20 quadrillion sounds like a lot of ants, and it is. To give you an idea, that's two and a half million ants for every human on Earth. 20千万亿听起来像是很多只蚂蚁，事实也确实如此。这就相当于地球上每一个人对应250万只蚂蚁。 
To count them at one a second would take 634 million years. So, no one's tried that. 以每秒数一只蚂蚁的速度，要6.34亿年才能数完。所以，没有人尝试过。
But the scientists involved in this report have made their estimate by consulting hundreds of studies from different habitats around the world. 然而参与这项研究的科学家们通过查阅世界各地不同蚂蚁栖息地的数百项研究做出了估算。 
The study warns that the staggering figure may be an underestimate because of the lack of data from regions including Central Africa and Asia. 该研究提醒，由于缺少包括中非和亚洲等地区的数据，所以尽管这个数字惊人，但可能仍低估了蚂蚁的实际数量。
词汇表quadrillion 一千万亿
give someone an idea 让某人大致了解情况
estimate 估算，估计
consulting 查阅
staggering 惊人的
underestimate 低估



第2155期:New study reveals how many ants there are in the world

【更新时间】每天早上8点。【发布内容】每天一篇免费的BBC、VOA等听力节目，请记得点赞和评论哦。【节目特性】国际化口音，益于学习和工作。英文字幕，简介中附带中文翻译。. 付费节目：可学到与免费节目不同的知识，如：口语发音和表达等。【主播会员】加入我们的会员，您可以极低价(日均低至2毛至5角)畅听所有的节目，无需单节目付费，还可以在粉丝圈子中学习专属知识，与主播互动反馈，享受与非会员不同的诸多额外权益。【温馨提示】有经济负担的同学可学习每天的免费节目，也可以加入圈子学习免费知识及反馈您的需求，我们会尽量分享。付费节目只会以平台规定的最低价定价，不想给您带来额外的负担，由于会员定价更低廉，建议加入会员比单期购买节目更划算。探索英语世界，赶紧加入我们的圈子和会员，提升英语水平，开启更广阔的英语视野！

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Education

Training

Language Courses

Higher Education

K-12

Educational Technology

Hobbies

Games & Hobbies

Leisure

Language Learning

Imagine for a moment you've travelled 2,000 years into the future. Which human foods do you think would stand the test of time, and would any of it still be edible? To find out, we first need to understand what makes food go off. 想象一下您穿越到 2000 年后的未来。您认为哪些人类食物能够经受住时间的考验，其中有哪些仍然可以食用？为了找到答案，我们首先需要了解食物变质的原因。 
Food preservation's main opponent is microbial growth. An expert in food chemistry, Michael Sulu, says most foods spoil for that reason. When things like bacteria, mould and yeast grow on your food, it can become pathogenic, and food causing disease is best avoided! So, how can we limit their growth? 食品保鲜的主要对手是微生物的生长。食品化学专家迈克尔·苏鲁表示，大多数食物都会因为这个原因而变质。当细菌、霉菌和酵母等物质在食物上生长时，就会变得致病，最好避免食用引起疾病的食物！那么，我们怎样才能限制它们的增长呢？ 
Microbes love oxygen and water, so the key is to starve them of it. We can do this by drying, salting, chilling, or storing the food in airtight containers. According to Sulu, drying is the most effective because without water, microbes can't multiply. Freezing works in the short-term, but explorers who have found ancient frozen animals initially thought the meat looked edible, but once defrosted, it immediately became putrid, which doesn't sound at all palatable! 微生物喜欢氧气和水，所以关键是让它们挨饿。我们可以通过干燥、腌制、冷藏或将食物储存在密封容器中来做到这一点。苏鲁表示，干燥是最有效的，因为没有水，微生物就无法繁殖。冷冻在短期内是有效的，但发现古代冷冻动物的探险家最初认为这些肉看起来可以吃，但一旦解冻，它立即变得腐烂，听起来一点也不好吃！ 
But how can we make our favourite foods longer-lasting if we don't want to dry, salt or freeze them? That's where additives and preservatives come in. These chemicals help to improve the shelf life of our supermarket items, but it means the food becomes ultra-processed. High consumption of ultra-processed food is linked to problems like depression and obesity, according to a review of the research by Pagliai and colleagues in the British Journal of Nutrition. 但是，如果我们不想干燥、加盐或冷冻我们最喜欢的食物，如何才能让它们保存得更长久呢？这就是添加剂和防腐剂的用武之地。这些化学物质有助于延长超市商品的保质期，但这意味着食品会被过度加工。根据 Pagliai 及其同事在《英国营养学杂志》上发表的一项研究综述，大量食用超加工食品与抑郁和肥胖等问题有关。 
So, what's going to be safe for us to eat in our hypothetical time travel scenario? "I would start off with anything that is vacuum-packed or dried as well," says Sulu. If you can't find any of that, you could go to the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, where there are almost one million samples of seeds from all over the world. They're in vaults designed to last forever, buried beneath the Arctic permafrost, so either eat the seeds, or start repopulating the plant world! 那么，在假设的时间旅行场景中，我们吃什么是安全的呢？“我会从任何真空包装或干燥的东西开始，”苏鲁说。如果你找不到这些，你可以去挪威斯瓦尔巴群岛的全球种子库，那里有来自世界各地的近一百万个种子样本。它们位于北极永久冻土层下的永久冻土库中，所以要么吃掉种子，要么开始重新繁衍植物世界！
词汇表stand the test of time 经得起时间的考验
edible 可食用的
go off （食物）变坏
food preservation 食品保存
microbial growth 微生物生长
spoil （食物）变坏，变质
bacteria 细菌
mould 霉菌
yeast 酵母菌
pathogenic 可致病的
salting 用食盐腌制
airtight 密封的
defrost 解冻
putrid 腐烂的，腐坏的
palatable 美味的，可口的
long-lasting 持久的，长期的
additives 添加剂
preservatives 防腐剂
shelf life 保质期
ultra-processed 超加工的
vacuum-packed 真空包装的
permafrost 永冻层，永久冻土



第2202期:Which foods will survive 2,000 years from now?

People greet each other in many ways. They might say “hello” in different languages. They might physically do something like shaking hands, giving hugs, or exchanging kisses. 人们以多种方式互相问候。他们可能会用不同的语言说“你好”。他们可能会做一些身体上的事情，比如握手、拥抱或交换亲吻。 
Elephants seem to have many greetings too. A recent study gives new information about these greetings, including how greetings differ depending on the animals’ sex and whether they are looking at each other. 大象似乎也有很多问候。最近的一项研究提供了有关这些问候语的新信息，包括问候语如何根据动物的性别以及它们是否互相看着对方而有所不同。 
The study was based on observations of African savannah elephants in the Jafuta Reserve in Zimbabwe. 这项研究基于对津巴布韦贾富塔保护区的非洲草原象的观察。 
Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna in Austria was the lead writer of the study that appeared recently in Communications Biology. 奥地利维也纳大学的 Vesta Eleuteri 是最近发表在《通讯生物学》杂志上的这项研究的主要作者。 
"Elephants live in a so-called 'fission-fusion' society, where they often separate and reunite, meeting after hours, days or months apart," Eleuteri said. “大象生活在一个所谓的‘裂变融合’社会中，它们经常分开又团聚，相隔数小时、数天或数月后见面，”埃留特里说。 
Elephants are Earth's largest land animals. They are highly intelligent, with strong memories and problem-solving skills, and complex communication. 大象是地球上最大的陆地动物。他们非常聪明，具有很强的记忆力和解决问题的能力，以及复杂的沟通能力。 
Female elephants of different family groups might have strong social bonds with each other, forming "bond groups." Earlier studies in the wild have reported that when these groups meet, the elephants perform special greeting ceremonies to announce and strengthen their social bonds, Eleuteri said. 不同家族群体的雌象之间可能有很强的社会联系，形成“债券群体”。埃留特里说，早期的野外研究表明，当这些群体相遇时，大象会举行特殊的问候仪式，以宣布并加强他们的社会联系。
Male elephants have different social bonds from females. Male greetings may serve to ease possible hostility. Male elephants greet mainly by smelling each other, reaching with their trunks, Eleuteri added. 雄性大象与雌性大象有着不同的社会纽带。男性的问候可能有助于缓解可能的敌意。埃留特里补充说，雄性大象主要通过闻对方的气味、伸出鼻子来打招呼。 
The recent study gives details on around 20 movements tied to greetings. It showed that elephants mix these movements in exact ways with sounds. The different sounds are described as rumbles, roars and trumpets. 最近的研究详细介绍了大约 20 个与问候相关的动作。它表明大象以精确的方式将这些动作与声音结合起来。不同的声音被描述为隆隆声、咆哮声和喇叭声。 
The study also showed how smell plays an important part in greetings. Elephant greetings include behaviors unusual for humans, including releasing body waste. Elephants can also release secretions from a special gland. 该研究还表明气味在问候中发挥着重要作用。大象的问候包括人类不寻常的行为，包括释放身体废物。大象还可以从特殊的腺体中释放分泌物。 
Elephants may greet each other by making gestures meant to be seen, like spreading their ears or showing their behinds. The creatures also use movements producing special sounds, or they may use movements that involve touching other elephants. Movements involving touching are known as tactile gestures. 大象可能会通过做出让人看到的手势来打招呼，比如张开耳朵或露出屁股。这些生物还使用发出特殊声音的动作，或者可能使用涉及触摸其他大象的动作。涉及触摸的动作称为触觉手势。 
Eleuteri suggested that elephants appeared to know what other elephants can see. "They preferred using visual gestures when their partner was looking at them, while tactile ones when they were not," Eleuteri explained. 埃柳特里认为，大象似乎知道其他大象能看到什么。“当伴侣看着他们时，他们更喜欢使用视觉手势，而当伴侣不看他们时，他们更喜欢使用触觉手势，”Eleuteri 解释道。 
Greeting behavior has been studied in a number of animals. 人们对许多动物的问候行为进行了研究。 
"Many other species greet, including different primates, hyenas and dogs," Eleuteri said. “许多其他物种都会打招呼，包括不同的灵长类动物、鬣狗和狗，”埃留特里说。 
These animal greetings help guide social situations by reducing tension or confirming social bonds, Eleuteri added. 埃留特里补充说，这些动物问候可以通过减少紧张或确认社会纽带来引导社交场合。 
The new research builds on earlier studies of elephant greeting behavior. The nine observed elephants - four females and five males - were "semi-captive." That means they freely moved around their natural environment during daytime and stayed in structures at night. 这项新研究建立在早期对大象问候行为的研究基础上。观察到的九头大象——四头雌性和五头雄性——处于“半圈养”状态。这意味着它们白天在自然环境中自由活动，晚上则留在建筑物中。 
Greetings used by the female elephants closely matched the behavior of wild elephants. The greeting behavior of the male elephants appeared to be different from wild male elephants. 雌象的问候语与野象的行为非常相似。 雄性大象的问候行为似乎与野生雄性大象不同。 
Wild male elephants are often alone, forming loose connections with other elephants. 野生雄性大象通常独处，与其他大象形成松散的联系。 
The temporal gland is midway between the eye and the ear. That gland plays a part in elephant greeting by releasing a substance called temporin. Temporin contains chemical information about an elephant's condition. Elephants often use their trunks to touch the temporal glands of others. 颞腺位于眼睛和耳朵之间的中间。该腺体在大象问候中发挥着重要作用，它会释放一种叫做temporin的物质。Temporin 含有有关大象状况的化学信息。大象经常用鼻子接触其他大象的颞腺。 
Eleuteri said elephant body wastes “contain chemical information important for elephants, like the identity of the individual, their reproductive state or even their emotional state." 埃莱尤特里说，大象的排泄物“含有对大象很重要的化学信息，比如个体的身份、它们的繁殖状态，甚至它们的情绪状态。” 
"Maybe they don't need to tell each other how they're doing, as they can smell it," Eleuteri added. “也许他们不需要告诉对方他们在做什么，因为他们可以闻到它的味道，”埃柳特里补充道。 



第2201期:New Study Examines How Elephants Say Hello

A miniature poodle named Sage won the top prize Tuesday night at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club dog show. 周二晚上，一只名叫 Sage 的迷你贵宾犬在第 148 届威斯敏斯特养犬俱乐部狗展上获得了最高奖项。
That is the 11th victory for poodles at the famous dog competition in New York City – only wire fox terriers have won more times. 这是贵宾犬在纽约市著名的狗狗比赛中第 11 次获胜，只有刚毛猎狐犬赢得的次数更多。 
Kaz Hosaka is the handler for Sage. “No words,” he said about Sage’s win and added, “So happy — exciting.” He also was the handler of Spice, when that miniature poodle won the 2002 Westminster. Kaz Hosaka 是 Sage 的管理员。“无话可说，”他谈到塞奇的胜利并补充道，“太高兴了——令人兴奋。” 他还是 Spice 的饲养员，当时这只迷你贵宾犬赢得了 2002 年威斯敏斯特赛冠军。 
But Hosaka said this latest victory would be his final competition after 45 years. 但保坂表示，最新的胜利将是他 45 年后的最后一场比赛。
Hosaka said Sage “gave a great performance for me.” The black poodle won over six other dogs to take the “best in show.” Second place went to Mercedes, a German shepherd. 保坂表示 Sage“为我带来了精彩的表演”。黑色贵宾犬击败了其他六只狗，获得了“最佳表演奖”。第二名是德国牧羊犬梅赛德斯。 
Others in the final round included Comet, a shih tzu, Monty, a giant schnauzer, Louis, an Afghan hound, Micah, a black cocker spaniel, and Frankie, a colored bull terrier. 最后一轮的其他选手包括西施犬彗星、巨型雪纳瑞犬蒙蒂、阿富汗猎犬路易斯、黑色可卡犬迈卡和彩色斗牛梗弗兰基。 
While Sage was going around the competition ring, a protester interfered in the event. The protester carried a sign urging people to “boycott breeders” and tried to enter the ring. Security guards seized the activist. Police and the animal rights group, PETA, said three demonstrators were arrested. 当塞奇在赛场周围走动时，一名抗议者干扰了比赛。抗议者举着敦促人们“抵制饲养员”的标语，并试图进入拳击场。保安人员抓住了这名活动人士。警方和动物权利组织 PETA 表示，三名示威者被捕。 
Rosalind Kramer, a judge at the event, called the final lineup “excellent, glorious.” Monty’s handler and co-owner, Katie Bernardin added, “just to be in the ring with everyone else is an honor.” 赛事评委罗莎琳德·克莱默 (Rosalind Kramer) 称最终阵容“出色、光荣”。蒙蒂的经纪人兼共同所有人凯蒂·伯纳丁补充道，“能和其他人一起参加拳击比赛就是一种荣幸。”
Dogs first compete against others of their breed. Then the winner of each breed goes up against others in its “group.” The seven group winners meet in the final round. 狗首先要与同品种的其他狗竞争。然后，每个品种的获胜者将与该“群体”中的其他品种进行竞争。七个小组的获胜者将在最后一轮相遇。 
The “best in show” winner gets a trophy and a place in dog-world history, but the prize does not include money. “最佳表演奖”获胜者将获得一座奖杯，并在狗界历史上占有一席之地，但奖金不包括金钱。 
Besides the winners, other dogs were also popular with the crowd. A lagotto Romagnolo named Harry made people laugh by sitting up and begging for a treat from his handler; and a vizsla named Fletcher appealed to the crowd by jumping up on its handler after finishing a turn around the ring. 除了获胜者之外，其他狗也受到人群的欢迎。一只名叫哈利（Harry）的拉戈托·罗马尼奥洛（lagotto Romagnolo）会坐起来向它的驯养员乞求款待，这让人们开怀大笑。一只名叫弗莱彻（Fletcher）的维兹拉犬在绕圈转了一圈后，跳到驯兽师身上，吸引了观众。 
There were also some very big dogs at the event. One was Ralphie, a great Dane weighing 80 kilograms. His much smaller handler, Shane Jichetti, said it takes a lot of experience to show an animal so big. But she added, “If you have a bond with your dog, and you just go with it, it works out.” 活动中还有一些非常大的狗。其中一个是拉尔菲，一只体重 80 公斤的大丹麦犬。他的小饲养员肖恩·吉凯蒂 (Shane Jichetti) 表示，展示这么大的动物需要丰富的经验。但她补充道，“如果你和你的狗有感情，而且你就跟着它走，那就会成功。”
The Westminster show dates to 1877 and centers on the traditional purebred judging that leads to the “best in show” prize. But over the last few years, the club has added agility and obedience events open to mixed-breed dogs. 威斯敏斯特马赛的历史可以追溯到 1877 年，以传统的纯种马评审为中心，颁发“最佳马赛”奖项。但在过去的几年里，俱乐部增加了对混种狗开放的敏捷和服从活动。 
This year, a border collie-papillon mix named Nimble became the first non-purebred winner of the agility competition. 今年，一只名叫“Nimble”的边境牧羊犬与蝴蝶犬的混种成为敏捷比赛中第一个非纯种的获胜者。 
Kramer, the best in show judge, made a point of thanking “every dog, whether it’s a house dog or a show dog." 克莱默是最好的表演评委，他特别感谢“每只狗，无论是家犬还是表演犬”。 
“Because," she said, "you make our lives whole.” “因为，”她说，“你让我们的生活变得完整。” 



第2200期:Miniature Poodle Wins Westminster Dog Show

About 20 years ago, Cary Fowler and Geoffrey Hawtin wanted to prevent hunger and protect the world’s food supply. The two men imagined a so-called “doomsday vault” for plant seeds. (A vault is a secure storage structure.) 大约 20 年前，卡里·福勒 (Cary Fowler) 和杰弗里·霍廷 (Geoffrey Hawtin) 希望防止饥饿并保护世界粮食供应。 两人想象了一个所谓的“末日金库”来存放植物种子。 （保险库是一种安全的存储结构。） 
Fowler and Hawtin’s goal was to keep a supply of seeds safe if existing seed banks were threatened by war, climate change, or other crises. They decided to build their storage building into the side of a mountain north of the Arctic Circle. 福勒和霍廷的目标是在现有种子库受到战争、气候变化或其他危机威胁时确保种子供应安全。 他们决定将仓库建在北极圈以北的一座山的一侧。 
“To a lot of people today, it sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do,” Fowler said from Saudi Arabia in an interview with the Associated Press. Seeds, he added, are a valuable natural resource that needs protection. “对于今天的很多人来说，这听起来是一件完全合理的事情，”福勒在沙特阿拉伯接受美联社采访时说。 他补充说，种子是一种宝贵的自然资源，需要保护。 
But Fowler said: “Fifteen years ago, shipping a lot of seeds to the closest place to the North Pole that you can fly into (and) putting them inside a mountain…” did not sound reasonable. In his words, it was “…the craziest idea anybody ever had.” 但福勒说：“十五年前，将大量种子运送到距离北极最近的地方，你可以飞到（并）将它们放入山中……”听起来不太合理。 用他的话说，这是“……任何人曾经有过的最疯狂的想法。”
Their idea became the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Svalbard. The vault opened in 2008 and now holds 1.25 million seed samples from nearly every country in the world. The structure was built into the side of a mountain. It protects the seeds of over 6,000 kinds of agriculturally important plants. The Crop Trust website says: “Its purpose is to backup genebank collections to secure the foundation of our future food supply.” 他们的想法变成了位于挪威斯瓦尔巴群岛的斯瓦尔巴全球种子库。 该金库于 2008 年开放，目前保存着来自世界上几乎每个国家的 125 万份种子样本。 该结构建在山的一侧。 它保护 6,000 多种重要农业植物的种子。 农作物信托网站称：“其目的是备份基因库收藏，以确保我们未来粮食供应的基础。” 
Last week, Fowler and Hawtin were named the 2024 World Food Prize winners for their work. Fowler is now the U.S. special diplomat for global food security. Hawtin is an agricultural scientist from Britain. 上周，福勒和霍廷因其工作而被评为 2024 年世界粮食奖获得者。 福勒现任美国全球粮食安全特别外交官。 霍廷是一位来自英国的农业科学家。 
They were named the winners of the yearly prize at the U.S. Department of State in Washington. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the men at the announcement for their “critical role in preserving crop diversity.” 他们被华盛顿美国国务院评为年度奖获得者。 国务卿安东尼·布林肯在宣布时赞扬了这些人“在保护作物多样性方面发挥的关键作用”。
For many years, countries have created seed banks to store seeds for future use. But Fowler said he was concerned that climate change would cause disorder in agriculture. This would make the seed supply even more important. 多年来，各国建立了种子库来储存种子以供将来使用。 但福勒表示，他担心气候变化会导致农业混乱。 这将使种子供应变得更加重要。 
Hawtin is an executive board member at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an international nonprofit group. He said there were a lot of threats to crops in the past, such as insects, disease, land degradation, and political unrest. He said that climate change has made these problems worse. So, he and Fowler saw a need for additional secure seed storage. 霍廷是国际非营利组织全球作物多样性信托基金的执行董事会成员。 他说，过去农作物面临很多威胁，例如昆虫、疾病、土地退化和政治动荡。 他说，气候变化使这些问题变得更加严重。 因此，他和福勒认为需要额外安全的种子存储。 
Hawtin explained that climate change is changing pests and diseases. He added, “Climate change is putting a whole lot of extra problems on what has always been significant ones.” 霍廷解释说，气候变化正在改变害虫和疾病。 他补充道，“气候变化给原本重大的问题带来了很多额外的问题。”   
Fowler and Hawtin said they hope winning the World Food Prize will help them raise more money for seed banks around the world. Operating them is not too costly. However, the financial support needs to continue forever. 福勒和霍廷表示，他们希望赢得世界粮食奖将帮助他们为世界各地的种子库筹集更多资金。 运营它们的成本并不太高。 然而，财政支持需要永远持续下去。 
“This is really a chance to get that message out and say, look, this relatively small amount of money is our insurance policy -- our insurance policy that we’re going to be able to feed the world in 50 years,” Hawtin said. 
霍廷说：“这确实是一个传达信息的机会，你看，这笔相对较少的钱就是我们的保险单——我们的保险单是我们将能够在 50 年内养活全世界。” 。 
Norman Borlaug established the World Food Prize. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his part in what is called the “Green Revolution.” That was a big effort to make crops more productive so the world’s growing population would not go hungry. 
诺曼·博洛格设立了世界粮食奖。 1970 年，他因在“绿色革命”中的贡献而获得诺贝尔和平奖。 这是为了提高农作物的产量而做出的巨大努力，这样世界上不断增长的人口就不会挨饿。 
This fall, Fowler and Hawtin will accept the prize in Des Moines, Iowa, the city where the food prize foundation is based. They will also split the $500,000 award. This year’s prize will be presented at the yearly Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue. The conference will be held in Des Moines from October 29 to the 31. 今年秋天，福勒和霍廷将在食品奖基金会所在地爱荷华州得梅因市领奖。 他们还将瓜分 50 万美元的奖金。 今年的奖项将在一年一度的诺曼·博洛格国际对话中颁发。 会议将于10月29日至31日在得梅因举行。 



第2199期:Two Win World Food Prize for Securing Agricultural Seeds

The study found the Australian bushfires two years ago were so intense that smoke rose into the atmosphere, causing a complex set of chemical reactions that led to the loss of ozone in the layer that protects the Earth from damaging ultraviolet rays.这项研究发现，两年前的澳大利亚林火非常猛烈，以至于烟雾上升到了大气层，造成一系列复杂的化学反应，导致臭氧的损失，臭氧层是大气中保护地球免受紫外线破坏的气层。
Satellite observations suggest a total ozone loss of 1% over the southern hemisphere within the month of March 2020 alone. Not insignificant, given the slow recovery of the ozone layer from damage caused decades ago.卫星观测表明，仅在2020年3月，南半球上空就一共损失了1%的臭氧。鉴于臭氧层几十年前受到破坏后，恢复缓慢，这一数字不容忽视。
词汇表bushfires 森林大火
complex 复杂的
ozone 臭氧
ultraviolet rays 紫外线
hemisphere （地球的）半球
insignificant 微不足道

第2155期:New study reveals how many ants there are in the world

Download our free app to listen on your phone