外刊讲解版@Mat 20231010注：本文档主要是为同学理解和学习Mat老师的外刊提供参考，建议同学先听课程音频，有需要时再对照文本。另外
，外教讲解偏口语化，在听课及对照文本时，不必在语法上过分细究。City of Light or City of Bites? Fr
ance Tries to Ease Bedbug Anxiety. Part I BackgroundToday we are
talking about bedbugs. So I guess a good place to start is with t
he question, what are bedbugs? Bedbugs are small insects or bugs.
And the adult ones, the biggest ones, can be about 5 millimeters
in length, half a centimeter smaller than a grain of rice. And t
hey are kind of oval-shaped. They have 6 legs, and they are usual
ly kind of dark yellow or maybe a red or brown colour. There are
about 90 species of bedbugs, although the common one, actually ca
lled the common bedbug, has adapted the best to live in human env
ironments. So the most common ones are called the common bedbug.
And those are the ones that most people find if they find a bedbu
g. So the term bedbug is a little bit misleading and inaccurate b
ecause they don''t just live in beds. They can live in beds, but t
hey can be found on any clothing, furniture, sofas, curtains and
any part of the human living environment, really. Now, they usual
ly hide during the day and they come out at night to feed on huma
ns. Yes, they eat our blood. So if a bedbug bites you, it''s not s
erious. Scientists are quite sure they don''t carry any diseases.
But the idea of being bitten by a bedbug while you''re asleep isn''
t a very nice idea. So the article today tells us that bedbugs ha
ve recently become a big problem in France. It''s big news. Many p
eople are talking about these bedbugs, and they seem to be more c
ommon now than they were a few years ago because we''re doing more
travel. And the pesticide sprays, those bug sprays, they don''t w
ork as well as they used to. More about that later. First, I have
a story about bugs. Don''t worry, it''s not a horrible story about
nasty bedbugs. It''s just a story about kind of nice bugs, and bu
gs in general. It''s one I wrote myself.Part II Story A very long
time ago, when the world was new, all the insects and bugs lived
together in the forest. Every insect was special in its own way.
The beetles had the shiniest, smoothest black shells. The firefli
es lit up the forest at nighttime, bringing a warm, glowing light
to the trees. The ants were the busy workers of the forest, work
ing as an amazing team doing all the work. The butterflies had th
e brightest, most beautifully coloured wings. And the cicadas had
that wonderful singing voice. No other insect could sing such be
autiful songs. You''ve heard the cicadas singing in the trees in s
ummer. They all sing together and they make that special insect n
oise high up in the trees. Now, the cicadas'' singing talent was a
dmired by all the insects. Well, almost all. The butterflies look
ed upon the cicadas with great envy. With their beautiful wings i
n shades of gold, red and blue and yellow and pink, the butterfli
es consider themselves the most beautiful insects in the forest.
But they were jealous. ‘Look at that Cicada,’ they complained, ‘i
t''s so ugly.’ ‘The worst,’ said another butterfly. ‘Disgusting,’
they all agreed. The butterflies liked to move their wings quickl
y when they were angry. ‘Why do the cicadas have such a wonderful
singing voice and not us? We should have that voice,’ thought th
e butterflies. They didn''t understand why a bug that wasn''t prett
y had such a pretty voice. The butterflies decided: ‘we must lear
n how to do it, how to sing like that!’ They all agreed. In their
jealousy, the butterflies began following the cicadas every minu
te of every day, listening to their songs and trying to copy them
. Each time the cicadas started one of their songs, the butterfli
es listened closely, trying to catch every little note, every spe
cial sound. They practiced and practiced, trying to sing in a bea
utiful voice. But the harder they tried, the more difficult it se
emed. The butterflies refused to give up. Every morning there the
y were, following the cicadas, attempting to mimic their songs. T
he other insects took notice and were worried. The little red lad
ybugs told the butterflies one day: ‘look at your beautiful wings
. Just be happy with what you have. Don''t chase what you can''t ha
ve.’ The dragon flies flying around with their blue, shiny wings
also shared their thoughts: ‘we all have something unique. Look a
t your beautiful wings. Be happy with what you have. Don''t chase
what you can''t have.’ The bees in the tree, making honey, also jo
ined in: ‘Sometimes it''s just best to accept who we are instead o
f aiming for who we are not.’ They buzzed in their bee voices. Bu
t the butterflies ignored these words of wisdom. They were too bu
sy following the cicadas, trying to copy their beautiful singing
voices. Now the cicadas were growing tired of the butterflies alw
ays trying to copy their song, always following, always asking ab
out this song or that song, asking for singing advice. So that da
y they sang a very special song. It was the most beautiful and di
fficult song ever. The whole forest stopped to listen. The butter
flies were amazed. They tried very hard to copy, to sing this son
g, just like the cicadas. They tried to reach the high notes and
copy the magical melodies of that special song. But they tried to
o much. And then, snap! Their voices broke. After that, they coul
dn''t make any sound at all. They had lost their voices forever. ‘
We tried to warn you,’ said the other bugs in the forest, ‘we tol
d you to be happy with what you have. Trying too much to be like
someone else will never end happily.’ The butterflies looked on s
ilently, and then they flew away silently to admire their beautif
ully coloured wings in silence.Part III Vocabularyto ease anxiety
We''re gonna use these two words together. If you ease something,
you make it less important, less serious. And anxiety is a feeli
ng of worry, nervousness, unease about something. So if you ease
anxiety, you make something less worrying. You make people less w
orried about something.Her recent exam results eased her anxiety.
She felt less worried after the exam results. The news had helpe
d to ease anxiety in the stock market. FieryThe adjective fiery
comes from the word fire, but we use it to talk about strong emot
ions, especially anger. She has a fiery temper. That was a very f
iery meeting.oblivious to the fact thatThis is quite a long expre
ssion, oblivious to the fact that something is happening, oblivio
us to the fact that. So this expression means that you don''t know
something. You are unaware of something. He was oblivious to the
fact that his surprise party guests were hiding in the next room
. He seemed almost oblivious to the fact that his job was in dang
er. So he didn''t know that his job was in danger. He didn''t know
that maybe he will be fired.purporting toPurporting to means clai
ming to be something, pretending to be something often when it''s
not, claiming to be something that isn''t real. The website was p
urporting to sell authentic designer handbags. But we get the ide
a that it probably wasn''t. They were probably fake designer handb
ags. The study purports to show that ice cream is a healthy food.
So it claims, probably incorrectly, that ice cream is a healthy
food. fueling anxietySo we see anxiety again, this worried feelin
g. If something is fueling anxiety, it''s like the opposite of eas
ing anxiety. Before, we said to ease anxiety means to make the an
xiety less. If we fuel anxiety, we''re making it more. It makes pe
ople more worried, more anxious. The constant news reports about
the bad weather were fueling anxiety in the city. The recent fall
in share prices has fuelled anxiety within the industry.sweeping
the countryIf something is sweeping the country, it is spreading
widely or becoming popular across a country. We often use it to
talk about popular trends and fashions. The new karaoke phone app
is sweeping the country. The spicy hamburger is the latest fast
food trend sweeping the country. anecdotalIf something is anecdot
al, it is a story based on a personal experience or someone''s ind
ividual experience. It''s not based on science, not based on scien
tific facts or evidence. It''s just a personal experience. His cla
ims are based on anecdotal evidence rather than serious research.
There are lots of anecdotal reports about the giant creature, bu
t no scientist has ever seen it and no photos exist. eradicateTo
eradicate means to completely destroy, to kill or to remove somet
hing. Efforts to eradicate the disease have been successful in ma
ny countries. The new chemical spray is designed to eradicate ins
ects from farmland. to crisscrossIf you crisscross something or s
omething crisscrosses an area or a place, then it moves or travel
s backwards and forwards, like up and down, in a pattern that loo
ks like a cross or a letter X. The hiking trails crisscross the m
ountain area. Many small narrow streets crisscross the city. So i
t''s quite easy to get lost. ordealAn ordeal is a difficult or pa
inful experience which needs bravery or courage. The interview pr
ocess was quite an ordeal. It lasted for a whole day. The trains
were cancelled. So getting home was a real ordeal. I had to take
four different buses.Good night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbu
gs bite.When we were kids at bedtime, our parents or grandparents
used to say this: Good night, sleep tight. Don''t let the bedbugs
bite. And it''s just a nice way to say goodnight, have a nice sle
ep. And it rhymes. So I used to say this to my son Oscar at bedti
me and he was very little. And actually this morning, I spoke to
him this morning and I said it. I said: ‘do you remember at bedti
me I used to say goodnight, sleep tight, don''t let the bedbugs bi
te.’ And he said: ‘oh yeah! I remember that dad! What are bedbugs
, say?’ He remembers the expression. He remembers the nice little
goodnight expression, but he didn''t actually know what bedbugs w
ere. I actually I had to explain it to him today.Part IV ArticleO
kay, let''s quickly look at the article: City of Light or City of
Bites? France Tries to Ease Bedbug Anxiety. So historically, Pari
s was called the City of Light because it had lots of lights. Lik
e about 200 years ago when gaslight in cities, gaslighting wasn''t
so common, Paris was one of the first cities to introduce gaslig
hts all across the city. So very very early on, Paris became know
n as the City of Lights. So the title is asking: is Paris now the
City of Lights or is it the city of bites, bedbug bites? So Fran
ce is trying to calm down our fears about bedbugs. Lights, bites,
it''s a rhyming title, so it''s just kind of good fun. The articl
e begins: In France’s lower house of Parliament, a top opposition
lawmaker held up a small vial for all her colleagues to see. Its
contents, she warned in a fiery speech this week, were “spreadin
g despair” around the country. In it — probably dead and undoubte
dly oblivious to the fact that they are now France’s hottest topi
c — were some?bedbugs.So in the French parliament, a leading poli
tician showed everybody a small glass container. And she said tha
t what was inside this glass container is causing a lot of worry
in France. But inside, of course, there were bedbugs. And of cour
se, the bedbugs were probably dead. So they didn''t even know that
they were famous. And this is now a big topic in France. The art
icle continues: After a string of viral posts on social media pur
porting to show specimens crawling across the seats of trains, ci
nemas and subways, photos of bedbugs are now being splashed acros
s newspaper pages. And the insects have been discussed endlessly
on television talk shows around the country in recent days, fueli
ng nationwide anxiety, if not alarm, especially in the French cap
ital. So many people have shared pictures online showing bedbugs
in places like trains and cinemas. Newspapers have been printing
photos of bedbugs. TV shows in France have been talking about bed
bugs. And many many people in France, especially in Paris, are qu
ite worried about this now.The article continues:While evidence t
hat bedbugs are suddenly sweeping the country is mostly anecdotal
, experts say that the pests have resurged in households in Paris
, New York and other cities over the past decades because of a bo
om in international travel and the bugs’ growing resistance to pe
sticides after they had been nearly eradicated in the mid-20th ce
ntury. Even though there isn''t much proof of this sudden increase
of bedbugs in France, experts do think they are becoming more co
mmon in cities like Paris and New York. And this is because there
''s an increase in travel. And when people travel, they can take t
he bedbugs with them and something else, these pesticide sprays.
The bugs are becoming resistant to pesticides. So the pesticides,
the bug spray is not as effective as it used to be.Then in the f
inal paragraph:Johanna Fite, an expert with the government health
agency, said that the number of infestations had increased since
the 2000s (so the number of infestations, the number of serious
cases of bedbugs had increased since the 2000s) as globalization
has sent tourists and travelers crisscrossing continents with bed
bugs in tow. (together with the bedbugs) Bedbugs, she stressed, a
re not a sign of bad hygiene, (so it doesn’t mean it’s a dirty pl
ace) and while they are an ordeal that can disturb sleep and indu
ce (create cause) severe anxiety, they do not transmit diseases.
So, Johanna Fite, I think that''s a woman from a health group rela
ted to the government, said that since the 2000s, because of more
global travel, bedbug problems have gone up. She said that havin
g bedbugs doesn''t mean a place is dirty. Even though they can kin
d of disturb our sleep and they might make us a bit worried, they
don''t spread diseases. So there''s not really that much to be wor
ried about.Part V LQTOne listener asked: What''s the difference be
tween handwriting and calligraphy? Okay, let''s start with diction
ary definitions.Handwriting, according to the dictionary, is writ
ing that is done with a pen or pencil. It''s not printed, it''s not
typed. So the important thing here is that it''s just not printed
, it''s not typed, it''s done with a hand.Calligraphy, according to
the dictionary, is beautiful handwriting that you do with a spec
ial pen or special brush. And it''s the art of producing this beau
tiful handwriting.So we can already see the difference here. Hand
writing, it''s just an action or the result of writing something w
ith a pen or a pencil. Calligraphy is special, it''s beautiful han
dwriting, it''s done with a special pen or brush, and the intentio
n is to be beautiful.So here''s another question: is beautiful han
dwriting actually calligraphy? I think you can have nice handwrit
ing. Well, you can have bad handwriting and you can have okay han
dwriting, then you can have nice handwriting. You can have intere
sting handwriting and you can also have beautiful handwriting. Bu
t that''s not necessarily calligraphy because calligraphy is the a
rt. You are doing it with a special pen or brush. So you can stil
l write with a normal pen but have beautiful handwriting. And then at some stage, I guess, really beautiful handwriting, if you''re using special equipment and following some traditional rules or patterns, then it becomes calligraphy. So I think the differences here is that handwriting, you''re still writing for a purpose. Calligraphy, you''re writing to communicate words and meaning but, calligraphy, you are doing beautiful handwriting, the aim is to be beautiful.If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section and I''ll pick my favorite one. Notice that my story today didn''t have a title. So I think I might be doing this sometimes. I won''t give the story a title. If you''ve got a good suggestion for the story title, you can also leave it in the comment section. The story about the insects and the singing insects and the butterflies, if you think you have a good title, leave it in the comment section. So that brings me to the end of this episode. Thanks very much for listening. I''ll be back next week. Until then, good night, sleep tight. Don''t let the bedbugs bite.1 |
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