考研英語閱讀美文兩篇

　　在全國碩士研究生入學英語考試中,閱讀理解試題在整個試卷中佔很大比重,其重要程度不言而喻。想要提高英語閱讀能力，最好的辦法就是多看多練。為了提高大家的閱讀水平，下面是小編為大家帶來，希望大家喜歡!

　　考研英語閱讀美文：背景音樂很糟糕

　　Studying for an exam while listening to music is not smart, because background music can impairyour ability to perform memory tasks, new research has found.

　　最新研究發現，邊聽音樂邊複習功課並非明智之舉：因為背景音樂會降低你完成與記憶力相關的任務的能力。

　　Study participants were asked to recall a list of eight consonants in the order they were presented. They did this while in five different sound environments: quiet surroundings; music they liked; music they disliked; changing state ***a sequence of random digits***; and steady state ***a sequence of steadydigits such as “3, 3, 3, 3”***.

　　參與調查者聽到8 個子音字母，他們必須按照播放順序進行復述。他們聽的時候，分別處在5 種不同的背景聲音中：安靜環境、喜歡的背景音樂、不喜歡的背景音樂、數字不斷變化的響聲，數字不變的響聲***例如：3，3，3，3***。

　　The participants’ recall ability was poorest when listening to music, regardless of whether they liked or disliked it, and in changing-state conditions. The most accurate recall occurred when participants performed the task in steady-state environments, according to the study published online in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.

　　結果顯示，無論他們喜歡還是不喜歡背景音樂，在播放音樂和數字不斷變化的聲音環境裡，被調查者的記憶力都最差。該研究發現刊登在《應用認知心理學》上，研究指出人在安靜環境下記憶力最好。

　　“ The poorer performance of the music and changing-state sounds are due to the acousticalvariation within those environments. This impairs the ability to recall the order of items, via rehearsal, within the presented list, ” explained lead researcher Nick Perham, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, in a news release from the journal’s publisher.

　　威爾士大學卡地夫學院的首席研究員尼克·珀罕在該期刊的新聞釋出會上說：“音樂與不斷變化的聲音影響了人們的表現，這是因為那些環境聲音變化會影響人們複述測試內容的能力。”

　　“Mental arithmetic also requires the ability to retain order information in the short-term viarehearsal, and may be similarly affected by their performance in the presence of changing-state, background environments,” he added.

　　“心算也需要通過練習在短時間內記住資訊的順序，因此也可能受到背景環境的影響，”珀罕補充道。

　　When performing a challenging mental task, do it in silence, Perham recommended.

　　珀罕建議人們應該找一個安靜的環境來完成一項具有挑戰性的腦力勞動。

　　考研英語閱讀美文：神奇水

　　A brain chemical dubbed ‘ the hormone of love ’could encourage wallflowers to become more outgoing at social gatherings, a study shows. Now researchers have found it improves the social skills of the shy-but has little effect on those who are naturally confident. The finding could have implications for those with severe social deficiencies, often apparent in conditions like autism.

　　一種名叫“愛情荷爾蒙”的大腦刺激藥品能夠幫助害羞的人在社交場合“暢所欲言”。研究者發現，這個藥品改進了害羞的人的社交技巧，但是對那些“天生自信”的人卻“收效甚微”。研究發現，藥品對那些患有嚴重的社交缺陷的人療效明顯，比如：自閉症患者。

　　They conducted a test of 27 healthy adult men, giving them the hormone or a placebo via a nasalspray and then asking them to perform an‘empathetic accuracy task’. This involved watching others discussing emotional moments in their lives, then rating how they felt those people were feeling. The scientists, whose research is published in Psychological Science, also measured the participants’ social competency, using a test known as AQ which is usually used in autistic patients.

　　研究邀請了27 名健康男性，對他們進行了針對性測試。用噴霧給他們“注射”荷爾蒙，進而觀察在“強調準確性”的任務中的表現。他們觀察別人談論生活中激動人心的時刻，實驗再對他們就他人身上發生的事情的感受能力打分。研究還對參與者的“社會能力”進行了測試，測試中囊括了一種叫做“逆境商數”***AQ***的測驗。這種測驗通常用來測試自閉症患者。

　　The more socially comfortable participants performed well on the empathetic accuracy task regardless of whether they were on oxytocin or placebo, but less socially proficient participants performed significantly better on oxytocin, with their empathetic accuracy performance identical to that of the socially proficient participants. Prof Jennifer Bartz, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said: “Oxytocin is widely believed to make all people more empathic and understanding of others. Our study contradicts that. Instead, oxytocin appears to be helpful only for those who are less socially proficient. Our data show that oxytocin selectively improves social cognition in people who are less socially proficient, but had little impact on more socially proficient individuals.”

　　不管有沒有“催產素”，表現“自信”的人都在“同情心測試”中表現得很好，但是“不那麼自信”的人的表現卻顯著提升，甚至到達了和“自信”的人一樣的水平。西奈山醫院的詹妮弗·巴茨教授說：“人們普遍認為‘催產素’能使人變得更加有同情心，更能理解別人。但是我們的研究與這種觀點不同。我們認為“催產素”對那些社交能力不強的人很有效果。我們的資料顯示“催產素”可以選擇性地改善人們的社交認知能力，它對社交能力不強的人效果很好，但是對本身就很自信的人沒有什麼效果。