[6 Minute English] The male brain, the female brain 男人和女人，到底是誰的腦筋比較好呢? @ 看BBC學英文

關於這個問題，我想大家應該可以花一個禮拜甚至更久的時間，相互爭辯。不管怎麼樣，男人女人的腦筋，普遍來說，各自有各自的強項。不一定誰比誰好。這篇文章就點出幾個地方，像是，大部分的男生都比較有方向感，尤其在看地圖的時候。女生厲害的地方就是比較容易記得人的長相和面孔，也就是比較會認人。男生通常來說都只能專注在一件事情上，女生可以同時做很多事情。這其實也說明了在職場上，為什麼大部分的男生都喜歡做業務，因為，你只要一心想著把業績衝高就好。而女生很多會選擇做後勤的工作，雖然有時候事情很雜很多，但是，女生的細心和 multi-tasking 在這裡就可以展現出來。

Finn: But women are better at other things – like remembering faces. That's according to this research. And before we look at it, I have a question about

this incredible and mysterious thing – the human brain. Rob, you're a brainy – that is, an intelligent guy, but how much does the average human brain

weigh?

Is it:

a) 1.4 kg

b) 2.2 kg

c) 3.6 kg

be better at 可以用來形容 “你做甚麼事情比較厲害” 或是 “比較在行”

brainy 的意思是用來形容一個人很聰明。

在一個名詞後面加上 ‘y’ 很多時候可以把這個字瞬間變成一個形容詞喔~ 在文章一開始，Finn就問大家，你覺得人類的腦袋平均是多重呢?

Rob: I'll have to use my brain for this. I'm really racking my brains - that means to think very hard. Right, well, I think: c) 3.6 kg.

Racking my brains 有點像是「絞盡腦汁」的意思。單單rack這個字的意思是折磨或是煎熬的意思。

Finn: Let's listen to Dr Ruben Gur talking about the connections in each hemisphere - each half or each side - of the brain. What's the difference between men and women?

在美國的一間大學做了一項研究，讓我們知道what’s the difference between men and women。

What’s the difference between…這個句子可以用在很多地方，當我們要說一個東西和另外一個東西哪裡不一樣的時候，就可以使用這樣的句型。Hemisphere是指我們腦袋裡的左右腦(室)。

Dr Ruben Gur, University of Pennsylvania:

What we found was that in males, the stronger connections run within each hemisphere, within each half of the brain. In women the stronger connections are between the two sides of the brain.

研究發現，男人的腦袋連結較強的地方是出現在其中一個腦室裡，比如說，右腦中的連結特別強烈。或是左腦中的連結特別強烈。而女人的強烈連結則是發生在左腦和右腦的 “相互” 連結。由此可見，為什麼男生通常腦筋會比較 “直” 而女生會想比較多，也會比較細心。

Finn: Well, they say these differences might explain why men are better at learning and performing a single task, like cycling or navigating – that's reading

maps and finding your way around.

performing a single task 就是在說男生比較會專注在一件事情上面。

Navigate 可以用在很多地方，普遍的意思是操作 (機器/電子產品)，或是航行，不管是路面或是海上，都可以用navigate。

Finn: The research also showed women are better at remembering words, faces and information about other people, and they also had longer attention

spans – that means they could concentrate on a task for longer without becoming distracted. Rob? Rob? Are you there?

Longer attention span 的意思是一個人可以保有較長的專注力。Span是指一個區間或是一個範圍。

Distracted 的意思是受到干擾

Finn: No, Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg from the University of Oxford says the connections inside the brain are not 'hard-wired': in other words, that

means they are not permanently fixed and they keep changing.

另外還有一個學校的教授指出，其實我們人類的腦袋是非常多變的，他並不會一直處在同一個狀態，也就是說，隨著時間，他會變來變去的。十年前的你也許很直，但是你現在長大之後，可能會變成一個細膩的人。因此，他才提出腦袋並不會hard wired，也就是說，並不會像機器一樣，接上電源之後就一成不變。

Fixed 這個字是形容詞，意思是不會改變的，不要跟動詞的fix搞混喔~

Rob: She said the brain is very complex – so you can't make generalisations about it – generalisations are statements that are often true but based on a

limited amount of information.

Complex 的意思是很複雜的，在這裡是在說人的腦袋複雜的程度，不能夠用一些制式化或是普遍的說法來以一概全。

Generalisation 就是以一概全的名詞。這些概述雖然是事實，但是卻是以一些有限的資訊推斷出來的結論。

Finn: Very very heavy brain and a lot heavier than the average human brain. The answer was in fact a) 1.4 kg. This compares with the average of 7 kg for

whales and 1.4 for dolphins. Albert Einstein's brain was only 1.2 kg; that's lower than average, so size isn't everything. Now, Rob, before we go – would

you remind us of today's brain-related words?

人的腦袋到的有多重呢? Finn在最後給大家一個答案，其實只有1.4公斤而已啦! 鯨魚的腦袋也頂多只有7公斤，海豚跟人類一樣是1.4公斤。我被我們人類喻為天才的愛因斯坦，他的腦袋也只有1.2公斤喔~所以阿，size is not everything，尺寸並不代表一切，也不是重點拉。當我們在說其實可以用in fact或是actually