- Raisin meditation
- Spycam in Korea
- MTR derailing
- Coast guard
- Emojis showing disabilities
- The 'surprises' of the 91st Oscars
- City of toys
- Overtourism
- French stamps to commemorate the Year of the Pig
- Syrian refugee found new life in Canada
- Does an hour of sleep matter?
- Huge costs of warming impact
- The shop where it's ok to be different
- EU bans single-use plastics
- Legalization of Cannabis in Canada
- Getting to know your new HKID card
- Euthanasia
- Foreign language hits
- Populism
- Escape the corset
- All topics
Plastic eating enzyme
Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles. The breakthrough, spurred by the discovery of plastic-eating bugs at a Japanese dump, could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis.
科學家意外發明了「吃」膠樽的變種酵素。在日本一個堆填區發現的食塑膠昆蟲，促進了這個突破，有望解決全球塑膠污染危機。
mutant enzyme 變種酵素
mutation (n.)
1. spur (v./n.) (spur on = spur) 促進
(v.) = urge
Make a change or event faster or sooner [journalism]
e.g. The government may put more emphasis on spurring economic growth.
政府可能會更加重視刺激經濟增長。
spur (n.)
e.g. Competition is a spur to efficiency. 競爭促進了效率。
do something on the spur of the moment 一時衝動; 心血來潮
e.g. They decided to go to Japan on the spur of the moment. 他們心血來潮，決定前往日本。
a spur-of-the-moment idea 心血來潮的主意
2. dump (n./v.)
(n.) 垃圾場; 垃圾堆
討厭的地方
e.g. Nobody wants to live in this dump. 沒有誰願意住在這個討厭的地方。
(v.) 傾倒
e.g. She turned the handbag upside down and dumped the contents on the table.
她將手提包倒過來，把裡面的東西一股腦兒倒在桌上。
拋棄; 與…結束關係
e.g. The company has dumped her. 公司解僱了她。
e.g. She has dumped her boyfriend. 她甩掉了男朋友。 = ditch (v.)
The international team then tweaked the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had inadvertently made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic used for soft drink bottles.
國際隊伍之後略為微調這種酵素，看它是如何發展出來的，但測試顯示，他們不經意地令（酵素）分子更有效地分解用於飲品膠樽的聚對苯二甲酸。
polyethylene terephthalate聚對苯二甲酸
3. tweak (v./n.)
vt 扭; 拽; 擰
e.g. My mother used to tweak my ear when I was naughty.
對…作微調; 稍稍改進; 略微改動 (informal)
e.g. The system will get better after the engineers tweak its performance.
n. 扭; 拽
e.g. to give sth. a tweak 擰某物一下
輕微調整
to make a few tweaks to sth. 作幾處修改
4. evolve (v.) 進化, 逐步發展
to evolve into sth. 逐步發展成某物
to evolve from sth. 從某物演變而來
e.g. The simple plan evolved into a complicated one.
這個簡單的計畫發展成了一項複雜的計畫。
e.g. Popular music evolved from folk songs. 流行曲是由民歌演化而成的。
5. inadvertently = unintentional = accidentally (adv.) 不經意地；無心地
e.g. I inadvertently pressed the wrong button. 我不經意地按錯了按鈕。
e.g. It was an inadvertent (adj.) error. 這是無心之失。
Listening Comprehension
Questions:
- How did the scientists improve the enzymes?
- How could the enzymes help solve the plastic pollution problem?
A Song For You - “Meet the Elements” They Might Be Giants
Element (n.) 元素
e.g. Aluminium is an element. 鋁是一種元素。
(n.) 部分；部件；要素
The movie had all the elements of a good thriller.
這部電影具備了一部精彩的驚慄片的一切要素。
e.g. We weren't even taught the elements of (= basic information about) physics at school.
學校連基本的物理知識都沒有教給我們。
In one’s element 適得其所；得心應手
e.g. Kate, of course, was in her element, making all the arrangements.
凱特安排這一切當然是得心應手。
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