2025.10.21 青少年新闻速递
Host: News Discovery Time! Today we are exploring… Bang! Pop! Wow! …the secret lives of zombie cicadas and time-traveling treasures!
(Sound of cicadas buzzing, followed by a mysterious sound effect)
Host: Our first story is a little creepy, a little crawly, and completely captivating. Have you ever heard of the 17-year cicadas? These amazing insects have spent almost their entire lives underground. That’s 17 years! For many of us, that’s longer than we have been alive! They have waited patiently, sipping on tree roots, all for a few short weeks in the sun to sing and find a mate.
Imagine you are one of these cicadas. You have just broken free from the dark soil. You feel the warm sun on your new wings and hear the happy buzzing of thousands of your friends. It’s the biggest party of your life! But for some of these cicadas, a very strange and eerie/strange fate awaits. They have become infected by a special kind of fungus called Massospora (a type of germ that grows on other living things).
This fungus is like a villain from a sci-fi movie. Once it gets inside a cicada, it begins to eat the insect’s internal organs from the inside out. After about a week, the fungus has grown so much that it bursts out from the cicada’s back end, replacing it with a white, chalky plug of spores. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? You would think the cicada would feel sick and just lie down to die. But something truly bizarre happens instead.
The cicadas don’t stop moving. In fact, they have become even more active! The Massospora fungus produces special chemicals that take control of the cicada’s brain. It makes them feel super energetic and want to fly around everywhere, constantly. As these infected cicadas fly, they spread the fungus spores like a salt shaker, infecting other healthy cicadas they meet. Scientists have nicknamed them “flying salt shakers of death”! These poor, manipulated cicadas are helping the fungus find new homes without even knowing it. They have lost control of their own bodies, becoming puppets for a powerful fungus.
It’s a fascinating, if a little frightening, example of how nature works. This fungus has developed a very clever way to survive and spread. It shows us that even in the world of tiny insects, big dramas are happening all the time. If you could control an insect with a special fungus, what kind of behavior would you make it do?
(Transition music - a shift from mysterious to inspiring and wondrous)
Host: Now, let’s travel from the world of nature to the halls of history and technology. Our second story is about a place where old inventions get a new voice: the Tsinghua University Science Museum (a special museum at one of China’s top universities). This isn’t just any museum; it has been built from scratch, a true “starting from zero” story.
The museum’s mission is to bring the amazing history of science to life. To do this, they have been working hard on three main tasks: collecting, buying, and recreating. First, they collect old scientific instruments from all over the university and from alumni. Then, they buy important historical artifacts from around the world. But the most exciting part is that they recreate/make again famous scientific inventions from the past that have been lost to time. The museum holds over 8,000 items. If you spent just one minute looking at each one, it would take you more than five full days, without any sleep, to see them all!
Recreating these machines is not easy. It’s like being a detective and an engineer at the same time. For example, the team worked on rebuilding a Hauksbee generator, a machine that makes static electricity. They built it perfectly, but it didn’t work as well as the old books said it should. After much investigation, they discovered the problem: modern glass is too pure! The old glass had impurities that helped create static electricity. So, what did they do? They had to make glass using the old-fashioned recipe to make the machine work correctly.
Picture this: you have walked into the museum and see a huge, complicated device. This is a full-scale replica of the “Water-driven Armillary Sphere and Celestial Globe,” a masterpiece of Chinese engineering from over 1,000 years ago. It shows how ancient Chinese scientists understood the stars and machines. By rebuilding it, the museum hopes to inspire young people and boost their confidence in science and innovation.
What makes this museum truly special are people like Yang Mingfan (a student at the university), who is a volunteer guide. He feels that understanding the history of science is super important. He shared a fun fact: many people think James Watt invented the steam engine after seeing a kettle lid rattle. But Yang Mingfan explains the real story is more complex; the engine worked by condensing steam, not just by its pushing force. By telling these true stories, he helps visitors see the real journey of science. It’s not just about one “aha!” moment, but about step-by-step discovery.
Being a guide has challenged him, too. Once, a visitor asked a tough question about how Copernicus calculated the moon’s distance. He didn’t know the answer, so he dived into books to find it. He realized that every single object in the museum can open up a world of questions and learning.
This museum shows us that science is a grand, unfolding story. If you could be a museum guide for a day, what historical invention would you want to talk about, and what amazing story would you tell?
(Outro music starts)
Host: That’s all for today’s News Discovery Time! From zombie cicadas to brilliant builders of the past, our world is full of wonders. Keep asking questions and keep exploring! See you next time!
中文版本 （欢快节奏的开场音乐）
主持人： News Discovery Time！今天我们要探索……砰！啪！哇！……“僵尸”蝉的秘密生活和会“穿越时空”的科学珍宝！
（蝉鸣声，随后是神秘的音效）
主持人： 我们的第一个故事有点儿吓人，有点儿奇特，但绝对吸引人。你听说过“十七年蝉”吗？这些神奇的昆虫差不多把一辈子都花在了地下。整整17年！对我们很多人来说，这比我们自己的年龄还要长呢！它们耐心地等待着，靠吸食树根的汁液为生，就是为了能在阳光下度过短短几个星期，尽情歌唱，找到自己的伴侣。
想象一下，你就是其中一只蝉。你刚刚从黑暗的泥土里钻出来，感受到了温暖的阳光照在新生的翅膀上，还听到了成千上万个小伙伴们欢乐的嗡嗡声。这简直是你生命中最盛大的派对！但是，对于其中一些蝉来说，一个非常奇怪又可怕的命运正在等着它们。它们被一种叫做“团孢霉”（一种会在其他生物上生长的霉菌）的特殊真菌感染了。
这个真菌就像科幻电影里的大反派。一旦它进入蝉的身体，就会从里到外开始吃掉这只昆虫的内部器官。大约一周后，真菌长得太大了，就会从蝉的尾部爆开，取而代之的是一团白垩色的孢子。听起来很可怕，对吧？你可能会觉得，这只蝉肯定病得很重，马上就要趴下等死了。可事实恰恰相反，发生了一件特别不可思议的事情。
这些蝉不但没有停下来，反而变得更加活跃了！团孢霉真菌会制造一些特殊的化学物质，来控制蝉的大脑。这让它们感觉精力充沛，总想不停地到处飞。当这些被感染的蝉飞行时，它们就像一个“会飞的盐瓶”，把真菌孢子撒得到处都是，感染了遇到的其他健康蝉。所以，科学家们给它们起了个外号，叫“飞行的死亡撒盐哥”！这些可怜的、被操纵的蝉，在自己毫不知情的情况下，就帮着真菌找到了新家。它们简直不要太惨了，完全失去了对自己身体的控制，变成了强大真菌的“提线木偶”。
这是大自然运作方式中一个迷人又有点吓人的例子。这种真菌进化出了一种非常聪明的生存和传播方式。它告诉我们，即使在微小昆虫的世界里，也时刻上演着惊心动魄的大戏。如果你能用一种特殊的真菌来控制一只昆虫，你会让它做出什么样的行为呢？
（过渡音乐——从神秘转向励志和奇妙）
主持人： 现在，让我们从自然界穿越到历史与科技的大厅。我们的第二个故事，是关于一个能让古老发明重新“开口说话”的地方：清华大学科学博物馆（中国顶尖大学里的一座特别的博物馆）。这可不是一个普通的博物馆，它是从零开始，白手起家（bái shǒu qǐ jiā）建立起来的。
这个博物馆的使命，就是让奇妙的科学史变得鲜活起来。为了实现这个目标，他们主要通过三种方式努力：收集、购买和复原。首先，他们从清华大学校园内外以及校友手中收集古老的科学仪器。接着，他们会购买世界各地重要的历史文物。但最激动人心的部分，是他们会亲手复原那些早已失传的古代科学发明。博物馆收藏了超过8000件藏品，如果你花一分钟看一件，不吃不睡也要五个整天才能全部看完！
复原这些机器可不容易，简直就像同时当一名侦探和一名工程师。比如，团队曾复原一台名叫“霍克斯比起电机”的静电制造机。他们把它造得非常完美，但效果却不如古书里记载的那么好。经过大量研究，他们发现了问题所在：现代的玻璃太纯净了！古代的玻璃含有杂质，反而更容易产生静电。那怎么办呢？他们只好按照古法重新制作玻璃，才让这台机器成功运转起来。简直酷毙了！
想象这个场景：你走进博物馆，看到一个巨大而复杂的装置。这是一座被完整复原的“北宋水运仪象台”，它是1000多年前中国工程技术的杰作。它展示了古代中国科学家对星辰和机械的深刻理解。通过复原它，博物馆希望能够激励年轻人，增强大家在科技创新上的信心和雄心。
让这座博物馆变得真正特别的，是像杨明繁（fán）（清华大学的一名学生）这样的志愿者讲解员。他觉得，了解科学的历史超级重要。他还分享了一个小知识：很多人以为瓦特是看到水壶盖被蒸汽顶起才发明了蒸汽机，但杨明繁解释说，真实的故事更复杂，蒸汽机是利用蒸汽冷凝（níng）的原理来工作的，不只是靠推力。通过讲述这些真实的故事，他帮助参观者看到了科学发展的真实旅程，那不是灵光一闪，而是一步一个脚印的探索。
当讲解员也给他带来了挑战。有一次，一位参观者问了一个难题：哥白尼到底是怎么计算月球距离的？他当时答不上来，于是就一头扎进书本里寻找答案。他意识到，博物馆里的每一件物品，都能打开一个充满问题和学习的新世界。
这座博物馆告诉我们，科学是一个宏大且不断展开的故事。如果你能当一天博物馆讲解员，你想介绍哪一件历史发明，又会讲述怎样精彩的故事呢？
（结尾音乐响起）
主持人： 今天的“News Discovery Time”就到这里啦！从“僵尸”蝉到古代杰出的创造者，我们的世界充满了奇迹。永远保持好奇，不断探索！我们下次再见！
听力问题（中英文）
- How long do the 17-year cicadas live underground before they emerge? “十七年蝉”在钻出地面之前，会在地下生活多久？
- What does the Massospora fungus do to a cicada after infecting it? 团孢霉真菌在感染蝉之后，会对蝉做什么？
- What are the three main ways the Tsinghua University Science Museum gets its exhibits? 清华大学科学博物馆通过哪三种主要方式获得展品？
- Why was it difficult for the museum team to recreate the Hauksbee generator? 为什么博物馆团队在复原霍克斯比起电机时遇到了困难？
参考答案（中英文)
- They live underground for 17 years. 它们在地下生活17年。
- It eats the cicada’s internal organs and then bursts out of its back end, controlling its brain and making it fly around to spread spores. 它会吃掉蝉的内部器官，然后从其尾部爆出，并控制它的大脑，让它到处飞行来传播孢子。
- They get them by collecting old instruments, buying historical artifacts, and recreating lost inventions. 他们通过收集旧仪器、购买历史文物和复原失传的发明来获得展品。
- It was difficult because modern glass is too pure to create static electricity effectively. They had to make new glass using an old recipe. 因为现代的玻璃太纯净，无法有效地产生静电。他们必须用古老的配方制作新玻璃。