5月18日英语新闻音频：意法民众隔离期间长膘

欢迎订阅主播“中国日报网”在喜马拉雅上的【China Daily 英语新闻】和【24节气英语说】两个专辑，通过我们的节目，不错过世界上发生的趣事！（未经授权，切勿转载）

Folded hands emoji in vogue

'双手合十'表情符号走红

At a time when in-person conversations are harder to come by, many people are choosing to express their thoughts about the pandemic with emojis. But perhaps no emoji has come to embody the hopes and fears of this unthinkable moment as much as the folded hands emoji.

在难以进行面对面谈话的时期，许多人选择用表情符号来表达自己对大流行病的想法。但也许没有哪个表情符号能像双手合十的表情符号一样体现这个难以想象时刻的希望和恐惧。

The folded hands emoji has popped up in more tweets than ever before to help express our feelings about seemingly every aspect of a health crisis that can sometimes defy words. It's used to give thanks to frontline workers, send prayers to loved ones and express gratitude for finding toilet paper on supermarket shelves. 

双手合十的表情符号从未如此频繁地出现在推特中，用于表达我们对一场难以言说的健康危机方方面面的感受。这个表情符号被用来感谢一线的工作人员，给所爱的人送去祈祷，为在超市货架上找到卫生纸而表达感激。

The emoji, sometimes called “prayer hands”, was used 25% more often in April than in August, the last time that particular character was analyzed by Emojipedia, which tracks trends and the frequency of emoji use on Twitter. 

这个表情符号有时候也被称为"祈祷手"，在今年四月份的使用频率比Emojipedia网站去年八月份分析这个表情符号时上升了25%。

That spike made it the eighth most popular emoji for the month - and cemented its position as a visual emblem for how we feel during the pandemic. Icons such as the face with a medical mask, the microbe and a bar of soap have also spiked in messages specifically associated with the coronavirus.

该网站追踪表情符号在推特上被使用的潮流和频率。"祈祷手"使用量的激增使其在四月份最受欢迎的表情符号中排行第八，并加固了其作为表达人们在疫情期间感受的视觉符号地位。在和新冠肺炎明确相关的信息中，戴医用口罩的脸、细菌和肥皂的表情符号也大大增加。

重点词汇

1、in-person

在场的；亲身的；亲自；外貌上

2、defy

英 /dɪˈfaɪ/ 美 /dɪˈfaɪ/

n. 挑战；对抗

vt. 藐视；公然反抗；挑衅；使落空

3、cement

英 /sɪˈment/ 美 /sɪˈment/

n. 水泥；接合剂；纽带；使人们团结的因素；黏固粉；牙骨质；沉积岩基质

v. 粘牢，胶合；巩固，确定；在......上抹水泥；（物质）在沉积岩中黏附（颗粒 ）

Italians and French gain weight

意法民众隔离期间长膘

The pasta, pizza and Peroni have finally taken their toll, with Italians emerging from two months of lockdown an average 2 kg heavier. Their cousins across the Alps have also piled on the pounds, with the average French person gaining 2.5kg. 

意面、披萨和佩罗尼啤酒终于来算账了，经过两个月的封锁期，意大利人平均增重2公斤。在阿尔卑斯山的另一头，邻国的居民也变胖了，平均每个法国人增重2.5公斤。

With people exercising a lot less and eating more out of boredom or as a source of comfort, the weight gain was inevitable. Families consumed 18% more food during the lockdown than usual, Coldiretti, the Italian food and farmers' association, found. "There was a real boom in so-called comfort food rich in calories, full of sugars, fats and carbohydrates," the organization said. 

由于人们锻炼大大减少，出于无聊或慰藉吃得又多，体重增加是不可避免的。意大利国家食品和农民协会Coldiretti发现，隔离期间意大利家庭消耗的食物比往常多了18%。该组织称："所谓的安慰食物销量大增，即高热量、高糖、高脂肪和富含碳水化合物的食物。"

In France, the main culprit for the extra love handles singled out as the extended evening aperitif. According to the study by Darwin Nutrition, a healthy eating site, some 42% of those interviewed said they had "more (aperitifs) than before" - including drinks and a range of snacks from saucisson to vol-au-vent.

在法国，一杯接一杯的夜间开胃酒被认为是造成腰间赘肉的罪魁祸首。根据健康饮食网站达尔文营养的研究，约42%的受访者称他们吃的喝的"比以前多了"，包括开胃酒等饮料以及干肉香肠、肉馅大酥饼等小吃。

重点词汇

1、pile on

堆在…之上；使堆积在…

2、inevitable

英 /ɪnˈevɪtəbl/ 美 /ɪnˈevɪtəbl/ 

adj. 必然的，不可避免的

3、culprit

英 /ˈkʌlprɪt/ 美 /ˈkʌlprɪt/

n. 犯人，罪犯；被控犯罪的人

4、aperitif

英 /əˌperəˈtiːf/ 美 /əˌperəˈtiːf/

n. 开胃酒

Belgians urged to eat more fries

比利时请民众多吃土豆 

The potato industry in Belgium has been hit hard by COVID-19. When the virus began shutting down Italy, Spain and eventually Belgium, the crisis was in full swing, according to Romain Cools, the Secretary-General of Belgapom, which oversees Belgium's potato trade and processing industry. 

比利时的土豆产业遭到了新冠疫情的强烈冲击。比利时土豆贸易和加工行业监管机构Belgapom的秘书长库尔斯称，一开始病毒令意大利、西班牙采取封锁措施，最后比利时也进入封锁状态，导致土豆产业出现全面危机。

He said the country has a giant surplus of potatoes, caused by the shutdown of the food service sector, since about 70% of the potatoes in Belgium are consumed out of the home. "We are not only facing problems for our potato growers, but also our processing industry. They are processing these potatoes, which they promised to take from the farmers, but they have a lack of freezing capacity at this moment," said Cools. 

他说，食品服务部门停业导致比利时的土豆产量严重过剩，因为该国约70%的土豆出口国外。库尔斯表示："不仅是我们的土豆种植者面临问题，我们的加工产业也面临问题。他们正在加工这些承诺从农民手中收购的土豆，但他们现在的冷冻能力不够了。"

He has been thinking of ways to increase the consumption of potatoes, one of the main staples of Belgian food, including eating more fries. "I just said from the heart, 'You could help us by just buying, and eating, extra time frozen potato products during the coronavirus crisis,'" Cools said.

库尔斯正在思索增加土豆消费量的办法，包括让人们吃更多薯条。土豆是比利时的主食之一。库尔斯说："我发自内心地说：'你们只要在疫情危机期间买和吃加时冷冻土豆产品就可以帮到我们'。"

重点词汇

1、in full swing

adv. 活跃；蓬勃高涨

2、surplus

英 /ˈsɜːpləs/  美 /ˈsɜːrplʌs/ 

n. 剩余；[贸易] 顺差；盈余；过剩

adj. 剩余的；过剩的

Cars to use 5G to 'talk'

5G网络助力车与车'对话'

Cars could soon be communicating with each other using 5G to make drivers aware of upcoming hazards, scientists claim. The ultra-fast mobile internet would allow for rapid information transmission and could make drivers aware of black ice, pot holes or other dangers up ahead. 

科学家称，汽车很快就可以通过5G网络互相"对话"，让司机意识到前方的危险。超高速的移动互联网将使信息可以快速传输，并让司机意识到前方的黑冰、坑洞或其他危险。

Several car manufacturers are already integrating 5G into their vehicles, including as a tool to help usher in the generation of self-driving vehicles. Experts at Glasgow Caledonian University believe the high-speed connection will also improve the reliability and capability of automated vehicles to the point where they will be safer than the manual cars being driven today. 

几家汽车制造商已经将5G网络技术融入汽车生产，包括以此来帮助引领自动驾驶汽车时代的到来。格拉斯哥喀里多尼亚大学的专家认为，高速互联网还将提高自动化车辆的可靠性和性能，使其比目前使用的手动驾驶汽车更安全。

They predict the number of road traffic accidents - which according to the World Health Organization account for more than 1.3 million deaths and up to 50 million people injured worldwide every year - will drop drastically as a result.

他们预测，道路交通事故的数量将因此大幅下降。据世界卫生组织统计，全球每年因道路交通事故死亡的人数超过130万，受伤人数高达5000万。

重点词汇

1、hazard

英 /ˈhæzəd/  美 /ˈhæzərd/

n. 危险，风险；冒险的事；机会；双骰子游戏；（高尔夫球的）球场障碍；（庭院网球用语）可得分区域；（台球）落入袋中

v. 大胆猜测；冒……的危险，使遭受危险；冒昧提出

重点单词怎么读？
No.1 defy

The folded hands emoji has popped up in more tweets than ever before to help express our feelings about seemingly every aspect of a health crisis that can sometimes defy words.

No.2 cement

That spike made it the eighth most popular emoji for the month - and cemented its position as a visual emblem for how we feel during the pandemic.

No.3 pile on

Their cousins across the Alps have also piled on the pounds, with the average French person gaining 2.5kg. 

No.4 culprit

No.5 aperitif

In France, the main culprit for the extra love handles singled out as the extended evening aperitif. 

To find more audio news, please subscribe to "China Daily English News" on ximalaya FM

Thanks for listening! See you next week!