考研英語時文賞讀（61）：測量人眼睛的“殺傷力”

　　摘要：考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　A new study suggests that, unconsciously, we actually do believe that looking exerts a slight force on the things being looked at. Karen Hopkin reports.

　　一項新研究表明，在潛意識上，我們確實相信我們目光對所看的事物施加了輕微的力量 —— 凱倫·霍普金報道。

　　You’re at a party and you suddenly feel someone looking at you. But how can it be possible to feel another person’s glance? I mean, it’s not like people shoot actual beams out of their eyes.

　　在參加派對時，你突然覺得有人在看著你。 但是你怎么可能會感受到另一個人的目光呢？ 我的意思是，人們并沒有從眼睛里射出實實在在的光線。

　　Yet…a new study suggests that, unconsciously, we actually do believe that looking exerts a slight force on the things being looked at. That eye-opening finding appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Arvid Guterstam et al, Implicit model of other people’s visual attention as an invisible, force-carrying beam projecting from the eyes]

　　然而......一項新研究表明，在潛意識上，我們確實相信我們目光對所看的事物施加了輕微的力量。這一令人大開眼界的發(fā)現(xiàn)刊登在《美國國家科學院院刊》上。 [Arvid Guterstam 等人著，將他人視覺注視當作從眼里放射產(chǎn)生隱形不可見力光束的非顯性模型]

　　Vision depends on light entering the eye…a form of ocular intromission, if you will. But kids…even those in college…often express a belief in “extramission”…the idea that the eyes emit a form of invisible energy.

　　視覺的產(chǎn)生依賴于進入眼睛的光......如果你愿意的話，這是一種視覺射入眼球的形式。 但是孩子們......甚至那些在大學里的年輕學生......往往表示相信眼睛“射出”......這種觀點就是相信眼睛會發(fā)射出一種肉眼不可見的能量。

　　To probe this perception, researchers at Princeton asked volunteers to look at a computer screen and gauge the angle at which a cardboard tube…shown being slowly tilted on its side… would finally topple over. Now, in some of the tests, they included an image of a young man watching the tube as it tilted toward him.

　　為了探究這種看法，普林斯頓大學的研究人員要求志愿者們看一下電腦屏幕并測量硬紙管擺放的一個角度，在該角度下，電腦顯示其側(cè)面緩慢傾斜最終會翻倒。 現(xiàn)在，在一些測試中，他們收集了一個年輕人看著管面向向他傾斜的圖像資料。

　　What the researchers found is that, when there was someone staring at the tube, subjects thought that the tube could tilt a little further before it toppled toward the fella looking at it. Which means that, unconsciously, the volunteers must have imagined that the guy’s gaze exerted a slight force on the tube, keeping it from falling.

　　研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，當受試者盯著硬紙管時，受試者認為管子可能會先稍微向反方向傾斜，然后才會向面對受試者的方向傾倒。 這意味著，在潛意識中，志愿者肯定預先認為受試者目光在管上施加了輕微的力，防止它掉下來。

　　But this force was not strong. When the researchers replaced the cardboard tube with a brick, the subjects felt that the Jedi eyebeams wouldn’t support the added weight…they said the brick would fall at the same angle, whether or not there was someone there to watch it.

　　但這種力量不強。 當研究人員用磚塊替換硬紙管時，受試者覺得神奇的眼睛發(fā)出的光束不能抵抗增加的重量......受試者說無論是否有人在那里注視它，磚塊都會以相同的角度落下。

　　Interestingly, when the participants were explicitly asked about eyeball extramission, only 5 percent of them fessed up to believing in some sort of force being exerted by the eyes. But deep down, it looks like many of us put stock in the awesome power of the staredown. Just don’t depend on it if something weighty is about to fall your way.

　　有趣的是，當受試者者被明確詢問眼球是否外射出力量時，只有5％的人認為眼睛會施加某種力量。 但在內(nèi)心深處，似乎我們中的許多人都堅信雙眼注視某物時會產(chǎn)生強大的力量。但是一些重量級的東西向你墜落時，你可不能依賴這種力量。

　?。ㄈ墓?80個詞，科學美國人）

　　?幫幫提示：考研英語同源外刊美文賞讀匯總