英语听力文摘 English Digest 423、幽默不老

Do Old Folks Still Appreciate Humor?
老人们仍能欣赏幽默吗？

Maybe when people get older, sense of a humor is the first thing to go.

Actually, research suggests that old folks, if they’re healthy, can still appreciate humor as much as a younger person can. They still smile and laugh when they get the joke. However, there is evidence to suggest that with age we may lose our ability to comprehend more complex forms of humor.

Scientists believe that the tools we need to get a complex joke are primarily located in the brain’s frontal lobes. People with damage to their right frontal lobe experience difficulty getting punch lines and prefer slapstick humor instead.

There’s also evidence that the functions located in the brain’s frontal lobes may be the first to diminish with aging. This may explain why in a recent experiment older folks performed significantly worse than younger folks in comprehending more complex forms of humor.

Of course, it’s also important to take into account  such factors as social differences in the kind of humor people prefer, social setting, and health. Maybe an elderly person would laugh at a joke if she were socializing with a group of her friends, but not laugh with her neighbor whom she doesn’t know well or finds annoying.

也许，人年纪越大，越是幽默感至上。

事实上，研究 表明，和年轻人一样，健康的老人们仍然欣赏幽默。有人开玩笑依旧会面带微笑或大笑。但是，研究也证实随着年龄的增长，我们无法理解比较复杂形势的幽默。

科学家相信，理解复杂玩笑主要靠的是脑前叶的功能。脑前叶右部受损会造成笑话中妙语的困扰，而这类人也更倾向于浅显幽默。

有证明显示，脑前叶功能会随着年老而最先退化。这也解释了最近的实验中，年长者们在理解更复杂幽默上明显不如年轻人。

当然，综合考虑其他因素也很重要：比如社会差异影响个体的幽默倾向、社会背景、健康状况。

也许，和朋友相处的一个老人会因为玩笑而大笑；但是，和不熟悉或恼人的邻里就不会大笑。