

好的，稍后我將在節(jié)目中揭曉答案。Thinking Allowed是BBC廣播4頻道節(jié)目，它涵蓋一些列有趣的話題。最近他們做了一期討論按鈕以及其在日常生活中重要性的專題節(jié)目。劍橋大學(xué)英文教授史蒂文·康納做客該節(jié)目并談到了按鈕的吸引力。關(guān)于孩子和按鈕，他說了什么？

We do love buttons and I think the pleasure and the temptation of buttons... this temptation and everyone feels it, which is why buttons have to be very convenient. On the other hand they have to be kept away from children, so they've got to be put high up on the wall,and buttons that really matter, have to be made quite hard to push - like put behind glass or something.

我們確實(shí)喜歡按鈕，而且我覺得按按鈕的快感和誘惑……這種誘惑每個(gè)人都能感受到，這也是為什么按鈕要非常便利。另一方面按鈕必須要遠(yuǎn)離孩子，所以它們要安裝在墻上高處，而且按鈕真的很重要，必須要做得很難按到，像安在玻璃或者其它東西后面。

OK. What does he say about children and buttons?

好的。關(guān)于孩子和按鈕，他說了什么？

That they have to be kept away from them!As I said before, I loved pressing buttons as a child. I would press any that I saw, so important ones did have to be out of my reach.

按鈕必須要遠(yuǎn)離孩子！就像我之前說的，我還是孩子的時(shí)候很愛按按鈕。我會(huì)按我看到的所有按鈕，所以重要的按鈕必須讓我夠不著。

Yes, he said buttons are a temptation. A temptation is something that makes you want to do something,and it's often used when it's something you shouldn't really do. So buttons that lead to potentially dangerous or serious consequences, like a fire alarm, need to be protected, maybe behind glass,so temptation doesn't get the better of us.

是的，他說按鈕是一個(gè)誘惑。誘惑是令你想做某些事情的事物，而且它經(jīng)常用于當(dāng)你想做的事情并不是你真的應(yīng)該做的事情時(shí)。所以導(dǎo)致潛在危險(xiǎn)或者嚴(yán)重后果的按鈕，例如火災(zāi)警報(bào)器，或許需要裝在玻璃后面，所以誘惑就不會(huì)左右我們。

But many buttons have a useful, practical purpose in everyday life, like calling a lift - so these buttons have to be easy to use without difficulty. The adjective for this is 'convenient'. These everyday buttons have to be convenient.

但是一些按鈕在日常生活中很有用，很實(shí)用，就像升降電梯，所以這些按鈕一定要使用方便無困難。這個(gè)的形容詞是“便利的”。這些日常生活中的按鈕必須要便利。

Professor Connor goes on to say a bit more about why buttons are so appealing. What's his opinion?

康納教授繼續(xù)談到更多關(guān)于為什么紐扣如此吸引人的內(nèi)容。他的觀點(diǎn)是什么？

You know what I think?I think it's down to the fidgeting instinct of very digital or manual creatures. I think we want to fidget with things and adjust them, we want to make them slightly better... I guess it's the grooming instinct in apes.

你知道我想什么嗎？我認(rèn)為這要?dú)w結(jié)于有手指或腳趾，或者手能進(jìn)行操作的動(dòng)物的坐立不安本能。我覺得我們想要用手?jǐn)[弄東西，調(diào)整它們，我們想要讓它們更好一些……我猜它是猿類打理自己的本能。

So then, why can't we resist buttons?

所以我們?yōu)槭裁吹挚共蛔“粹o的誘惑呢？

Because as humans we have a fidgeting instinct. We can't stay still for very long, we need to move around a lot because we are very digital creatures.

因?yàn)樽鳛槿祟?，我們本能上?huì)坐立不安，亂動(dòng)。我們不能待著不動(dòng)很長時(shí)間，我們需要大量地走來走去，因?yàn)槲覀兦『檬怯惺种富蚰_趾的生物。

The use of digital though, is nothing to do with modern online technology, is it?

然而“digital”這個(gè)詞的使用和現(xiàn)代網(wǎng)絡(luò)科技沒什么關(guān)系，是吧？

No, 'a digit' is a finger or toe. So we are digital creatures - we have fingers and we like to use them.

沒關(guān)系，“a digit”是手指或腳趾。所以我們是有手指或者腳趾的生物——我們有手指并且我們喜歡用手指。

And one thing other digital creatures do, creatures like apes, is grooming. That is they use their hands to clean the body hair of other apes. They look through the hair for insects and bugs and pull them out and eat them. But we can also use the word grooming for humans,someone who is well-groomed for example is neat and tidy, clean and well presented. Here's Professor Connor again.

其它有手指或者腳趾的生物所做的一件事，像猿類，就是打理自己。那是說它們用自己的手清理其它猿類的毛發(fā)。它們本能用手抓過頭發(fā)找昆蟲和臭蟲，把它們抓出來吃掉。但是我們同樣用“grooming”這個(gè)詞形容人類，例如梳妝打扮好的某人是干凈整潔的，身上干干凈凈，表現(xiàn)得很好。再聽一下康納博士是怎么說的。

You know what I think?I think it's down to the fidgeting instinct of very digital or manual creatures. I think we want to fidget with things and adjust them, we want to make them slightly better... I guess it's the grooming instinct in apes.

你知道我想什么嗎？我認(rèn)為這要?dú)w結(jié)于有手指或腳趾，或者手能進(jìn)行操作的動(dòng)物的坐立不安本能。我覺得我們想要用手?jǐn)[弄東西，調(diào)整它們，我們想要讓它們更好一些……我猜它是猿類的打理自己的本能。

Before we wrap up, time to get the answer to this week's question. Some people have a fear of buttons, it's a recognised phobia,but what's it called?Is it A: buttonophobia B: koumpounophobia, or C: coulrophobia?And Neil, you said?

但是在我們結(jié)束之前，是時(shí)候揭曉這周問題的答案了。一些人對(duì)紐扣有恐懼，那是一種公認(rèn)的恐懼癥，但是它叫做什么？是A：buttonophobia B： koumpounophobia， 還是 C： coulrophobia？尼爾，你說是什么？

Well, I didn't, but I don't think it can be 'buttonophobia', that'd be too easy. And I think coulrophobia is a fear of clowns,so I'm going for the other one - koumpounophobia.

好吧，我不知道，但是我不認(rèn)為是“buttonophobia”，那太簡單了。我覺得“coulrophobia”是對(duì)小丑的恐懼，所以我說是另一個(gè)“koumpounophobia”。

That it right. Buttonophobia is a made up word, and as you said, coulrophobia is a fear of clowns. Right, now let's review today's vocabulary.

正確?！癇uttonophobia”是一個(gè)編的詞，而且正如你所說，“coulrophobia”是對(duì)小丑的恐懼。好的，現(xiàn)在讓我們回顧一下今天的詞匯。

We've been talking about buttons. These can be small round things we use to fasten our clothes, or the things that we push to make something happen.

我們談到了“buttons”。這些是我們用來扣緊衣服的小個(gè)圓形物體，或者是我們按下另事情發(fā)生的事物。

Buttons can be a temptation. We see one, we want to push it. So a temptation is something that makes us want to do something we know we shouldn't.

按鈕能是一種誘惑?？吹揭粋€(gè)就想按一個(gè)。所以“誘惑”是讓我們做我們想做的事情的事物，但我們知道我們不應(yīng)該做。

And then we had the adjective convenient. Something that is convenient is easy to use without difficulty. For example the buttons to call a lift are at a very convenient height, they can be reached easily.

然后我們提到了形容詞“便利的”。某事物便利就是方便使用無困難。例如升降電梯的按鈕在一個(gè)非常方便的高度，它們能夠輕松被夠到。

Professor Connor went on to talk about our fidgeting instinct. As humans we love to fidget, we like to keep moving around, we can't stay still for very long and we love to do stuff with our hands.

康納教授繼續(xù)談到了坐立不安本能。作為人類，我們喜歡亂動(dòng)，我們喜歡一直動(dòng)來動(dòng)去，我們沒法待著不動(dòng)很長時(shí)間，而且我們喜歡用手做事。

The professor talked about us being digital creatures, which means creatures with fingers. A digit is another word for a finger or toe.

教授談到我們是“digital creatures”，那指的是有手指或者腳趾的生物?！癆 digit”是手指或腳趾的另一個(gè)單詞。

And finally we had grooming.

最后我們提到了“grooming”。

This is the habit of making ourselves look nice by cleaning, washing and doing our hair. It's something some animals, such as apes, do for each other.

這是通過清潔，清洗，打理頭發(fā)讓我們看起來好看的習(xí)慣。它也是某些動(dòng)物所做的事情，像是猿類為彼此所做的事情。

Well, the button here in the studio is flashing, which tells me it's time to wrap up for today. Bye for now.

好的，演播室這里的按鈕正在閃，那告訴我是時(shí)候結(jié)束今天的節(jié)目了。再見了。

Bye!Can I just press that button?

拜！我能按下那個(gè)按鈕嗎？

Oh, go on then, if you like!

噢，當(dāng)然，如果你喜歡的話！