阅读如何塑造你的大脑

还剩六分钟吗？

Got another six minutes?

我们还有很多内容帮你提升英语。

We have lots more to help you with your English.

试试《Real Easy English》，通过自然的英语对话学习，或者从全球重大新闻中掌握英语。

Try Real Easy English to learn from natural English conversations or learn some English from the biggest news stories from around the world.

在你的播客应用里搜索‘BBC Learning English’，收听我们的其他节目，或访问 bbclearningenglish.com 获取更多内容。

Search BBC Learning English in your podcast app to find our other programs or find much more at bbclearningenglish.com.

六分钟英语。

Six Minute English.

来自 bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.

你好。

Hello.

欢迎收听 BBC 学习英语出品的《六分钟英语》。

Welcome to six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

我是贝卡。

I'm Becca.

我是乔治。

And I'm Georgie.

别忘了，你可以在我们的网站 bbclearningenglish.com 上找到本集的所有词汇、原文和练习题。

Remember, you can find all this episode's vocabulary along with a transcript and worksheet on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

那么贝卡，你平时读书多吗？

Now Becca, do you read a lot?

我很少读书。

I don't read often.

我只是觉得没时间，乔治。

I just feel like I don't have the time, Georgie.

你呢？

How about yourself?

我很想多读点书，但目前读得并不多。

I would love to read more, but I don't read very much at the moment.

我通常睡前看书，觉得这样能让我放松，更容易睡着。

I read mostly before bed because I feel like it helps me relax and go to sleep.

今天我们要聊聊阅读这件事。

And today we're talking all about reading.

我们会听一些专家讲，阅读是怎么改变我们的大脑的。

We'll be hearing from some experts about how reading can change our brains.

和往常一样，我们还会学一些实用的新词和表达。

And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases.

我们先来个测验问题吧。

Let's start with a quiz question.

世界上篇幅最长的小说普遍认为是法国作家马塞尔·普鲁斯特写的，这本书英文译名叫《追忆似水年华》。

The longest novel in the world is widely thought to be by French author Marcel Proust, a book which when translated into English means remembrance of things past.

但你知道这本书一共有多少个词吗？

But how many words does the book contain?

是 a) 十三万，b) 一百三十万，还是 c) 一千三百万？

Is it a) 130,000 b) 1,300,000 or c) 13,000,000?

好吧，世界上最长的小说。

Okay the longest novel in the world.

我还是觉得一千三百万字也太多了吧。

I still think 13,000,000 words sounds too many.

那我选 b) 一百三十万字。

So I'm gonna go with b) 1,300,000.

好的。

All right.

我们会在节目结束时揭晓答案。

We'll find out at the end of the programme.

现在，我们可能会觉得阅读就像说话一样。

Now we might think of reading as like speaking.

人天生就有这个潜力，然后慢慢学会。

We're born with the potential to do it and then we learn.

这很自然。

It's natural.

如果某件事是自然的，那就是你生来就具备的，或者源自于大自然的。

If something is natural, it's something you were born with or that comes from nature.

但《读者，回家吧》的作者玛丽安·沃尔夫说，这并不对。

But Marianne Wolfe, author of the book Reader, Come Home, says that this isn't true.

我们总觉得语言是自然的，而阅读是书面语言，所以也应该是自然的。

We think of language as natural, and reading is written language, so it must be natural.

但实际上并不是。

But it isn't.

阅读根本就不是什么自然能力。

It isn't natural at all.

科学研究表明，人出生时，大脑里已经有了控制视觉和发声的神经网络，但还没有形成阅读所需的通路。

Scientific studies suggest that when we're born, our brains already have the networks that allow our eyes to see and our vocal cords to produce sounds, but not with the pathways we need to read.

让我们听听心理学家兼神经科学家丽贝卡·戈特利布在接受BBC世界服务采访时怎么说。

Let's hear more from psychologist and neuroscientist, Rebecca Gottlieb, speaking to the BBC World Service.

从进化的时间尺度来看，人类的大脑还没来得及发展出专门用于阅读的神经结构。

From an evolutionary timescale, our brain hasn't had enough time to develop a a dedicated reading brain.

所以，为了建立阅读所需的脑网络，我们会借用负责视觉、听觉、语言、注意力和情绪的脑区。

And so to build a reading brain network, we co op parts of the brain involved in vision and auditory processing and language and attention and affect.

阅读其实是一个全脑参与的过程。

Reading is really a whole brain process.

它会激活大脑皮层的全部四个叶区。

It involves activation in all four lobes of the cortex.

阅读能力的发展会改变大脑的活动模式、结构，甚至神经连接方式。

The process of developing a reading brain alters everything from brain activity to, brain structure and brain connectivity.

深度阅读的力量，从根本上塑造了我们的人性。

The power of deep reading is is really fundamental to our humanity.

当我们深入阅读时，我们不仅改变了大脑，也改变了自己。

When we read deeply, we change our brains and we change who we are.

丽贝卡说，我们的大脑并没有进化出专门用于阅读的区域。

Rebecca says that our brains haven't evolved to include a dedicated reading brain.

这里说的‘专门’，指的是为某一特定目的而设计和使用的。

Dedicated here means designed and used for one particular purpose.

因为我们大脑里并没有专门负责阅读的区域，所以学习阅读时，我们会借用其他原本用于不同功能的脑区。

So because we don't have a part of the brain designed specifically for reading, when we learn to read, we co opt other parts of the brain.

这里的‘借用’指的是把原本不属于自己的东西拿过来用，常常是未经对方同意的。

Co opt here means to include someone or something, often against their will.

对。

Right.

学习阅读，就是要调动大脑里许多原本为其他用途设计的区域。

Learning to read means using lots of different parts of the brain that are designed for other things.

这会让我们的大脑结构，和没学过阅读的人不一样。

And this changes our brain structure compared to someone who hasn't learned to read.

而且我们阅读的语言本身，也会塑造大脑。

And the language we read also shapes our brain.

比如汉字，是用符号来代表词语和概念，而不是用字母。

Chinese characters, for example, use symbols instead of letters of the alphabet to represent words and ideas.

研究表明，学习阅读这些符号，会激活与学习字母系统时不同的脑区。

Research suggests that learning to read these symbols activates different areas of the brain to reading an alphabet based system.

科学家研究了一位能读能说中文和英文的双语者。

Scientists studied a bilingual man who could read and speak Chinese and English.

这位男子中风后，大脑某些区域受损，包括阅读中文的能力。

The man suffered a stroke which affected parts of his brain, including his ability to read Chinese.

但令人惊讶的是，他仍然能读懂英文。

But amazingly, he was still able to read English.

玛丽·安·沃尔夫向BBC世界服务频道进一步解释了这一现象。

Mary Anne Wolff explains more to the BBC World Service.

这是一个很好的例子，说明大脑的神经通路如何反映中文的特点——这意味着需要调动更多的视觉记忆和视觉处理能力来应对那些复杂精美的汉字。

It's a beautiful example of how the brain circuit reflects the requirements of Chinese, which inevitably means more visual memory and visual processing of those beautifully intricate symbols or characters.

玛丽·安说，学习阅读中文塑造了大脑中的神经通路。

Mary Anne says that the brain circuit is shaped by learning to read Chinese.

神经通路就是一系列相互连接的系统。

A circuit is a system of connections.

汉字的视觉特性，必然导致大脑中更多与视觉相关的区域得到发展。

The visual qualities of Chinese symbols inevitably mean more visual areas of the brain are developed.

不可避免的意思就是无法阻止或回避。

Inevitably means in a way that cannot be stopped or avoided.

玛丽·安把中文字符描述得精美而复杂。

Mary Anne describes the symbolic Chinese characters as beautifully intricate.

如果某样东西很复杂，那就意味着它有很多细节。

If something is intricate, it has lots of detail.

而且那种东西往往细节丰富，或者文字量特别大。

And something which also has lots of detail or certainly lots of words.

我问过你，乔治，普鲁斯特的《追忆似水年华》一共有多少个词？

I asked you Georgie, how many words are in Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past?

我说是一百三十万。

I said 1,300,000.

你说对了。

And you were correct.

太好了。

Yay.

这本书里还有很多特别长的句子，其中有一句超过了九百个词。

The book also contains lots of very long sentences, including one with over 900 words.

一句九百个词，这也太长了吧。

One sentence with 900 words, that is a lot.

好了，咱们来回顾一下这期节目学过的词汇，先从'natural'开始，它指的是与生俱来或源自自然的东西。

Okay, it's time to recap the language we learned during this programme, starting with natural, which describes something you were born with or that comes from nature.

‘Dedicated’可以形容某物是专门为某一特定用途设计和使用的。

Dedicated can describe something that is designed and used for one particular purpose.

如果你把某人或某物拉来用，那就是在没征得对方同意的情况下使用了他们。

If you co opt someone or something you involve them sometimes against their will.

‘Circuit’指的是一套连接系统，比如大脑里的神经通路。

A circuit is a system of connections for example in the brain.

‘Inevitably’的意思是不可避免地，

Inevitably means in a

无法阻止或回避的方式。

way that cannot be stopped or avoided.

而‘intricate’用来形容细节非常多的东西。

And intricate describes something which has lots of detail.

以上就是本期《六分钟英语》的全部内容。

That's it for this episode of six Minute English.

欢迎登录我们的网站 bbclearningenglish.com，通过练习题检验一下你学到的内容。

Test what you've learned with the worksheet on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

感谢收听。

Thanks for joining us.

再见。

Goodbye.

拜拜。

Bye.

六分钟英语。

Six Minute English.

来自 bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.