你的超能力是什么？What's your superpower?

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是尼尔。
And I’m Alice.So Neil, the subject of today’s show is superheroes!Who’s your favourite?
我是爱丽丝。今天我们节目的主题是超级英雄。你最爱的超级英雄是谁？
Spiderman. He’s cool and funny – and he can spin webs and jump off skyscrapers!
蜘蛛侠。他很酷，也很有意思，他可以吐丝，在高楼大厦之间跳跃。
Well, my favourite superhero is Ms Marvel.
我最爱的超级英雄是惊奇女士。
I‘ve never heard of her – and I‘m a bit of an expert on comic book superheroes.
我没听说过，要知道我可算是超级英雄漫画的专家。
Well, a growing number of people from ethnic backgrounds are getting bored of all these white male superheroes they can’t relate to. And they’re hungry for characters a little closer to home – or relevant to their own lives.
越来越多来自不同种族背景的人，厌倦了超级英雄都是白人男性，和他们少有关联。他们渴望一些和他们的生活更接近的人物。
So what’s Ms Marvel’s super power?
那么惊奇女士的超能力是什么？
She’s a shape shifter – which means she can change shape and become anything she wants.But she’s also just Kamala Khan, an average teenager from New Jersey, who happens to be Asian and a Muslim.
她会变形，意味着她可以改变形态，成为任何想成为的事物。同时她也是卡玛拉·克汗，来自新泽西的普通青少年，恰巧还是亚洲人，穆斯林。
It sounds good. But I think it must be time for today’s quiz question, Alice!
听起来不错。但我觉得是时候说今天的问题了，爱丽丝。
OK, here it is. What is the name of the new character that replaces Tony Stark as Iron Man? Is it…a) Miles Morales?b) Riri Williams?Or c) Jane Foster?
好的。问题是，哪一个新角色代替了托尼·斯塔克成为了钢铁侠？a) Miles Morales（迈尔斯·莫拉莱斯）？b) Riri Williams （瑞·威廉姆斯）？还是 c) Jane Foster （简·福斯特） ？
I’m going to say a) Miles Morales because he sounds like a man.
我选迈尔斯·莫拉莱斯，听起来像是一个男人的名字。
Well, we’ll find out later on the show whether you got the answer right or not.Now, I have another question.What are the rules for achieving superhero status?Superman is an alien, Ms Marvel has alien genes, and Spiderman and the Hulk are both contaminated – or poisoned – by radioactive substances that change their DNA.
之后我们再看你回答得是否正确。现在我有另一个问题。什么规则成就了超级英雄的身份？超级英雄是变异人，惊奇女士具有变异的基因，蜘蛛侠和绿巨人都是被放射性物质感染，改变了DNA。
What about Batman and Iron Man?They’re just ordinary guys with a lot of money who use technology to create superpowers for themselves.
那么蝙蝠侠和钢铁侠呢？他们都是拥有巨额财富的普通人，利用科技赋予了自己超能力。
Good point. There don’t seem to be any hard-and-fast – or clear – rules.But these special powers – whether it’s being able to fly, or change shape, or spin webs– they allow the characters to do good in the world.And that’s a big theme across all comic books.
没错。似乎不存在什么固定的或明显的规律。但这些特殊能力，不管是能飞，能改变形态，还是会吐丝结网，让这些人为世界做了好事。这是贯穿所有漫画书的主题。
That’s true. But times have changed, and comic books these days often blur the line between right and wrong – making things unclear.Superheroes don’t always do the right thing and struggle with everyday problems like you and me.
没错。但随着时间改变，如今的漫画书中是非的界限经常是模糊的，也就是孰是孰非并不明朗。超级英雄做的事并不总是对的，他们也会像你我一样纠结于每日的琐事。
Let’s hear more about imperfect superheroes from Jason Ditmer, professor of political geography at University College London.
我们听听Jason Ditmer，英国伦敦大学学院政治地理学教授讲述不完美的超级英雄。
They imbued these characters with real human problems.So Peter Parker had just, was sort of… one problem after another.The Fantastic Four was a family and they bickered and fought and Reed and Sue were a couple, and then they got married, and that had, like, never happened in superhero comics. So these people had lives that others could relate to.
漫威的漫画将真实生活中人类遇到的问题赋予了这些角色。所以彼得·帕克才会接二连三的遇到一些麻烦。神奇四侠是一个大家庭，他们会斗嘴，会吵架，里德和苏是情侣，之后他们结婚了，像这种在超级英雄漫画中从未出现过。所以这些人和普通人的生活离的很近。
So publishers – like Marvel Comics – imbued – or filled – their characters with human problems.I can’t imagine a character like Captain America worrying about small things – or bickering with his wife!
所以像漫威这样的出版商，将人类会遇到的问题都赋予了角色。我不敢想象美国队长这样的角色会担心一些小事，或和他的妻子斗嘴。
And bickering means arguing about things that aren’t important. Well, like you said earlier, times change, Neil. These days, the publishing houses want to attract a more diverse – or varied – readership: teenagers, women, ethnic minorities– who want superheroes they can relate to, facing issues from racial discrimination to bickering at home.
bickering是指在一些不重要的事情上争论。就像你之前说的，时代在改变。如今，出版商想要吸引更多元的读者群体，如年轻人、女性或少数族裔群体。他们想要超级英雄和他们的生活有关联，会面临大到种族歧视，小到在家斗嘴的问题。
I know that women are indeed interested in superheroes because they’ve been appearing in movies and on TV,but the world of comic books has always been a bit of a guy thing.
我知道女性对超级英雄确实很感兴趣，因为他们经常出现在电影和电视上，但漫画书基本上还是男性看得多。
Well, it isn’t. Women read them and in some places women work in them.In Japan for example, we have the manga – these are Japanese comic books for adults and children.And, guess what – there is a strong tradition of female illustrators there.
并不是。女性也会看漫画，在一些地方，女性还会绘制漫画。例如在日本，有日本漫画，目标群体为成年人和儿童。猜猜看，那的传统是漫画插画师大多是女性。
Really?
真的吗？
Yes. Let’s move on now and listen to Dr Casey Brienza, Sociologist at City University in London, talking about manga.
没错。现在我们听听伦敦城市大学社会学家Casey Brienza讲述日本漫画。
One of the really interesting things about producing comics in Japan is that it’s one of the few, kind of, autonomous careers that women can have.And so Japan has many, many female comic-book artists who write both for men, women, boys, and girls. And in the United States and in Britain female comic-book artists are far and away a minority.
日本漫画生产最有意思的一点是，那是女性很少能自主选择的职业之一。日本有很多女性漫画家，为男性、女性、男生和女生创作漫画。在美国和英国，女性漫画家显然还是少数。
Dr Casey Brienza there.So she says female comic-book artists are common in Japan but are a minority in the US and the UK.
上述是 Casey Brienza的看法。她说女性漫画家在日本很常见，但在美国和英国很少见。
It’s particularly interesting that being an artist is an autonomous career– meaning you have the freedom to make your own decisions - and apparently this is not common for women in Japan.
很有意思的是，成为漫画家是一种自主选择的职业，也就是你有权利自己做决定，显然，自主选择在日本女性群体当中并不多见。
And do you know who draws Ms Marvel? Is it a woman?
你知道是谁塑造的惊奇女士的形象吗？也是一名女性吗？
No. Ms Marvel is drawn by a man – the Canadian comic book artist Adrian Alphona.But we are running out of time so let’s go to today’s quiz question.I asked you: what’s the name of the new character that replaces Tony Stark as Iron Man?Is it…a) Miles Morales? b) Riri Williams? Or c) Jane Foster?
不，惊奇女士是由男性创造的，加拿大漫画家Adrian Alphona。我们的时间快到了，我们回到今天的问题上吧。我问你：哪个新角色代替托尼·斯塔克成为了钢铁侠？a) Miles Morales？ b) Riri Williams？还是 c) Jane Foster？
And I said Miles Morales.
我选的是Miles Morales。
And you were… wrong, Neil. I’m sorry.The answer is Riri Williams.Marvel Comics has recently diversified its characters to look more like the world we know today, including the addition of female African-American college student Riri Williams as Iron Man.Marvel has also given Thor’s hammer to a woman, introduced a black, Hispanic Spider-Man called Miles Moralesand created Kamala Khan, a Muslim superhero otherwise known as Ms Marvel.
你回答错了。很抱歉。正确答案是 Riri Williams。漫威漫画如今将角色多元化，使之更像我们今天看到的世界。包括非裔美国女性，大学生 Riri Williams作为钢铁侠。漫威也将雷神之锤给予了一名女性，黑人西班牙裔女性Miles Morales成为了新的蜘蛛侠，漫威还创造了穆斯林超级英雄， Kamala Khan，也就是惊奇女士。
Very interesting. Now, let’s remind ourselves of the words we learned today:
很有意思。现在我们一同回忆一下今天学到的单词。
closer to home
接近生活
shape shifter
变形人
contaminated
被污染的，被感染的
hard and fast
固定不变的
blur
模糊的
imbued
灌输，渗透
bicker
吵嘴
diverse
多种多样的，不同的
manga
日本漫画
autonomous
自主的
And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English.Don’t forget to join us again soon!
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。我们下期再会！
Bye!
再见。