還剩下什麼？：英語精讀講義

Hey, Vsauce, Michael here,

嗨，Vsauce，我是 Michael，

and today we're going to talk about this.

今天我們要聊的是這個。

Just kidding. 語氣意圖

開玩笑的。

We're going to talk about this.

我們要聊的是這個。

Left. 慣用語

左邊。

What's left?

還剩下什麼？

First of all, 表達脈絡

首先，

90% of humans,

90%的人，

regardless of culture or language, 片語搭配

無論文化或語言背景如何，

are right-handed.

都慣用右手。

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

而且我們甚至還沒離開母體，就已經選定慣用手了。

That's right.

沒錯。

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

當人們看到母親子宮裡的寶寶吸吮拇指時，

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

有90%的時候，寶寶吸的是右手拇指。

Animals do it too.

動物也一樣。

In fact,

事實上，

horses take longer strides with their right legs,

馬用右腿跨出的步伐更大，

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

這正是賽馬場的比賽一律以逆時針方向進行的原因。

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

慣用左手的人非常少，所以在大多數文化中，

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

歷史上一直存在著對左撇子的偏見。

In fact,

事實上，

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

形容一個人雙手都很靈巧的詞

is ambidextrous, 用詞

是 ambidextrous，

and dexter comes from Latin for right. 文化背景

而 dexter 源自拉丁文，意思是「右」。

So when you call somebody ambidextrous,

所以，當你說某人 ambidextrous 時，

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

你並不是說他雙手都很靈巧，

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

而是在說他有兩隻右手。

And if someone is unable to use either hand,

如果一個人兩隻手都不會用，

they're called ambisinister, 文化背景

就會被稱為 ambisinister，

because in Latin,

因為在拉丁文中，

sinister means left.

sinister 的意思是「左」。

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

可是，我們為什麼非得有一隻慣用手呢？

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

為什麼我們不能兩隻手都一樣厲害？

Well,

這個嘛，

the fault lies in the brain. 片語搭配

問題出在大腦。

A brain wants to be efficient,

大腦追求效率，

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

所以會把任務分配給特定區域，

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

而且它往往會避免在兩個半球之間傳遞太多資訊，

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

因為這麼做必須用到胼胝體，

which would take more time and energy.

會耗費更多時間和能量。

Now,

說到這裡，

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

大腦的運作方式還滿有意思的。

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

大腦左半球控制身體右側，

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

右半球則控制身體左側。

So it makes sense 片語搭配

所以，這就說得通了：

that the hand you're best doing precise stuff with

你最擅長用來完成精細動作的那隻手，

would correlate to the hemisphere of the brain

會與大腦中

that does the most precise processing.

負責最精細處理的那個半球相對應。

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. 片語動詞

負責定義這類需要精確語言思考的任務。

But when you're left-handed,

但如果你慣用左手，

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

你有大約40%的機率會使用右半球，或兩個半球一起使用。

And this is where things get interesting. 表達脈絡

事情到這裡就有趣了。

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

慣用左手或雙手並用，並不代表你的大腦一定以某一種方式運作，

but it may help explain why across averages,

但從整體平均情況來看，這或許能幫助解釋，

ambidextrous people sometimes score lower on IQ tests

為什麼雙手並用的人有時在智力測驗中的分數較低，

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

或為什麼思覺失調症患者中，左撇子或雙手並用者所佔的比例高於其餘人口。

Now,

不過，

that said, 表達脈絡

話雖如此，

there are giant benefits to having a brain like that.

這樣的大腦也有極大的優勢。

By sending information back and forth, 講解

透過來回傳遞資訊，

more novel connections are made,

大腦能建立更多新穎的連結，

more creative ideas are made.

也能產生更多有創意的想法。

Albert Einstein was left-handed,

Albert Einstein 就慣用左手，

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

最近七位美國總統中，也有五位慣用左手。

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

左撇子在另一件事上也佔優勢：

keyboards.

鍵盤。

On a QWERTY keyboard, 文化背景

在 QWERTY 鍵盤上，

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

光用左手就能打出成千上萬個英文單字。

But on the right side of the keyboard,

但只用鍵盤右側，

you can only write maybe about a hundred or so.

大概只能打出一百個左右。

On the left side of a keyboard,

在鍵盤左側，

the left hand all on its own 片語搭配

單靠左手，

can type pretty long, 用詞

就能打出相當長、

somewhat common words like stewardesses,

也還算常見的單字，例如 stewardesses、

reverberated, and desegregated.

reverberated 和 desegregated。

But on the right hand side,

但在右手這一側，

the longest common word you can type is lollipop.

能打出的最長常用單字是 lollipop。

Oh, look, 表達脈絡

喔，你看，

a spacebar.

是空白鍵。

When people go to space,

當人們前往太空時，

they have left Earth.

他們就離開了地球。

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

第一個離開地球、進入太空的人是 Yuri Gagarin，

a Soviet cosmonaut. 文化背景

一位蘇聯太空人。

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

但我感興趣的是第四位進入太空的男性，

Gherman Titov.

Gherman Titov。

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

他或許只是第四個進入太空的人，

but he was the first person to have left Earth

但他是第一個離開地球

and simultaneously left wakefulness. 慣用語

同時也離開清醒狀態的人。

Titov was the first person to sleep in space.

Titov 是第一個在太空睡覺的人。

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,

當時他只有25歲，

which means that to this day, 講解

這表示直到今天，

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

Titov 仍是有史以來進入太空最年輕的人。

You know what else leaves Earth? 表達脈絡

你知道還有什麼會離開地球嗎？

Helium.

氦。

That's right.

沒錯。

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

我們用來充氣球的氦氣比空氣輕，

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

所以氦分子會一路升到大氣層最頂端，

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

在那裡被太陽風帶走，

meaning that they leave us forever. 表達脈絡

也就是說，它們會永遠離開我們。

In fact,

事實上，

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

我們還剩下多少氦，確實有點令人擔心，

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

因為地球上的氦只能透過放射性衰變產生。

Alpha particles are essentially helium nuclei,

阿爾法粒子本質上就是氦原子核，

and we find a lot of helium inside natural gas.

而天然氣中含有大量的氦。

But right now,

但目前，

we're using a lot of it,

我們正在大量使用氦，

and helium's quite cheap,

而且氦相當便宜，

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

所以，我們確實有理由擔心，在未來三、四十年內，

we may have no helium left.

我們可能就沒有氦可用了。

Thanks for watching.

感謝收看。