時(shí)差N小時(shí):迷失在書(shū)里

Yael: Hey Don, what are you reading? Don? Don!

雅艾爾：嘿，唐，你在讀什么?唐?唐!

Don: Huh?

唐：哈?

Yael: I asked what book you're reading.

雅艾爾：我問(wèn)你在看什么書(shū)。

Don: Oh, sorry. I guess I was lost in the story.

唐：啊，對(duì)不起。我剛才對(duì)這個(gè)故事太入迷了。

Yael: That's OK. That's what a good story will do,right? In fact, there's a study that explains what'sgoing on the brain when we get caught up in a story.

雅艾爾：沒(méi)關(guān)系。好故事總是會(huì)讓人入迷，不是嗎?事實(shí)上，有一項(xiàng)研究解釋了我們被好故事吸引時(shí)大腦的活動(dòng)。

Don: Do tell.

唐：請(qǐng)講。

Yael: Basically, according to the study, when you read a story that engages you, your braincreates detailed and vivid simulations of the details in the story.

雅艾爾：根據(jù)這項(xiàng)研究，基本來(lái)說(shuō)當(dāng)你被一篇故事吸引時(shí)，大腦會(huì)詳細(xì)生動(dòng)地模擬故事情節(jié)。

Don: You mean that when I'm reading, my brain is activated as though I'm actually doing thethings I'm reading about?

唐：你是說(shuō)在我讀書(shū)時(shí)，大腦會(huì)被激活，仿佛我正在做讀到的事情?

Yael: Or observing them, or imagining them. The point is that reading isn't a passive activitywhere the brain is just processing language. It's much more dynamic and active. So if you'rereading a book about baseball, say, the brain reacts in ways similar to how it would if you wereactually playing baseball, or watching a game, or imagining yourself hitting a ball, or whatever.

雅艾爾：或者觀察，想象著你讀到的事情。重點(diǎn)是讀書(shū)不是一項(xiàng)被動(dòng)的活動(dòng)，而大腦也不只是在單純地處理語(yǔ)言。讀書(shū)是更為動(dòng)態(tài)的，積極的。比如說(shuō)，當(dāng)你正在讀一本關(guān)于棒球的書(shū)時(shí)，大腦的反應(yīng)跟你在真正打棒球，看比賽或者想象自己在打球時(shí)的大腦反應(yīng)相似。

Don: Interesting. How was this studied?

唐：很有趣。怎么研究出來(lái)的呢?

Yael: That's interesting, too. The researchers studied readers' brains using an MRI scanner. Butbecause the readers had to remain perfectly still, their heads were immobilized as they read thestory one word at a time on a computer screen.

雅艾爾：那也很有趣。研究人員通過(guò)核磁共振掃描儀來(lái)研究讀者的大腦活動(dòng)。但由于讀者需要保持絕對(duì)靜止，在他們一字一句閱讀電腦屏幕上的故事時(shí)，他們的頭就被固定住了。

Don: That's hardly a typical reading experience.

唐：這樣的閱讀經(jīng)歷真是獨(dú)特啊。

Yael: True. But even reading stories in that strange, one-word-at-a-time way, thereaders'brains were still activated to create mental simulations of the story.

雅艾爾：當(dāng)然，但是即使是以這種奇怪的，一字一句的方式閱讀，讀者的腦子仍然被激活，仍然會(huì)從心理上模擬故事情節(jié)。

Don: So what does this mean?

唐：因此這意味著什么呢?

Yael: Maybe that being lost in a good book doesn't mean you're zoned out. It's more like yourbrain is tuned in.

雅艾爾：也許迷失在一本好書(shū)里并不意味著你迷糊了。看起來(lái)更像是大腦在收聽(tīng)。