万宇婧

1 World's first production-ready solar car to take the road

全球首款太阳能电动车量产在即

A Dutch company is starting deliveries[生产;交付] of the world's first production-ready solar car to customers later this year， promising months of charge-less driving in summer conditions. “Electric cars are a step in the right direction， but they are dependent on the grid[電力网]， which is still dependent on mostly fossil fuel[矿物燃料] energy，” Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Lex Hoefsloot said at the reveal of the $263，000 Lightyear 0 model. “Adding a new source， the sun， adds certainty that you will always have that charge and you will have to charge a lot less often.”

荷兰的一家公司将于今年晚些时候向客户交付全球首款可量产的太阳能汽车。该公司承诺这款太阳能汽车在夏季可驾驶数月而无须充电。公司首席执行官兼联合创始人莱克·霍夫斯洛特在 Lightyear 0 车型发布会上表示：“电动汽车朝着正确方向迈出了一步，但它们依赖于电力，而电力仍然主要依赖于矿物燃料能源。添加太阳能电池板，可以确保车辆能通过太阳能获得动力，并且可以减少车辆充电次数。”该车售价为 26.3 万美元（约合人民币 177 万元）。

Fill in the blanks：

★ This solar car will be driven without charging in ____________ conditions.

2Seville to name and classify heatwaves in effort

塞维利亚给热浪命名和分级

The southern Spanish city of Seville is to become the first in the world to name and classify heatwaves — much in the way that tropical storms or hurricanes are named — in an effort to better shield[保护;防御]residents[居民] as periods of excessively hot weather become more frequent. Heatwaves that reach category 3 — the most severe — will be named in descending order of the Spanish alphabet. The first five names have already been chosen： Zoe， Yago， Xenia， Wenceslao， and Vega.

西班牙南部城市塞维利亚将在世界上开启给热浪命名和分级的先例，命名方式和热带风暴或飓风差不多，目的是在酷热天气越来越频繁的情况下更好地保护居民的安全。达到第三级（程度最严重）的热浪将按照西班牙字母表的降序来命名。前五个名字已经被选好：佐伊、亚戈、齐妮亚、温塞斯拉斯和维加。

Fill in the blanks：

★ Seville is the first to name and ____________ heatwaves.

3Over 25 million foreigners learning Chinese by end of 2021

外国学习中文人数超 2500 万

More than 25 million foreigners were learning Chinese by the end of 2021， according to the Ministry of Education. The Chinese language learning was available in more than 180 countries and regions[地区] around the world by the end of 2021. The Chinese language had been incorporated[包含;加入] into the national education systems of 76 countries， and nearly 200 million people had received Chinese language training， the ministry said at a press conference.

教育部在新闻发布会上称，截至 2021 年底，外国学习中文人数超 2500 万，有 180 多个国家和地区开展中文教育，76 个国家将中文纳入国民教育体系，累计学习和使用中文人数近 2 亿。

Fill in the blanks：

★ More than 25 million foreigners were learning ____________ by the end of 2021.

4Global warming may lead to less sleep

全球變暖或致人类睡眠时间减少

A recent study from the University of Copenhagen showed that over the past few years， people around the world have lost an average of 44 hours of sleep per year， and this figure is likely to hit to 50-58 hours by 2099， due to global warming. It turns out that global warming causes temperatures rise at night affecting our sleep patterns. The human body needs to cool down before falling asleep， and higher temperatures make it harder to sleep. Hot nights can cause people to fall sleep late and wake up early. For example， at nights when temperatures exceed[超出] 30°C， sleep declines by an average of 14 minutes.

最近哥本哈根大学进行的一项研究调查显示，过去几年中，全球每人平均每年睡眠时间减少了 44 小时，并且因为全球变暖，这一数字在 2099 年之前很有可能会达到 50-58 小时。事实证明，全球变暖导致夜间温度上升，从而影响了我们的睡眠模式。人体在入睡前需要降温，而高温则让人难以入睡。夜间炎热可能会导致人们睡得晚、起得早。例如，夜间温度超过 30℃时，平均睡眠时间减少 14 分钟。

Fill in the blanks：

★ Global ____________ makes people harder to sleep.