先導(dǎo)預(yù)習(xí)文案（先看在學(xué)）

Introduction

Some animals evolved to do nothing. And if it’s good enough for animals, would being lazy work for humans too? That’s what Beth and Neil talk about as they teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question

What is the slowest moving animal on earth?

a)??? the giant tortoise

b)??? the three-toed sloth

c)? ? the koala

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.?

Vocabulary

kick back
stop doing things and relax completely

industrious
hard-working

colony
group of certain animals, birds or insects that live together

productive
able to produce a lot for the amount of resources used

necessity is the mother of invention
(idiom) meaning that if you really need to do something, you will think of a way of doing it

switch off
stop worrying or thinking about something, and relax

?

Beth
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Beth.

Neil
And I’m Neil. Phew! I've spent all day in meetings, then shopping, then collecting the kids from school - I'm exhausted, Beth! What have you been doing today?

我是尼爾。棒極了！我花了一整天的時(shí)間開(kāi)會(huì)，然后購(gòu)物，然后從學(xué)校接孩子們——我累壞了，貝絲！你今天一直在做什么？

Beth
Oh, not much, just sitting around doing nothing… relaxing and?kicking back!

哦，不多，只是坐在那里什么都不做……放松和放松！

Neil
Lucky you! Don’t you have work to do?

祝你好運(yùn)！難道你沒(méi)有工作要做嗎？

Beth
It may not look it, Neil, but I’m actually as busy as a bee! If you’ve seen nature documentaries about worker bees flying from flower to flower, you probably think animals are always on the move. But the surprising truth is, away from the cameras, most animals spend most of the time doing absolutely nothing at all.

看起來(lái)可能不是這樣，尼爾，但我其實(shí)像蜜蜂一樣忙！如果你看過(guò)關(guān)于工蜂從一朵花飛到另一朵花的自然紀(jì)錄片，你可能會(huì)認(rèn)為動(dòng)物總是在移動(dòng)。但令人驚訝的事實(shí)是，遠(yuǎn)離攝像機(jī)，大多數(shù)動(dòng)物花了大部分時(shí)間，絕對(duì)什么都不做。

Neil
In the natural world where finding food and shelter is hard work, why have some animals evolved to do nothing? And if it’s good enough for animals, would being lazy work for humans too? That’s what we will be discussing in this programme, and as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

在自然界中，尋找食物和住所是一件艱苦的工作，為什么有些動(dòng)物進(jìn)化得什么都不做呢？如果它對(duì)動(dòng)物來(lái)說(shuō)足夠好，那么懶惰對(duì)人類也有用嗎？這就是我們將在這個(gè)節(jié)目中討論的內(nèi)容，像往常一樣，我們也將學(xué)習(xí)一些有用的新詞匯。

Beth
But first, let me work up the energy to ask you a question, Neil. Of course, some animals have a reputation for lounging about – lions, for example, can sleep up to twenty hours a day! But what is the slowest moving animal on Earth? Is it:
a)??? the giant tortoise
b)??? the three-toed sloth or
c)? ? the koala??

但首先，讓我集中精力來(lái)問(wèn)你一個(gè)問(wèn)題，尼爾。當(dāng)然，有些動(dòng)物以閑逛而聞名——例如，獅子每天可以睡20個(gè)小時(shí)！但是地球上移動(dòng)最慢的動(dòng)物是什么呢？是大烏龜，是三趾樹(shù)懶，還是考拉？

Neil
Well, I think it’s the three-toed sloth.

我想是三趾樹(shù)懶。

Beth
OK, Neil. I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. Now it’s no surprise that lazy lions love relaxing, but even animals with reputations for being busy spend time doing nothing. Look carefully into an ant's nest and you’ll see around half of them just sitting there motionless. Here’s Professor Dan Charbonneau, an expert in insect behaviour, discussing the lazy rock ant with Emily Knight, presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme, Naturebang.?

好的，尼爾。我將在節(jié)目結(jié)束時(shí)公布正確的答案。懶獅子喜歡放松也不奇怪了，但即使是忙碌的動(dòng)物也會(huì)花時(shí)間什么都不做。仔細(xì)觀察螞蟻的巢，你會(huì)看到大約一半的螞蟻一動(dòng)不動(dòng)地坐在那里。這是昆蟲(chóng)行為專家丹·夏博諾教授，他和BBC廣播4臺(tái)節(jié)目《自然爆炸》的主持人艾米麗·奈特討論了懶惰的搖滾螞蟻。

Emily Knight
Dan’s research has focused on ant?colonies, a species called?temnothorax rugatulus?or the rock ant.

丹的研究主要集中在蟻群上，一種被稱為巖蟻的物種。

Professor Dan Charbonneau
I think ants are a symbol of industriousness, you know, they have this whole tiny little society going on that's kind of similar to ours… some idealised version what humans might be if we could only pull it together and all work together we could be as?industrious?as the ants, but then when you look at it, roughly about half the colony is inactive at any given time.

我認(rèn)為螞蟻是勤奮的象征，你知道，它們有整個(gè)小社會(huì)，就像我們的一樣……一些理想化的版本如果我們能團(tuán)結(jié)起來(lái)，一起工作，我們可以像螞蟻一樣勤勞，但是當(dāng)你看它，大約一半的蟻群在任何特定的時(shí)間都是不活躍的。

Neil
We think ants are?industrious, or hard-working. Groups of ants, called?colonies, seem tiny, perfect societies where everyone works hard for the good of the group.

我們認(rèn)為螞蟻是勤勞的，或者說(shuō)是勤勞的。螞蟻群，看起來(lái)是小而完美的社會(huì)，每個(gè)人都為群體的利益而努力工作。

Beth
Then why are so many of them inactive? One possible answer is that they’re reserve ants, ready to step in if disease or disaster strike. But could it simply be that they don’t work because they don’t need to. Would you get out of bed on Monday morning if you didn’t have to?

那為什么有這么多的人不活躍呢？一個(gè)可能的答案是，它們是后備蟻，準(zhǔn)備在疾病或?yàn)?zāi)難襲擊時(shí)介入。但也可能只是因?yàn)樗鼈儾还ぷ?，因?yàn)樗鼈儾恍枰ぷ鳌Ｈ绻悴挥玫脑?，你周一早上?huì)起床嗎？

Neil
Maybe the ants can teach us a thing or two about relaxing. But wouldn't it get boring just sitting around all day?

也許螞蟻可以教給我們一兩件關(guān)于放松的事情。但整天坐在一起會(huì)不會(huì)很無(wú)聊嗎？

Beth
Not according to psychologist, Dr Sandi Mann. She thinks being?productive?– working to produce a lot for the amount of resources we use, is overrated. Boredom has its benefits too, as she explains to BBC Radio 4 programme, Naturebang.

而不是根據(jù)心理學(xué)家桑蒂·曼恩博士的說(shuō)法。她認(rèn)為高效——為我們使用的資源生產(chǎn)大量資源，被高估了。正如她向BBC廣播4臺(tái)的節(jié)目《自然爆炸》解釋的那樣，無(wú)聊也有它的好處。

Dr Sandi Mann
Would humans have invented bread or beer or fire, you know, if we hadn't been bored and were wondering, ‘what on earth would happen if we mix this with this?’, you know. Are all these sorts of?inventions the mother of boredom?

你知道，如果我們不是很無(wú)聊，還在想，如果我們把它和火混合在一起，人類會(huì)發(fā)明面包、啤酒或火嗎？你懂的所有這些發(fā)明都是無(wú)聊之母嗎？

Emily Knight
But in this world of constant stimulation?switching off?is harder than it's ever been.

但在這個(gè)持續(xù)刺激的世界里，關(guān)閉刺激比以往任何時(shí)候都要困難。

Dr Sandi Mann
That's why we're constantly swiping and scrolling and looking for the next big thing, and the new thing and we bored of things very quickly… so it's a kind of paradox to get rid of this unpleasant state of boredom is actually to allow more boredom into your life.

這就是為什么我們不斷地滑動(dòng)、滾動(dòng)，尋找下一個(gè)大事物，而新事物和我們很快就厭倦了事物……所以，擺脫這種不愉快的無(wú)聊狀態(tài)的一種矛盾，實(shí)際上是讓你的生活中有更多的無(wú)聊。

Beth
Dr Mann doubts humans would have invented things without the curiosity that comes from being bored. Boredom is the mother of invention, an idea based on the famous proverb,?necessity is the mother of invention, an idiom meaning that if you really need to do something, you will think of a way of doing it.

曼恩博士懷疑，如果沒(méi)有無(wú)聊所產(chǎn)生的好奇心，人類是否會(huì)發(fā)明出東西。無(wú)聊是發(fā)明之母，一個(gè)基于著名諺語(yǔ)的想法，必要是發(fā)明之母，一個(gè)習(xí)語(yǔ)的意思是，如果你真的需要做一件事，你就會(huì)想出一種做它的方法。

Neil
Instead of fearing boredom we can open up to its benefits by?switching off?- stopping worrying or thinking about something and relaxing. Slowing down helps too - something we can definitely learn from our animal cousins.

與其擔(dān)心無(wú)聊，我們可以通過(guò)停止擔(dān)心或思考和放松來(lái)開(kāi)放它的好處。放慢速度也有幫助——我們肯定可以從我們的動(dòng)物表親身上學(xué)到這些東西。

Beth
I think now’s a good time to reveal the answer to my question, since we have nothing else to do.

我認(rèn)為現(xiàn)在是揭示我的問(wèn)題的答案的好時(shí)機(jī)，因?yàn)槲覀儧](méi)有別的事可做。

Neil
You asked me to name the world’s slowest animal and I guessed it was the three-toed sloth. Was I right?

你讓我說(shuō)出世界上最慢的動(dòng)物的名字，我猜那是三趾樹(shù)懶。我是對(duì)的嗎？

Beth
That was the correct answer! With a top speed of 30 centimetres per minute, three-toed sloths move so slowly that algae grow on their coats! OK, let's recap the vocabulary that we've learned from this programme starting with the phrase?kicking back?– stop doing things and relax completely.

這是正確的答案！三趾樹(shù)懶的最高速度為每分鐘30厘米，移動(dòng)速度如此之慢，藻類在它們的皮毛上生長(zhǎng)！好吧，讓我們回顧一下我們從這個(gè)節(jié)目中學(xué)到的詞匯，從后退開(kāi)始——停止做事，完全放松。

Neil
The adjective?industrious?means hard-working.?

形容詞勤奮的意思是勤奮。

Beth
A?colony?is the name given to a group of certain animals including ants and some seabirds.

群體是一群某些動(dòng)物的名字，包括螞蟻和一些海鳥(niǎo)。

Neil
Someone who is?productive?is able to produce a lot for the amount of resources they use.

有生產(chǎn)力的人能夠根據(jù)他們所使用的資源產(chǎn)生大量的資源。

Beth
The proverb?necessity is the mother of invention,?means that if you really need to do something, you will think of a way of doing it.

諺語(yǔ)的必要性是發(fā)明之母，意思是如果你真的需要做某件事，你就會(huì)想到一種方法。

Neil
And finally, to?switch off?means to stop worrying or thinking about something and relax. Once again, our six minutes are up – it must be time to sit down, close your eyes, and just do nothing! Goodbye for now!

最后，關(guān)掉意味著停止擔(dān)心或思考事情，放松。再一次，我們的六分鐘結(jié)束了——是時(shí)候坐下，閉上眼睛，什么也不做！再見(jiàn)了！

Beth
Bye!

?