Leisure Time第十二期

一、Global Vision

1、Central bank announces ratio cuts

央行下调存款准备金率

China's central bank said Monday it has decided to cut the reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions, to support the development of the real economy and reduce comprehensive financing costs. The ratio will be cut by 0.5 percentage points, effective on Dec 15, except for those financial institutions that already implement a 5-percent ratio, said the People's Bank of China in a statement.

为加大对实体经济的支持力度，并降低社会综合融资成本，中国人民银行12月6日宣布，决定于2021年12月15日下调金融机构存款准备金率0.5个百分点。

After the reduction, the weighted average ratio for Chinese financial institutions will stand at 8.4 percent, the central bank said.

本次下调后，金融机构加权平均存款准备金率为8.4%。

About 1.2 trillion yuan in long-term funds will be released through the cut.

此次降准共计释放长期资金约1.2万亿元。

2、17 AI pilot zones built in China

新一代AI创新发展试验区达17个

China has built 17 national artificial intelligence innovative development pilot zones, a Chinese official said. Li Meng, vice minister of science and technology, made the remarks at the International AI Cooperation and Governance Forum 2021 hosted by Tsinghua University on Dec 4 and 5.

科技部副部长李萌在12月4日至5日清华大学主办的2021人工智能合作与治理国际论坛上说，我国目前已经有17个国家新一代人工智能创新发展试验区。

In 2019, China started building a new generation of national AI innovative development pilot zones, relying on local governments to carry out technology demonstrations, policy tests, and social experiments.

国家新一代人工智能创新发展试验区自2019年开始建设，依托地方开展人工智能技术示范、政策试验和社会实验。

According to a document released by the Ministry of Science and Technology, China plans to build around 20 AI pilot zones by 2023. In the pilot zones, the country plans to innovate a number of practical and effective policy tools, explore models integrating AI and economic development, gain experience that can be repeated and promoted, and build high platforms for leading AI, according to the document.

根据科技部印发的文件，到2023年，我国将布局建设20个左右国家新一代人工智能创新发展试验区，创新一批切实有效的政策工具，形成一批人工智能与经济社会发展深度融合的典型模式，积累一批可复制可推广的经验做法，打造一批具有重大引领带动作用的人工智能创新高地。

3、China's grain output hits record high

2021年中国粮食总产量公布

In 2021, China's total grain production reached 1.37 trillion jin , hitting a new record high, data from the National Bureau of Statistics  showed on Monday. The stable domestic grain production, which has remained at over 1.3 trillion jin for seven consecutive years, has provided a strong base for continued national food security. The data revealed that the 1.37 trillion jin reading was an increase of 26.7 billion jin from 2020, a year-on-year increase of 2 percent.

国家统计局12月6日公布的全国粮食生产数据显示，2021年全国粮食总产量1.37万亿斤，比上年增加267亿斤，增长2%，全年粮食产量再创新高。粮食产量连续7年稳定在1.3万亿斤以上，为确保国家粮食安全提供了有力支撑。

The autumn grain harvest accounted for 1.02 trillion jin, up 1.9 percent on a yearly basis, by 19.1 billion jin.

今年秋粮产量1.02万亿斤，比上年增加191亿斤，增长1.9%。

二、Fun Stuff

1、Be in a class of one’s own 无与伦比，出类拔萃

表达 “be in a class of one’s own” 描述一个人 “拥有比别人更强的素质或技能” 或 “在某个方面比别人做得更好，出类拔萃”。它也可以用来描述某事物 “比同类的质量更好，无与伦比”。表达 “be in a league of one’s own” 也表示同样的意思。

例句

In terms of natural ability on the pitch, that footballer is in a class of her own.

那个足球运动员在球场上的天赋无人能敌。

That new coffee maker makes the best espresso. It’s in a class of its own.

那台新咖啡机制成的浓缩咖啡最好喝。它的质量真的很出众。

He’s the best artist I’ve ever seen. He’s in a league of his own.

他是我见过的最棒的艺术家，绝对是傲视群雄。

2、Larger than life 非同凡响，耀眼夺目

表达 “larger than life” 用来描述一个人 “外表格外耀眼夺目，或行为比普通人更有趣，非同凡响”。这种 “超群不凡” 既可以形容行为，也可以形容仪表，通常用来指一个会引来各方注目的人。在三个单词间加上连字符，可作复合形容词 “larger-than-life” 使用。

例句

Our boss always dresses in the most colourful suits and comes into the office singing. She’s larger than life.

我们老板总是穿着色彩最鲜艳的西装上班，唱着歌走进办公室。她真是非比寻常。

Jeff is such a larger-than-life character – he’s so exciting to be around.

杰夫真是个非同凡响的人物，在他身边总是乐趣横生。

The moment we walked into the restaurant, everyone turned to look at my big sister’s dress. It was amazing. She’s larger than life.

在我们走进这家餐厅的那一刻，每个人都转过身来看我姐姐的连衣裙。太美了，她真是超凡脱俗。

3、Mover and shaker 举足轻重、有号召力的人

短语 “mover and shaker” 指 “举足轻重，有影响力、号召力的人”。这种人往往有意愿和能力让事情顺利完成。

例句

The new boss is a mover and shaker and was able to get extra funding for our team.

新的老板真是个有能耐的人，竟然能够为我们的团队争取到额外的资金。

My brother is a mover and shaker – everyone listens to what he says and agrees with his plans!

我的哥哥是个有号召力的人，每个人都会细心聆听他说的话，并且同意他的计划。

My friend says she can get me a ticket for the sold-out rock gig – she’s a bit of a mover and shaker at the company.

虽然那场摇滚音乐会的门票早已售罄，但我的朋友却承诺会帮我搞到一张票，她在公司可是个举足轻重的人物。

三、Encyclopedia of culture

1、 Gu Qin 古琴

Long, long ago, a person was playing gu qin. A woodcutter heard the song and said,” I feel the mountains and ricers in the music”. The player was happy that man understood what is in his heart an made friends with him.

古时候，有一个人在弹琴，一个樵夫听到了这首歌，说:“我在音乐中感受到了高山和江河”。弹琴人很高兴这个人明白了他的内心，并且和他成为了朋友。

The body of gu qin is made of wood and the strings are made of silk. Playing gu qin in an elegant environment brings people back to nature. Playing gu qin can purify the soul. It represents wisdom, talent an emotion.

古琴以木为体，蚕丝为弦。弹琴，要在优雅的环境里，才能回归自然。弹奏古琴，能让心宁静下来，净化自己的灵魂。在中国人的眼里，它代表智慧、天赋和情感。

In 1977, a recording of Flowing Water was broadcasted on the Voyage 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts in outer space.

1977年，中国古琴曲《流水》通过太空探测器旅行者一号和二号传向外太空。

2、Calligraphy 书法

Chinese calligraphy refers to writing are and techniques with writing brushes. 1,600 years ago, a boy named Wang Xizhi worked hard at calligraphy. He washed his writing brushes in a pool and the pool turned black. Eventually he became a prominent calligrapher in China.

中国书法是指用毛笔书写的方法和技巧。1600年前，一个叫王羲之的男孩努力学习书法。他在水池里洗毛笔，水池变黑了。最终他成为了中国杰出的书法家。

Writing brushes, Chinese inks, rice paper and ink slabs are the basic tools of calligraphy. Proper technique for handling the writing brushes and maintaining the proper angle between, the tios of brushes and the paper are required. The structure of each individual character and overall arrangement are both important.

毛笔、中国墨水、宣纸和墨板是书法的基本工具。需要适当的技术来处理毛笔和保持毛笔与纸张之间的适当角度。每个人物的结构和整体布局都很重要。

Calligraphers have created plenty of masterpieces which have been passed from generation to generation. One of the masterpieces is the “Orchid Pavilion Preface” by Wang Xizhi. Shu fa represents the aesthetic taste and philosophy of Chinese scholars.

几千年里，书法家们创造了大量传世佳作。王羲之的《兰亭序》便是其中之一。可以说书法蕴含着中国文人的审美情趣和人生哲学。

四、Life Answering Machine

In praise of slowness

What I'd like to start off with is an observation, which is that if I've learned anything over the last year, it's that the supreme irony of publishing a book about slowness is that you have to go around promoting it really fast. I seem to spend most of my time these days zipping from city to city, studio to studio, interview to interview, serving up the book in really tiny bite-size chunks.

在演讲开始，我愿意先讲一个事情，如果说去年有什么让我印象深刻，就是极具讽刺意味的出版一本号召讲将速度慢下来的书你却不得不超快速的四处推销它。我这些日子花了大部分时间，在城市、演播室以及访谈节目之间奔走，但实际用来宣传书的时间却少的可怜。

Because everyone these days wants to know how to slow down, but they want to know how to slow down really quickly. So ... so I did a spot on CNN the other day where I actually spent more time in makeup than I did talking on air. And I think that -- that's not really surprising though, is it? Because that's kind of the world that we live in now, a world stuck in fast-forward.

 因为现在每个人都想知道该如何放慢速度，然而，他们却想要知道如何超快速的放慢速度。所以...前不久我在CNN上了一个通告在那，我上电视的时间还没有化妆的时间长而我想这还真算不上让人吃惊的事，对吧？因为我们现在所处的，就是一个这样的世界一个沉溺于追求快速前进的世界。

A world obsessed with speed, with doing everything faster, with cramming more and more into less and less time. Every moment of the day feels like a race against the clock. To borrow a phrase from Carrie Fisher, which is in my bio there; I'll just toss it out again -- These days even instant gratification takes too long.

一个迷恋速度的世界，做每一件事情都追求更快，往越来越少的时间里填鸭进更多的东西。每一天每一刻都感觉像在和时间赛跑引用凯利费雪的一句话，这句话在我的自传里面有写，我只是再次引用“现在大家连瞬间得到的快感都嫌太久。”

And if you think about how we to try to make things better, what do we do? No, we speed them up, don't we? So we used to dial; now we speed dial. We used to read; now we speed read. We used to walk; now we speed walk. And of course, we used to date and now we speed date. And even things that are by their very nature slow -- we try and speed them up too. So I was in New York recently, and I walked past a gym that had an advertisement in the window for a new course, a new evening course. And it was for, you guessed it, speed yoga.

 另外假如让你想我们怎样才能将事情做得更好，会有什么主意？我们会加速做事情，不是么？所以，以前我们拨电话；现在我们快拨。以前我们阅读；现在我们快读。以前我们走路，现在我们快走。当然还有，以前我们约会，现在我们速食约会。即使是那些本身就需要慢慢做的事情我们也千方百计加速做。我最近在纽约，路过一家健身馆他们橱窗上有一个新课程的广告，是个晚间课程。你猜得到吗，是关于快速瑜伽的。

So this -- the perfect solution for time-starved professionals who want to, you know, salute the sun, but only want to give over about 20 minutes to it. I mean, these are sort of the extreme examples, and they're amusing and good to laugh at.

这个就是为超级没时间的上班族们提供的最佳解决方案这些人，想要练习拜日式但却只想花大约20分钟在这上面。我想，这些都是有点儿极端的例子，而且都有些意思，可以当笑话听。

But there's a very serious point, and I think that in the headlong dash of daily life, we often lose sight of the damage that this roadrunner form of living does to us. We're so marinated in the culture of speed that we almost fail to notice the toll it takes on every aspect of our lives -- on our health, our diet, our work, our relationships, the environment and our community.

但是，这些例子也说明了一个非常严肃的问题，在每天匆匆忙忙的生活中，我们常常看不到这种竞走式的生活方式给我们带来的伤害。我们已经在速食文化中淫浸得太深了以至于我们几乎觉察不到它让我们在生活方方面面所付出的代价。

播音主持：田金桐 李依珊 陈泽润 孙玉颖

责任编辑：管  博

责任审核：芦文慧