英语六级阅读材料

　　传统的观点认为女性的直觉能力比男性强， 但英国最新的一项研究结果却否认了这一观点。

　　Psychologists who tested the abilities of more than 15,000 people to identify the sincerity or otherwise of different smiles have concluded that female intuition is a myth.

　　为了保证研究结果更具信服力，心理学家对15000人的不同的笑进行研究。研究结果表明女性的直觉是个迷。

　　Shown a series of pairs of images of individuals displaying real and fake smiles, men marginally outperformed women. When it came to judging genuine and false expressions of happiness in the opposite sex, male participants did significantly better than females.

　　研究对象看完一系列不同人的真实和虚假微笑的对比照片，男性对真假的识别略胜过女性。当开始判断异性真实和虚假的幸福表情时，男性参与者表现明显好于女性。

　　Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, said:

　　作为心理学家，赫特福德大学的教授理查德·怀斯曼说：

　　"I was surprised, given that women had so much more confidence in their intuition. We thought women would be better but, overall, men just pipped them to the post."

　　我很惊讶，考虑到女性一贯被认为在直觉上有自信的。我们本以为女性直觉会更有效，但是事实上男性在直觉上却占了上风。

　　These findings question the notion that women really are more intuitive than men. Some previous research has found evidence for female intiuition but perhaps,over time, men have become more in touch with their intuitive side.

　　这些发现都让过去多数人认为的女性确实比男性直觉更灵这一结论不再成立。先前的研究也是有依据的，但也许随着时间推移，男性开始更多地使用他们的直觉。

　　Before studying the faces, participants were asked to rate their intuitive abilities.

　　在识别照片之前，参与者被要求评价他们的直觉能力。

　　More women defined themselves as highly intuitive—77 per cent compared with just 58 per cent of men.

　　更多的女性认为自己有较强的直觉能力——77%女性这么认为，而男性只有58%。

　　Dr Wiseman said: "This could be because women experience emotions more fully and are more expressive. If men have a more limited emotional system, this may make it easier for them to fake it."

　　怀斯曼博士说：“这可能是因为女性能更全面地体验情感，更具表现力。如果男性的情感表达还能再弱些，那么他们将更容易蒙蔽女性的眼睛。”

　　in touch with 同……有联系，和……有接触

　　eg. I have kept in touch with him since we separated.自从我们分手以来，我一直与他保持联系。

　　eg. But they kept in touch with each other all these years.这些年来他们一直与当时分散的同胞保持联系。

　　英语六级阅读材料：科学家证明爱是盲目的

　　Scientists have shown that there is a degree of truth in the old adage that love is blind. They have found that feelings of love lead to a suppression of activity in the areas of the brain controlling critical thought.

　　科学家已经证明，古老的谚语所说的，爱情是盲目的这一真理在一定程度上是正确的。他们发现，爱情的感觉会抑制大脑控制批判性思维的区域的活跃性。

　　It seems that once we get close to a person, the brain decides the need to assess their character and personality is reduced.

　　看上去，我们一旦接近了一个人，大脑对于对方的性格和品质的要求就会降低。

　　The study, by University College London, is published in NeuroImage.

　　英国伦敦大学学院对此的研究报告在《神经成像》杂志上发表。

　　The researchers found that both romantic love and maternal love produce the same effect on the brain. They suppress neural activity associated with critical social assessment of other people and negative emotions.

　　研究人员发现，无论是浪漫的爱情，还是母爱对大脑产生的影响是相同的。爱能够抑制那些会对他人进行批判性社会评价和消极情绪的神经活动。

　　The UCL team scanned the brains of 20 young mothers while they viewed pictures of their own children, children they were acquainted with, and adult friends.

　　伦敦大学的研究团队对20位年轻母亲在看自己孩子照片时的大脑进行扫描，还扫描了她们看其他熟人的孩子，以及成年的朋友时的大脑。

　　The team found that the patterns of brain activity were very similar to those identified in an earlier study looking at the effects of romantic love.

　　研究团队发现大脑活动的模式和早先研究爱对浪漫爱情影响的结果非常接近。

　　Both studies recorded increased activity in parts of the brain's "reward system".

　　这两项研究都记录了部分大脑的“奖赏系统”活动增加。

　　When these areas are stimulated—as they can be by food and drink, or even monetary gain—they produce feelings of euphoria.

　　这些区域受到刺激，如同吃食物、喝饮料、甚至收获财富，会让人产生愉悦的感觉。

　　But perhaps more surprisingly, both studies also showed reduced levels of activity in the systems necessary for making negative judgements.

　　但更令人惊讶的或许是，这两项研究也显示随着系统活跃性水平降低，消极判断也减少了。

　　Lead researcher Dr Andreas Bartels said it was crucial that both romantic and maternal love were viewed by the brain in a highly positive way—because both were crucial to the perpetuation of the species.

　　研究员领导者安德里亚·巴特尔博士说，重要的是，大脑用一种非常积极的方式来看待浪漫的爱情和母爱，因为两者对物种延续都至关重要。

　　英语六级阅读材料：为何快乐的时间溜得快?

　　Scientists have come up with a theory for why time flies when you are having fun and drags when you are bored.

　　科学家们提出理论依据，解释为什么当你玩得开心的时候，时间总是过得飞快，而当你无聊的时侯，时间却过得特别慢。

　　Scans have shown that patterns of activity in the brain change depending on how we focus on a task.

　　通过扫描发现，大脑活动的方式随着我们对事情的关注程度发生变化。

　　Concentrating on time passing, as we do when bored, will trigger brain activity which will make it seem as though the clock is ticking more slowly.

　　我们在无聊的时候，往往把注意力集中在时间的流逝上，这样会使大脑活动产生错觉，总觉得时钟似乎走得更慢

　　The research, by the French Laboratory of Neurobiology and Cognition, is published in the magazine Science.

　　法国神经生物和认知学实验室进行的此项研究发表在《科学》杂志上。

　　In the study, 12 volunteers watched an image while researchers monitored their brain activity using MRI scans.

　　在研究中，当12名志愿者同时看一幅图像时，研究者们用核磁共振成像扫描仪来监控他们大脑的活动。

　　Volunteers were given a variety of tasks. In one they were told to concentrate simply on the duration of an image, in another they were asked to focus on the colour, and in a third they were asked to concentrate on both duration and colour.

　　志愿者们被分配了各种不同的任务。一次他们被要求专注于图象持续的时间，另一次集中观察图象的色彩，第三次同时关注图象持续的时间和色彩。

　　The results showed that a network of brain regions was activated when more subjects were paid attention to duration.

　　结果表明，在观看图像的过程中，注意的对象多的话，就会激活大脑区域网络。

　　It is thought that if the brain is busy focusing on many aspects of a task, then it has to spread its resources thinly, and pays less heed to time passing.

　　科学家们认为如果大脑忙于关注一项任务中的多个方面，那么它不得不分散注意力，这样就不太会注意到时间的流逝。

　　Therefore, time passes without us really noticing it, and seems to go quickly.

　　所以，我们还没真正注意到时间，时间就已经过去了，而且似乎过得特别快。

　　However, if the brain is not stimulated in this way, it concentrates its full energies on monitoring the passing of time.

　　然而，如果大脑并没有受到这样的刺激，它就会把全部精力用来监控时间的流逝。

　　This may make time seem to drag, but in fact it is probably a more accurate perception of reality.

　　这样就会觉得时间过得特别慢，但是事实上这可能是对现实情况的更准确的认识。

　　Indeed, the researchers found that the more volunteers concentrated on the duration of the images, the more accurate were their estimates of its duration.

　　事实上，研究者们发现，志愿者们越是注意图像持续的时间，他们对于时间的估计就越准确。

　　Lead researcher Dr Jennifer Coull said many of the areas of the brain involved in estimating time were the same that played a key role in controlling movement, and preparing for action.

　　主任研究员詹尼弗·库尔博士说，大脑中有许多参与估计时间的区域，同时他们对行为控制和行动准备也起到重要的作用。

　　She said this overlap suggests that the brain may make sense of time as intervals between movements, in much the same way as a musician marks time with his foot, or an athlete anticipates the sound of a starter's pistol.

　　她说这种区域重合说明大脑在活动的间隙可能会注意到时间，在很大程度上就像音乐家用脚来记录时间、运动员预料发令员的枪声一样。

　　以上就是学习啦小编为大家带来的英语六级阅读材料，欢迎大家学习!