Workout music
运动音乐
Why do we like to listen to tunes when we exercise? Psychologist Tom Stafford searches for answers within our brains, not the muscles we are exercising.
为什么当我们锻炼时喜欢听音乐?心理学家汤姆·斯塔佛德在我们的大脑中寻找答案,并非锻炼的肌肉里 。
Perhaps you have a favourite playlist for going to the gym or the park. Even if you haven't, you're certain to have seen joggers running along with headphones in their ears. Lots of us love to exercise to music, feeling like it helps to reduce effort and increase endurance. As a psychologist, the interesting thing for me is not just whether music helps when exercising, but how it helps.
也许去健身房或公园时,你有自己最爱的一些歌曲 。即使没有,你肯定看到过慢跑的人耳朵里塞着耳机跑步 。我们大家都爱边听音乐边锻炼,感觉这样会有助于减轻难度,增加耐力 。作为一名心理学家,对我来说,有趣的不是仅仅知道音乐是否有助于锻炼,而是它是如何起作用的 。
One thing is certain, the answer lies within our brains, not the muscles we are exercising.The benefit of thinking about the movement can account for over half of the benefit of practice. So asking people to carry out an imaginary practice task allows us to see the benefit of just thinking about a movement, and separates this from the benefit of making it.
有件事是可以确定的:答案就在于我们的大脑,而非我们所锻炼的肌肉 。思考该动作所得的益处能占实践该动作所得益处的一半还要多 。因此,让人进行想象力练习可使我们明白仅仅思考一项运动的好处,与实践该动作所得益处区分开来 。
lie with :在于;取决于 It lies with the you to make the decision. 由你决定 。
Imaginary practice helps because it increases the strength of the signal sent from the movement areas of the brain to the muscles. Using electrodes you can record the size of this signal, and demonstrate that after imaginary practice people are able to send a stronger, more coherent signal to the muscles.
想象力练习有益,是因为它能增强源自大脑运动区发送的控制肌肉的信号强度 。通过使用电极,就能记录信号的大小,并在练习人员有能力向肌肉发送一个更强、更连贯的信号时展示出来 。
The signals to move the muscles start in an area of the brain called, unsurprisingly, the motor cortex. It's in the middle near the top. Part of this motor area is known as the supplementary motor cortex. Originally thought to be involved in more complex movements, this area has since been shown to be particularly active at the point we’re planning to make a movement, and especially crucial for the timing of these actions. So, this specific part of the brain does a very important job during exercise, it is responsible for deciding exactly when to act. Once you've realised that a vital part of most sporting performance is not just how fast or how strong you can move, but the effort of deciding when to move, then you can begin to appreciate why music might be so helpful.
不出所料,让肌肉运动的信号源自大脑中一个叫“运动皮质”的区域 。它位于靠近大脑顶端的中部 。这个运动区的一部分是人类已知的“运动辅助区” 。最初被认为是和更多复杂动作有关 。人类已经证明,此区域会在我们打算做出动作时表现得异常活跃,同时也控制着这些动作的时间 。因此,在运动时,大脑的这个特殊部分起着非常重要的作用 。它决定了行动的确切时间点 。一旦你已经意识到运动行为最重要的部分不仅仅是你有多快多强,还有为决定什么时候行动所做的努力 。这样你就可以渐渐领会为何音乐如此有益了 。
motor cortex:运动皮质
The benefits of music are largest for self-paced exercise – in other words those sports where some of the work involved is in deciding when to act, as well as how to act. This means all paced exercises, like rowing or running, rather than un-paced exercises like judo or football. My speculation is that music helps us perform by taking over a vital piece of the task of moving, the rhythm travels in through our ears and down our auditory pathways to the supplementary motor area. There it joins forces with brain activity that is signalling when to move, helping us to keep pace by providing an external timing signal. Or to use a sporting metaphor, it not only helps us out of the starting blocks but it helps to keep us going until we reach the line.
得益于音乐最主要的是有自我节奏的运动——换句话说,就是那些要决定什么时候做动作,以及如何做动作的运动 。这也就是指所有有节奏的运动,比如划船、跑步,而不是无节奏的运动,比如柔道、足球 。我的推测是:音乐会通过接管一项重要的运动任务,有助于我们的表现 。这种节奏游走过我们的耳朵,顺着我们的听觉系统,一路直达“运动辅助区” 。有一种与大脑活动联合的力量,它发出决定运动时间的信号 。通过提供一种外部时间信号,帮助我们保持步伐节奏 。或者运用一种运动的暗喻,它不只帮助我们起跑,也让我们一路向前,直到终点 。
paced :节奏的 eg:This excellent thriller is fast paced and believable. 这部杰出的惊悚片节奏快且真实可信 。
starting blocks :起跑架 注:此处再次证明翻译时不能死板,帮助我们离开起跑架 ,也就是帮助我们起跑 。
Of course there are lots of other reasons we might exercise to music. For example, a friend of mine who jogs told me: "I started running to music so I didn't have to listen to my own laboured breathing." He might well have started for that reason, but now I'll bet the rhythm of the music he listens to helps him keep pace through his run. As one song might have put it, music lets us get physical.
当然,我们在运动时听音乐还有很多其它的原因 。比方说,一位经常慢跑的朋友曾告诉我:“我在跑步时听音乐是因为我不必要去听自己困难的呼吸声 。”他的确有可能是出于这个原因开始在跑步时听音乐的,但是如今我敢打赌,他所听音乐的节奏在跑步时会帮助他保持步调 。就像一首歌曲里唱的那样:音乐让我们律动 。
laboured breathing :勉力呼吸(因为不常用,所以用困难的呼吸代替) might well :很可能;或许 eg:He might well have died.他很可能已经死了 。
补充:拆句法和合并法
这是两种相对应的翻译方法 。拆句法是把一个长而复杂的句子拆译成若干个较短、较简单的句子,通常用于英译汉;合并法是把若干个短句合并成一个长句,一般用于汉译英 。汉语强调意合,结构较松散,因此简单句较多;英语强调形合,结构较严密,因此长句较多 。所以汉译英时要根据需要注意利用连词、分词、介词、不定式、定语从句、独立结构等把汉语短句连成长句;而英译汉时又常常要在原句的关系代词、关系副词、主谓连接处、并列或转折连接处、后续成分与主体的连接处,以及意群结束处将长句切断,译成汉语分句 。这样就可以基本保留英语语序,顺译全句,顺应现代汉语长短句相替、单复句相间的句法修辞原则 。
如:
(1) Increased cooperation with China is in the interests of the United States.
同中国加强合作,符合美国的利益 。 (在主谓连接处拆译)
(2)I wish to thank you for the incomparable hospitality for which the Chinese people are justly famous throughout the world.
我要感谢你们无与伦比的盛情款待 。中国人民正是以这种热情好客而闻明世界的 。(在定语从句前拆译)
(3)This is particularly true of the countries of the commonwealth, who see Britain’s membership of the Community a guarantee that the policies of the community will take their interests into account 。
英联邦各国尤其如此,它们认为英国加入欧共体,将能保证欧共体的政策照顾到它们的利益 。(在定语从句前拆译)
(4)中国是个大国,百分之八十的人口从事农业,但耕地只占土地面积的十分之一,其余为山脉、森林、城镇和其他用地 。 China is a large country with four-fifths of the population engaged in agriculture, but only one tenth of the land is farmland, the rest being mountains, forests and places for urban and other uses.(合译)