【听音频，也可猛戳左下角“阅读原文”】
Neil:Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟。我是尼尔。
Rob:And I'm Rob. Hello.
大家好，我是罗伯。
Neil:Hello, Rob. I like your new hoody.
你好，罗伯。我喜欢你的新连帽衫。
Rob:Oh, right! Thanks a lot. A hoody is a sweatshirt with a hood, by the way. You don't think I'm too old for hoodies, do you?
哦，多谢。顺便说一下，连帽衫是指有帽子的运动衫。你不会觉得我年纪太大不适合穿连帽衫了吧？
Neil:Never. No, no. You too old? Never, Rob! It’s all about how young you feel inside, isn't it?
不，不，绝对不会。你太老？我绝不会这样想，罗伯！重要的是你的心态年轻，不是吗？
Rob:Is that right? Well, I don’t feel a day over sixteen, Neil.
是这样吗？好吧，我觉得自己一直停留在16岁，尼尔。
Neil:Excellent! Now, that might help you because in this programme we’re talking about the teenage brain! So, are you ready for today's quiz question, Rob?
很好。如果是那样的话可能对你有帮助，因为今天的节目我们要讨论青少年的大脑！罗伯，你准备好回答今天的问题了吗？
Rob:Yes, I am Neil. Fire away.
准备好了，尼尔，你问吧。
Neil:OK. What part of the brain is connected with basic emotions? Is it the a) prefrontal cortex? b) cerebral cortex? or c) limbic sytem?
好的。哪部分大脑影响着人类最基本的情绪？是a)脑前额皮质？b)大脑皮层？还是c)大脑边缘系统?
Rob:OK. I was terrible at biology – I never listened in class. So I'm going to have to take a guess and say the answer is a) prefrontal cortex.
我生物很差，我从来没不听课。所以我只能我猜了，我选a)脑前额皮质。
Neil:OK, well. We’ll find out if that’s the right answer at the end of the programme. Now Rob, were you a well-behaved student?
好的，节目的最后我们再看你回答得是否正确。罗伯，你以前是守规矩的好学生吗？
Rob:Well, I wasn't badly behaved. But we had a horrible school uniform and sometimes I got detention just for having my shirt hanging out.
我从来没有不守规矩过。但是我们的校服很难看，有时我会因为不穿校服在校园里闲逛而被留校。
Neil:Well, that's pretty harsh! Detention means having to stay at school after the day to do extra work.
还挺严格的！留校是指放学后不得不留在学校做更多的功课。
Rob:Yes it was a punishment for doing something wrong. Now some people think that typical teenage behaviour such as embarrassment, anxiety, mood swings and risk taking is caused by changing hormones.
是的，这是做错事的一种惩罚手段。现在有人认为，一些典型的青少年行为，比如尴尬、烦躁、情绪波动、爱冒险是其体内荷尔蒙的变化造成的。
Neil:Mood swings are sudden changes of mood and hormones are chemicals in the body that stimulate cells and organs into action.
情绪波动是指情绪的突然改变，荷尔蒙是体内刺激细胞和器官进行活动的化学物质。
Rob:Yes. I bet you were a moody teenager, Neil!
是的。我打赌你曾经是个情绪化的少年，尼尔！
Neil:I might have been (in a teenage voice)… no, let's not go there, Rob. Now, apparently, it’s not only our hormones that change when we reach adolescence – that’s the age when we start changing into an adult.
或许吧，我们还是不要提这个了，罗伯。显然，我们进入青春期后不仅是体内的荷尔蒙发生改变，我们开始变为成年人了。
Rob:That's right. According to scientific research, some teenage behaviour is probably caused by changes in the brain. Let's listen to Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore talking about this. What's the phrase she uses to mean 'to enjoy'?
对。科学研究显示，青少年的一些行为可能是其大脑发生改变而造成的。让我们听听萨拉杰恩·布莱克摩尔教授对此事的看法。她用了什么词来表示“喜欢”。
There's a pretty established theory of risk taking – the biological basis of risk taking – which is that two different systems in the brain developed at different rates. The parts of the brain called the limbic system, which includes the regions of the brain that give you a rewarding feeling out of taking a risk, a kind of kick out of taking a risk, and an emotion out of taking a risk, are developing more quickly than the part of the brain called the pre-frontal cortex, which inhibits risk taking.
目前关于青少年热爱冒险有一个广为人们接受的理论，即其生物学基础。大脑中有两个发育速度不同的系统。大脑边缘系统中有一个区域会在冒险后产生一种回报感，一种快感。而大脑前额皮质部分会阻止人们冒险。但是大脑边缘系统比大脑前额皮质发育得快。
Neil:So what risks do teenagers typically take?
青少年经常会冒什么险呢？
Rob:Well. The things most parents worry about, such as drinking, smoking, possibly taking drugs, and driving too fast.
一些父母经常担心的事，如喝酒、抽烟、还有可能吸毒、超速驾驶。
Neil:And the reason that they take these risks might be because the area of the brain that rewards risk-taking behaviour develops more quickly than the area of the brain that inhibits – or slows down – risk-taking behaviour.
他们冒险的原因也许是因为大脑中鼓励冒险行为的系统发育得比抑制冒险行为的系统快。
Rob:And what was the phrase she used to mean 'enjoy something'?
那她使用了哪个短语表示“喜欢某事”？
Neil:It was to get a kick out of something. Teenagers 'get a kick out of' and are rewarded for taking risks by one part of the brain – the limbic system – while the other part – the pre-frontal cortex – does little to slow things down.
是“获得快感”这个短语。青少年的大脑边缘系统会使其在冒险后有一种收获感，而他们大脑的另一部分，前额皮质会削弱这种感受，但是后者效果较小。
Rob:Well, that sounds more fun than being an adult. But actually, we often give teenagers a hard time. Let's hear more about this from Sarah-Jayne.
这听起来比成年人有趣多了。但是我们经常为难青少年。我们来听听萨拉杰恩教授关于这一点的更多介绍。
Something that I've noticed since working with teenagers is that they are the butt of many jokes. And they're parodied left, right and centre. They're demonized in newspapers. And whenever I tweet anything about the teenage brain – which I do quite frequently – invariably, inevitably, I'll get a reply from someone saying, 'Oh, what, teenagers actually have brains?'
从我开始研究青少年之后，我发现他们总是人们嘲笑的对象。他们被各种恶搞。被一些报纸杂志妖魔化。我经常在推特上推送一些关于青少年大脑的文章，只要我这么做，总会有一些人回复“哦，什么，青少年还有大脑吗？”
Neil:Now of course some teenagers are very brainy – brainy is another way of saying clever. I know young people who are brilliant at maths, art and science.
当然一些青少年是很有头脑的，也就是很聪明。我知道一些年轻人很擅长数学、艺术和科学。
Rob:But we heard Sarah-Jayne describe teenagers as being the butt of a joke – that means to be its target. And if you parody someone you copy their style in an exaggerated way to make people laugh.
但是我们听到萨拉杰恩教授刚刚说青少年经常成为人们嘲笑的对象，也就是人们攻击的目标。恶搞某人是指以夸张的方式模仿某人以逗人发笑。
Neil:And to demonize a person or a group means to talk about them as if they were evil or threatening. Poor teenagers, Rob!
将一个人或一个组织妖魔化是指将其描述为邪恶的或者对人们构成威胁的存在。罗伯，青少年真可怜！
Rob:Oh, don't worry, Neil – they'll grow up and be like us one day! And now it's time to hear the answer to today’s quiz question.
哦，别担心，尼尔。总有一天他们会长大成人和我们一样的！现在是揭晓今天问题答案的时间了。
Neil:Yes it is. I asked you, what part of the brain is connected with basic emotions? Is it the… a) prefrontal cortex? b) cerebral cortex? or c) limbic system?
是的。我的问题是：哪部分大脑影响着人类最基本的情绪？是a)脑前额皮质？b)大脑皮层？还是c)大脑边缘系统?
Rob:And I chose a) prefrontal cortex. Was I right?
我选的是a)脑前额皮质。我选对了吗？
Neil:Well. I'm afraid to say, Rob, that you were absolutely wrong.
恐怕我得说，罗伯，你当然是错了。
Rob:Using the wrong part of my brain, obviously.
显然我思考问题用的大脑部位不对。
Neil:Yes. The answer is c) the limbic system. But don't get too emotional about getting that wrong and instead, please remind us of the words we learned today?
是的。正确答案是c)大脑边缘系统。但是别因为回答错问题而太过情绪化，还是来回顾一下今天学习的单词吧？
Rob:Good idea. We heard:
好主意。我们听到了：
hoody
连帽衫
detention
留校
hormones
荷尔蒙
adolescence
青春期
inhibits
阻止
get a kick out of something
获得快感
limbic system
大脑边缘系统
prefrontal cortex
脑前额皮质
brainy
聪明
butt of a joke
嘲笑的对象
parody
恶搞
to demonize
妖魔化
Neil:Well, that's the end of today's 6 Minute English. I hope you got some kicks from today's show!
好了，今天的英语六分钟就到这里了。希望你喜欢今天的节目。
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