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【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！

  1. 23 HR AGO

    第2774期:How we got hooked on credit cards(2)

    And the banks profited from small fees on each transaction. But soon, banks found another way to make money from these cards. They began allowing cardholders to pay off their debt more slowly for an additional fee called an interest payment. Essentially, cardholders could choose to pay just part of their monthly bill, and the bank would add a percentage of what they didn't pay to next month's bill.银行最初是靠每一笔交易收取少量手续费来盈利的。但很快，银行发现了另一种赚钱的方法：他们允许持卡人以更慢的速度偿还债务，但要额外支付一笔叫做“利息”的费用。换句话说，持卡人可以选择只偿还月账单的一部分，剩余未付金额则会被加上一定比例的利息，计入下个月的账单。 Even in these early days, this system wasn't without problems. In 1958, Bank of America sent 60,000 unsolicited credit cards to residents of Fresno, California. While this promotion was intended to attract new customers, it mostly led to rampant card theft and unpaid bills.即便在这些早期阶段，这套体系也并非没有问题。1958 年，美国银行（Bank of America）向加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺市的居民寄出了 60,000 张未曾请求的信用卡。虽然这项推广本意是为了吸引新客户，但结果却主要导致了信用卡盗窃猖獗和账单无法收回。 Banks also struggled to process all the payment paperwork these cards produced. At this time, charging a credit card involved stamping a card’s embossed details onto carbon paper and sending out these charge slips for manual processing. But as credit card use boomed, banks were left with warehouses of unprocessed charge slips, creating delays that prevented them from charging interest.银行还在为处理信用卡所产生的大量支付单据而头痛。当时的信用卡交易方式是把卡片的浮雕信息压印到复写纸上，然后把这些签单寄出，进行人工处理。但随着信用卡使用量的激增，银行堆满了仓库的未处理签单，造成延迟，使他们无法及时收取利息。

    1 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    第2773期:How we got hooked on credit cards(1)

    In 1949, businessman Frank McNamara was about to pay for dinner when he realized something terrible: he’d forgotten his wallet. While this scenario isn’t that uncommon, McNamara’s response was. Determined to ensure he’d never be caught without cash again, he invented the Diners Club Card— a wallet-sized piece of cardboard that allowed carriers to dine at associated restaurants and settle their bills at the end of each month.1949 年，商人弗兰克·麦克纳马拉在准备付晚餐账单时，突然发现一个糟糕的情况：他忘带钱包了。虽然这种情况并不少见，但麦克纳马拉的反应却与众不同。为了确保自己不再因为没带现金而陷入窘境，他发明了“大来俱乐部卡”（Diners Club Card）——一张钱包大小的纸板卡片，持卡人可以在合作餐厅用餐，并在每个月底统一结账。 McNamara wasn’t the first person to codify the IOU— there’s evidence of deferred payment systems stretching all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia. In America’s Wild West, ranchers and farmers used metal plates as credit placeholders. And just a few years before McNamara's dining disaster, many department stores and airlines had already begun rolling out reward programs and charge cards.麦克纳马拉并不是第一个把“欠条”制度化的人——早在古代美索不达米亚，就已经有延期支付的系统存在。在美国西部拓荒时期，牧场主和农民们会用金属牌作为信用的凭证。而就在麦克纳马拉“晚餐危机”的前几年，许多百货公司和航空公司已经开始推出奖励计划和记账卡。 But the Diners Club Card was different. Where previous credit arrangements saw one business authorizing credit for one individual, McNamara’s card gave users credit with over two dozen otherwise unassociated businesses. This decentralized credit was revolutionary, and in just one year, the Diners Club Card gained 10,000 users. Soon, several US banks recruited local merchants and launched their own credit programs. For these merchants, credit cards provided increased business and upfront financing. For consumers, the cards offered financial flexibility, allowing them to make larger purchases so long as they could pay them off at the end of each month.但“大来俱乐部卡”却与众不同。以往的信用安排是某一家商户为某一个人提供信用额度，而麦克纳马拉的卡片则让用户在二十多家互不相关的商户中都能获得信用支持。这种去中心化的信用体系是革命性的，仅仅一年时间，大来俱乐部卡就拥有了一万名用户。很快，美国几家银行也招募本地商户，推出了自己的信用计划。对商户来说，信用卡能带来更多生意和预付款资金；而对消费者而言，信用卡则提供了财务上的灵活性，让他们能够进行更大额的消费，只要月底能还清账单即可。

    2 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    第2772期:How I turned frustration into creative success(2)

    People got very upset. And I got yelled at a lot. Very gently. A lot about "I hope your pillow is warm."人们非常生气，我也经常被骂——不过是那种很“温柔”的责骂，比如“希望你的枕头一直是热的”之类的话。 These started getting millions and millions of views.这些视频开始获得数百万、甚至上千万的观看量。 And a lot of reactions as well.同时也引发了大量的反应。 People asked me to do mazes. OK. How do you screw up a maze? This is how. It went right past the exit.人们让我画迷宫。好吧，那要怎么把迷宫搞砸呢？答案就是——它直接从出口旁边走了过去。 I had to learn the rules of this little medium. It had to be 12, maybe 15 seconds. Go quickly. And I had to try to hide the mistake underneath the mechanism.我必须学会这种小短片的规则：视频要控制在 12 秒，也许 15 秒之内，动作要快，还要尽量把错误藏在机器运作的过程中。 And mostly the ending had to be traumatic.而且结尾往往得是“令人崩溃”的。 I would promise people oddly satisfying, and then I would betray them.我会先承诺给人一种“奇怪的满足感”，然后再彻底背叛他们的期待。 People thought this was about AI.很多人以为这是在讲人工智能。 That one went super viral. People spent 200,000 hours watching my 17 second video. I got so many notifications my phone died repeatedly for days.有一个视频彻底爆火。人们花了二十万小时来看我那段 17 秒的视频。通知多到让我手机连续几天反复死机。 So ultimately, constraints are great for making art, but you ultimately end up becoming a crappy cover artist of your own work. And I didn't really like that, so I took a break.所以说，限制其实对艺术创作是有帮助的，但最终你会变成自己作品的“糟糕翻唱者”。我并不喜欢这种状态，所以停了一段时间。 But remember that if you go on the internet and see something that annoys you just a bit ... it might have been me.不过请记住，如果你在网上看到一个让你有点恼火的东西……那可能就是我做的。

    1 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO

    第2771期:How I turned frustration into creative success(1)

    So for many years I've been doing computer art, geometric art with pen and paper on plotters. I write the code and sometimes I build the machines.很多年来，我一直在做电脑艺术——用绘图仪、钢笔和纸张创作几何艺术。我自己写代码，有时还会自己造机器。 I would upload the stuff to social media, figuring maybe people like the soft noises and the clicks and pops and so on. No one really paid any attention to it.我把这些作品上传到社交媒体，想着或许有人会喜欢那些轻微的噪音、咔嗒声、噼啪声之类的。但实际上几乎没人关注。 At some point, someone gave me a chocolate 3D printer extruder, and I filled it with acrylic paint, and set it up and made a terrible mess.后来有人送了我一个巧克力 3D 打印机的喷头，我就把它装满了丙烯颜料，安装好之后结果搞得一团糟。 I wanted to try out making some dots, and I wrote a little program, and the dots weren't in order.我想试着打印一些点，于是写了一个小程序，但这些点并没有按照顺序排列。 These were reactions it got. Some people got angry. Some people sympathized with the robot.这就是它引发的反应：有些人很生气，有些人则对这个机器人表示同情。 Some people danced to it. Mostly angry.还有些人甚至随着它的节奏跳舞。但大多数人还是生气。 If you go in a line, it’ll be faster. If you go in a line, it'll be -- it'll be quicker if you go in a line. I think -- you're going side to side. You should go in a line and you'll go faster. Just go -- go in a line!“如果你沿着直线走会更快。如果你沿着直线走——会更快的。我觉得——你现在在左右移动。你应该沿着直线走，那样会更快。就直接——走直线吧！” This one is “Bad day at the circle factory.” I realized you could manufacture emotions of various kinds with just a robot and pen and paper.这一幅叫做《圆圈工厂的糟糕一天》。我意识到，只用一个机器人加上一支笔和纸，就能制造出各种情绪。 So I leaned into it.于是我更加投入其中。

    1 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    第2770期:Ancient Siberian 'ice mummy' had intricate tattoos

    The images reveal intricate details in the ancient tattoos, which picture leopards, a stag, a rooster and the mythical griffin creature that is half lion and half eagle.图片揭示了这些古老纹身中精美复杂的细节，纹身图案包括豹子、一只雄鹿、一只公鸡以及一只神话异兽，它长着狮身鹰首。 The tattooed woman, aged about 50, was from the horse-riding warrior Pazyryk people, who lived on the vast steppe between China and Europe in the 5th century BC.还有一名有纹身的女性，大约 50 岁，来自擅长在马背上作战的巴泽雷克民族，他们在公元前五世纪生活在中国与欧洲之间的广阔草原上。 The archaeologists worked with a tattooist who reproduces ancient skin decorations on his own body to understand how exactly they were made.考古学家们与一位在自己身上复刻古代纹身图案的纹身师合作，以深入了解古人究竟是如何制作出这些图案的。 The team say the decorations were so crisp and uniform that modern tattooists would find it challenging to produce them. They believe that the tattoos were first stencilled onto the skin. Then two needle-like tools were probably used, made from animal horn or bone. The pigment was likely made from burned plants or soot.该研究团队表示，这些纹身图案线条非常清晰且整齐，即使对现代纹身师来说，也颇具挑战性。他们认为，这些纹身最初是用镂空模板在皮肤上描绘出来的。然后可能用了两种针状的刺青工具，工具由动物角或骨头制成。纹身的颜料则很可能由烧焦的植物或烟灰制成。

    1 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    第2769期:A poem that AI will never understand(3)

    The work towards a better world is not automated.通往更美好世界的努力，并不是自动化的。 No computer could take this job.没有一台电脑能够承担这份工作。 Of audacious hope. Of unfounded optimism.这份工作属于大胆的希望，属于无凭无据的乐观。 We are the unprompted.我们是不需要提示的人。 In the face of the bleakest calculations.即便面对最冷酷的演算结果。 We aspire in a way no algorithm could advise.我们怀抱的渴望，是任何算法都无法给予的。 And that is what will save us from the abyss.而正是这一点，将把我们从深渊中拯救出来。 Solely we are our saviors, but just as every hero has their gadgets,唯有人类自己才是自己的救赎者，但就像每位英雄都有自己的工具。 Technology can be the engine of our altruism.科技可以成为我们利他之心的引擎。 Every invention is just an extension of your hand.每一项发明，都只是你手的延伸。 So in the same way that a hammer can both build and destroy.正如同一把锤子既能建造，也能毁灭。 So in the same way that a hammer can both build and destroy.同样地，一把锤子既可以成就，也可以摧毁。 You tell me, how will youwieldyour tools?那么，请告诉我，你将如何使用你的工具？ Again I say to people. Remember people.我再次对人们说：记住，你们是人。 Be unprompted, but with a promise.要自发行动，但要怀着承诺。 To let my most pressing 3 am question.让那个困扰我凌晨三点的最迫切的问题。 Not be whether or not I’ll have a world to wake up to.不再是：明天醒来时，我是否还能拥有一个世界？ But how these new things can finally find us well.而是：这些新事物，如何最终能真正让我们安好。

    1 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    第2768期:A poem that AI will never understand(2)

    The displaced children without homes do not cry mechanical tears.无家可归的流离儿童流下的，不是机械的眼泪。 About a simulated hunger induced by virtual war.他们的饥饿，不是虚拟战争所模拟出来的假象。 The viruses they suffer from are not the zeros and ones in your devices.他们所遭受的病毒，并不是你设备里零和一构成的代码。 Cured by simple software reset. If only the world had such a button.那些病毒不能靠一次简单的软件重启来治愈。要是世界也有这样一个按钮就好了。 We've got our heads so far up in the cloud we forget that the ground exists.我们的头颅早已埋进云端，以至于忘记了地面依然存在。 New prompt: is this modernity?新的提示：这就是所谓的现代性吗？ Marveling at machines that can read and write.我们惊叹于机器竟然能读能写。 When currently 700 million adults are illiterate?可此刻仍有七亿成年人是文盲。 New prompt: is this innovation?新的提示：这就是所谓的创新吗？ Chipped by click workers in dark, dank rooms without proper compensation?由那些在黑暗潮湿的房间里，得不到合理报酬的“点击工人”所凿刻完成？ The future, we fear, is not the sci-fi cyborg AI uprising that sets the world aflame.我们所害怕的未来，并不是科幻作品里由赛博格 AI 点燃世界的叛乱。 No, the true dystopia is the today we make.不，真正的反乌托邦，正是我们亲手塑造的今天。 When humans watch the worldburnstill with the power to save it. And don't.当人类明明依然拥有拯救世界的力量，却只是眼看着它燃烧——而什么也不做。

    1 min

  8. 5 SEPT

    第2767期:A poem that AI will never understand(1)

    I fill my empty 3 ams with spineless phone scrolls, Text abbreviations,And uni-human conversations. AI chat bots answer all my aimless interrogations:我用毫无意义的手机刷屏、缩写的文字，和一些非人不人的对话来填满我空洞的凌晨三点。AI 聊天机器人回答了我所有漫无目的的疑问： like, how do I answer an email that does not find me well?Or oh my gosh, my crush just texted me, what do I say?比如：我该怎么回复一封“希望你一切安好”但其实我并不好时的邮件？或者：天啊，我的暗恋对象刚给我发了消息，我该说什么？ Or is it true, what the headlines say?That the world is crumbling beneath our feet,And we do nothing but crumble with it?还是说，新闻头条所写的都是真的？世界正崩塌在我们脚下，而我们所做的，只是和它一起崩塌？ Our glassend eyes lost in the latent space,Calculating our extinction with every pulse of our carbon-based circuitry我们那如玻璃般呆滞的眼睛迷失在潜在空间里，每一次碳基电路的跳动，都在计算着我们自己的灭亡。 And as we fall deeper and deeper into the black box,Is hoping for humanity the most human thing we can do?而当我们越来越深地坠入这个黑匣子时，是否“怀抱对人性的希望”才是我们能做的最“人性”的事情？ And the AI says back to me,I don't know.More specifically,Hmm, I'm not sure how to process your request. Please try a new prompt.而 AI 回答我：“我不知道。更准确地说，嗯……我不确定该如何处理你的请求。请尝试一个新的提示吧。” I say to AI:Don’t feel too special.You aren't the first artificial system,We humans carelessly labeled “intelligent”我对 AI 说：别觉得自己太特别。你不是第一个被人类草率贴上“智能”标签的人工系统。 Global capitalism was genius until it became negligentLeaving the unfortunate to suffer without the means for life.全球资本主义曾是天才般的构想，直到它变得疏忽冷漠，让不幸的人们在缺乏生存手段中痛苦煎熬。 Biased science elevated one people over the last,But with differentiation came racism and caste,Littering our world with non-compostable isms.带有偏见的科学把一部分人抬到另一部分人之上，但随着区分而来的，是种族主义与等级制度，让世界堆满了无法分解的各种“主义”。 I say to its text and images,You’re brilliant, but you aren’t the first generation to forge something out ofseeminglynothing.我对它的文字和图像说：你很出色，但你并不是第一个能凭空创造出看似“无”之物的世代。 Haven't you seen my generation, the DIYers and binary defiers?We to extract wisdom from the Earth's mouth,like a flower, or a land mine.你难道没见过我的一代人吗？那些自己动手、挑战二元对立的人？我们从大地的口中挖掘智慧，它可能像一朵花，也可能像一颗地雷。 Sure, drive our cars but never our movements.Never our blood and boned passions.当然，你可以驾驶我们的汽车，但永远驱动不了我们的运动。永远无法取代我们血肉中的激情。 You can't replace the place of the people,I say to the people:你无法取代人类自身的立场，我对人们说：

    2 min
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【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！

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