BBC Learning English.

BBC學習英語。

I’m Neil.

我是尼爾。

And I’m Sam.

而我是山姆。

For centuries the relationship between

幾個世紀以來，在

humans and bats has been complex.

人類和蝙蝠的關係一直很複雜。

In some cultures bats are depicted as vampires,

在一些文化中，蝙蝠被描繪成吸血鬼。

associated with Halloween, witches and dark,

與萬聖節、女巫和黑暗有關。

scary places.

可怕的地方。

In others they are considered

在其他國家，他們被認為是

messengers of the gods.

諸神的使者。

Bats play an important part in stories and myths

蝙蝠在故事和神話中扮演著重要角色

from around the world.

來自世界各地的。

And a large illuminated

還有一個大型的照明燈

‘bat signal’ shining in the night sky can mean only one thing –

a call for help to the superhero, Batman!

向超級英雄蝙蝠俠求救!

So do we love or hate these furry flying animals?

那麼我們是愛還是恨這些毛茸茸的飛行動物呢？

And with some newspaper headlines identifying bats

並用一些報紙頭條來識別蝙蝠

as the possible source of Covid-19,

作為Covid-19的可能來源。

should we think of them as friend or enemy?

我們應該把他們看作是朋友還是敵人？

We’ll be answering all these questions soon, but first,

我們將很快回答所有這些問題，但首先。

Neil, time for another interesting bat fact.

尼爾，是時候說說另一個有趣的蝙蝠事實了。

Did you know that bats account for

你知道嗎，蝙蝠佔了

1 in 5 of all mammal species?

所有哺乳動物物種中的1/5？

There’s a huge variety of them, from tiny fruit-eating bats

它們的種類繁多，從小小的吃水果的蝙蝠

that fit into the palm of your hand to giant carnivores,

從適合手掌大小的食物到巨型食肉動物。

or meat-eaters.

或食肉者。

That’s right.

這就對了。

In fact it’s the variety of bat types that

事實上，正是由於蝙蝠類型的多樣性，使得

might explain our complex feelings towards them.

也許可以解釋我們對他們的複雜感情。

So, Sam, my quiz question is this: roughly how

所以，山姆，我的問答問題是：大概有多少

many different species of bat are there worldwide?

全世界有多少種不同的蝙蝠？

Is it:

是的。

a) one and a half thousand?

a) 一千五百元？

b) two and a half thousand? or,

b) 兩千五百元？ 或。

c) three and a half thousand?

c) 三千五百元？

Hmmm, I’ll say b) two and a half thousand.

嗯，我說b）兩千五百元。

OK, Sam, we’ll come back to that later in the programme.

好的，薩姆，我們在節目中晚些時候再來討論這個問題。

Maybe not everyone likes them but bats do have some friends.

也許不是每個人都喜歡他們，但蝙蝠確實有一些朋友。

Farmers love them for pollinating their plants…

農民們喜歡他們為植物授粉...

…and medical scientists study them hoping to

......而醫學家們研究它們，希望能夠

discover the secrets of their anti-ageing and long life.

發現其抗衰老和長壽的祕密。

Dr Winifred Frick is the chief scientist at

威尼弗裡德-弗裡克博士是美國聯邦調查局的首席科學家。

Bat Conservation International, a group of

蝙蝠保護國際組織，一個由

environmentalists working to protect bats.

致力於保護蝙蝠的環保人士。

Here she is telling BBC World Service programme,

她在這裡告訴英國廣播公司的世界服務節目。

The Documentary, about another useful service

紀錄片，關於另一項有用的服務

provided by bats in the United States:

由美國的蝙蝠提供。

Most bats are insectivorous and they’re really

大多數蝙蝠是食蟲的，它們真的是

important consumers of different kinds of insect pests

不同種類昆蟲害蟲的重要消費者

and here in the United States it’s been estimated that

而在美國，據估計

bats provide billions of dollars every year to the US

蝙蝠每年為美國提供數十億美元的資金

agricultural industry through their voracious

貪婪的農業產業

consumption of agricultural pest insects.

農業害蟲的消費。

Most bats eat only insects – they’re insectivores.

大多數蝙蝠只吃昆蟲 - 它們是食蟲動物。

That’s good news for farmers because they eat many pests -

這對農民來說是個好消息，因為它們會吃掉許多害蟲 --

insects or small animals that are harmful or damage crops.

有害或損害農作物的昆蟲或小動物。

Even better, bats’ appetite for these annoying insects is voracious –

更妙的是，蝙蝠對這些惱人的昆蟲的胃口是貪婪的----。

very strong and eager.

非常強大和渴望。

So far, so good in the friendship between humans and bats.

到目前為止，人類和蝙蝠之間的友誼還不錯。

But then along came the coronavirus pandemic and with it,

但後來冠狀病毒大流行，隨之而來的是。

newspaper reports that bats might be to blame.

報紙報道，蝙蝠可能是罪魁禍首。

Before we get into this we need to explain some terms.

在我們討論這個問題之前，我們需要解釋一些術語。

The Covid which people around the world have

世界各地的人們所擁有的Covid

been suffering from is the ‘outbreak virus’.

所患的是 "爆發性病毒"。

But if you go backwards there’s an intermediary

但如果你向後看，有一箇中間人

known as the ‘progenitor virus’ between this and

被稱為 "原生病毒"，介於這兩者之間。

the ‘ancestral virus’, which is decades or centuries older.

祖先病毒"，它的歷史要比現在早幾十年或幾百年。

Ninety-nine percent of scientists would agree

99%的科學家會同意

that the ‘ancestral virus’ of Covid-19 came from bats.

Covid-19的 "祖先病毒 "來自蝙蝠。

But it’s the go-between ‘progenitor virus’

但它是介於兩者之間的 "原生病毒"。

that everyone is searching for now.

每個人現在都在尋找的。

One of the scientists leading this search is Linfa Wang,

上司這一搜索的科學家之一是王林法。

a professor at Duke Medical School who is known

杜克大學醫學院的一位教授，他被稱為

as the ‘Batman of Singapore’.

作為 "新加坡的蝙蝠俠"。

Here he is explaining his

在這裡，他正在解釋他的

work to BBC World Service’s, The Documentary:

在英國廣播公司（BBC）世界服務部的《紀錄片》中工作。

Of course the holy grail right now for Covid-19

當然，現在Covid-19的聖盃是什麼？

is to discover where is that progenitor virus and

是要發現原生病毒在哪裡，以及在什麼地方。

also in which kind of animals or humans, right?

也是在哪種動物或人類，對嗎？

And usually the progenitor virus has to be 99.9%

而通常情況下，原代病毒必須是99.9%。

identical to the outbreak virus and so our study

與爆發的病毒相同，是以我們的研究

was set up to do that.

是為了做到這一點而設置的。

If you can catch that virus

如果你能感染這種病毒

and you demonstrate the genomic sequence is

而你展示的基因組序列是

99.9% [identical] then that’s brilliant.

99.9%[相同]，那麼這就很好。

Professor Wang thinks that finding the source of

王教授認為，要想找到

Covid-19’s ‘progenitor virus’ would be like finding

Covid-19的 "原生病毒 "就像找到了

the holy grail.

聖盃。

This expression - the holy grail -

這種表達方式------聖盃------。

is associated with the cup believed to have been

是與據信是

used by Jesus Christ at his last meal.

耶穌基督在他最後一餐時使用的。

It means

這意味著

something extremely difficult to find or get.

極難找到或得到的東西。

If you can discover the ‘progenitor virus’ then,

如果你能發現'原生病毒'，那麼。

in the words of Professor Wang – that’s brilliant! –

用王教授的話說--太精彩了!-

an exclamation meaning ‘that’s very good!’ or ‘amazing!’

意思是 "非常好！"或 "了不起！"的感嘆詞。

So although bats are sometimes, wrongly,

是以，儘管蝙蝠有時被，錯誤地。

blamed for causing Covid, they are good friends to farmers,

因造成Covid而受到指責，它們是農民的好朋友。

environmentalists and scientists – as well as vampires!

環保主義者和科學家--以及吸血鬼！"。

So anyway, what was the answer to your quiz question, Neil.

所以無論如何，你的問答問題的答案是什麼，尼爾。

Ah yes, I asked Sam how many different species

啊，是的，我問山姆有多少種不同的物種

of bat are there around the world.

世界各地都有蝙蝠的存在。

What did you say?

你說什麼？

I said there were, b) two and a half thousand

我說有，B）兩千五百人

different species of bats.

不同種類的蝙蝠。

Was I right?

我說的對嗎？

You were close, Sam, but the correct answer was…

你很接近了，山姆，但正確的答案是......。

a) there are one and a half thousand different

a）有一千五百個不同的

species of bats around the world.

世界各地的蝙蝠種類。

Let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme

讓我們回顧一下這個節目中的詞彙

about the relationship between humans and bats,

關於人類和蝙蝠之間的關係。

starting with carnivores which are animals that eat meat…

首先是食肉動物，即吃肉的動物...

Insectivores, meanwhile, are animals,

同時，食蟲動物也是動物。

like most bats, that eat only insects.

像大多數蝙蝠一樣，只吃昆蟲。

A pest is an insect or small animal

害蟲是一種昆蟲或小動物

that is harmful or damages crops.

有害的或損害農作物的。

Bats eat pests voraciously, or very eagerly.

蝙蝠貪婪地吃害蟲，或者說非常急切地吃。

The holy grail refers to something that’s

聖盃指的是一些

extremely difficult to find or get.

極難找到或得到。

And finally, you can use the phrase, that’s brilliant!

最後，你可以使用這句話，這很有意義！你可以用這句話。

to say, ‘that’s great!’ or ‘amazing!’

說，'這很好！'或'令人驚訝！'

Once again our six minutes are up.

我們的六分鐘又一次到了。

See you again soon for more topical chats

我們很快就會再見面，進行更多的專題討論。

and trending vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.

和6分鐘英語的趨勢詞彙。

And don’t forget you can download our app

別忘了，你可以下載我們的應用程序

to find programmes on many more topics,

以找到更多主題的節目。

from African animals to zodiac signs and zombies,

從非洲動物到十二生肖和殭屍。

all here on the BBC Learning English website.

所有這些都在BBC學習英語網站上。

Bye for now!

暫時再見

Bye bye!

再見!