【2023.1.9】六分钟英语 我们为什么按按钮？ Why we press b

Hello. This is 6 Minute English and I'm Rob.

大家好。这里是六分钟英语，我是罗伯。

And I'm Neil.

我是尼尔。

Today we're talking about buttons.

今天我们将要讨论“buttons”。

Yes, buttons. Buttons are what we have on our clothes to fasten them, but the word is also used for things that we push to make things happen.

是的，“buttons”。“Buttons”是我们衣服上扣紧的东西，但是那个单词同样用来指我们另事情发生所按下的东西。

Things like your bedside alarm, radio, toaster, kettle. We press hundreds of buttons every week without thinking about it. Not everyone likes buttons though, particularly the ones we have on our clothes. It's a recognised phobia. What is this fear called?Is it

A: buttonophobia B: koumpounophobia, or C: coulrophobia?

Any ideas Neil?

像是你床头的闹钟，收音机，烤箱，电烧水壶。我们每周不假思索地按上百次的按钮。然而并不是每个人都喜欢“buttons”，特别是我们衣服上面的纽扣。它是一种公认的恐惧症。这种恐惧被叫做什么？是A：buttonophobia B： koumpounophobia，还是 C：coulrophobia？有什么想法吗，尼尔？

Er, I think I've got a fear of pronouncing these words!No idea what the answer is, I think buttonophobia is much too obvious, so it's one of the others or is it?It's a hard one.

额，我觉得我有这些单词发音的恐惧症。答案是什么并没头绪，我觉得“buttonophobia”太明显，所以是另外两个中的一个，或者就是它？题很难。

Well, I'll have the answer later in the programme. Thinking Allowed is a BBC Radio 4 programme which covers a range of interesting topics. Recently, they featured a discussion about buttons and how important they are to everyday life. Steven Connor, Professor of English at the University of Cambridge, was on the programme and he talked about appeal of buttons. What does say about children and buttons?

好的，稍后我将在节目中揭晓答案。Thinking Allowed是BBC广播4频道节目，它涵盖一些列有趣的话题。最近他们做了一期讨论按钮以及其在日常生活中重要性的专题节目。剑桥大学英文教授史蒂文·康纳做客该节目并谈到了按钮的吸引力。关于孩子和按钮，他说了什么？

We do love buttons and I think the pleasure and the temptation of buttons... this temptation and everyone feels it, which is why buttons have to be very convenient. On the other hand they have to be kept away from children, so they've got to be put high up on the wall,and buttons that really matter, have to be made quite hard to push - like put behind glass or something.

我们确实喜欢按钮，而且我觉得按按钮的快感和诱惑……这种诱惑每个人都能感受到，这也是为什么按钮要非常便利。另一方面按钮必须要远离孩子，所以它们要安装在墙上高处，而且按钮真的很重要，必须要做得很难按到，像安在玻璃或者其它东西后面。

OK. What does he say about children and buttons?

好的。关于孩子和按钮，他说了什么？

That they have to be kept away from them!As I said before, I loved pressing buttons as a child. I would press any that I saw, so important ones did have to be out of my reach.

按钮必须要远离孩子！就像我之前说的，我还是孩子的时候很爱按按钮。我会按我看到的所有按钮，所以重要的按钮必须让我够不着。

Yes, he said buttons are a temptation. A temptation is something that makes you want to do something,and it's often used when it's something you shouldn't really do. So buttons that lead to potentially dangerous or serious consequences, like a fire alarm, need to be protected, maybe behind glass,so temptation doesn't get the better of us.

是的，他说按钮是一个诱惑。诱惑是令你想做某些事情的事物，而且它经常用于当你想做的事情并不是你真的应该做的事情时。所以导致潜在危险或者严重后果的按钮，例如火灾警报器，或许需要装在玻璃后面，所以诱惑就不会左右我们。

But many buttons have a useful, practical purpose in everyday life, like calling a lift - so these buttons have to be easy to use without difficulty. The adjective for this is 'convenient'. These everyday buttons have to be convenient.

但是一些按钮在日常生活中很有用，很实用，就像升降电梯，所以这些按钮一定要使用方便无困难。这个的形容词是“便利的”。这些日常生活中的按钮必须要便利。

Professor Connor goes on to say a bit more about why buttons are so appealing. What's his opinion?

康纳教授继续谈到更多关于为什么纽扣如此吸引人的内容。他的观点是什么？

You know what I think?I think it's down to the fidgeting instinct of very digital or manual creatures. I think we want to fidget with things and adjust them, we want to make them slightly better... I guess it's the grooming instinct in apes.

你知道我想什么吗？我认为这要归结于有手指或脚趾，或者手能进行操作的动物的坐立不安本能。我觉得我们想要用手摆弄东西，调整它们，我们想要让它们更好一些……我猜它是猿类打理自己的本能。

So then, why can't we resist buttons?

所以我们为什么抵抗不住按钮的诱惑呢？

Because as humans we have a fidgeting instinct. We can't stay still for very long, we need to move around a lot because we are very digital creatures.

因为作为人类，我们本能上会坐立不安，乱动。我们不能待着不动很长时间，我们需要大量地走来走去，因为我们恰好是有手指或脚趾的生物。

The use of digital though, is nothing to do with modern online technology, is it?

然而“digital”这个词的使用和现代网络科技没什么关系，是吧？

No, 'a digit' is a finger or toe. So we are digital creatures - we have fingers and we like to use them.

没关系，“a digit”是手指或脚趾。所以我们是有手指或者脚趾的生物——我们有手指并且我们喜欢用手指。

And one thing other digital creatures do, creatures like apes, is grooming. That is they use their hands to clean the body hair of other apes. They look through the hair for insects and bugs and pull them out and eat them. But we can also use the word grooming for humans,someone who is well-groomed for example is neat and tidy, clean and well presented. Here's Professor Connor again.

其它有手指或者脚趾的生物所做的一件事，像猿类，就是打理自己。那是说它们用自己的手清理其它猿类的毛发。它们本能用手抓过头发找昆虫和臭虫，把它们抓出来吃掉。但是我们同样用“grooming”这个词形容人类，例如梳妆打扮好的某人是干净整洁的，身上干干净净，表现得很好。再听一下康纳博士是怎么说的。

You know what I think?I think it's down to the fidgeting instinct of very digital or manual creatures. I think we want to fidget with things and adjust them, we want to make them slightly better... I guess it's the grooming instinct in apes.

你知道我想什么吗？我认为这要归结于有手指或脚趾，或者手能进行操作的动物的坐立不安本能。我觉得我们想要用手摆弄东西，调整它们，我们想要让它们更好一些……我猜它是猿类的打理自己的本能。

Before we wrap up, time to get the answer to this week's question. Some people have a fear of buttons, it's a recognised phobia,but what's it called?Is it A: buttonophobia B: koumpounophobia, or C: coulrophobia?And Neil, you said?

但是在我们结束之前，是时候揭晓这周问题的答案了。一些人对纽扣有恐惧，那是一种公认的恐惧症，但是它叫做什么？是A：buttonophobia B： koumpounophobia， 还是 C： coulrophobia？尼尔，你说是什么？

Well, I didn't, but I don't think it can be 'buttonophobia', that'd be too easy. And I think coulrophobia is a fear of clowns,so I'm going for the other one - koumpounophobia.

好吧，我不知道，但是我不认为是“buttonophobia”，那太简单了。我觉得“coulrophobia”是对小丑的恐惧，所以我说是另一个“koumpounophobia”。

That it right. Buttonophobia is a made up word, and as you said, coulrophobia is a fear of clowns. Right, now let's review today's vocabulary.

正确。“Buttonophobia”是一个编的词，而且正如你所说，“coulrophobia”是对小丑的恐惧。好的，现在让我们回顾一下今天的词汇。

We've been talking about buttons. These can be small round things we use to fasten our clothes, or the things that we push to make something happen.

我们谈到了“buttons”。这些是我们用来扣紧衣服的小个圆形物体，或者是我们按下另事情发生的事物。

Buttons can be a temptation. We see one, we want to push it. So a temptation is something that makes us want to do something we know we shouldn't.

按钮能是一种诱惑。看到一个就想按一个。所以“诱惑”是让我们做我们想做的事情的事物，但我们知道我们不应该做。

And then we had the adjective convenient. Something that is convenient is easy to use without difficulty. For example the buttons to call a lift are at a very convenient height, they can be reached easily.

然后我们提到了形容词“便利的”。某事物便利就是方便使用无困难。例如升降电梯的按钮在一个非常方便的高度，它们能够轻松被够到。

Professor Connor went on to talk about our fidgeting instinct. As humans we love to fidget, we like to keep moving around, we can't stay still for very long and we love to do stuff with our hands.

康纳教授继续谈到了坐立不安本能。作为人类，我们喜欢乱动，我们喜欢一直动来动去，我们没法待着不动很长时间，而且我们喜欢用手做事。

The professor talked about us being digital creatures, which means creatures with fingers. A digit is another word for a finger or toe.

教授谈到我们是“digital creatures”，那指的是有手指或者脚趾的生物。“A digit”是手指或脚趾的另一个单词。

And finally we had grooming.

最后我们提到了“grooming”。

This is the habit of making ourselves look nice by cleaning, washing and doing our hair. It's something some animals, such as apes, do for each other.

这是通过清洁，清洗，打理头发让我们看起来好看的习惯。它也是某些动物所做的事情，像是猿类为彼此所做的事情。

Well, the button here in the studio is flashing, which tells me it's time to wrap up for today. Bye for now.

好的，演播室这里的按钮正在闪，那告诉我是时候结束今天的节目了。再见了。

Bye!Can I just press that button?

拜！我能按下那个按钮吗？

Oh, go on then, if you like!

噢，当然，如果你喜欢的话！