I am looking back home at the reports of winter weather in the U.S., and it seems like...it seems like winter mayhem. There is an ice storm down South, stories of power outages, treacherous highways and, tragically, deaths. There is major snow where I live in New York-another pounding in an already overlong winter. The commute is a mess and the mayor is warning everyone to stay off the roads, when he isn't taking grief for keeping the schools open.
        回顧了美國國內有關冬日天氣的報導，感覺像一場大破壞。我在紐約所住的地方下起了大雪――這是已經太過漫長的冬天給人的又一個打擊。交通一片混亂，市長警告所有人不要上路，但對學校照常上課造成的怨聲載道充耳不聞。

        And here, at the Winter Olympics in Russia, it is T-shirt weather. Not just for spectators. For athletes. Outdoors. On Thursday, the U.S. slopestyle skier Bobby Brown competed in a T-shirt. On Feb. 13.
        而在冬奧會舉辦地俄羅斯索契，這裡的天氣可以穿T恤衫。
        It is as weird as it sounds. By now you have surely heard it is warm in Sochi, even in the mountains, where snow is giving way to convenience store-style slush. This morning I walked out toward the Olympic stadiums and it was bright and sunny, with only the slightest hint of a chill. There was no need for a jacket. No need for a sweater. Wool socks? Nope. En route to speedskating, I felt as if I was on my way to breakfast in Fort Lauderdale.
        這種情況跟聽上去一樣怪。但山區的雪已經變成了便利店那種泥濘。週四上午，一路上陽光明媚，只有最微弱的一絲絲寒意。往滑速賽場時，我覺得自己是在去Fort Lauderdale吃早餐的路上。
        By midafternoon, the temperature was hovering in the low 60s. Sunglasses weather. Frozen mango daiquiri weather.
        到下午3點左右，氣溫徘徊在16攝氏度左右。這種天氣適合戴著太陽鏡，來一杯冰凍芒果戴奇利雞尾酒。

        Let's be clear: It's crass to write merrily about beautiful weather when the weather's so tough elsewhere. (More than tough-'catastrophic' was one word the National Weather Service used in warning about the ice storm.) It's like posting a photo of yourself waist deep in a Cabo pool during the holidays. Good for you. Nobody wants to hear about it.
        需要說明的是，在其他地方的天氣如此惡劣（比惡劣更有過之――美國國家氣象局在有關冰暴的警告中用了“災難性的”一詞）之時興高采列地描寫美好天氣是愚蠢之舉。
        Still, the summer feeling at these un-Wintery Winter Games is undeniably strange. There has been temperate weather at the Winter Games before-Vancouver was often a misty, mild 50 degrees-and palm-treed Sochi never claimed to be a Siberian tundra. But the contrast between these Russian Games and the brutal U.S. winter is stunning.   
       以往比如溫哥華冬奧會時就氣候濕潤，溫度在10攝氏度左右，長滿棕櫚樹的索契也從來都與西伯利亞凍土無緣。

        'I think it's roughly 20 degrees warmer here than it was in Houston when I left,' said Christopher Hayes, who was at Shayba Arena, attending the U.S. men's hockey game versus Slovakia, supporting a childhood pal from Michigan, goaltender Ryan Miller. Hayes was dressed in a fading, floral, red-white-and-blue Hawaiian shirt that he'd worn to other Winter Games. But this was the first Olympics that he'd worn the shirt outside. 'Usually it's buried under 10 layers.'   
        為了支持守門員 Ryan Miller、在Shayba冰球中心觀看美國對斯洛伐克男子比賽的Christopher Hayes說，我感覺，這裡的溫度比離開時的休士頓高了20華氏度。Hayes說，以往我都得在這件夏威夷衫外面再套10層衣服。
        Inside the arena, hopeful souvenir vendors were gamely trying to sell fuzzy hats and rainbow-fingered gloves. Outside, Jason Burchard of Dallas was comparing the Sochi afternoon to Northern California. 'It's like San Francisco,' Burchard said.   
        冰球中心內，滿懷希望的紀念品小販努力地推銷絨毛帽子和彩虹手套。
        'It's cooler in San Francisco,' countered Mike Durgavich, from Washington, D.C. Durgavich mentioned the coastal breezes in the Bay Area. 'You don't have that off the Black Sea.' He joked that he was disappointed by the heat. 'I want to see bears roaming the streets,' Durgavich said.

        There were no bears roaming the streets, unless you counted the unnerving Olympic mascot bears. And warm weather does not impact play at the coastal cluster, where all of the events are played inside indoor stadiums. In fact, if not for the mountain sports, you could play the Winter Games in Daytona Beach, so long as you had the facilities. (Not suggesting this. Not suggesting Daytona 2022.) But the sun is acutely a factor in the mountains, where skiers have groaned about conditions, and events have been moved up earlier in the day to take advantage of the early a.m. cold.   
        不過對山地項目來說，太陽的影響還是很大的。滑雪運動員抱怨不已，而且日間的項目已經往前挪，希望利用清晨比較冷的時候進行比賽。
        This week it is hard to come up with a summer sport that would be uncomfortable in Sochi. Maybe swimming? Then again, there are swimmers at the pebbly Black Sea, sunbathing, wading in. It is a blissful climate for golf and tennis and baseball and outdoor basketball. Tennis would be fantastic in Sochi. Touch football. Beach yoga. Shuffleboard. It might not be ideal for a marathon. Journal Olympic maestro Matthew Futterman, a dedicated distance runner, thinks it might be a wee too hot. Seriously.   
        本周，簡直想不出哪種夏季項目不適合在索契進行了。對長跑情有獨鍾的奧運大師Futterman，他說，在索契跑馬拉松的話太熱了，真的。

        For the final word on ideal weather, it's always instructive to ask a Floridian. At the hockey game, I bumped into Tom Ronde, visiting from Englewood, Fla., south of Sarasota. This was his eighth Olympics, he said. Ronde was loving everything about Sochi. He loved the city. He loved the people. He loved the temperature. And he was prepared. 'I have a pair of shorts,' he said. 'I'm going to wear them.'
        有關理想的天氣，最後說一句，問問佛羅里達人總是有益的。
Englewood 的 Ronde說，這是第八次觀看冬奧。他愛這個城市，愛這裡的人，愛這裡的溫度。而且他已經做好了準備。他說，我有一條大短褲，該穿上了。

Office workers are being treated to a new game: musical chairs.

        By shifting employees from desk to desk every few months, scattering those who do the same types of jobs and rethinking which departments to place side by side, companies say they can increase productivity and collaboration.                    
        公司方面表示，通過讓員工每幾個月調換一次座位、將從事同類工作的員工分散開來以及重新考慮讓哪些部門坐在一起等方式，他們能夠提高生產率並促進合作。
        Proponents say such experiments not only come with a low price tag, but they can help a company's bottom line, even if they leave a few disgruntled workers in their wake.

        In recent years, many companies have moved toward open floor plans and unassigned seating, ushering managers out of their offices and clustering workers at communal tables. But some companies -- especially small startups and technology businesses -- are taking the trend a step further, micromanaging who sits next to whom in an attempt to get more from their employees.
        近年來，許多公司轉向開放空間格局，不指定固定座位，引導管理者走出辦公室，並將員工聚在公用辦公桌旁。但一些公司（尤其是小型初創公司和科技公司）將這種趨勢又向前推進了一步，它們對座位安排進行微觀管理，以提高員工的生產率。

        'If I change the [organizational] chart and you stay in the same seat, it doesn't have very much of an effect,' says Ben Waber, chief executive of Sociometric Solutions, a Boston company that uses sensors to analyze communication patterns in the workplace. 'If I keep the org chart the same but change where you sit, it is going to massively change everything.'
        Mr. Waber says a worker's immediate neighbors account for 40% to 60% of every interaction that worker has during the workday, from face-to-face chats to email messages. There is only a 5% to 10% chance employees are interacting with someone two rows away, according to his data, which is culled from companies in the retail, pharmaceutical and finance industries, among others.
     
        Companies should think carefully about whom they put where, according to experts who study office design and workplace psychology. Grouping workers by department can foster focus and efficiency, says Christian Catalini, an assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, but mixing them up can lead to experimentation and the potential for breakthrough ideas.    
        麻省理工、斯隆管理學院的助理教授 Catalini 表示，讓員工按部門就座有助於提高專注程度和工作效率，但讓不同部門的員工混坐能鼓勵員工大膽嘗試，還能激發可產生突破性創意的潛力。

        MODCo Media, a New York advertising agency, has tested three different seating arrangements over the past few years. For about six months, the company intermingled its accountants and media buyers, hoping they would begin to absorb each others' skills through 'osmosis' and 'overhearing phone calls.'
        紐約廣告公司MODCo Media在過去幾年裡試用了三種不同的座位安排。該公司讓會計和媒介採購員混坐了約六個月，希望他們能通過“耳濡目染”和“偷聽電話”來相互借鑒。
        The experiment ended up saving MODCo 'a couple hundred thousand dollars a year,' says CEO Erik Dochtermann, but it turned out badly for the accountants. The media buyers began to understand the financial side of the business so well that MODCo no longer needed a full accounting department. Now, the media buyers 'do the accountancy on the fly' and the company's chief financial officer checks their work, says Mr. Dochtermann.
        該公司首席執行長Dochtermann 表示，這項實驗最終讓公司“一年節省了幾十萬美元”，但對會計來說卻成了壞事。媒介採購員能夠很好地理解業務的財務面，好到MODCo不再需要財務部的人馬。Dochtermann稱，媒介採購員現在會“隨手做做會計工作”，公司的首席財務長會檢查他們的工作。
        Other seating configurations have helped inspire new products and expedited the training of new employees, he says.

        At travel website Kayak.com, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Paul English has joked about developing an algorithm to capture all that goes into devising his seating plan for the engineering team.
   旅遊網站Kayak.com聯合創始人兼首席技術長 English 戲稱，要開發一種演算法來捕捉決定工程師團隊座位設計方案的所有因素。
        He uses new hires as an excuse to alter the existing layout and thinks carefully about each worker's immediate neighbors. He takes into account everything from his employees' personalities to their political views to their propensity for arriving at work early -- or, more important, their propensity for judging colleagues who arrive late.
        他以新聘員工為理由對現有的佈局進行調整，並仔細斟酌每一位員工的鄰座。他將員工性格、政見、提前上班的傾向（還有更重要的一點是評價同事遲到行為的傾向）等種種因素納入考慮範圍。
        'If I put someone next to you that's annoying or there's a total style clash, I'm going to make your job depressing,' he says.
     
        Young Chun, a product designer at Kayak, is one of Mr. English's ambassadors in his pursuit of an office with 'a balance of energy.' A self-professed member of the 'loud' contingent of Kayak employees, she was recently dispatched to the mobile group, where she estimated 90% of the workers were quiet, to get them to be more vocal.
       Young Chun 自詡為Kayak員工中“愛說話”小分隊成員，最近她被派遣到移動業務組（她估計這裡90%的員工都很安靜），任務是讓他們多說點話。
        'The first week that I was down there I was like, 'Oh my god, I could hear a pin drop here,'' she says.
        It took a few weeks, but Ms. Chun says she was able to get the group to open up and start chatting. Her mission accomplished, she was soon switched to another section of the office.

        Aspects of a worker's disposition can, in fact, be contagious, according to Sigal Barsade, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. 'People literally catch emotions from one another like a virus,' she says. Her research has found that the least-contagious emotional state is one marked by low-energy and sluggishness. The most contagious is a calm, relaxed state -- which she nicknamed 'the California condition.'
   People with similar emotional temperaments work best together, Ms. Barsade says. But if a manager is trying to get a stressed-out worker to brighten up, the best strategy is to surround her with lots of cheerful, energetic people.    

        Constantly shuffling people around has its consequences, however. Ms. Barsade says that moving from desk to desk can make workers feel like they have little control over their environment. And some seating experiments can cause a backlash.    

        For about four years, employees at HubSpot Inc., a marketing-software company based in Cambridge, Mass., switched seats randomly every three months. The seating strategy was meant to reflect the lack of hierarchy at the company, which it says was especially helpful in recruiting Millennials. Eventually, the company added some structure to the arrangement, splitting workers into loud and quiet groups.                            
        But when HubSpot decided to group its executives in one part of the office, the employee feedback was negative. The executives felt more efficient and liked being able to chat without having to arrange formal meetings, but the employees felt the higher-ups were too far removed. The setup was reversed after six months.            
        但當HubSpot決定讓高管集中坐到辦公室的一處區域時，員工給出的回饋卻是負面的。高管們感覺這樣坐效率更高，他們還喜歡無須安排正式會議就能隨意聊天，但員工們覺得上司們高高在上。該公司在六個月後取消了該安排。

        Employees have the moving process 'down to a science,' says HubSpot Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Dharmesh Shah, unplugging their phones and rolling file cabinets to their new spots swiftly.
        HubSpot首席技術長兼聯合創始人 Dharmesh Shah 稱，員工們對換座位這件事已經駕輕就熟了，他們會迅速拔下電話，將檔櫃推到新的座位上。
        But having grown to more than 600 workers, the company is facing a new problem: no one can remember who sits where.
       但該公司的員工如今已經超過了600人，目前他們正面臨著一個新問題：沒人能記得住誰坐在什麼地方。

　　The findings of China’s first major study on the lives of the nation’s 185 million elderly make for gloomy reading. The results of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study show 22.9% of Chinese over 60 live in poverty, 38.1% have difficulty completing daily activities on their own, and 40% show high symptoms of depression.
　　對中國1.85億老年人的生活狀況進行的首次大規模調查發現，這些老年人的生存狀況令人沮喪。

　　But speaking at the launch in Beijing on Friday, the leaders of the study ─ based on a nation-wide survey of 17,708 individuals, and completed with the help of top academics from around the world ─ said it’s not all bad news.
　　但牽頭進行這項研究的人士上週五在北京宣佈調查結果時也表示，調查得到的並非都是壞消息。

　　One important factor in the disabilities and depression suffered by many of China’s elderly is trauma experienced in early life: Chinese people over 60 grew up with famine in the 1950s and the tumult of the Cultural Revolution, and that leaves a mark.
　　導致中國許多老年人出現身心障礙和精神抑鬱的一個重要因素是他們早年經歷的生活創傷。

　　Today’s working-age population enjoyed far less traumatic childhoods. They also have higher incomes than their parents did, thanks to greater participation in China’s 30-year economic boom. Both factors mean their old age should be better than that of their parents, says John Strauss, a professor at the University of Southern California and one of the heads of the study.
　　當今中國的工作年齡人口在童年經歷的傷痛要比前人少得多。由於對中國這30年來的經濟快速增長有更高的參與度，這些人的收入也比自己的父輩要高。

　　China’s poverty levels for the elderly look high relative to the U.S., where the Census Bureau reports that 8.7% of those over 65 live below the poverty line. But higher incomes for the elderly in the U.S. are still financed by large-scale public transfers from the working-age population. Mr. Strauss says that has costs too. It’s possible to argue “that from a social welfare point of view, the aged in the U.S. get far too much in the way of transfers from the young and middle-aged,” he said.
　　但美國老年人口收入較高的一個原因是政府將得自工作年齡人口的資金向老年人進行了大規模的公共財政轉移。從社會福利的角度出發或許可以認為，美國老年人接納轉移自年輕人和中年人的公共財政太多了。

　　A shrinking workforce and higher costs of care as China’s population ages have raised fears about slowing growth. But there’s still time to head off those problems, says Yaohui Zhao, a professor at Peking University who led the survey. Policies that support healthy aging would mitigate the impact on growth, for example by allowing people to work for longer, said Ms. Zhao.
　　但政府支持健康社會老齡化的政策將會減緩這些問題對經濟增長的影響，比如說，延長退休年齡。

　　Roughly a month after passing a law requiring adults to regularly visit their elderly parents, Chinese policy makers are considering legislation to encourage another activity the country’s people have neglected: reading.
在出臺成年子女須定期探望年邁父母這一法律大約一個月後，中國決策者開始考慮通過立法鼓勵另一項被國人忽視的活動：閱讀。

　　The General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television announced that it had drawn up the first draft of a new Regulation on Public Reading Promotion, which it planned to submit to the country’s cabinet, the State Council, for approval by the end of the year.
　　中國國家新聞出版廣電總局宣佈，草擬了《全民閱讀促進條例》初稿，打算在年底前將其提交給國務院審批。

　　The regulation, which has been in development since the country’s annual legislative conclave in March, is motivated by new research showing Chinese people reading books at a relatively low rate despite the country being one of the world’s most prolific book producers.

　　Chinese people between the ages of 18 and 70 read 6.7 books on average last year, including paper books and e-books, an increase of roughly one book per year compared with 2011, according to a national public reading survey conducted by the state-affiliated Chinese Academy of Press and Publication.
　　國有機構中國新聞出版研究院對全國公眾閱讀情況的調查結果顯示，去年年齡在18歲至70歲的中國人平均讀了6.7本書（包括紙書和電子書），比2011年增加了一本左右。

　　American readers consumed an average of 15 books per year in 2012, according to a survey by Pew. Three-quarters of Americans read at least one book last year, Pew found, which means that Americans read 10.5 books on average in 2012 when nonreaders are factored in.
　　皮尤(Pew)調查顯示，2012年美國讀者平均一年閱讀15本書。調查發現，四分之三的美國人去年至少讀了一本書，這意味著如考慮那些不讀書的人，2012年美國人平均讀了10.5本書。

　　China publishes more than 400,000 different book titles last year ─ a 14.4% increase from 2011 ─ according to official statistics.

　　Such a low reading rate is disturbing to leaders in a country that once chose its officials according to how well-read they were. Yet social-media users haven’t taken kindly to the announcement of the law, details of which have yet to be released.
　　對於曾經根據博學程度來選拔官員的中國來說，如此低的閱讀率令中國領導人不安。但社交媒體用戶並未對有關“閱讀法”消息持歡迎態度。相關法律細節尚未公佈。

　　“I totally agree with promoting reading, but doing it by law is totally crap and useless,” wrote one user of Sina Corp.’s popular Weibo microblogging service.
　　 “Will people get sentenced for not reading enough?” asked another.

　　Even the Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper was skeptical about legislating better reading habits, though it defended the spirit of the proposed regulation.
　　就連作為中共喉舌的報紙也質疑是否能通過立法培養更好的閱讀習慣，儘管該報為這一條例的用意進行了辯護。

　　“No matter whether (the law) can really improve the reading rate, it is true that more and more Chinese don’t read,” People’s Daily said in on its verified Weibo feed.

　　Given China’s long history of valuing scholarly pursuits, it isn’t clear why Chinese people have such a weak appetite for the written word, though some say it is precisely the country’s obsession with education and stiff competition on the college entrance exams ─ that’s too blame.

 　　“To score high in exams, we are forced to read something outdated and valueless,” said Kang Kai, editor of CS-BOOKY, a Beijing-based publishing company. “The painful experience leaves a negative impression on people’s mind and later leads to the popular idea that ‘reading is useless.’”

　　Others point to censorship. The publishing regulator maintains strict control over the issuance of book numbers, which are required for a book to be published or sold legally, denying them to books it deems inappropriate. Topics that allude to violence, religion, sex and politics are strictly controlled. Some publishers say this year, novels about Chinese officialdom an immensely popular genre widely embraced by Chinese readers in recent years have been unable to get book numbers.
　　還有一些人把矛頭指向了審查機制。出版監管機構嚴格控制書號的發放，不給其認為不適合出版的書發放書號，而一本書要合法出版、合法銷售就必須要有書號。與暴力、宗教、性和政治有關的主題更是受到了嚴格的控制。一些出版商說，今年，官場小說也拿不到書號了。近些年來，官場小說在中國讀者中大受歡迎。

　　“It’s not that Chinese don’t like to read,” said Wang Xiaodong, president of China Pioneer Culture & Media Co., whose company has many published books that later were adapted into films and dramas, including “The Flowers of War.” “It’s that Chinese don’t like to read what the government publishes.”
　　The wide availability of pirated books online is another problem, according Mr. Wang. “It will be more meaningful for the government to try harder to curb online piracy and protect writer’s rights,” he said.

　　Finally, there are the bad memories many Chinese have of the last time Beijing tried to force its citizens to read.
而且，對於上一次中國政府強迫人們閱讀的事，很多人還有著不好的記憶。

　　“It is fine to recommend good books to the public, but compelling people to read may lead to mental oppression,” said Mr. Kang, referring to the Cultural Revolution when the public was commanded to read works by Mao Zedong.

　　Robo Sally is a remotely controlled humanoid robot that may one day help law enforcement officials and emergency technicians defuse bombs, patrol large spaces and do guard duty. It was designed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory [APL], outside Washington, D.C.
　　通過遠端遙控的人形機器人Robo Sally將來也許能幫助執法人員和急救技術人員拆除炸彈，在大片地區巡邏以及履行保安職責。

　　Robo Sally is a versatile moving platform with a humanoid attachment that looks like a modern day centaur. It can turn in tight spaces, climb over small obstacles, closely examine objects and even manipulate them with human-like hands.

　　But Robo Sally was not initially designed for sentry duties.

　　Mike McLaughlin, the principal investigator for APL's Prosthetics Program, said, "The purpose of that program is to develop prosthetic arms that have all the capability of your natural arms, and you do all the complex motions that we can do with the natural arm - with the robot. We had this idea if we did this for prosthetics for humans, we could also put these on robotic platforms and enable the robots to go out into dangerous situations.”
　　APL假肢程式的主要研究者Mike McLaughlin說，「該程式旨在研發出具有自然手臂的一切性能，可以做所有複雜動作的假肢，並安裝在機器人上。我們認為，如果可以成功地為人類裝假肢，我們也能為機器人平臺裝上假肢，讓它們去處理險情。」

　　It was a complex task. McLaughlin said the device not only had to have many small motors to mimic the flexibility of the human hand, it needed human-like strength. The thumb was especially difficult because it allows the hand to grasp objects. And everything had to fit into a space about the size of a hand.
　　這是個複雜的任務。McLaughlin稱，該設備裝有多個小馬達以模仿人類手臂的靈敏性，還需具備類似人手的力量。考慮到拇指需要抓住物體，因此其製作非常困難。而且一切裝備須符合人手的大小。

　　The next problem, McLaughlin said, was to figure out how to control the artificial hand. “So we had to figure out how to make the connection between the brain and this arm. We’ve done that for spinal injury patients, where we can actually interface with the brain and use the patient’s thoughts to control the arm.”
　　McLaughlin稱下一步是解決如何控制人形手臂的問題。“我們必須清楚如何連接大腦和手臂。我們曾對脊髓損傷患者執行連接，事實上我們能使手臂連接至大腦並通過患者的意識控制它。”

　　Of course, for search-and-rescue duties, Robo Sally will be operated by wireless remote control, through special gloves and glasses. The glasses allow the operator to see the robot’s hands and enables him to finely control their movement.

　　McLaughlin said robots like this could be used in “dull, dirty or dangerous” situations where human dexterity is a requirement. “So, for example, opening a door, or turning the valve or, you know, going to a factory or a power plant like Fukushima, that was all designed for humans. You need to be able to go in and have the human-like capabilities in order to be able to work in that environment.”
　　
　　McLaughlin said the technology is not ready for practical application, but he predicts that within five years we will see some amazing advances.
　　McLaughlin說，該技術還不能實際應用，但他預計五年內將出現驚人的進展。

　　What does salad dressing have in common with building conservation? Olive oil.
　　建築保護中通常用到的沙拉醬調料包含什麼呢？橄欖油。

　　Researchers led by Karen Wilson in Cardiff, Wales, discovered that oleic acid, a component of the food staple, has just the right properties to make an excellent coating to help preserve historic structures.
　　Cardiff，Wales由Karen Wilson領導的研究者們發現人們主食的油酸成分正好具有一種形成優良塗層的性質，這能幫助保護歷史建築。

　　Some great historic buildings, such as the York Minster cathedral in England (pictured), are made from limestone, a popular material because it was cheap, plentiful and easy to build with. Unfortunately, limestone is also extremely vulnerable to pollution, especially acid rain.
　　有些著名古建築如英格蘭的約克大教堂（英國最大的哥特式教堂）就是由石灰岩構成，因為這一流行材料便宜、豐富，而且很容易搭建。不幸的是，石灰岩也極容易被污染物破壞，尤其是酸雨。

　　Previous attempts at creating protective coatings failed because they were too thick: They blocked pollutants, but also prevented limestone from expanding and contracting with changes in temperature, leading to structural damage.
　　前面嘗試過創造的防護材料塗層都失敗了，因為它們都太厚重： 這雖然阻擋了酸雨，但同時也阻止了石灰岩在溫度變化時的熱脹冷縮，進而導致建築本身受損。

　　The new oleic acid coating is inherently hydrophobic, repelling water and any pollutants, and it allows the material to react to temperature fluctuations naturally. In the words of the researchers, it allows the stone to "breathe."
　　新的油酸塗層具有天然的縮水和排水及其他雜物的特性，也不會阻止材料本身在溫度自然變化時的正常張縮反應。用研究者們的話說，讓石頭“呼吸”。

　　The oleic coating is also remarkably thin, just about a nanometer thick, allowing it to conform to even the smallest cracks and imperfections in the structure. Many conservation groups are now interested in putting this historic food supply to use protecting historic buildings.
　　這種油性塗層十分薄，只有大約一毫微米的厚度，能夠深入覆蓋建築中哪怕極小的一些裂縫和瑕疵。現在許多保護團體開始將這種歷史悠久的食物的成分用於保護同樣歷史悠久的古建築中。

　　A Brazilian mechanic has invented a way of lighting his house during the day without relying on electricity.
　　一位巴西機修工發明了一種日間不需用電即可為房屋照明的方法。

　　Alfredo Moser has been using plastic bottles filled up with water and a splash of bleach to illuminate dark rooms since 2002 and now the idea has now spread across the world. It is predicted that his lighting system, which works using refraction of sunlight, will be fitted in over a million homes by the end of this year.
　　自2002年以來， Alfredo Moser 就利用裝有水和少量漂白劑的塑膠瓶為黑暗的房間照明，這個想法現在已經傳遍全世界。Moser 說，這種利用太陽折射發光的瓶子燈泡能像40-60瓦的電燈泡一樣照亮一個黑暗的房間。

　　The secret of the liquid which fills normal plastic drinks bottles that are often thrown away, is two capfuls of bleach added to water, which stops it turning green with algae when exposed to sunlight.
　　Moser 使用的材料是常被人丟棄的塑膠飲料瓶，不過裡面的液體有一個秘密，除水之外還要加少許漂白劑，它能防止暴露在陽光下的水因生長藻類而變綠。

　　Mr Moser drills a hole in a roof tile and then pushes the filled bottle in from below, keeping the bottle in place with polyester resin, which waterproofs the 'window' in his roof. He told Outlook on the BBC World Service that depending on the strength of sunlight, the light filling his home is the equivalent of between 40 and 60 watts.
　　Moser 在屋頂的瓦片上鑽一個孔，把裝滿水的瓶子自下向上卡在孔裡，再用聚酯樹脂固定瓶子的位置，這種材料還能為他在屋頂上開的這些“天窗”防雨。他說，依靠日光折射，他家裡的照明功率相當於40到60瓦。

　　The mechanic came up with the idea for his 'Moser light' during one of the frequent blackouts inBrazilin 2002. He said only factories had power in his home city of Uberaba, in southernBrazilduring the energy shortage.

　　It was his boss that suggested using a plastic bottle filled with water as a lens to focus the sun's rays on dry grass to light fires in case of an emergency and Mr Moser developed the concept into his light. He told BBC World Service: 'It's a divine light. God gave the sun to everyone, and light is for everyone. Whoever wants it saves money. You can't get an electric shock from it, and it doesn't cost a penny.'
　　Moser 的老闆曾在一次緊急情況下把裝滿水的塑膠瓶當做聚焦陽光的透鏡在乾草上點火。Moser 基於這個想法發明了他的水瓶燈。Moser 對英國廣播公司國際頻道說：“這是天賜的光明。上帝把太陽賜給每個人，光明是每個人的。誰想要這種光誰就省錢。它不會讓你觸電，也不用花一分錢。”

　　Mr Moser earned a few dollars installing the lights in his local super market and neighbours' houses but his invention has not made him a wealthy man. He said: 'There was one man who installed the lights and within a month he had saved enough to pay for the essential things for his child, who was about to be born. Can you imagine?' Carmelinda his wife said her husband has always been handy at home and have made tables and chairs.

　　Illac Angelo Diaz, executive director of the MyShelter Foundation in thePhilippinesalso admires Mr Moser's ingenuity. The charity uses recycled materials to build houses and has plenty of bottle donations, which it fills with mud to build walls and water to create windows.
　　Illac Angelo Diaz 是菲律賓“MyShelter Foundation”的執行理事，他十分欽佩莫澤巧妙的發明。這個慈善組織利用可回收材料建造房屋，他們擁有很多捐獻的瓶子，他們在瓶子裡裝滿泥沙建造牆壁，裝滿水建造窗子。

　　It now incorporates water bottles in roofs since learning of the Moser method and also trains local people to do the same in order to earn a small living. Moser lamps have reportedly been fitted in over 140,000 homes in the Philippineswhere a quarter of the population live in poverty, as well as in 15 other countries, includingArgentina,IndiaandFiji.

　　Mr Diaz believes over one million people have installed Moser lights in 2013 and credits the mechanic with transforming people's lives. 'Whether or not he gets the Nobel Prize, we want him to know that there are a great number of people who admire what he is doing,' he said.
　　Diaz相信，2013年有超過1百萬人安裝了莫澤燈，並讚揚這位機修工改變了人們的生活。Diaz說“無論Moser得不得諾貝爾獎，我們都想讓他知道，很多人都很欽佩他的做法。”

　　Mr Moser told the BBC he never imagined his invention would have such an impact but said it gives him goose bumps if he thinks how many people are using Moser lights.
    Moser 說從沒想到他的發明能影響這麼多人，但是，當他想到多少人在用 Moser lights 的時候確實很激動。

       Online investigators have exposed a network of hijacked computers that defrauded advertisers by generating billions of fake ad views.
       互聯網調查人員揭露了一個由被劫持的電腦構成的網路，該網路產生了巨量虛假廣告流覽次數，從而欺詐廣告客戶。

       The so-called botnet scheme, which hijacked 120,000 residential PCs in the US and cost advertisers millions of dollars a month, highlights the increasing complexity and opacity of online advertising.
       Spider.io, a London-based start-up that tracks web browsing activity, estimates traffic from the “Chameleon” botnet accounted for almost two-thirds of the total visits to certain websites. The inflated number of page views increased advertising revenues for the websites’ owners.
       追蹤網頁流覽活動的倫敦初創企業Spider.io估計，來自“變色龍”(Chameleon)僵屍網路的流量，在某些網站的訪問總量中占了近三分之二。被誇大的頁面訪問次數因此增加了網站所有者的廣告收入。

       In a report published on Tuesday, Spider.io said the hijacked PCs, which were first infected by a virus,
generated up to 9bn ad views or “impressions” every month across a network of more than 200 sites.
Sophisticated software even mimicked mouse movements and clicks, giving the impression that potential consumers were visiting the sites.
       Spider.io 在週二發表的一份報告中表示，被劫持的電腦首先被一種病毒感染，然後每月在逾200網站的一個網路產生至多90億廣告流覽次數，即“印象”。先進的軟體甚至能夠類比滑鼠移動和點擊，造成潛在消費者正在訪問相關網站的印象。

       “It is difficult to imagine why one would run this type of botnet across a cluster of 202 sites other than to commit display advertising fraud,” Douglas de Jager, Spider.io’s chief executive, said in the report.
       The websites’ owners charge an average 69 cents per thousand ad impressions, meaning the botnet traffic is costing advertisers about $6m a month.

       Mr de Jager told the Financial Times that the scheme was just one of many that the online advertising
industry had been fooled by – or had chosen to ignore.
      “We have already identified at least one other large and wholly distinct botnet – targeting a wholly
distinct cluster of websites,” Mr de Jager added.

       Spider.io did not disclose the names of the site owners, but suggested they may either control the botnets themselves or purchased the “traffic” from its operators.
       The issue highlights the complexities of the internet advertising business, raising new questions about
the controls put in place by ad technology providers.

       The Chameleon botnet also demonstrates the ever-changing tactics of cyber criminals. Networks of
hijacked computers have previously been used to knock a website offline, with botnet operators sometimes
demanding a ransom to bring it back, or to collect large numbers of credit card details.
       “變色龍”僵屍網路還顯示了網路罪犯的手段在不斷變化。以往，由被劫持的電腦構成的網路被用於攻擊某個網站，使其癱瘓（僵屍網路的運行者有時要求得到一筆贖金，作為放過該網站的條件），或者收集大量信用卡資料。

       But as online security improves and such attacks become easier to track, botnets are being redirected to “victimless” crimes akin to insurance fraud – where large numbers of people lose small sums of money, with
few of them ever realising they have been ripped off.
       但是，隨著線上安全措施的改進，加上此類攻擊變得更容易追蹤，僵屍網路正轉向“無受害者”的犯罪行為，類似於保險欺詐，即很多人損失小額金錢，他們當中幾乎沒有人意識到自己吃了虧。

       Christian Carrillo, a vice-president at DataXu, a digital advertising technology provider, said the fraud may be hard to prosecute even if its perpetrators are tracked down, due to the terms of trade in the online ad business.
       數位廣告技術提供商DataXu副總裁克利斯蒂安•卡瑞羅(Christian Carrillo)表示，線上廣告業務的交易條款意味著，即使找到肇事者，這種欺詐也可能難以被提起公訴。

　　A new type of solar panel using human hair could provide the world with cheap, green electricity, believes its teenage inventor.
　　十幾歲的少年發明家相信，他這種新型的用人頭髮發電的太陽能電池板能夠帶給世界便宜和綠色的電能。

　　Milan Karki, 18, who comes from a  village in rural Nepal, says hair is easy to use as a conductor in solar panels and could revolutionise renewable energy.

　　Milan and four classmates initially made the solar panel as an experiment but the teens are convinced it has wide applicability and commercial viability.
'I'm trying to produce commercially and distribute to the districts. We've already sent a couple out to the districts to test for feasibility,' he said.
　　Milan 和四位同學是在一次試驗中製作了這塊太陽能板，但是他們現在已經相信它具有廣泛實用性和商業生存能力。“我正在嘗試將產品商業化，賣到更多的地方。我們已經派了兩個人到其他地方去做一些測試，來檢驗是否可行，”他說。

　　The solar panel, which produces 9 V (18 W) of energy, costs around £23 to make from raw materials. But if they were mass-produced, Milan says they could be sold for less than half that price, which could make them a quarter of the price of those already on the market.
　　這個能產生9V(18W)電能的太陽能板，從原材料製成僅花23英鎊（約280塊RMB）。但是如果能夠大規模生產的話，米蘭說它們的賣價還能再降一半，是現在市面上產品價格的1/4。

　　Melanin, a pigment that gives hair its colour, is light sensitive and also acts as a type of conductor. Because hair is far cheaper than silicon the appliance is less costly. The solar panel can charge a mobile phone or a pack of batteries capable of providing light all evening.
　　頭髮的顏色來源--黑色素，是一種光敏材料同時也是一種導體。因為頭髮比矽要便宜很多，所以做成的設備成本也很低。太陽能電池板能為手機或者為晚上提供照明的電池組充電。

　　Milan first tried to use water currents hydro power  on a small scale, but said the experiment became too expensive. 'I searched for new, other renewable, affordable sources. People in these places are living the life of the stone age even in the 21st century,' he said.

　　Milan, whose hero is the inventor Thomas Eddison, was originally inspired after reading a book by physicist Stephen Hawking, which discussed ways of creating static energy from hair. 'I realised that Melanin was one of the factors in conversion of energy,' he said.
　　Milan 的偶像是發明家愛迪生。物理學家霍金的一本書進一步地影響了他。霍金在這本書裡討論了從頭髮裡創造穩定能源的方式。Milan 說，“我實現了讓黑色素在轉換能量中的作用”。

　　Half a kilo of hair can be bought for only 16p in Nepal and lasts a few months, whereas a pack of batteries would cost 50p and last a few nights. People can replace the hair easily themselves, says Milan, meaning his solar panels need little servicing.

　　Three years after first coming up with the idea, Milan says the idea is more important than ever because of the crucial need for renewable energies in the face of finite power sources and global warming.

　　'Slowly, natural resources are degrading so it is necessary to think about the future," he said. 'One day we will be in a great crisis regarding this fuel so it is a good thing to do today.'This is an easy solution for the crisis we are having today. We have begun the long walk to save the planet.'
　　“自然資源慢慢退化，我們有必要為未來多考慮，”Milan 說，“終有一天我們會面臨嚴重的燃料危機，所以現在做這件事情是很對的。這是不僅是應對我們今天危機的一個簡單的解決方案，而且象徵著我們已經開始在拯救星球之路上向前邁進。“

　　A leaked study examining genetically-modified corn reveals that the lab-made alternative to organic crops contains a startling level of toxic chemicals.
　　一項被洩漏出來的檢測轉基因玉米的研究揭示，實驗室造出的有機玉米替代品中的有毒化學物質含量驚人。

　　An anti-GMO website has posted the results of an education-based consulting company’s comparison of corn types, and the results reveal that genetically modified foods may be more hazardous than once thought.
　　一家反轉基因食品網站已經上傳了某教育型諮詢公司對兩種玉米的比較結果，結果揭示轉基因食品的危害可能比人們先前認為的更大。

　　The study, the 2012 Corn Comparison Report by Profit Pro, was published recently on the website for Moms Across America March to Label GMOs, a group that says they wish to “raise awareness and support Moms with solutions to eat GMO Free as we demand GMO labeling locally and nationally simultaneously.” They are plotting nationwide protests scheduled for later this year.
　　諮詢公司Profit Pro的2012玉米比較研究報告近日發佈在“全美母親呼籲轉基因食品標籤”網站上，該組織稱他們希望“通過要求在地方和全國出售的轉基因食品上同步貼上標籤來提高母親們在這方面的意識，為母親們提供食用非轉基因食品的途徑”。

　　The report, writes the website’s Zen Honeycutt, was provided by a representative for De Dell Seed Company, an Ontario-based farm that’s touted as being Canadian only non-GMO corn seed company.
　　網站的 Honeycutt 稱，該研究報告是由 De Dell 種子公司的一名代表提供的。

　　“The claims that ‘There is no difference between GMO corn and NON Gmo corn’ are false,” says Honeycutt, who adds she was “floored” after reading the study.
　　
　　According to the analysis, GMO corn tested by Profit Pro contains a number of elements absent from traditional corn, including chlorides, formaldehyde and glyphosate. While those elements don’t appear naturally in corn, they were present in GMO samples to the tune of 60 ppm, 200pm and 13 ppm, respectively.
　　
　　Honecutt says that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (FDA) mandates that the level of glyphosate in American drinking water not exceed 0.7 ppm and adds that organ damage in some animals has been linked to glyphosate exposure exceeding 0.1 ppm.
　　 Honeycutt 說，美國環境保護局規定美國飲用水中的草甘膦含量不得高於百萬分之零點七，而且她還補充道，某些動物的器官損傷已被證實和草甘膦含量超過百萬分之零點一有關。

　　“Glyphosate is a strong organic phosphate chelator that immobilizes positively charged minerals such as manganese, cobalt, iron, zinc [and] copper,” Dr. Don Huber attested during a separate GMO study recently released, adding that those elements “are essential for normal physiological functions in soils, plants and animals.”
　　 Huber 博士在新近發佈的另一篇獨立的轉基因研究報告中證實道：“草甘膦是一種強力的有機磷酸螯合劑，它能阻滯如錳、鈷、鐵、鋅、銅等有益礦物質的流動。” Huber 博士還補充道，這些化學元素“對於土壤、植物和動物的正常生理機能至關重要。”

　　“Glyphosate draws out the vital nutrients of living things and GMO corn is covered with it,” adds Honeycutt, who notes that the nutritional benefits rampant in natural corn are almost entirely removed from lab-made seeds: in the samples used during the study, non-GMO corn is alleged to have 437-times the amount of calcium in genetically modified versions, and 56- and 7-times the level of magnesium and manganese, respectively.
　　 Honeycutt 補充說：“草甘膦會把生物中至關重要的營養素抽離出去，而轉基因玉米則含有大量草甘膦。”她指出，天然玉米中所含的豐富營養價值幾乎全部被從實驗室造出的轉基因種子中剔除了：在研究所用的樣品中，據稱非轉基因玉米中的鈣含量是轉基因玉米的437倍，鎂含量和錳含量也分別是轉基因玉米的56倍和7倍。

　　Facebook's first data center ran into problems of a distinctly ironic nature when a literal cloud formed in the IT room and started to rain on servers.
　　臉書的第一個資料中心碰到了一個讓運維的啼笑皆非的麻煩。

　　Though Facebook has previously hinted at this via references to a "humidity event" within its first data center in Prineville, Oregon, the social network's infrastructure king Jay Parikh told The Reg on Thursday that, for a few minutes in Summer, 2011, Facebook's data center contained two clouds: one powered the social network, the other poured water on it.
　　雖然臉書在俄勒岡州的資料中心也遇到過這個「濕度問題」，基建處主任 Jay Parikh 說，但在2011年夏天，有那麼幾分鐘，臉書的資料中心有兩朵雲，一朵雲計算，一朵雲澆水。

　　"I got a call, 'Jay, there's a cloud in the data center'," Parikh says. "'What do you mean, outside?'. 'No, inside'."

　　There was panic. "It was raining in the datacenter," he explains.

　　The problem occurred because of the ambitious chiller-less air conditioning system the data center used. Unlike traditional facilities, which use electricity-intensive, direct-expansion cooling units to maintain a low, steady temperature, consumer internet giants such as Google, Facebook, and others have all been on a tear building facilities that use outside air instead.
　　問題出在資料中心使用的「無冷氣製冷系統」。和一般空調費電冷氣直吹不同的是，Google，Facebook都用開放式室外冷空氣交換建築系統製冷。

　　In Prineville's first summer of operation, a problem in the facility's building-management system led to high temperature and low humidity air from the hot aisles being endlessly recirculated though a water-based evaporative cooling system that sought to cool the air down – which meant that when the air came back into the cold aisle for the servers it was so wet it condensed.
　　在這個資料中心渡過的第一個夏天，問題發生在建築控制系統，錯誤地把高溫低濕度的室內空氣通過一台水汽蒸發製冷機來給空氣降溫——這就意味著，冷空氣吹回到室內的時候，富含了水分。

　　As Facebook rather dryly put it at the time:
　　臉書乾巴巴地描述當時的情形：

　　This resulted in cold aisle supply temperature exceeding 80°F and relative humidity exceeding 95%. The Open Compute servers that are deployed within the data center reacted to these extreme changes. Numerous servers were rebooted and few were automatically shut down due to power supply unit failure.
　　吹回來的冷氣只有華氏80度（攝氏26度），濕度95%。沒穿泳衣的伺服器當時就感覺不對勁，好多伺服器一濕就重啟了，然後還有一些因為電線短路，就自動關機了。

　　Some servers broke entirely because they had front-facing power supplies and these shorted out. For a few minutes, Parikh says, you could stand in Facebook's data center and hear the pop and fizzle of Facebook's ultra-lean servers obeying the ultra-uncompromising laws of physics.
　　更有一些可憐的伺服器徹底報廢了，因為電源短路。 Jay Parikh 說：「那幾分鐘，你站在臉書的機房裡，劈裡啪啦，四周一片煙花爛漫，無數的超薄伺服器隨不可抗拒的物理原理而去。」

　　Facebook learned from the mistakes, and now designs its servers with a seal around their power supply, or as Parikh calls it, "a rubber raincoat."

　　"This is one of those things. When you are 100 per cent aircooled it's awesome from an efficiency perspective, but the range you have to operate in is much, much wider," Parikh says.
　　 Jay Parikh 稱之為：「穿雨衣」「這只是教訓之一，只關心製冷效果當然從效率上來說沒有問題，但你需要注意的事情還有很多很多。」

　　The company also improved its building-management system to make sure that the error couldn't happen again. These days, Facebook's data centers are some of the most efficient bit barns in the entire cloud industry – they even sometimes beat Google's own facilities.
　　臉書也改進了建築管理系統以保證類似錯誤不會重演。這些天來，臉書的資料中心跑得很不錯，有時候比Google的伺服器還要出色。

　　Since then, the giant hasn't been graced with any other clouds within its cloud. But we do wish it would happen again, just so they could snap a picture.
　　從此以後，再也沒有雲朵來打擾臉書的雲計算，但我們真心希望有圖有真相地再來一次啊。

　　Some economists have argued youth unemployment isn't as bad as it's made out to be, since many enrolled in school or college are neither employed nor looking for a job and therefore aren't counted as part of the workforce. Of all other months, July provides one of the more accurate pictures of what young people face today -- it's a time when most are taking a break from school and looking for work.
　　今年7月份的一份報告讓我們更清晰地瞭解到如今年輕人所面臨的問題——大多數年輕人都臨時離開學校，開始求職。

　　During the Great Recession, the share of 16- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working full-time fell. Unlike the rest of the population, the decline hasn't improved much: In July, 36% of young people worked full-time, 10% less than the same month in 2007 before the economic downturn. To be sure, July is a time when young people have taken on summer internships, and so the statistics reflect those with paid internships, as well as those with unpaid internship but have taken part-time jobs.
　　經濟大蕭條期間，16至24歲既未上學、也沒有全職工作的年輕人比例有所減少。與其他年齡段不同，這種減少的趨勢並未加強：7月，36%的年輕人擁有全職工作，相比經濟危機之前2007年同期減少了10%。

　　"They're not in school, so what are they doing?" says Diana Carew, economist at Progressive Policy Institute, who studies youth unemployment. She points out that July's jobs report shows that the share of unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds not in school stood at 17.1%, compared with 11% six years ago. And while workers in general have been leaving the labor force, partly because they're aging into retirement, it's especially worrisome when young people drop out: In July, 8.4 million 16- to 24-year-olds stopped looking for work altogether, a rise from 6.8 million a year earlier.
　　而且，個別年齡段的工人因為即將退休而不再被計入勞動力當中，而大量年輕人此時放棄求職的狀況尤為令人不安：7月份，840萬名16至24歲的年輕人停止求職，而一年前的這一數字只有680萬。

　　However slowly the economy has been creating jobs, it's still surprising why so many young people, particularly those who aren't in school, are still having a tough time. The bulk of jobs created in July were in retail, restaurants, and bars. These certainly aren't the highest-paying gigs, but they demand fewer skills and would naturally attract those with less education. What's played out is what Carew calls "The Great Squeeze," where the dearth of middle-skilled jobs have forced many workers to settle for whatever they can get, taking lower-skilled jobs for less pay and therefore squeezing those with less education and experience out of the workforce.
　　原因或許在於 Carew 所謂的“大擠壓”，即由於缺乏要求中等技術水準的崗位，迫使許多工人接受薪酬更少、技術要求更低的工作，結果把教育水準和經驗更少的年輕人擠出了就業市場。

　　The trend has ripple effects. It's hard for most anyone to be out of work, but it's particularly harsh for young people trying to get their start; in many ways, they will likely suffer the most. Factoring in foregone experience and missed opportunities to develop skills, research shows that workers unemployed as young adults earn lower wages for many years following joblessness. It has been estimated that those who experience long-term unemployment during the worst of the recession will lose more than $20 billion in earnings over the next decade, which translates to $22,000 per person, according to an April report by the Center for American Progress.
　　調查顯示，由於年輕人之前的經歷，再加上錯過了發展技能的機會，因此失業的年輕人在失業之後的許多年裡，他們的收入也會相對較低。

　　And all this has wide-ranging implications for the economy, as we've seen in everything from home to car sales. If anyone wonders why the economy isn't growing as fast as the pace of jobs growth, it might help to give America's young people a closer look.
　　而這種情況會對美國經濟造成深遠的影響，我們在從住房到汽車銷售的各行各業都看到過這一點。如果有人質疑經濟增長速度為何跟不上就業增長速度，認真研究一下美國年輕人或許會有所幫助。

　　People in their sixties should go to university to retrain because they will be expected to work for longer before retirement, the Government has suggested.
　　英國政府建議年齡超過60歲的人回到學校重新接受培訓，因為預計這些人的退休年齡會推後。

　　Older workers who take courses to keep their skills up to date will be more likely to keep their jobs, claims David Willetts, the higher education minister.
　　英國高等教育大臣大衛•威利茨表示，通過參加課程學習最新技能的老年工作者更有可能保住飯碗。

　　Mr Willetts said the age limit on student loans to cover tuition fees had been lifted, making a degree course “great value” for older people. This would help them cope with the pressure they would face to keep up to date as they worked well into their sixties, he suggested.
　　威利茨稱可以用於支付學費的助學貸款的申請年齡上限已經取消，老年人學習學位課程將“超值”。他指出，這有助於老年工作者在年齡超過60歲後應對要跟上時代變化所帶來的壓力。

　　His comments followed a government report which found that the country’s future economic success would depend on the skills and contributions of older workers.
　　他的此番評論是在政府公佈一份報告之後發表的。政府報告指出，國家今後的經濟發展能否取得成功取決於老年工作者的技術與貢獻程度。

　　Campaigners for the elderly voiced doubts that prospective pensioners would be willing to commit to challenging degree courses and increased levels of debt to continue working.
　　為老年人權益奔走呐喊的活動家對此深表懷疑：那些有可能成為養老金領取者的人是否願意為了繼續工作而學習學位課程，並承擔更多的負債。

　　One in four people will be older than 65 by 2033 and economists have warned that the ageing population will place an unsustainable burden on taxpayers unless more people work for longer.
　　到2033年，英國將有四分之一的人年齡超過65歲，有經濟學家已經警告稱，如果沒有更多的人延長工作時間，人口老齡化問題將無疑給納稅人造成難以承受的負擔。

　　The state pension age is to rise to 67 by 2028. Ministers have warned that they have no idea when younger workers in their thirties will be able to retire.
　　到2028年，國家規定領取養老金的年齡將提高到67歲。大臣們已經警告稱，不知現在30多歲的年輕工作者還能不能熬到退休。

　　Mr Willetts, who is accompanying David Cameron in India, urged workers older than 60 to give further education serious consideration. “There is certainly a pressure for continuing to get retrained and upskilled,” he said. “Higher education has an economic benefit in that if you stay up to date with knowledge and skills you are more employable.”
　　正陪同首相大衛•卡梅倫出訪印度的威利茨敦促年齡超過60歲的工作者認真考慮一下繼續教育問題。“再次接受培訓、提高工作技能自然存在壓力，”他說。“不過，接受高等教育會產生一定的經濟效益，因為如果你不斷更新知識與技能，你就更能勝任工作。”

　　Mr Willetts said a university course had “wider” benefits, making people more likely to lead healthy lives.
　　威利茨認為，大學課程確實會提供“更加廣泛”的益處，可以讓人更能過上健康的生活。

　　“Education is such a good thing it is not reserved for younger people,” he said. “There will be people of all ages who will want to study. There is great value in lifelong learning.”
　　他表示，“教育誠可貴，並非只為年輕人提供。任何人不論年齡多大，只要想學都可以。要知道，終生學習受益匪淺。”

　　Under previous rules, students in England were eligible for a loan to cover tuition fees only if they were younger than 54.
　　根據以前的規定，英國學生申請助學貸款以支付學費的條件是年齡不超過54歲。

　　Latest figures showed that only 1,940 undergraduates starting courses last year were older than 60, out of a total of 552,240 students in Britain. Some 6,455 were aged between 50 and 60, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
　　最新資料顯示，在英國共計55萬2240名學生中，去年開課的大學本科生中只有1940人年齡超過60歲。根據高等教育統計署的統計，有約6455人年齡介於50到60歲之間。

    Innovations and inventions which can help people in developing countries were on display recently in Washington. Cutting-edge ideas of 13 college teams from across the United States, included a portable greenhouse, a better container for vaccines, and an earthquake-resistant concrete panel.
    創新和發明，它可以幫助發展中國家的人民。最近在華盛頓舉行展示會上，來自美國的13所大學推出了包括可擕式溫室，更好的疫苗容器，抗震混凝土板等高新理念產品。

    Many small-scale farmers in East Africa find it hard to grow crops year-round because of drought or too much rain. So a student team from Pennsylvania State University came up with the idea of kits to build small, easy-to-set up greenhouses to help the farmers increase their production up to 20 percent.  Team member Arianna DeReus says they're constructed with PVC pipe and rice bags.
    由於常年乾旱或暴雨，使得東非許多自耕農民不易種植作物。因此一群來自賓州大學的學生小組，想出了一種輕巧易搭的溫室設備，可以幫助農民提高產量達百分之20。成員 DeReus 表示元件組成是PVC管和冰袋。

    “Our design is affordable, durable and expandable, and it’s also made of local materials," DeReus explained. "That reduces transportation costs and it also supports the local economy.”

    The greenhouse is part of an exhibition called Open Minds, sponsored by National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. Each year, it gives grants to more than 50 college student teams which create business models using innovative technology to help people around the world. The top teams are chosen for an annual exhibition.
    賓大溫室，是由 NCIIA(一間鼓勵創業精神的非營利組織) 贊助之"思想開放"展覽的一部分，NCIIA每年撥款給予50多間大學，利用創新技術建造利於地球人的商業模式。每年一度的展覽中會選出最佳表現隊伍。

    The Alliance was founded in 1995 by the Lemelson Foundation, which supports grassroots inventors.  Director Carol Dahl says the young entrepreneurs are helping to lift people out of poverty. “In the developing countries, we see the potential for our inventions to actually improve lives through addressing basic human needs, things like sanitation, access to clean water," she said. "The ability to have health and health products.”
    西元1995年 Lemelson 基金會創立 NCIIA ，旨在資助草根創業群。執行長 Dahl 說︰「新一代的企業家正在幫助人們脫離貧困。在發展中國家，我們看到發明物提升生活的能力，藉由解決如衛生設施和乾淨水源等人類基本需求。一種同時擁有健康生活和健康產品的能力。」

    This container may improve the health of many people in the developing world by better protecting vaccines. Standard Styrofoam boxes break easily, so the World Health Organization estimates that half the vaccines placed in them are damaged in transit.  But a student team from Oklahoma State University hopes that by using this collapsible box, temperature-sensitive vaccines will be saved.
    一個可以優良保存疫苗的容器，許能改善第三世界大多數人的健康。傳統的泡沫聚苯乙烯容易破裂，世界衛生組織統計約有半數的疫苗在運送過程中遭到損毀。於是，一個來自奧克拉荷馬州立大學的隊伍，利用可拆解盒裝挽救對熱敏感的疫苗。

    Saravan Kumar says the boxes are made from the same space-age material used to fashion small satellites. “They’re made with this thin, insulating material, and they are about 10 times more insulating than Styrofoam, and they’re about 10 times more impact resistant,” he added.
    隊員 Kumar 說︰「保溫盒是由超時代小型衛星的制成材料產生，特徵是輕薄絕緣、是泡沫聚苯乙烯的十倍絕緣力，和十倍的抗撞擊力。」

    This lightweight concrete panel may help homes in Haiti withstand an earthquake.  Students from the University of Notre Dame discovered that the masonry blocks used in Haiti are poor quality and not reinforced.
    一種輕質混凝土面板可以幫助海地家庭抵禦地震。聖母大學的學生發現在海地境內使用的磚石塊，不但品質惡劣也沒有鋼筋支撐。

    Dustin Mix says the cost of building with these panels would be about the same, for a much sturdier and safer home. “It’s a lot better quality and that comes from both the materials we use and the process we use to make them," he said. "It is also reinforced in a way that when the earthquake does come, it can withstand that.”
    學生 Mix 說︰「新型面板的建材費和傳統所差無幾，但有更堅固更安全的住所。有了我們採用的材料和生產過程，房屋品質會更好，地震來襲時也會更穩固、屹立不搖。」

    The students hope innovations like these will make a difference for those who need it the most.

    Researchers found the stress of thinking caused overeating with heavy thinkers seeking out more calories.

    The research team, supervised by Dr Angelo Tremblay, measured the spontaneous food intake of 14 students after each of three tasks.
    由 Tremblay 所領導的研究團隊, 針對14位學生在正常三餐以外, 無意識的飲食習性做出上述結論

    The first was relaxing in a sitting position, the second reading and summarizing a text, and finally completing a series of memory, attention, and vigilance tests on the computer.

    After 45 minutes at each activity, participants were invited to eat as much as they wanted from a buffet.

    The researchers had already discovered that each session of intellectual work requires only three calories more than the rest period.
    研究人員發現, 相較於其它兩個步驟, 需要動腦筋的步驟僅需多耗約三個卡路里的能量
    However, despite the low energy cost of mental work, the students spontaneously consumed 203 more calories after summarizing a text and 253 more calories after the computer tests.
    雖然動腦筋只消耗少量的卡路里, 但學生們卻無意識地在彙整資料後多消耗203卡, 而在完成電腦相關測試後多耗了253卡

    This represents a 23.6 per cent and 29.4 per cent increase, respectively, compared with the rest period.
    也就是相較於放鬆的閑坐, 對於卡路里的需求, 後兩個步驟分別增長了23.6%與29.4%
    Blood samples taken before, during, and after each session revealed that intellectual work causes much bigger fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels than rest periods.
    而分別在測試前, 中, 後所做的血液抽樣檢驗也顯示, 需要動腦的步驟對於葡萄糖與胰島素的需求波動遠大於其他的步驟

    Jean-Philippe Chaput, the study's main author, said: "These fluctuations may be caused by the stress of intellectual work, or also reflect a biological adaptation during glucose combustion."
    該實驗的主要實施人, Chaput 說: 這種波動可能來自於腦力激蕩後所帶來的壓力, 也可能反映出身體機能在調適上對於葡萄糖的消耗需求變動
    The body could be reacting to these fluctuations by spurring food intake in order to restore its glucose balance, the only fuel used by the brain.
    我們的身體會因為大腦執行作業而消耗能量, 於是藉由攝取食物以均恒體內葡萄糖的方式來對這種變動採取反應

    Mr Chaput added: "Caloric overcompensation following intellectual work, combined with the fact we are less physically active when doing intellectual tasks, could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in industrialised countries.
     Chaput 先生補充: 由於在腦力活動後對於熱量的過度補充, 加上在腦力活動時一般很少有相對應的體力消耗, 於是造成現在很多工業化國家中常見的肥胖現象

    "This is a factor that should not be ignored, considering that more and more people hold jobs of an intellectual nature."

    The results of the study, carried out at Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada, are published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

    Scientists have come up with a theory for why time flies when you are having fun-- and drags when you are bored.

    Scans have shown that patterns of activity in the brain change depending on how we focus on a task.
    Concentrating on time passing, as we do when bored, will trigger brain activity which will make it seem as though the clock is ticking more slowly.
    我們在無聊的時候，往往把注意力集中在時間的流逝上，這樣會使大腦活動產生錯覺，總覺得時鐘似乎走得更慢

    The research, by the French Laboratory of Neurobiology and Cognition, is published in the magazine Science.
    法國神經生物和認知學實驗室進行的此項研究發表在《科學》雜誌上。
    In the study, 12 volunteers watched an image while researchers monitored their brain activity using MRI scans.

    Volunteers were given a variety of tasks. In one they were told to concentrate simply on the duration of an image, in another they were asked to focus on the colour, and in a third they were asked to concentrate on both duration and colour.
    The results showed that a network of brain regions was activated when more subjects were paid attention to duration.
    結果表明，在觀看圖像的過程中，注意的物件多的話，就會啟動大腦區域網路。

    It is thought that if the brain is busy focusing on many aspects of a task, then it has to spread its resources thinly, and pays less heed to time passing. Therefore, time passes without us really noticing it, and seems to go quickly.
    However, if the brain is not stimulated in this way, it concentrates its full energies on monitoring the passing of time. This may make time seem to drag, but in fact it is probably a more accurate perception of reality.

    Indeed, the researchers found that the more volunteers concentrated on the duration of the images, the more accurate were their estimates of its duration.
    事實上，研究者們發現，志願者們越是注意圖像持續的時間，他們對於時間的估計就越準確。
    Lead researcher Dr Jennifer Coull said many of the areas of the brain involved in estimating time were the same that played a key role in controlling movement, and preparing for action.
    主任研究員 Coull 博士說，大腦中有許多參與估計時間的區域，同時他們對行為控制和行動準備也起到重要的作用。

    She said this overlap suggests that the brain may make sense of time as intervals between movements, in much the same way as a musician marks time with his foot, or an athlete anticipates the sound of a starter's pistol.

    Professor Tonmoy Sharma, director of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Centre, told BBC News Online the research was "interesting neuroscience".
    "It is interesting that the same parts of the brain that are involved in motor function are also involved time perception."
    Professor Sharma said there was growing evidence that specific functions were not controlled exclusively by individual areas of the brain, but by complex networks within the organ.

    Research suggests that balling up the right hand and squeezing it tightly actually makes it easier to memorise lists.
    Later, when it is time to retrieve the information, it is the left hand that should be clenched.
    It is thought the movements activate brain regions key to the storing and recall of memories.
    The American researchers suggest those who are short of a pen and paper should try the trick when attempting to commit a shopping list or phone number to memory.
美國研究人員指出，那些手頭沒有紙筆的人在試圖記住購物清單或電話號碼時應該嘗試一下這個技巧。

    In the study, volunteers were given a rubber ball and asked to squeeze it as hard as possible before trying to memorise a list of 72 words.
    They squeezed the ball again a couple of minutes later, ahead of recollecting as many of the words as possible.
    One group used their right hand on both occasions, another their left. A third group clenched their right fist ahead of memorising and their left ahead of recall and a fourth did the reverse.
其中一個小組兩次都用的右手，另一個小組兩次都用左手。第三個小組在記單詞前握緊右拳，在回憶前握緊左拳，第四個小組與其正相反。
    A fifth group held the ball but did not squeeze it.

    Those who squeezed with their right hand, followed by their left, remembered the most words.
    The next best were the volunteers who made a fist with their right hand both times, while those who didn’t squeeze at all did better than those who led with their left.

    It is thought that the movement of clenching the right fist activates a brain region that is involved in storing memories, while squeezing the left hand triggers an area that is key to retrieving information.
    Lead researcher Dr Ruth Propper said: ‘The findings suggest that simple body movements – by temporarily changing the way the brain functions – can improve memory.’
首席研究人員Propper博士說：“研究結果表明，簡單的身體動作-通過暫時改變大腦運作的方式-可以改善記憶。”

    The European Union has agreed to a multi-billion dollar fund to tackle its youth unemployment crisis, which has led to warnings of a lost generation. Even as the bloc struggles through the economic crisis, its expansion plans continue - with Serbia set to begin formal accession talks in the coming months.
歐洲決定投入幾十億基金處理失落一代的青年失業危機預兆。儘管歐盟掙扎著度過經濟危機，這項擴張計畫仍然會與塞爾維亞入盟談判一起進行。

In Spain and in Greece, unemployment among under-25s is running at over 50 percent. In Portugal, there are lines every day outside the Angolan and Brazilian consulates, as job-seekers look for better fortunes in the country's former colonies.

    It is a vicious downward spiral, says John Springford of the Center For European Reform policy group.
歐洲改革中心政策小組Springford 說「這是一個惡性循環」

    "When people have been out of work for a long time they tend to lose the skills that they have, they lose initiative, and also the social problems like drug and alcohol abuse can make them quite difficult to employ again," said Springford.
「當人們長期失業，他們會失去原有的技能、缺少進取心，以及藥物和酒精中毒等社會問題會讓他們難再雇用。」

Meeting in Brussels Friday, EU leaders agreed to spend $7.8 billion over the next two years to tackle youth unemployment. Herman Van Rompuy is president of the European Council.

    "We know that reforms take time and results won't be immediate.  So we're also concentrating on launching actions with direct impact.  Fighting youth unemployment and helping SMEs [small and medium enterprises] access credit," said Van Rompuy.
歐洲理事會執行長Rompuy 說「眾所皆知，改革並非一蹴可幾。所以，我們也致力於採取激進的行動。抵抗青年失業和幫助中小企業獲得貸款等，」

There are about 5.6 million unemployed young people in Europe - and the money simply won't be enough, says economist John Springford.

    "We're looking at about a thousand euros [$1,300] per person.  And the thing that we know about youth unemployment is that when unemployment is high generally, then youth unemployment will be even higher.  And so this kind of problem is best sorted out by macroeconomic policy rather than microeconomic tinkering," he said.
經濟學家Springford 說「我們預估大約每人一千歐元。而關於青年失業一事，我們認為當失業率攀高時，代表年輕人的失業率更高。因此，最根本的解決辦法是宏觀的經濟政策，而不是微觀的修修補補。」

European commissioners have described this week as a good one for the EU - after a deal was clinched on a $1.25 trillion seven-year budget for the bloc, ending months of argument between member states.

Croatia joins the European Union on July 1, while EU leaders agreed Friday to begin accession talks with Serbia no later than January next year.  European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the agreement.

"This is historic. Let's not forget what happened not so long ago in that part of Europe with one of the most violent wars we ever saw.  And now we will start negotiations with Serbia," said Barroso.

Key to the accession process has been the Serbian government's willingness to negotiate, says James Ker-Lindsay of the London School of Economics.

    "There has been a tremendous transformation that's taken place over the past year since the arrival of a new government which many people thought would be a step back.  It had a reputation of being nationalist.  But in actual fact it's made a whole range of moves, so most importantly on relations with Kosovo, which has been a very, very tricky subject since Kosovo declared independence in 2008," said Ker-Lindsay.
倫敦經濟學院的Lindsay 說「自從許多人看衰的新政府上台後，發生過一個巨大的轉變，被冠上民族主義之帽。但事實上影響層面廣泛，最明顯但也最複雜的項目是與2008宣布獨立的科索沃建立聯繫。」

Meanwhile Latvia gained formal approval Friday to join the eurozone on January 1, 2014 - becoming the 18th country to use the currency.