还剩下什么？：英语精读讲义

Hey, Vsauce, Michael here,

嘿，Vsauce，我是 Michael，

and today we're going to talk about this.

今天我们要聊的是这个。

Just kidding. 語氣意圖

开玩笑的。

We're going to talk about this.

我们要聊的是这个。

Left. 習語

左边。

What's left?

还剩下什么？

First of all, 表達脈絡

首先，

90% of humans,

90%的人，

regardless of culture or language, 短語搭配

无论文化或语言背景如何，

are right-handed.

都惯用右手。

And we choose a dominant hand before we've even left our mothers. 語法

而且我们甚至还没离开母体，就已经选定了惯用手。

That's right.

没错。

When a baby inside its mother's womb is seen sucking its thumb, 語法

当人们看到母亲子宫里的宝宝吮吸拇指时，

it is sucking the right thumb 90% of the time.

有90%的时候，宝宝吸的是右手拇指。

Animals do it too.

动物也一样。

In fact,

事实上，

horses take longer strides with their right legs,

马用右腿迈出的步子更大，

which is the entire reason racetracks are run counter-clockwise.

这正是赛马场的比赛一律逆时针进行的原因。

Left-handedness is so rare that across most cultures, 語法

惯用左手的人非常少，所以在大多数文化中，

there's been a historical stigma against being left-handed. 短語搭配

历史上一直存在对左撇子的偏见。

In fact,

事实上，

the word for someone who's good at using both hands

形容一个人双手都很灵巧的词

is ambidextrous, 用詞

是 ambidextrous，

and dexter comes from Latin for right. 文化背景

而 dexter 源自拉丁语，意为“右”。

So when you call somebody ambidextrous,

所以，当你说某人 ambidextrous 时，

you're not saying that they're good with using both hands,

你并不是说他双手都很灵巧，

you're telling them that they have two right hands.

而是在说他有两只右手。

And if someone is unable to use either hand,

如果一个人哪只手都不会用，

they're called ambisinister, 文化背景

就会被称为 ambisinister，

because in Latin,

因为在拉丁语中，

sinister means left.

sinister 的意思是“左”。

But why do we have to have a dominant hand in the first place? 短語搭配

可我们为什么非得有一只惯用手呢？

Why can't we all just be awesome with both hands?

为什么我们不能双手都同样厉害？

Well,

这个嘛，

the fault lies in the brain. 短語搭配

问题出在大脑。

A brain wants to be efficient,

大脑追求效率，

so it divvies up tasks to specific regions, 短語動詞

所以会把任务分配给特定区域，

and it tends to avoid sending too much information between both hemispheres

而且它往往会避免在两个半球之间传递过多信息，

because doing so would require using the corpus callosum, 短語搭配

因为这样做必须用到胼胝体，

which would take more time and energy.

会耗费更多时间和能量。

Now,

说到这里，

the way the brain works is kind of funny. 語氣意圖

大脑的运作方式还挺有意思。

The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body,

大脑左半球控制身体右侧，

and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body.

右半球则控制身体左侧。

So it makes sense 短語搭配

所以，这就说得通了：

that the hand you're best doing precise stuff with

你最擅长用来完成精细操作的那只手，

would correlate to the hemisphere of the brain

会与大脑中

that does the most precise processing.

负责最精细处理的那个半球相对应。

In 95% of right-handed people,

在95%的右撇子中，

it's the left hemisphere

是左半球

that deals with precise language thinking like definitions. 短語動詞

负责定义这类需要精确语言思考的任务。

But when you're left-handed,

但如果你惯用左手，

there's about a 40% chance that you're using the right hemisphere or both.

你有大约40%的概率会使用右半球，或两个半球一起使用。

And this is where things get interesting. 表達脈絡

事情到这里就有意思了。

Now,

要注意的是，

being left-handed or ambidextrous does not mean that your brain works in one way or the other, 表達脈絡

惯用左手或双手并用，并不代表你的大脑一定按某一种方式运作，

but it may help explain why across averages,

但从总体平均情况来看，这也许能帮助解释，

ambidextrous people sometimes score lower on IQ tests

为什么双手并用者有时在智商测试中的得分较低，

or why a greater proportion of schizophrenics are left-handed or ambidextrous than the rest of the population. 語法

或者为什么精神分裂症患者中，左撇子或双手并用者所占的比例高于其他人群。

Now,

不过，

that said, 表達脈絡

话虽如此，

there are giant benefits to having a brain like that.

这样的大脑也有巨大的优势。

By sending information back and forth, 講解

通过来回传递信息，

more novel connections are made,

大脑能建立更多新颖的联系，

more creative ideas are made.

也能产生更多有创意的想法。

Albert Einstein was left-handed,

Albert Einstein 就惯用左手，

and five of the last seven U.S. presidents have been left-handed.

最近七位美国总统中，也有五位惯用左手。

There's something else left-handed people have an advantage with:

左撇子在另一件事上也占优势：

keyboards.

键盘。

On a QWERTY keyboard, 文化背景

在 QWERTY 键盘上，

thousands and thousands of English words can be typed using the left hand. 語法

仅用左手就能打出成千上万个英语单词。

But on the right side of the keyboard,

但只用键盘右侧，

you can only write maybe about a hundred or so.

大概只能打出一百来个。

On the left side of a keyboard,

在键盘左侧，

the left hand all on its own 短語搭配

单靠左手，

can type pretty long, 用詞

就能打出相当长、

somewhat common words like stewardesses,

也还算常见的单词，比如 stewardesses、

reverberated, and desegregated.

reverberated 和 desegregated。

But on the right hand side,

但在右手这一侧，

the longest common word you can type is lollipop.

能打出的最长常用词是 lollipop。

Oh, look, 表達脈絡

哦，看，

a spacebar.

是空格键。

When people go to space,

当人们前往太空时，

they have left Earth.

他们就离开了地球。

The first person to leave Earth into space was Yuri Gagarin,

第一个离开地球、进入太空的人是 Yuri Gagarin，

a Soviet cosmonaut. 文化背景

一位苏联宇航员。

But the one I'm interested in was the fourth man into space,

但我感兴趣的是第四位进入太空的男性，

Gherman Titov.

Gherman Titov。

He may have only been the fourth person into space, 表達脈絡

他或许只是第四个进入太空的人，

but he was the first person to have left Earth

但他是第一个离开地球

and simultaneously left wakefulness. 習語

同时也离开清醒状态的人。

Titov was the first person to sleep in space.

Titov 是第一个在太空睡觉的人。

And here's what's really fun: 表達脈絡

更有意思的是：

he was 25 years old when he did it,

当时他只有25岁，

which means that to this day, 講解

这意味着直到今天，

Titov is the youngest human who has ever been to space. 語法

Titov 仍是有史以来进入太空最年轻的人。

You know what else leaves Earth? 表達脈絡

你知道还有什么会离开地球吗？

Helium.

氦。

That's right.

没错。

Helium gas that we use in balloons is lighter than air, 語法

我们给气球充的氦气比空气轻，

and so molecules of helium rise all the way to the very tip top of our atmosphere, 短語搭配

所以氦分子会一路升到大气层最顶端，

where they get picked off by solar wind, 短語動詞

在那里被太阳风带走，

meaning that they leave us forever. 表達脈絡

也就是说，它们会永远离开我们。

In fact,

事实上，

there's a little bit of a concern over how much helium we have left 短語搭配

我们还剩多少氦，确实有点令人担忧，

because the only way helium comes into existence on Earth is through radioactive decay. 短語搭配

因为地球上的氦只能通过放射性衰变产生。

Alpha particles are essentially helium nuclei,

阿尔法粒子本质上就是氦原子核，

and we find a lot of helium inside natural gas.

而天然气中含有大量氦。

But right now,

但目前，

we're using a lot of it,

我们正在大量使用氦，

and helium's quite cheap,

而且氦相当便宜，

so there's a realistic concern that within the next 30 or 40 years, 語法

所以，我们确实有理由担心，在未来三四十年内，

we may have no helium left.

我们可能就没有氦可用了。

Thanks for watching.

感谢观看。