臺大外語教學暨資源中心英語學習報第 399 期 發行日期 2020-12-15
臺大外語教學暨資源中心

本期焦點 More

  Parasite, the filmRead more on VOA.

New App Identifies Mosquitoes by Buzzing Sound

新款 APP 透過嗡嗡聲識別蚊子種類

The high-pitched whine of a mosquito is annoying, but scientists have developed an app that uses that sound to detect dangerous mosquitoes.

蚊子尖銳的嗡嗡聲(whine,註 1)令人討厭,但科學家們用這個聲音開發出偵測危險蚊子的應用程式。

 
 

◎ 英語電子報問卷填答抽獎活動

本中心為持續提供更優質的英語電子學習報,想了解廣大的英語電子報讀者群對於中心電子報的想法,以做為持續改進的依據。請各位讀者撥空填寫以下問卷。

填答時間:2020 年 12 月 31 日 17:00 前,

填答網址:請點擊。     

我們會抽出幾位填答者,贈送學習英文的小獎品。

請大家踴躍填寫!

◎ 馬來文化演講

外語教學暨資源中心將於 2020 年 12 月舉行三場馬來文化相關演講,歡迎對馬來文化有興趣的教職員生或校友來參加,活動免費報名,現場提供馬來西亞當地美食供參與者一起品嘗。快來看一下三場精彩講座的主題吧:

活動免費報名,名額有限,請洽臺大活動報名系統

◎ 外語教學暨資源中心第六次「進階英語課程免修自訂測驗」公告(一)

外語教學暨資源中心訂於 110 年 2 月 21 日星期日辦理第六次「進階英語課程免修自訂測驗」:

一、 本測驗為免費,採網路報名。

二、 限本校尚未修習或正在修習「進階英語」課程,且未達該課程免修標準之本校學士班學生報名。

三、 學士班學生在本校就學期間共可報名兩次,每次報名後不論是否到場參加測驗,均視為已報名參加一次,報名後不得以任何理由要求取消已使用一次參加測驗的報名紀錄。

四、 網路報名時間:109 年 12 月 1 日星期二上午 9 時至 110 年 1 月 22 日星期五下午 5 時,期間不間斷,逾期不受理。

五、 測驗相關注意事項:請注意外語教學暨資源中心網站最新消息公告:請點擊

 
Feature of the Week

 

The Tiny Times

The Tiny Times

「I'm a child. And a blogger.」 沒錯,The Tiny Times 就是記錄一個四歲小男孩 Marshall 所見、所聞、所感受的部落格。這個部落格從 Marshall 10 個月大的時候開設,以影像日記(visual diary)的形式記錄他成長過程中經歷的大小事。雖然照片是由父母協助拍攝,但部落格中的文字都是 Marshall 自己的評述與感想,可以真實的感受到四歲小男孩的世界觀。值得一提的是,在 Marshall 三歲的時候,他們全家以不搭飛機的方式從雪梨移動到倫敦,各國美景和 Marshall 如何看待旅途中包羅萬象的人事物是The Tiny Times 的一大可看之處。

 

Apps for Learning English

 

English Driver

English Driver

今天要介紹一款學習英文的 APP : English Driver  開發者有鑑於學習中常見的四大問題:1. 明明就學過的用法,但臨時就是用不出來。  2. 很容易不小心受中文的思維影響,用出中式英文。 3. 常常在用法間抉擇,不知用那一個。 4.  覺得字彙量不足,但又覺得用單字書學很枯燥無味。

累積多年語言習得科學的研究及多年的教學經驗,與哈佛、哥倫比亞大學科技與教育專業團隊,共同設計出這套 APP, 這套 APP 是建立在賽車遊戲上 在開車的過程,除了有障礙物,還有英文題目 除了專心答題,還要小心開車,如果撞到障礙物或答錯題目就會失去一顆心 失去三顆心就會 GAME OVER! 很刺激很有趣很好玩的 APP,讓人在不知不覺中記住很多英語詞彙不多說,馬上就來試用看看吧!

English Learning Video

 

English Learning Video

How to Speak FAST English

為什麼外國人講英文都這麼快呢!好希望也能跟他們一樣可以說很快的英文喔!到底什麼時候可以省略發音?什麼時候要切斷發音?什麼時候要連音?如果你也有這些疑惑,請收看以下影片就會有答案囉!七個小技巧讓你說英文的速度變快!一起來看看吧!

 

 
周樹華老師英語學習 Q&A

 

Q&A

善用 SkELL 搜尋單字,不必挑,不必檢! 真是太簡單了!

這個線上免費為英語學習者設計的 Sketch Engine 不是字典,但功能比字典直接強大,不但容易使用,而且立刻就可找到例句 (Examples)、字詞搭配 (Word sketch)、相似詞 (Similar words)。我搜尋 analysis 一字,只要點選上方的 Examples 所有的例句都呈現在您眼前。您只要花一點時間看紅色字體 analysis 的句子,您就會記住這個字的用法了。

 

 

 

訓練英文「讀」系列 :前進英國:英式英語生活情境關鍵句

訓練英文「讀」系列 :前進英國:英式英語生活情境關鍵句

學習英式英語、認識英國文化的必備生活工具書 : 留學、工作、旅遊就靠這一本 。英國生病了怎麼辦?水管不通怎麼說?認識新朋友該聊什麼? 1850 句會話例句、1800 個實用詞彙 286 種生活情境120 篇情報介紹16 張卡片範例2 小時 MP3 ,想說又說不出口的那句話,就在這裡!

 

 

 

New App Identifies Mosquitoes by Buzzing Sound
VOA News|Science & Health
November 16, 2020 03:34 PM
 (source)

New App Identifies Mosquitoes by Buzzing Sound

新款 APP 透過嗡嗡聲識別蚊子種類

November 16, 2020 03:34 PM

Asher Jones

The high-pitched whine of a mosquito is annoying, but scientists have developed an app that uses that sound to detect dangerous mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes kill hundreds of thousands of people each year by spreading microbes that cause diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever. But researcher Haripriya Vaidehi Narayanan says anyone with a cellphone can help tackle these diseases by using the Abuzz app to identify mosquitoes.

"If they see a mosquito around us, they just open the phone, open up the app, point their phone towards the mosquito and hit the record button," said Narayanan, who started working on the project as a graduate student at Stanford University. She's now in the Department of Immunology at the University of California Los Angeles.

"So then, when the mosquito flaps its wings and starts flying around, it makes that noise, that annoying buzzing noise … that noise is what gets recorded by the Abuzz app," she added.

Many mosquito-borne diseases don't have cures or vaccines, so targeting mosquitoes is the best approach to controlling these diseases.

"If we're going to tackle diseases caused by mosquitoes like malaria or dengue, the most important step is to know where the mosquitoes are," Narayanan said.

Listening for answers

Traditional mosquito monitoring can be time-consuming and expensive because it requires labor-intensive trapping and trained scientists to identify the tiny insects.

There are around 3,500 different mosquito species, but only about 40 are dangerous to humans, according to Manu Prakash, professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and principal investigator of the project.

"In your backyard, do you have a nuisance mosquito or do you have a potentially dangerous mosquito?" Prakash said.

To answer that question, Prakash's team decided to listen. When mosquitoes beat their wings up and down, they produce that distinctive buzzing sound. Every mosquito species makes a slightly different buzz.

Users record as little as one or two seconds of a mosquito sound with the Abuzz app on their cellphone. The app compares this recording against a database and decides which species of mosquito it is most likely to be.

Because the tool — any cellphone or smartphone — is already in billions of people's pockets, the team says they'll be able to monitor mosquitoes on a much larger scale than previously possible.

"This is something that doesn't require fancy smartphones, just the very bare minimum, basic cellphones are actually good enough," Prakash said.

Combining information

By crowd-sourcing mosquito information from across the world, the app will build maps of where dangerous mosquitoes are found. This will help scientists and health authorities predict where disease outbreaks might occur and where to target mosquito control.

Prakash believes this type of community engagement is key to tackling big problems like mosquito-borne disease.

"The more number of people engage the better the tool gets. So, we're very excited that if literally, you know, hundreds of thousands of people are recording mosquitoes every day especially, you know, around the world, it will create the kind of community that is needed," Prakash said.

The Abuzz app will be available to download for free in the next month or two.

Another group of researchers at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom is developing a similar cellphone app — called Mozzwear — that identifies malaria mosquitoes by their sound.

蚊子尖銳的嗡嗡聲(whine,註 1)令人討厭,但科學家利用這個聲音開發出偵測危險蚊子的應用程式。

每年數十萬人死於瘧疾(malaria)登革熱(dengue fever)黃熱病(yellow fever)等疾病,引發的病源是由蚊子所傳播的微生物(microbe,註 2)但是研究人員哈利匹亞 • 納拉亞南(Haripriya Vaidehi Narayana,音釋)說,任何擁有手機的人都可以使用 Abuzz ,辨識蚊子種類以對抗這些疾病。

「如果他們看到周圍有蚊子,只要打開手機,開啟應用程式,把手機對準蚊子,然後按下記錄按鈕即可。」納拉亞南就讀史丹福大學(Stanford University)研究所時,就參與了這項計畫,她現在於加利福尼亞大學洛杉磯分校(University of California, Los Angeles)的免疫學系工作。

她說道 :「因此,當蚊子拍打翅膀並開始飛行時,它發出的聲音,那個令人討厭的嗡嗡聲……就是 Abuzz 記錄下來的聲音。」

許多蚊子傳播的疾病並沒有治療方法或疫苗,所以,鎖定蚊子種類是控制這些疾病的最佳方法。

納拉亞南認為,「如果我們要對付蚊子傳播的疾病如瘧疾或登革熱,像是瘧疾或登革熱,最重要的步驟就是知道蚊子在哪裡。」


聽聲找答案

傳統蚊子監測既費時又昂貴,因為它需要密集的人工誘捕和受過訓練的科學家來識別這些微小的蚊蟲。

史丹福大學生物工程學(bioengineering)教授及該計畫主持人曼努 • 普拉卡什(Manu Prakash,音釋)表示,有大約 3,500 種不同的蚊子,但只有40種是對人體有害的。

普拉卡什說道:「在你的後院,有討厭(nuisance,註 3)的蚊子,還是有危險的蚊子?」

為了解答這個問題,普拉卡什的團隊決定聽蚊子的叫聲。當蚊子上下拍打翅膀時,它們會發出獨特(distinctive)的嗡嗡聲,每個蚊子的嗡嗡聲略有不同。

使用者只需要使用手機上的 Abuzz 應用程式,錄製一到兩秒鐘的蚊子聲,應用程式就會將記錄與數據庫(database)進行比對,並判定最有可能的品種。

由於這項工具在數十億人的傳統手機或智慧型手機都已安裝,該團隊表示,他們將能夠比以往更大規模監視蚊子。

普拉卡提到,「這不需要花俏的智慧型手機,只需最低限度普通手機就夠了。」


整合訊息

透過來自世界各地關於蚊子的眾包訊息,該應用程式將能建立危險蚊子地圖,這將有助科學家和衛生局預測引發疾病以及掌控蚊子的地區。

普拉卡什認為這種社區參與是解決蚊媒疾病等重大問題的關鍵(key,註 4)

普拉卡什說:「參與人數越多,工具的效果就越好,因此,我們非常興奮,如果每天有成千上萬的人記錄蚊子,尤其是全世界各地,那將能建構出我們需要的社區。」

Abuzz 應用程式將在下一兩個月免費供人下載。

英國牛津大學(University of Oxford)研究人員正在開發另一組類似的應用程式「Mozzwear」,透過蚊子的嗡嗡聲辨識帶有瘧疾的蚊子。

Language Notes

註 1: whine 於本文指「刺耳的尖聲」;本字也常指「發出哀鳴」

註 2:microbe 源自古希臘文的「小」“micros” 和 「生命」“bios”;於本文指「微生物」;注意重音在第 2 音節

註 3:nuisance 源自英法文的「傷害」“nusaunce”; 於本文指「惹人討厭」的意思;注意重音在第 1 音節

註 4:key 於本文指「關鍵」的意思;本字也常指「鑰匙」、「電腦鍵盤」和 「音調」



BACK TO CONTENT

Check your comprehension!

Choose the BEST answer to each of the questions below. After you finish, highlight the parentheses to reveal the hidden answers.


1. A ) How does the new app track mosquitos?  
            (A) Through their buzz
            (B) Through their flying pattern
            (C) Through their color
            (D) Through their airborne diseases
2. B ) Which of the following is something Narayanan said according to the article?  
            (A) Having a mosquito bite you is worse than listening to its buzz.
            (B) Knowing the location of mosquitos is the best way to curb their diseases. 
            (C) Recording the itchiness of a mosquito bite is how her new app works.
            (D) Identifying mosquitos requires labor intensive methods and lots of time.
3. C ) Why does Prakash think it's better if more people use Abuzz?  
            (A) Because the more people track mosquitos, the less they get bitten.     
            (B) So he could earn some commission from users downloading the app.
            (C) Because the more people use it, the more accurate mosquito tracking is.
            (D) So he can figure out how to improve the app for more accurate tracking.

編譯:外語教學暨資源中心 編輯小組