Do you really know｜怎样才能停止取悦他人？ How can I stop being a people pleaser? Now there's no need to make someone else feel guilty, but it's crucial that you set boundaries, and that can start with declining minor requests as frequently as possible. Mastering the art of saying no is a gradual process, and repetition is key for it to become ingrained over time. It's also about acknowledging that you can't be everyone's cup of tea, just as not everyone is yours. 当然，你没必要让别人感到内疚，但重要的是你要设立边界，这可以从尽可能多地拒绝一些小请求开始。掌握说“不”的艺术是一个循序渐进的过程，而反复练习是让它逐渐成为习惯的关键。同时，你也要明白：你不可能让所有人都喜欢你，就像你也不会喜欢每一个人一样。 You need to grasp the differences in perspectives that individuals have. Qualities like candidness, which might endear you to some, can be seen completely differently by others. 你需要理解不同人有不同的视角。像坦率这样的品质，可能会让你受到一些人的喜欢，但其他人可能会完全有不同的看法。 It's all about personalities, and you simply can't contort yourself to fit everyone's mold. Not only is that exhausting, but the end result isn't positive either. You need to accept not being able to control the personalities or preferences of those around you. 这都与个性有关，你根本不可能扭曲自己去迎合所有人的期待。这样做不仅会让你精疲力尽，最终的结果也不会好。你要接受一个事实：你无法控制身边人的性格和偏好。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

Do you really know｜为什么我们会沉迷于社交媒体？ Why do we get addicted to social media? Is it fair to say that social networks were designed to be addictive then? 那么，能否说社交媒体网络在设计之初就是为了让人上瘾呢？ Maybe not only for that purpose, but at least to some extent. The techniques and features used on social media platforms exploit the brain's reward system. 也许让人上瘾并非唯一的目的，但至少在某种程度上是这样的。社交媒体平台上使用的技巧和功能利用了大脑的奖励系统。 Of course, it's in the interest of social media platforms to make their product addictive, because it leads to increased advertising revenue. The more time users spend on social media, the more ads they see, and the more data they generate. That means more profit for the platforms, and more influence for their owners. 当然，对社交媒体平台来说，让它们的产品具有成瘾性是符合它们的利益的，因为这会导致广告收入的增加。用户在社交媒体上花费的时间越多，他们看到的广告就越多，产生的数据也就越多。这意味着平台的利润更多，也意味平台所有者有更大的影响力。 To avoid falling into the trap, you need to schedule some time off from social media so that you can give your brain a break and maybe even allow yourself to get bored. 要避免陷入这种成瘾陷阱，你需要安排一些时间远离社交媒体，让你的大脑休息一下，甚至让自己感受无聊。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC随身英语｜如何爱自己的身体？ Promoting body positivity Take Away English｜BBC Learning English Appreciate your body for what it can do – walking, yoga, playing sport or otherwise. "You can be an incredible human regardless of your shape or size," says Esther Field, a body-positive social media campaigner interviewed by the BBC. After knee surgery, "I attended the gym and realised how strong and capable my body was, even though it was fat." 欣赏你的身体，因为它能做很多事情——无论是走路、瑜伽、运动还是其他活动。“无论身材或体型如何，你都可以是一个了不起的人。”这是身体自爱运动社交媒体活动家埃丝特·菲尔德接受BBC采访时表示的。在膝盖手术后，“我去了健身房，意识到我的身体是多么强大且充满力量，即便我的身材偏胖。” And finally, don't forget that low self-esteem and body confidence issues affect everyone. "There aren't a lot of guys that are pushing this idea of body positivity," David Fadd, a plus-size male model of two years told the BBC. The social media influencer wants to remind us that body image and confidence affect men too. 最后，别忘了自卑和身体自信问题会影响每一个人。“没多少男性在推动身体积极性这种观念。”大卫·法德对BBC说。作为一名已经当了两年的加大码男模，他是一名社交媒体影响者，他想提醒大家，身体形象和自信心也影响着男性群体。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

The School of Life｜你是否觉得自己像个局外人？ On feeling painfully different Firstly, we don't know reality as well as we imagine. What we believe that 'everyone' is like may not be how they actually are. We may have more friends than we think. 首先，我们对现实的了解并不像我们想象的那样准确。我们以为的“每个人”都如此，可能并不是他们真正的样子。或许，与我们志同道合的人比我们想象中更多。 Also, we are getting statistics wrong: these four or eight or twelve people in a room don't represent all of humanity. The 80 or so people in our extended social group are in fact always a miniscule part of the human story. There are still so many friends left to meet. 此外，我们对统计数字的理解也有误：房间里这4个人、8个人或12个人，并不代表整个人类。我们那个大约80人的延伸社交圈，实际上也只是人类故事中微不足道的一部分。还有那么多志同道合的人等着我们去结识呢。 Also, perhaps our existing companions actually know much more about the material we feel alone with than we suspect; they, and we, simply haven't found a way to share our true selves. Maybe they will feel what we feel one day – just not yet. 也许我们的朋友其实比我们猜想的更懂得我们那些孤独的时刻；只是我们双方都还没找到分享内心真实感受的方法。也许有一天，他们会与我们产生同样的感受——只是现在还没有。 It may be fine to belong to a minority. Minorities have sheltered some of the most accomplished spirits that've ever lived. Isolation may just be a price we have to pay for a certain complexity of mind. 属于少数派也许没什么不好。许多历史上最杰出的灵魂都曾隐匿于少数派之中。也许，孤独只是我们为拥有复杂思维所必须付出的代价。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

Do you really know｜女性真的比男性更情绪化吗？ Are women really more emotional than men? However, Blum also pointed out that there is a strong and global finding that males are socialised to hide their emotions, while it is far more legitimate for females to share them. And the effects of these double standards are dangerous. 然而，布鲁姆也指出，一个全球性的有力研究发现，男性在社会化过程中被要求隐藏情绪，而女性表达情绪则被社会广泛接受。这种双重标准的影响是危险的。 How so? 具体有哪些危险呢？ Statistics show that the overwhelming majority of people who end up in prison are men. The same is true when it comes to the proportion of people who commit suicide. This is partly due to men struggling to externalize and manage their emotions, precisely because of societal expectations and upbringing. 数据显示，最终入狱的绝大多数是男性。自杀人群中的性别比例亦是如此。这部分源于男性因社会期望与成长环境的影响，难以向外表达和管理自身情绪。 Meanwhile, incorrect assumptions about women have led to a lack of understanding of the female body. Generally speaking, women are diagnosed with chronic illnesses and given pain relief less often than men. That's because they have historically been excluded from scientific and medical studies due to their presumed emotional variability. There you have it. 同时，对女性的错误假设导致人们对女性身体缺乏了解。一般来说，女性比男性更少被诊断出患有慢性疾病，也更少得到止痛治疗。这是因为在历史上，由于人们认定女性情绪波动大，女性一直被排除在科学研究和医学研究之外。以上就是全部内容啦。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC随身英语｜“一人食”的好处有哪些？ The benefits of eating alone Take Away English｜BBC Learning English Often, if you want a salad and your significant other wants some less healthy cuisine, you end up ordering the same. And if you don't get the same, you might end up with food envy as you watch someone chow down on a pizza while you're left holding the lettuce. 很多时候，如果你想吃沙拉，而你的另一半想吃一些不太健康的食物，你最后往往会妥协，点同样的东西。要是不点一样的，你可能会产生“食物嫉妒”——当你手里拿着生菜，看着别人大口吃披萨时，心里肯定不是滋味。 Have you ever spent too long debating with people which restaurant to eat in or when to meet? If dining solo, you can make the choice depending on your culinary desires at that moment and get your nourishment at exactly the time you're hungry! And why does it have to be a restaurant? You could eat in a park, garden or even your bed – the point is, the choice is yours! 你有没有过因为去哪家餐厅吃饭或者什么时候见面而和别人争论不休？如果是一个人吃饭，你可以根据那一刻的食欲来选择，还能在饿的时候及时获取食物！而且为什么非要去餐厅呢？你可以在公园、花园，甚至在床上吃——重点是，选择权在你手里！ That alone time also means it's a time to switch off. According to psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter, a bit of solitude can help your brain to unwind and may help you concentrate more. 独处的时间也意味着可以放空一下。根据心理学家谢丽·伯格·卡特的说法，适度的独处有助于大脑放松，还可能帮助你更加专注。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

Do you really know｜为什么我们会反复做同样的梦？ Why do we get recurring dreams? Many experts agree that recurring dreams often point to unresolved internal conflicts. Your worries don't just disappear when you go to sleep, they continue to surface in your dreams. During periods of intense stress, the unconscious mind keeps working through your problems even at night. It's a way of processing emotions and preparing for stressful situations by playing them out in advance. If you find yourself having the same dream repeatedly, try to explore what might be behind it. 许多专家认为，重复的梦往往指向未解决的内心冲突。当你睡觉时，你的担忧并不会消失，它们会继续在你的梦中浮现。在压力很大的时期，潜意识会在夜间继续处理你的问题。这是一种通过预演来处理情绪并为压力场景做准备的方式。如果你发现自己反复做同一个梦，可以试着去探索背后的原因。 Bear in mind though that it's not always helpful to take the content of the dream literally, as dreams don't follow any universal symbolism. For example, if you often dream about being at work, it doesn't necessarily mean there's a direct link to your job, It might reflect difficulties at work, but it could also suggest that you need to do some personal work on yourself, as if your subconscious was nudging you towards self-development. 不过要记住，梦的内容并不总是能从字面上理解，因为梦并没有普遍的象征意义。例如，如果你经常梦到在工作，这未必意味着梦境与你的工作有直接关联。它可能反映了工作中的困难，但也可能暗示你需要在个人方面做一些提升，就好像你的潜意识在推动你进行自我发展。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC六分钟英语｜我们为何如此喜爱零食？ Why do we love snacks so much? 6 Minute English｜BBC Learning English Christine Cochran A snack is an affordable luxury, so if you've had a bad day or money is tight, this is something that you can turn to, and I think that is why you see it as so popular. Consumers, especially in the United States, are looking for smaller, more convenient portions. They're not always going to be able to sit down and have three meals a day, right? So, they're eating on the go. 零食是一种价格实惠的享受，因此如果你今天过得不顺心或是手头紧张，零食就成了你的慰藉，我认为这就是它如此受欢迎的原因。消费者，尤其是美国消费者，正在寻找更小份、更便捷的食品。他们并不总能坐下来吃三顿正餐，对吧？所以他们是在路上吃东西。 And the other thing that you see is this desire for very specific functional ingredients, right? So, mental clarity, gut health, muscle development, these sorts of things. Again, they're nicely packaged in snack sizes. 另一个趋势是对特定功能性成分的需求，比如头脑清晰、肠道健康、肌肉发育等等。这些功能同样以精美的小包装得以实现。这些成分都被巧妙地包装在零食大小的包装里。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

The Art of Improvement｜4个微习惯，帮你无痛改善睡眠 4 Tiny Habits to Improve Your Sleep Effortlessly Here are three useful, practical tips for creating the optimal sleeping environment. 以下三个实用建议帮你打造最佳的睡眠环境： One, take a hot shower before bed. The heat from the water creates a 'warm-up effect', whereby your core temperature is forced to drop to cope with the heat on the skin. 第一，睡前洗个热水澡。热水会产生“预热效应”，让核心体温在应对皮肤表面的热度时自然下降。 Two, discard any and all clock faces from the bedside area. Still, if you have difficulty falling or staying asleep, a continued reminder of how much sleep you're losing will push unwanted anxiety and frustration onto you. 第二，舍弃床头区域所有时钟。然而，如果你入睡或保持睡眠有困难，不断提醒你失去了多少睡眠时间会给你带来不必要的焦虑和挫败感。 Three, designate a purpose to your bedroom. When it becomes the place where you do everything, your brain may find it challenging to relax as it hasn't purely associated the room with the main activity it's for – sleeping. So, if you're struggling, spend less time in your bedroom until it's time to sleep. 第三，指定卧室的用途。当它成为你做一切事情的地方时，你的大脑可能会发现很难放松，因为它还没有将这个房间纯粹地与它主要的活动——睡觉——联系起来。所以，如果你有睡眠困难，就减少待在卧室里的时间，直到该睡觉的时候。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC随身英语｜无聊是激发创造力的关键吗？ Is boredom the key to creativity? Writing for BBC Culture, Clair Thorp looks at the role that boredom plays in the creative process. Many writers and artists credit being bored with helping them have their best ideas – JK Rowling came up with Harry Potter while on a long train journey. Thorp tells us how some researchers believe that boredom drives our brains to find something to do – leading to creative ideas. So, maybe we should take the advice of the musician Questlove and learn to ignore the distractions that we can find on our phones. 为BBC文化频道撰稿的克莱尔·索普探讨了无聊在创意过程中的作用。许多作家和艺术家都认为无聊帮助他们产生了最佳创意——J.K.罗琳在一次漫长的火车旅行中构思出了《哈利·波特》。索普告诉我们，一些研究人员认为无聊会驱使我们的大脑去寻找事情做，从而产生创意。因此，也许我们应该听从音乐家奎斯特洛夫的建议，学会无视手机带来的各种干扰。 However, before we all start planning how to bore ourselves into creativity, Sandi Mann, an academic and author, warns that too much boredom can take away the energy we need for creativity. Many experts talk about the importance of finding new experiences in order to be more creative. 然而，在我们开始计划如何让自己无聊以激发创造力之前，学术专家桑迪·曼警告说，太多的无聊会耗尽我们进行创造力所需的精力。许多专家都谈到寻找新体验对提升创造力的重要性。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC随身英语｜阅读是治愈心灵的良药吗？ The healing power of reading The power of books was recognised a few years ago by the British charity Reading Agency, who published a list of books that doctors could offer to patients, tackling topics from depression to dementia to chronic pain. It called this 'bibliotherapy' and it's become so successful that it's about to be extended to children as well. 几年前，英国慈善机构“阅读协会”就意识到了书籍的力量，他们出版了一份书单，供医生提供给患者，这些书涉及从抑郁症到痴呆症再到慢性疼痛等主题。他们将这种疗法称为“阅读疗法”，这种疗法非常成功，即将推广到儿童群体中。 Professor Philip Davis studies the effects of literature at Liverpool University and is author of a book called Reading for Life. He studies people in reading groups and found that it's reading literature – written work thought to have artistic merit, that has the best effect. He told the BBC that when reading something for pleasure, "…the brain begins to work from different parts, from a different hemisphere and it gets excited, it gets pre-emotional – and you can see the brain coming to life." 利物浦大学的菲利普·戴维斯教授研究文学的影响，并著有《终身阅读》一书。他研究阅读小组中的人们，发现阅读文学作品——被认为具有艺术价值的书面作品——效果最好。他告诉英国广播公司，当人们为了乐趣而阅读时，“……大脑会开始调动不同的区域，从不同的脑半球开始运作，它会变得兴奋，产生一种预情绪状态——你能看到大脑焕发出活力。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

Do you really know｜如何每天早上醒来都神清气爽？ How can I wake up refreshed every morning? What about having a lie-in to get extra sleep? 那么多睡一会儿来补充睡眠呢？ That might seem like a good idea, but long lie-ins don't actually compensate for a sleep deficit at all. Instead, they disturb our circadian rhythm. It's important to wake up around the same time every day as far as possible. Even when having a weekend lie-in, it's best to get up no more than an hour later than usual. If you're a frequent snoozer, you should resist going back to sleep, as you're depriving yourself of the cortisol secreted when you first wake up. 这听起来似乎是个好主意，但长时间赖床实际上并不能弥补睡眠不足。相反，它会扰乱我们的生物钟。尽可能每天在相同的时间起床是很重要的。即使是周末赖床，最好也不要比平时晚起超过一个小时。如果你经常按掉闹钟继续睡，那么应该抵制再睡的冲动，因为你第一次醒来时分泌的皮质醇会被剥夺。 Try putting your alarm clock or smartphone out of arm's reach so you have no choice but to get up. The main takeaway is that it's a good idea to create your own morning routine and do the same before going to bed. These two transitional moments of the day are often neglected but can make a real difference in helping us feel great in the morning. There you have it! 试试把闹钟或手机放在够不着的地方，这样你不得不起床。关键是要制定自己的晨间例行程序，并且在睡前也做同样的事情。一天中的这两个过渡时刻常常被忽视，但它们真的可以让我们在早上感觉很棒。以上就是全部内容啦！ 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

The School of Life｜喧嚣世界里的独处之道 The Need to Be Alone in a Social World We need to be alone because life among other people unfolds too quickly. The pace is relentless: the jokes, the insights, the excitements. There can sometimes be enough in five minutes of social life to take up an hour of analysis. It's a quirk of our minds that not every emotion that impacts us is at once fully acknowledged, understood or even – as it were – truly felt. After time among other people, there are a myriad of sensations that exist in an 'unprocessed' form within us. 我们需要独处，因为与他人相处的生活展开得太快了。这种节奏是不间断的：那些玩笑、洞见、兴奋。有时候，短短五分钟的社交生活就足以占用我们一个小时的思考时间。我们大脑的怪异之处在于，并非所有影响我们的情绪都能立刻被充分承认、理解，甚至真正感受到。与他人相处之后，我们内心会留下无数种“未经处理”的感受。 Perhaps an idea that someone raised made us anxious, prompting vague impulses for changes in our lives. Perhaps an anecdote sparked off an envious ambition that's worth decoding and listening to in order to grow. Maybe someone subtly fired an aggressive dart at us, and we haven't had the chance to realise we are hurt. 或许有人提出的一个想法让我们感到焦虑，引发了我们内心对生活做出改变的模糊冲动。或许某个轶事激发了我们一种嫉妒的野心，这种野心值得我们去揣摩和倾听，因为这有助于我们成长。又或许有人暗中向我们发起了猛烈攻击，而我们还没来得及意识到自己受伤了。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC随身英语｜忙碌之余享受一杯茶或咖啡 Tea and coffee for hectic life Take Away English｜BBC Learning English And according to some scientists, habitual tea consumption can have some health benefits. Andrew Steptoe, a professor from University College London's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, told BBC Food that drinking black tea "may speed up recovery from the daily stresses in life… but we do not know what ingredients of tea were responsible for these effects on stress recovery and relaxation". 一些科学家表示，经常喝茶可能对健康有益。伦敦大学学院流行病学与公共卫生系的安德鲁·斯泰普托教授在接受BBC美食频道采访时称，喝红茶“或许能加快从日常生活压力中恢复的速度……但我们尚不清楚茶中的哪些成分在缓解压力、促进放松方面起到了作用”。 Coffee is tea's 'trendier' rival. Its popularity has grown over the years, and this is reflected in the number of coffee shops we see around – places to hang out, do business or catch up with friends. Coffee can taste great and can be served in many ways, but it's sometimes how you have it that can be seen as a status symbol or the preserve of hipsters! 咖啡是茶的“更时髦”的竞争对手。它的受欢迎程度逐年增长，这从我们周围随处可见的咖啡馆数量就能体现出来——这些地方是人们聚会、谈生意或与朋友叙旧的场所。咖啡味道醇厚，喝法也多种多样，但有时候，你喝咖啡的方式甚至会被视为一种身份象征，或是潮人的专属标志！ Of course, it gives you a strong caffeine hit – roughly double of that contained in tea. However, too much can lead to anxiety. Sleep scientist Matt Walker told the BBC that caffeine can decrease the amount of restorative deep sleep you have. 当然，咖啡会带来强烈的咖啡因刺激——大约是茶中咖啡因含量的两倍。然而，喝得太多可能会导致焦虑。睡眠科学家马特·沃克告诉BBC，咖啡因可能会减少你深度睡眠的时长，而深度睡眠是恢复精力的关键。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】

BBC六分钟英语｜“去增长”能拯救地球吗？ Can 'degrowth' save the planet? 6 Minute English｜BBC Learning English Alvaro Alvarez So, degrowth is not saying that we need to reduce everything. It's saying that we need to decrease some elements of our production that are not beneficial. An example of those elements would be fast fashion, private jets, the beef and meat industry. So it's not about decreasing everything. 所以，“去增长”并不是说我们需要减少一切。它说的是我们需要减少那些没有益处的生产要素。比如，像快时尚、私人飞机、牛肉和肉类行业等就是这样的要素。所以，这并不是要减少一切。 Sam Fankhauser I think degrowth underestimates the power of innovation. Degrowth underestimates the need for investment that we need in new technology and in new solutions. And degrowth underestimates the social, sort of, feasibility of what they propose. 我认为“去增长”低估了创新的力量，低估了我们在新技术和新解决方案方面所需的投资，也低估了他们所倡导的方案的社会可行性。 🪴完整原文见公众号【琐简英语】