【周末慢英时间】今天练美音（有文稿）

【本期文稿】

This is Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.

China posted a double-digit growth in tourism revenue during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday which started on February 15th.

The tourism industry garnered 475 billion yuan, roughly 75 billion U.S. dollars, in revenue, up almost 13 percent from last year's holiday.

Almost 400 million trips were made by tourists, up 12 percent from last year's holiday.

The provinces of Guangdong, Sichuan and Hunan received the most tourists among all provinces. Almost half of travelers drove on their own to travel instead of taking public transportation.

Overseas travel remained popular, with Chinese tourists from almost 200 cities visiting 68 countries and regions during the holiday.

Southeast Asia was the top destination, while long-distance tours to countries including Argentina and Mexico were also popular.

Nearly half of overseas travels were independent tours rather than escorted group tours.

China's Ministry of Public Security has reported a better traffic situation nationwide during the holiday.

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U.S. state of Alaska eyes more flights to China.

A senior executive officer of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport has said that he is expecting to increase more flights to China. The airport is a major commercial hub in Alaska in the U.S. northwesternmost state.

The airport's manager told local media that he puts top priority to the role of the airport in the state's economy and making good preparations for the upcoming summer tourism season, particularly tourists from China.

Alaskan officials said they are working to talk with the Chinese side on opening direct flights from Alaska to China; and they want to build on Anchorage's role as a global center for air cargo transport.

The officials said Alaska is going to continue to push that avenue to see if they can get some direct access to Asia. They also hope to boost the airport's capability to expand its air cargo power in international trade.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

Two small asteroids have safely passed by the Earth within one lunar distance.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA said the latest one is designated Asteroid 2018 CB. The asteroid is between 15 and 40 meters in diameter.

Its close approach to Earth came on February 9 at a distance of around 64,000 kilometers, which is less than one-fifth the distance of Earth to the Moon.

Another asteroid is known as asteroid 2018 CC. It passed closely by Earth on February 6 at a distance of around 184,000 kilometers. The asteroid is between 15 and 30 meters in diameter. They were both discovered on Feb. 4.

NASA said that although 2018 CB is quite small, it might well be larger than the asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Russia, almost exactly five years ago, in 2013. Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to the planet earth, maybe only once or twice a year.

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The U.S. space agency NASA plans to keep using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter past the mid-2020s.

The space agency said they are counting on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter remaining in service for many more years. NASA said it's not just the communications relay that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provides; it's also the science-instrument observations. They help them understand potential landing sites before they are visited, and interpret how the findings on the surface relate to the planet as a whole.

The spacecraft has already worked more than double its planned mission life since its launch in 2005. It reached Mars and went into orbit in 2006. The mission's extended service provides data relay from assets on the Red Planet's surface and observations with its science instruments, despite some degradation in capabilities.

The spacecraft is a critical element for NASA's Mars Program to support other missions for the long haul, so the mission team is finding ways to extend the spacecraft's longevity.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

A latest study published in the U.S. magazine Health Affairs has shown that by 2030, vaccines not only will have saved millions of lives around the globe, but also will help prevent 24 million people in some of the world's poorest countries from slipping into poverty.

The Harvard study modeled the health and economic impact of vaccines for ten diseases in 41 developing countries. It is estimated that vaccines administered between 2016 and 2030 will prevent 36 million deaths.

Sudden health care expenses push around 150 million people into poverty every year, making medical impoverishment one of the main factors forcing families below the World Bank's poverty line of less than 1.9 U.S. dollars per day.

Researchers said that vaccines don't just save lives, they also have a huge economic impact on families, communities and economies.

Statistics show that vaccines will have the greatest impact on reducing cases of poverty caused by hepatitis-B, helping an estimated 14 million people avoid medical impoverishment. Cases of poverty caused by measles and meningitis-A will also be significantly reduced by vaccines, with an estimated five million and three million cases averted respectively.

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Experts say that vaping, the way in which e-cigarettes are smoked, is at least 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes.

A leading expert from Public Health England, Professor John Newton made the comment after the results of a new review on e-cigarettes that was published by Public Health England. The report detailed evidence undertaken by leading independent tobacco experts.

Newton is Public Health England's director for health improvement. He said that every single minute, someone is admitted to a hospital in England from a smoking-related illness. Around 79,000 deaths a year in England alone are linked to cigarette use.

The review found vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking, and switching completely from smoking to vaping leads to substantial health benefits. It has called for e-cigarettes to be made available for sale in hospital shops.

But the study found many thousands of smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking. Around 40 percent of smokers have never even tried an e-cigarette.

The use of e-cigarettes in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under three million.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. You can access the program on our Apple Podcast. Now the news continues.

Consumers in China are increasingly individualistic in their tastes of fashion, a trend that may offer unlimited opportunities for emerging young designers worldwide. That's according to Chinese designer Wang Tao, often hailed as the 'Queen of the Suit'.

Wang said in her interview that Chinese fashion industry has been evolving rapidly in recent years. Most interestingly, instead of just following the trends, more and more Chinese tend to choose a brand that represents their identity. Wang made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of her namesake brand TAORAY WANG runway show at the New York Fashion Week.

She said that with income increase and more exposure to diverse cultures, young customers in China are putting more emphasis on self-expression, valuing artisanship and heritage in their styling preferences.

She said that such a shift in tastes will encourage emerging fashion designers to be more creative in artful fusion of cultural motifs.

Wang is a graduate of East China Normal University, majoring in history. She is known for putting a feminine touch on masculine work attire.

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A new study found that the sun might be unusually cool by 2050.

Based on the cooling spiral of recent solar cycles, scientists from the University of California, San Diego believe the next 'grand-minimum' is just decades away, during which the sun will be 7 percent cooler.

According to the study, grand-minimum is a period of very low solar activity, which will lead to lower temperature on earth.

During the grand-minimum in the mid-17th century, named Maunder Minimum, the temperature dropped low enough to freeze the Thames River.

However, the cooling is not uniform around the globe. Despite the chilling weather in Europe during the Maunder Minimum, other areas such as Alaska and southern Greenland warmed.

The phenomenon appears to offer a natural solution to global warming, but scientists invalidated that idea.

They explained that the cooling effect of the grand minimum could merely slow down global warming, but cannot stop it.

Scientists estimate that the grand minimum would probably only result in cooling the earth by about 0.3 percent between 2020 and 2070.

You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing.

Australian researchers are hoping that the world's most endangered parrot species can be saved from extinction.

To mate, tiny orange-bellied parrots fly from Victoria to a remote breeding ground in southern Tasmania, a perilous journey of at least 560 kilometers.

Only three wild female adult parrots returned to Tasmania in the last two years, prompting immediate action from Australian National University experts.

In recent years, around 20 parrots bred in captivity were flown by helicopter from Victoria to Tasmania, avoiding the danger of the migration. But those birds had problems with fertility and disease, largely failing to survive the return journey to Victoria.

Researchers say that after the failure of the captivity program, a new approach was taken. They added protein to the birds' feed after concerns were raised that they weren't getting enough to produce viable eggs.

Now the food has been changed to see if better outcomes can be attained for nestlings.

More than 30 fledglings made it out of their nests and joined the main flock this summer, the best result in years.

In addition to the fledglings, more than 30 youngsters bred in captivity also joined the flock, the best result in the history of the recovery process.

Orange-bellied parrots grow to be up to 20 centimeters in length and weigh about 50 grams. They are one of only three parrot species that are known to migrate.

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Researchers from the University of Michigan have found in a study that people enjoy replaying a favorite song many times even after the novelty and surprise are gone.

The study has been published in Psychology of Music.

The mean among the sample was more than 300 times, and the number was even larger for listeners who had a deep connection to the song, something that was particularly likely if they had mixed emotions, such as 'bittersweet', while listening.

The study's 204 participants completed an online questionnaire in 2013 about their experience listening to their favorite song, including how it made them feel and the frequency with which they played the song.

Around 86 percent of the participants reported listening to their favorite song daily or a few times weekly. Forty-three percent of those who listened to daily replayed the song at least three times a day; 60 percent listened to the song multiple times consecutively; and around 6 percent indicated they urgently wanted to hear the song before they played it.

Frederick Conrad is professor of psychology at Michigan University and the study's lead author. He said that niche listening may enable listeners to develop the kind of personally meaningful relationships with particular songs that allows their affection for those songs to persist across very large amounts of exposure.

Jason Corey, associate professor of music and a co-author of the study, said certain features of the song were particularly important reasons why respondents listened many times. The most important features were the song's 'melody'.

That is the end of this edition of Special English. To freshen up your memory, I'm going to read one of the news items again at normal speed. Please listen carefully.