爲什麼要讀名著：閱讀經典名著能鍛鍊大腦！

He wrote that the ‘human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants’. And it appears that simply reading those words by William Wordsworth prove his point.
英國詩人威廉·華茲華斯曾寫道：“人的心靈，不用巨大猛烈的刺激，也能夠興奮起來”。要說明這一點，看上去似乎單是讀一下這句話就夠了。

Researchers at the University of Liverpool found the prose of Shakespeare and Wordsworth and the like had a beneficial effect on the mind, providing a 'rocket-boost' to morale by catching the reader's attention and triggering moments of self-reflection.
利物浦大學的研究人員發現，莎士比亞和華茲華斯以及其他類似作家的作品對思維具有裨益，能夠吸引讀者的注意力，讓讀者自我反省，像“火箭助推器”一樣提升人的精神狀態。

Using scanners, they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read pieces of classical English literature both in their original form and in a more dumbed-down, modern translation.
研究員們使用掃描儀，監測志願者們閱讀經典英國文學作品時的大腦活動。他們閱讀的既有原作，又有簡化的現代版譯文。

And, according to the Sunday Telegraph, the experiment showed the more 'challenging' prose and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the pedestrian versions.
根據《星期日電訊報》的報導，這個實驗還表明：比起那些平淡的版本，散文和詩作更具有挑戰性，腦電活動也活躍得多。

The research also found poetry, in particular, increased activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, an area concerned with 'autobiographical memory', which helped the reader to reflect on and reappraise their own experiences in light of what they had read. The academics said this meant the classics were more useful than self-help books.
研究也發現，詩作尤其能夠增加人右腦的活動，而右腦和“自傳式記憶”有關，能夠讓讀者根據讀到的內容回想到他們自己的經歷，並且對之重新評價。學者說這就意味着經典作品比勵志圖書更有用。

The brain responses of 30 volunteers was monitored in the first part of the research as they read Shakespeare in its original and 'modern' form.
實驗的第一部分中，30名志願者閱讀了莎比士亞作品的原版和“現代版”，與此同時研究者們監測了他們大腦的反應。

In one example, volunteers read a line from King Lear, 'A father and a gracious aged man: him have you madded', before reading the simpler. 'A father and a gracious aged man: him you have enraged'.
其中一個例子是志願者閱讀《李爾王》中的一句臺詞，“A father and a gracious aged man: him have you madded”接下來他們又閱讀了一句簡單一點的版本，“A father and a gracious aged man: him you have enraged”。（小編注：此句譯文爲：這樣一位父親，這樣一位仁慈的老人家，你們卻把他激成了瘋狂！）

Shakespeare's use of the adjective 'mad' as a verb caused a higher level of brain activity than the straightforward prose.
比起直白的現代版詩句，莎士比亞把形容詞“mad”用作動詞形式，這讓大腦的活躍度更高。

The next phase of the research is looking at the extent to which poetry can affect psychology and provide therapeutic benefit. Volunteers' brains were scanned while reading four lines by Wordsworth, and four 'translated' lines were also provided.
第二個階段是研究詩作可以影響心理狀態到什麼程度，給健康帶來多少益處。研究者在志願者閱讀華茲華斯的四句詩作原文和“譯文”時掃描了它們的大腦。

The first version caused a greater degree of brain activity, lighting up not only the left part of the brain concerned with language, but also the right hemisphere that relates to autobiographical memory and emotion.
前者能夠讓大腦的活躍程度更高，不僅讓控制語言的左腦變得更活躍，同時也能讓控制自傳式記憶以及情感的右腦更活躍。

'Poetry is not just a matter of style. It is a matter of deep versions of experience that add the emotional and biographical to the cognitive,' said Prof Davis, who will present the findings at the North of England education conference in Sheffield this week.
“詩歌不單單是一種文體。詩歌是一種深層次的經驗，這種經驗是在認知經驗的基礎上加上情感經驗和生平經歷而形成的，”戴維斯教授如是說。戴維斯教授將在本週在謝菲爾德舉行的北英格蘭教育大會上介紹他的研究成果。