字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：男女不同的大腦那些事 / The male brain, the female brain

凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦：雅思聽力最好的課外教材：BBC
康康精選雅思會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。
‪#‎BBC 六分鐘英語

MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/123.mp3

只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Finn and with me is Rob. Hi Rob.
大家好，歡迎來到BBC6分鐘英語。我是Finn，和我一起的是Rob。你好Rob。

Hi Finn.
你好，Finn。

Rob, I have a question for you. Are you good at reading maps?
Rob，我有個問題問你。你擅長看地圖嗎？

I have to say, I am, I really enjoy reading maps and I understand them well.
不得不承認我很擅長，我真的很喜歡看地圖，並能讀懂它。

That’s interesting. And today we’re talking about new research into the differences between men’s and women’s brains, and looking at some vocabulary about brains and thinking. Now, this research says that men are better at some things, like reading maps.
這很有趣。今天我們來探討下男女大腦之間的不同，看一些跟大腦和思考相關的詞彙。現在，這個研究裡面說男人擅長某些東西，比如看地圖。

Yes, well, I’m good at reading maps and even my wife would agree. She makes me do all the map reading in the car.
是的，我擅長看地圖這件事我妻子也會同意的。在車裡她會讓我一直看地圖。

But women are better at other things – like remembering faces. That’s according to this research. And before we look at it, I have a question about this incredible and mysterious thing – the human brain. Rob, you’re a brainy – that is, an intelligent guy, but how much does the average human brain weigh? Is it: a) 1.4 kg b) 2.2 kg c) 3.6 kg

但女人對其他的事情做的更好--比如記人。那些都是根據這個研究說的。在我們看這個研究前，對於這個難以置信的、神秘的東西--人類的大腦我有個問題。Rob，你很聰明，是個聰明的傢伙，但是你知道人類大腦平均有多重嗎？是：a） 1.4 kg b) 2.2 kg c) 3.6 kg

I’ll have to use my brain for this. I’m really racking my brains - that means to think very hard. Right, well, I think: c) 3.6 kg.
我用我的大腦思考下。我真的在絞盡腦汁的想-這對我來說真的很難。好吧，我覺得是c)03.6kg.

OK we’ll find out if you’re right later on. Now this research was by a team from the University of Pennsylvania in the US. They looked at the brains of nearly 1,000 men and women and found they are ’wired differently’.
OK,一會我告訴你是否正確。這項研究是由美國賓夕法尼亞大學的一個團隊發出的。他們觀察了近1000名男女的大腦，發現它們“連接不同”

Yes – so they are connected in different ways.
是的--他們是由不同的方式連接的。

Let’s listen to Dr Ruben Gur talking about the connections in each hemisphere - each half or each side - of the brain. What’s the difference between men and women?
讓我們聽一下Ruben Gur博士對於左右大腦的連接的解釋。男女之間的區別是什麼？

What we found was that in males, the stronger connections run within each hemisphere, within each half of the brain. In women the stronger connections are between the two sides of the brain.
我們發現在男人的大腦裡每個半腦之間的連接很強烈。而女人則是兩個半球間的連接更強烈。

So: men have better links – that’s stronger connections - inside each half of the brain. So the connections inside the right hemisphere are good, and the connections inside the left hemisphere are good too.
因此：男人在每個半球裡連接更為強烈。因此右半球內連接很好，左半球內的連接也很好。

But women have stronger connections between each side – the links are better going from one side to the other, from left to right. But what does that mean?
但是女人在兩個半球間的聯繫更為強烈--從一個半球到另一半球間的連接，從左半球到右半球。但那又意味著什麼？

Well, they say these differences might explain why men are better at learning and performing a single task, like cycling or navigating – that’s reading maps and finding your way around.
呃，他們說這些不同之處或許可以解釋為什麼男人更擅長做一件事，像騎車或導航--指讀地圖查找附近的路。

And it explains why women are often better at multi-tasking – that’s doing several things at once.
這也解釋了女人為何會更擅長一心多用--同時做幾件不同的事。

The research also showed women are better at remembering words, faces and information about other people, and they also had longer attention spans – that means they could concentrate on a task for longer without becoming distracted. Rob? Rob? Are you there?
這項研究也表明女人更擅長記單詞、認人和與人相關的其他資訊。並且他們能更長時間的集中注意力--也就是說他們可以在一件事上全神貫注不被打擾。 Rob? Rob?你在嗎?

Ah sorry. I was miles away. You might be right Finn! But not everyone agrees with this research.
不好意思我走神了。你或許是對的Finn！但並不是每個人都認同這項研究。

No, Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg from the University of Oxford says the connections inside the brain are not ’hard-wired’: in other words, that means they are not permanently fixed and they keep changing.
是的，來自牛津大學的Heidi Johansen-Berg教授認為大腦裡面的連接並不是硬連接的；換句話說，他們並不是永久固定的，他們是一直改變的。

She said the brain is very complex – so you can’t make generalisations about it – generalisations are statements that are often true but based on a limited amount of information.
她說人類的大腦是十分複雜的--你不能一句話就可以概括--概括一般是真實的資訊，但這些資訊有限。

But overall I think it’s an interesting idea. We asked our audience on social media what they thought about the study.
但整體來說我認為這是意見有趣的事。我們問詢觀眾在社會媒體上說他們對這項研究的看法。

Cremildo from Mozambique said he’s a man and agrees with the survey, and he admires his mother who is able to do a lot of things by herself.
來自 Mozambique的Cremildo 說他是男人，他認同這項調查，他很崇拜他媽媽，他媽媽是一位自己一個人可以做很多事的人。

Pen Pae from Thailand says it depends on the individual – she’s good at reading maps and multi-tasking – but don’t ask her about language or driving.
來自泰國的Pen Pae 認為這因人而異--她很擅長看地圖和一心多用--但她不擅長語言和開車。

And Hana Potki from Iran agrees – she said it took her five times to pass her driving test!
來自伊朗的Hana Potki認同--她說她駕照考試考了五次!

Now Rob, earlier I asked you if you knew how heavy the human brain is, on average:
Rob，之前我問你是否知道人類大腦的平均重量：

And I said c) a heavy 3.6 kg.
我選的是c）3.6kg。

Very very heavy brain and a lot heavier than the average human brain. The answer was in fact a) 1.4 kg. This compares with the average of 7 kg for whales and 1.4 for dolphins. Albert Einstein’s brain was only 1.2 kg; that’slower than average, so size isn’t everything. Now, Rob, before we go – would you remind us of today’s brain-related words?
非常非常重的大腦，比人類的平均腦重重多了。答案實際上是a）1.4kg。鯨魚的平均腦重是7kg，海豚的是1.4kg。阿爾伯特 • 愛因斯坦的大腦是僅 1.2 公斤；低於平均腦重，因此尺寸不是萬能的。現在Rob，在我們繼續之前，可以提醒下今天跟大腦相關的一些詞彙嗎？

Of course. We had: brainy ;rack my brains ;hemisphere navigating ;multi-tasking ;attention spans hard-wired ;generalisations
當然可以。相關的詞彙有：brainy --聰明的；rack my brains--絞盡腦汁；hemisphere--半球；navigating--導航；multi-tasking--多個任務；attention spans--注意力；hard-wired--硬連線；generalisations--概括。

Great. Thank you Rob. And thanks everyone for listening. Join us again for more 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
很好，謝謝你Rob。謝謝各位的收聽。歡迎再次加入我們的BBC6分鐘英語。

Bye.
拜~

Goodbye.
再見啦。