访谈录 Interview 2007-01-31&0202, 哭吧哭吧,不是罪

Dr. Gail Saltz is Today contributor. Hey, Gail! Good morning. Nice to see you.

Good morning, Matt.

Is there a physical reason for calm crying?

Actually crying has an evolutionary¹ reason. We are the only mammals that shed tears when we are upset for emotional reason. And that's probably twofold, it's a form of communication. In other words it allows us to bond on a much higher level. Because you can't really fake tear. You can fake wailing² and so on. But the actual tears coming down and the muscles associated with it are not under voluntary control, really.

So, it, but, but it's hard to really do a lot of science on it, isn't it? Yes. Because you can't take people to the breaking point in laboratory.

You can't put them in lab and really make them cry tear. So, what we can conjecture³ has a lot to do with, for instance, things that happen naturally. So for instance, we know that crying probably has more to do with calming our bodies down. We think it's all I'm upset so I cry. But it's actually the aftermath of re-equilibrating your body. The reason you know this is that the sympathetic part of the nervous system that flight, fright part when it's damaged the other half, the part that calms us down after the flight and fright functions and that's when we cry.

Do we possess, it's that what puts people over the edge, I mean going from being just upset to bawling⁴. What is that line?

The line actually is deep in the brain structure. And it is twofold. It is how well you tolerate your emotion. So long as when you're sad, when you're upset, how well do you handle that. Do you have other coping skills for that or does it overwhelm you. And then, coming back to your normal states. So that you don't basically bust⁵ the blood vessel⁶. How do you return.

You know, I'm not one of the people who cries when I get upset, or angry or really sad. I get upset. I cry when I get happy or when I see something like Mohammad Ali lighting⁷ the Olympic torch in Atlanta. Bow

It's not just happy, you are touched. And that is a very deep, deep, emotion which, which, bespeaks⁸ nuance⁹. And that's something that humans do that no one else does and it draws other people to you. So when you saw Mohammad Ali, other people like, oh man, he said something that's about you. It's really meaningful.

We had a good cry we did, we had a good cry. According to studies women cry 5 times more than men. Hormones¹⁰?

Somewhat, but not entirely¹¹. It's partially¹² socially more acceptable. And women are in touch with emotion in a different way from men psychologically. So it's a combination of all those things.

So as a psychiatrist¹³, What about people who never cry?

Yeah, usually that's actually kind of a problem. I mean there are some people have a very high threshold but basically if someone is probably repressing their feeling they won’t let themselves be in touch with the bitter sweetness of Mohammad Ali lighting the torch. So it's actually a healthy thing to allow yourself to cry. You might wanna not do it in every situation like here now, on the show.

Jus breaking down, yeah, that would be a problem.

But it's good to let it out.

Gail, thanks very much!

1 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

2 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

3 conjecture   

n./v.推测，猜测

参考例句：

• She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
• This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。

4 bawling   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• We heard the dulcet tones of the sergeant, bawling at us to get on parade. 我们听到中士用“悦耳”的声音向我们大喊，让我们跟上队伍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Why are you bawling at me? “你向我们吼啥子？ 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

5 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

6 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

7 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

8 bespeaks   

v.预定( bespeak的第三人称单数 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求

参考例句：

• The tone of his text bespeaks a certain tiredness. 他的笔调透出一种倦意。 来自辞典例句
• His record as mayor of New York bespeaks toughness. 他作为纽约市长态度十分强烈。 来自互联网

9 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

10 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

11 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

12 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

13 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。