4月14日午间英语新闻：生活在恐惧中！五分之一美国家庭有亲人死于枪击

>Habit-forming foods can alter brain activity

根本停不下来！研究：垃圾食品正在改变你的“脑回路”

A recent study published in the journal Cell Metabolism suggests eating fatty or sugary snacks alters our brain activity and creates lasting preferences for these less-healthy items.

近日发表在《细胞代谢》上的一项研究表明，吃高脂肪或含糖的零食会改变我们的大脑活动，并让我们对不太健康的食物产生持久的偏好。

For the study, researchers at Yale University and the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Germany gave one group of participants a high-fat, high-sugar yogurt twice daily for eight weeks, while another got a low-fat, low-sugar version. Aside from that, both groups continued their normal eating habits.

耶鲁大学和德国马克斯·普朗克代谢研究所的研究人员给一组参与者服用了高脂肪、高糖酸奶，每天两次，持续八周；而另一组参与者则服用了低脂、低糖酸奶。除此之外，两组人都保持着正常的饮食习惯。

At the end, the groups rated puddings with varying fat concentrations and apple juices with a range of sugar levels, and also underwent MRI scans. The scans showed the treat increased brain activity in the group that had eaten the high-fat, high-sugar yogurt, but not in the other. The researchers concluded fatty, sugary snacks activate the brain’s dopamine system, which gives people a feeling of motivation or reward.

实验结束后，两组人分别品尝了不同脂肪浓度的布丁和不同甜度的苹果汁，并做出评价。参与者们也接受了核磁共振扫描。扫描显示，食用高脂肪、高糖酸奶一组人的大脑活动增加，而另一组人则没有。研究人员因此得出结论，高脂肪、含糖的零食会激活大脑的多巴胺系统，给人一种收获动力或受到奖励的感觉。

"Let's say a new bakery opens up next to your work and you start stopping in and having a scone every morning. That alone can rewire your basic fundamental dopamine learning circuits,"said Dana Small, the study's senior author and director of Yale University School of Medicine's Modern Diet and Physiology Research Center. 

耶鲁大学医学院现代饮食与生理学研究中心主任达娜·斯莫尔说：“比方说，你办公室旁开了一家新面包店，你开始每天早上去买烤饼。这一个小小的饮食习惯会重新连接你多巴胺学习回路。”

Small said diet has such a strong effect on brain activity that dopamine signals can fire even when someone anticipates eating fatty or sugary food, like when they pass a bakery or smell a pastry. "It just tells us how sensitive we are to the food environment, and how the food environment can actually change our behavior."

她认为，饮食对大脑活动有着强烈的影响，即使是大脑预测到要吃高脂肪或含糖的食物，比如经过面包店或闻到糕点的味道，多巴胺信号也会发出。“这告诉我们，大脑对食物环境很敏感，食物环境会改变我们的行为。”

Food preferences aren't always something we're born with. "People think that we eat what we like, but we actually like what we eat," said Susan Swithers, a behavioral neuroscientist at Purdue University.

事实上，我们并不是一出生就对某些食物有着特别的偏好。普渡大学行为神经科学家苏珊·斯威瑟斯表示：“人们认为，我们是在吃自己喜欢的东西。但实际上，是我们喜欢我们在吃的东西。"

重点词汇：

1.habit-forming

英/ˈhæbɪt fɔːmɪŋ/

美/ˈhæbɪt fɔːrmɪŋ/

adj.（尤指药物毒品等）易上瘾的；易成习惯的

2.scone

英/skɒn; skəʊn/

美/skɑːn; skoʊn

n.（英）烤饼；司康饼

3.rewire

英/ˌriːˈwaɪə(r)/

美/ˌriːˈwaɪər/

vt.给……再打电报；给……换新电线

vi.再发电报；重装电线

>China's computing power surges in global ranking

年增长率近30% 中国算力总规模全球第二

China's computing power ranked second by the end of last year, with market size of the core computing power industry reaching 1.8 trillion yuan ($261.6 billion), data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

工业和信息化部的数据显示，截至去年年底，中国的算力总规模位居全球第二，算力核心产业规模达到1.8万亿元（2616亿美元）。

In recent years, the scale of China's computing power industry has grown rapidly, with an annual growth rate of nearly 30 percent.

该部表示，近年来，中国算力产业的规模迅速增长，年增长率接近30%。

Every yuan invested in computing power will drive three to four yuan of GDP economic growth, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology estimated.

根据中国信息通信研究院测算，算力每投入1元，就会带动3到4元的GDP经济增长。

重点词汇：

1.computing

英/kəmˈpjuːtɪŋ/

美/kəmˈpjuːtɪŋ/

n.计算；处理；从事电脑工作

v.计算（compute 的现在分词形式）

>1 in 5 in US has family member die by gunfire

生活在恐惧中！五分之一美国家庭有亲人死于枪击

One in five Americans reports having a family member who was fatally shot, encompassing interpersonal violence and suicide, or instances of children getting access to guns, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released on Tuesday.

美国凯撒家庭基金会4月11日（周二）发布民调显示，近五分之一的美国人称他们有亲人死于枪击，包括伤害他人或自杀，以及枪支存储不当，导致儿童意外遭枪击身亡的情况。

The poll found more than 30 percent of Black Americans lost family members due to gun violence, and 17 percent of white Americans did. Twenty percent of respondents had been threatened with a shooting, and a similar percentage had witnessed a shooting.

美国黑人群体亲人死于枪击的比例超过30% ，白人则为17%。此外，20%的受访者遭遇过枪击威胁，同样比例的人目睹过枪击事件。

Guns are now the leading cause of death among people under the age of 20 in the United States.

枪击暴力已成为美国20岁以下人群的主要死因。

"We’re a nation living in fear," said Ashley Kirzinger, KFF's director of survey methodology. Gun violence is changing people's lives and affecting their mental health, she added, and one reason why American parents feel stressed over their children's safety. 

KFF民调策略总监阿什利·科辛格表示：“我们的国家生活在恐惧中。”枪击暴力泛滥改变了美国人的生活习惯，影响着美国人的心理健康，孩子的安全令美国父母倍感压力。

Kirzinger said 10 percent worry daily, and 80 percent considered measures to prevent shootings, including transferring their children to safer schools, avoiding crowded venues like music festivals and bars and learning how to handle or shoot a gun for self-defense.

科辛格说，10%的美国人每天都在担心遭遇枪击，80%的人考虑过预防枪击的措施，包括为孩子办理转学就读更安全的学校，避开酒吧、音乐节等人多拥挤的场所，学习使用枪支或其他武器自卫等。

重点词汇：

1.encompass

英/ɪnˈkʌmpəs/

美/ɪnˈkʌmpəs/

v.包含，包括；包围，环绕

2.methodology

英/ˌmeθəˈdɒlədʒi/

美/ˌmeθəˈdɑːlədʒi/

n.方法论，一套方法

3.venue

英/ˈvenjuː/

美/ˈvenjuː/

n.（事件的）发生地点，（活动的）场所；<英，法律>审判地（指郡或区）