英语听力文摘 English Digest 635 数学伤大脑

 　　Math Hurts My Brain – Why?

　　It’s time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. A listener writes:

　　Dear A Moment of Science,

　　I’m not a math person. In fact, anytime I have to deal with numbers, let alone solve an actual math problem??which, thankfully, is not often??it’s almost painful.

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　　What’s going on?

　　First, you should know that you’re certainly not alone. Lots of people suffer from what’s known as math anxiety. And what’s most interesting is that, according to one study, people with very high levels of math anxiety actually experience pain when confronted¹ with a math challenge. Not metaphorical² pain??actual, real pain.

　　OK, but what does that mean? How can math cause pain?

　　All in the brain

　　It’s all in the brain, of course. The researchers compared fourteen people with high math anxiety to fourteen people with low math anxiety. Each group was given a series of word and math problems while an MRI machine scanned³ their brain activity. Before each problem, either a yellow circle would appear to indicate that they were about to solve a math problem, or a blue square would pop up to signal a word problem.

　　When people with high math anxiety saw the dreaded⁴ yellow circle, the parts of their brain linked to pain perception⁵ lit up like a pinball machine. People with low math anxiety didn’t show much or any activity in that part of the brain.

　　So doing math problems caused real pain. Not exactly. It’s the anticipation⁶ of doing math that lit up the pain sensors⁷. Actually doing math didn’t cause any pain?related brain activity.

1 confronted   

面对( confront的过去式和过去分词 )； 使面对； 使对质； 处理

参考例句：

• When we confronted him, he denied everything. 我们与他当面对质时，他什么都不承认。
• The writer confronted his pile of work with determination. 那作家下决心面对成堆的工作。

2 metaphorical   

a.隐喻的，比喻的

参考例句：

• Here, then, we have a metaphorical substitution on a metonymic axis. 这样，我们在换喻（者翻译为转喻，一种以部分代替整体的修辞方法）上就有了一个隐喻的替代。
• So, in a metaphorical sense, entropy is arrow of time. 所以说，我们可以这样作个比喻：熵像是时间之矢。

3 scanned   

经（擦伤仪）仔细检查的

参考例句：

• He scanned the horizon for any sign of land. 他仔细眺望地平线，找寻陆地的踪影。
• She scanned his face to see if he was telling the truth. 她审视着他的脸，看他讲的是否是真话。

4 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

5 perception   

n.感知，感觉，觉察(力)；认识，观念，看法

参考例句：

• What's your perception of the matter?你对此事有什么看法？
• He was a man of keen perception.他是一个感觉敏锐的人。

6 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

7 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句