BBC英语｜为什么越来越多人开始健身？

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Hello, I’m Rob. Welcome to Six Minute English, where we get together to discuss an interesting topic along with six useful items of vocabulary to wrestle with.

大家好，我是罗伯。欢迎来到六分钟英语。在这里我们将一同讨论一个有趣的话题以及攻克的六个实用词汇。

Yes. Hello, I’m Catherine. And today’s topic is all about togetherness. Because we’re talking about going to the gym and why gym membership is becoming increasingly popular. So Rob, do you head off to your local gym after work?

是的。大家好，我是凯瑟琳。并且今天的话题是关于togetherness,共同。因为我们将要讨论去健身房的问题以及为什么健身房会员变得越来越流行。所以罗伯，你下班之后你会去本地的健身房吗？

No, I hate group exercise. I prefer to go for a run on my own. It’s free, and I enjoy being outdoors. How about you Catherine?

不，我不喜欢群体运动。我更喜欢自己一个人跑步。它是免费的，并且我享受户外活动。你呢，凯瑟琳？

Well, I really like group exercise, Rob. I find it’s very motivating.

好吧，我真的很喜欢群体运动，罗伯。我发现它很激励人。

When something is motivating, it makes us want to do something. So what motivates you to go to the gym, Catherine?

当某些事情能够激励人的时候，它会让我们想要去做一些事情。所以是什么激励你去健身房呢，凯瑟琳？

Well, I go because I really like the SPIN classes.

好吧，我去健身房是因为我真的喜欢SPIN课。

Is that where you cycle on the spot while an instructor shouts at you?

意思是你一边原地骑健身车，而指导老师在一旁冲着你吼，是吗？

Well, yes, that’s the one! If I wasn’t in a class, I don’t think I would push myself so hard. I need someone to shout at me, to make me go faster and get up those hills.

好吧，是的，是那个！如果我不参加课程的话，我不认为自己能把自己逼得这么紧。我需要有人冲我喊，让我跑得更快，勇攀高峰。

Good. And if you push yourself, you force yourself to try harder, you set yourself a challenge. OK, Catherine. Well, you are part of a growing trend of people who like to work out or exercise in a gym.So perhaps you can tell me, how many people are members of a gym, here in the UK? Is it… a) 1 in 2, b) 1 in 7 or c) 1 in 10?

很好。如果你逼自己，就是强迫自己去更努力，你给自己设置了一个挑战。好的，凯瑟琳。你已经是那些喜欢在健身房里锻炼健身的人们当中的一员了。所以或许你能告诉我，在英国有多少人是健身房的会员呢？是a)二分之一 b)七分之一 还是c)十分之一

I’m going to go for 1 in 10.

我认为是十分之一。

Well, we’ll find out if you chose the right answer later on. Now let’s listen to Philip Mills. He runs the sports fitness company Les Mills, named after his father,who was a track and field athlete who represented New Zealand for twenty years. Philip has a theory to explain why group exercise has become so popular in recent years.

好的，稍后我们将会揭晓你的答案是否正确。现在让我们来听一下菲利普•米尔斯是怎么说的。他经营一所运动健身公司-莱斯•米尔斯。公司是以他父亲的名字命名的。莱斯•米尔斯曾连续20年作为新西兰的田径运动员代表人物。菲利普有自己的一套理论来解释为什么群体运动在近几年变得如此受欢迎。

As people have become more sedentary, they’ve realised that they need to move for their health. We work about 35% more hours than we used to work in the 60s. And people are too busy to play sports. Society has become fragmented and a lot of the things that used to bring people together don’t exist anymore. But, you know, we’re tribal animals, pack animals. And the gym has been one of the things that helps people to commune.

随着人们久坐的时间越来越长，他们意识到他们需要为了自己的健康动起来。我们工作时间比60年代的时候增长了35%。并且人们太忙以至于没有时间做运动。社会群体分化，许多过去将人们聚集在一起的事物不再存在。但是你知道的，我们是部族生物，群居动物。并且健身房已经成为了帮助人们密切联系的事物之一。

Yes, our sedentary lifestyles! We do all spend too much time sitting down, don’t we, Rob?

是的，我们久坐的生活方式！我们确实花费了太多时间坐着，不是吗，罗伯？

Yes. And according to Philip, we’re probably spending more time sitting down than we used to, because we’re working a lot more.

是的。而且依据菲利普所说，同过去相比我们花费更多时间坐着，因为我们的工作更多了。

Exactly. And because we’re busier with work, we have less time to take exercise.

确实是。因为我们工作越来越忙碌，我们用来锻炼的时间就越来越少。

So why are we choosing to go to the gym these days, rather than heading down to the park to play football? Philip Mills thinks it’s because society has become fragmented.and we’re losing the social connectedness that made it easy to get together and take exercise.

所以为什么现在我们选择去健身房而不是去公园里踢足球呢？菲利普认为是因为社会变得分化。并且我们正在失去令聚集与锻炼变得容易的社会联系。

And fragmented means broken up into small pieces, by the way.The thing is we miss that social connectedness, that feeling of belonging to a group.Because we are essentially tribal animals. And a tribe is a group of people who live together and they share the same language and the same culture.

而且顺便提一句，fragmented指的是破碎成小块。目前的情况是我们丢掉了那种社会联系，那种对一个群体的归属感。因为本质上来说我们是群居动物。并且部族指的是居住在一起，拥有相同语言和文化的一群人。

So even now, most of us have left tribal society behind.We still want to feel like we’re part of a group that we can commune with, which means to get close to someone or something.

所以即使现在我们大多数已经脱离了部族社会。我们仍然想要感觉自己是密切联系群体中的一部分，密切联系指的是靠近某些人或者事。

But the question is, Rob, does group exercise at the gym actually succeed in connecting us with other people?

但是罗伯，问题是健身房里的团体运动真的能成功让我们同其他人联系起来吗？

Well, Philip Mills thinks in the future, we’ll be cycling inside a video game using computer graphics.you know, visiting other planets, travelling to different times…

好的，菲利普•米尔斯认为在以后我们会通过电脑图像在视频游戏中骑健身车。你知道的，像游历其他星球，穿梭于不同时空。

Wow! But people will then be communing with a computer Rob, not really with each other?

哇！但是人们那时候将会和计算机交流，而不是真的和对方交流，罗伯？

I’m afraid so. And you won’t even have a real instructor barking instructions at you!

恐怕是这样。而且你甚至不会有一个真正的指导者叫喊着指导你。

Well, I suppose a computer will have a virtual instructor, who will also be equally motivating!

好吧，我希望每个计算机都能有一个同样激励人的虚拟指导者。

Yes, I expect so. Now, remember I asked you, Catherine: How many people are members of a gym, here in the UK?

是的，我也期待这样。现在记得我问得你的问题吗，凯瑟琳？在英国有多少人是健身房会员？

I do remember you asking me that Rob, and I said 1 in 10.

罗伯，我确实记得你问得我那个问题，而且我回答是十分之一。

And you were wrong, I’m afraid! Figures collected by Leisure Data Base, a company that has audited the fitness industry for fifteen years, show that one in seven of the UK population is a member of a gym. And more and more will be signing up. Total membership could soon exceed ten million for the first time.

恐怕你是错的。根据一家对健身行业进行15年审计的公司-Leisure数据库收集的数据，英国七分之一的人口都是健身房会员。并且越来越多的人在报名。健身会员总数将会很快首次超过1000万。

Wow!

哇！

OK, now let’s talk through the vocabulary items we heard today. Number one is ’motivating’ , meaning something that makes us want to do something.I don’t find the idea of cycling in a small room very motivating.’

好的，现在让我们讨论一下今天听到的词汇。第一个是motivating，指的是某些能让我们想要去做一些事的事物。我不认为在狭小的屋子里做健身车运动是激励人的。

Now number two – If you push yourself, you force yourself to try harder. ’So it’s important to push yourself if you want to do well in your exams.’

第二个词，如果你想要push yourself，你就要强迫自己更努力。所以如果你想要在考试中取得好成绩，逼自己一把是很重要的。

Good advice there, Catherine. Next up is ’work out’, which means to exercise in order to improve your health and fitness. For example, ’Catherine works out three times a week by cycling on the spot.’ Our fourth word is ’fragmented’ or broken up into small pieces. For example, ’I suffer from fragmented sleep. I wake up five or six times a night.’

那真是好建议，凯瑟琳。接下来是work out，指的是为了提高自己的健康程度来锻炼。例如，凯瑟琳每周做原地健身车运动三次。我们第四个单词是fragmented，或者是破碎成小块。例如，我深受支离破碎睡眠之苦。我每晚要醒五到六次。

Oh. Poor you! Alright, number four is ’tribal’ and the noun is ’tribe’, a group of people who live together and share the same language and culture.

噢，你太可怜了！好吧，我们第四个词是tribal，名词是tribe，指的是居住在一起，拥有相同语言和文化的一群人。

Football fans often wear the tribal colours of the team they support, some paint their faces too.’

足球粉丝经常穿着代表他们所支持的队伍的颜色，有些人也在自己脸上涂上相应颜色。

And finally, we heard ’commune’, which means to get close to someone or something. For example, Rob likes to commune with nature when he goes running. He enjoys the way the landscape changes with the seasons.’

最后我们听到的是commune，指的是靠近某些人或者某些事。例如，当罗伯跑步时，他喜欢亲近自然。他享受四季变化的风景。

Well said, Catherine. Now, that’s all we have time for today.

说得好，凯瑟琳。以上就是我们今天的内容。

Bye!

再见

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