新奇事件簿 人们为什么打哈欠

Do you ever wonder why we yawn? Do you always yawn when you see other people yawn? A new study from Nottingham University in the UK has done research on this. Researchers found that yawning is contagious¹. It is a powerful and unstoppable reaction. People automatically want to yawn when they see other people yawning. The researchers said people actually yawn more when they try to stop yawning. The researchers also found that some people have a much stronger urge to yawn than other people. Lead researcher Professor Stephen Jackson said that even reading about yawning could be enough to make people yawn. You might even want to yawn right now.

你有没有想过我们为什么会打哈欠？你看到别人打哈欠的时候是不是也想这样做？来自英国诺丁汉大学的最新研究对此进行了研究。研究人员发现，打哈欠会传染。这是影响力非常大，难以制止的反应。当人们看到其他人打哈欠的时候会自动想做出同样的动作。研究人员表示，人们越是想努力停止打哈欠，越会适得其反。研究人员还发现，一些人比其他人打哈欠的欲望更强烈。首席研究员Stephen Jackson教授表示，阅读到与打哈欠有关的内容也会让人们不由自主地跟着做。或许你现在就想了。

The researchers studied the reactions and brain activity of 36 adult volunteers. The volunteers looked at video clips of other people yawning. They then had two choices - either to stop themselves yawning or to allow themselves to do it. The volunteers were videoed as they yawned or tried not to yawn. The researchers also monitored the brain activity of the volunteers and checked how strong their feeling to want to yawn was. Jackson said understanding more about yawning will help to treat conditions such as dementia, epilepsy and Tourettes. He said: "We are looking for potential non-drug, personalized treatments…that might be effective in changing imbalances in the brain."

研究人员调查了36名成年志愿者的反应和大脑活动。志愿者们观看了其他人打哈欠的视频剪辑。然后他们有两种选择——制止自己打哈欠，或者允许自己打哈欠。志愿者们随心所欲地打哈欠或者努力制止自己的行为都被拍摄下来。研究人员还观察了志愿者的大脑活动，查看了他们想要打哈欠的欲望有多么强烈。Jackson表示，理解关于打哈欠的更多内容可以帮助人们治疗痴呆，癫痫和抽动症等疾病。他说：“我们正在寻找改变大脑失衡的非药物的个性化的有效治疗方法。”

1 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。