时差N小时:迷失在书里

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'sgoing 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 braincreates 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 thethings 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 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. 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, thereaders'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 yourbrain 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。