Yael: Hey Don, what are you reading? Don? Don!
雅艾尔:嘿,唐,你在读什么?唐?唐!
Don: Huh?
唐:哈?
Yael: I asked what book you're reading.
雅艾尔:我问你在看什么书。
Don: Oh, sorry. I guess I was lost in the story.
唐:啊,对不起。我刚才对这个故事太入迷了。
Yael: That's OK. That's what a good story will do, right? In fact, there's a study that explains what's going on the brain when we get caught up in a story.
雅艾尔:没关系。好故事总是会让人入迷,不是吗?事实上,有一项研究解释了我们被好故事吸引时大脑的活动。
Don: Do tell.
唐:请讲。
Yael: Basically, according to the study, when you read a story that engages you, your brain creates detailed and vivid simulations of the details in the story.
雅艾尔:根据这项研究,基本来说当你被一篇故事吸引时,大脑会详细生动地模拟故事情节。
Don: You mean that when I'm reading, my brain is activated as though I'm actually doing the things I'm reading about?
唐:你是说在我读书时,大脑会被激活,仿佛我正在做读到的事情?
Yael: Or observing them, or imagining them. The point is that reading isn't a passive activity where the brain is just processing language. It's much more dynamic and active. So if you're reading a book about baseball, say, the brain reacts in ways similar to how it would if you were actually playing baseball, or watching a game, or imagining yourself hitting a ball, or whatever.
雅艾尔:或者观察,想象着你读到的事情。重点是读书不是一项被动的活动,而大脑也不只是在单纯地处理语言。读书是更为动态的,积极的。比如说,当你正在读一本关于棒球的书时,大脑的反应跟你在真正打棒球,看比赛或者想象自己在打球时的大脑反应相似。
Don: Interesting. How was this studied?
唐:很有趣。怎么研究出来的呢?
Yael: That's interesting, too. The researchers studied readers' brains using an MRI scanner. But because the readers had to remain perfectly still, their heads were immobilized as they read the story one word at a time on a computer screen.
雅艾尔:那也很有趣。研究人员通过核磁共振扫描仪来研究读者的大脑活动。但由于读者需要保持绝对静止,在他们一字一句阅读电脑屏幕上的故事时,他们的头就被固定住了。
Don: That's hardly a typical reading experience.
唐:这样的阅读经历真是独特啊。
Yael: True. But even reading stories in that strange, one-word-at-a-time way, the readers'brains were still activated to create mental simulations of the story.
雅艾尔:当然,但是即使是以这种奇怪的,一字一句的方式阅读,读者的脑子仍然被激活,仍然会从心理上模拟故事情节。
Don: So what does this mean?
唐:因此这意味着什么呢?
Yael: Maybe that being lost in a good book doesn't mean you're zoned out. It's more like your brain is tuned in.
雅艾尔:也许迷失在一本好书里并不意味着你迷糊了。看起来更像是大脑在收听。
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