Why reading is so important for your brain

江蘇白蒲高級中學 張 馨

三毛說：“讀書多了，容顏自然改變，許多時候，自己可能以為許多看過的書籍都成過眼煙云，不復記憶，其實它們仍是潛在氣質里、在談吐上、在胸襟的無涯，當然也可能顯露在生活和文字中。”

難詞探意

1.cognitive adj.認知的

2.cortex n.大腦皮層

3.neuron n.神經元

預 讀 思 考

1.文章的結構與各段段落大意是什么？

2.文章采用了哪些論證方法來論證閱讀對大腦的重要性？

There are countless methods to improve your memory andcognitivefunctioning.But the cheapest, easiest, and most time-tested way to sharpen your brain is right in front of your face.It's called reading.

The most basic impact occurs in the area associated with language reception, the left temporalcortex.Processing written material—from the letters to the words to the sentences to the stories themselves—snaps theneuronsto attention astheystart the work of transmitting all that information.That happens when we process spoken language,too,but the very nature of reading encourages the brain to work harder and better.

And the benefits of reading continue long after you've put down that great book.A small study at Emory University found that some of those benefits lasted for five days. “We callthata shadow activity,almost like a muscle memory,”said Gregory Berns,PhD,director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory.In fact,this is how reading in a way can improve your memory.

OK,you say,it's hardly surprising that the language part of the brain would get a workout from reading.But reading also energizes the region responsible for motor activity,the central sulcus.That's because the brain is a very active play actor.When it is reading about a physical activity,the neurons that control that activity get busy as well.You may not actually be riding a horse when you're reading Seabiscuit,but your brain acts as if it were.And the more parts of your brain get a workout,the better it is for your overall cognitive performance.

What if you are a poor reader who feels as if you'll never be able to read enough to get these benefits?A book can fix that problem，too! Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University studied children aged eight to ten who were below-average readers. One hundred hours of extra reading classes significantly improved the quality of their brains'white matter—the tissue that carries signals between areas of gray matter,where information is processed.The researchers'conclusion is that the brains of these children had begun to rewire themselves in ways that could benefit the entire brain, not only the reading-centric temporal cortex.

Reading is really of great importance to your brain.Why not turn off your phone and your computer,and just read for an hour or two every day from now on?

閱讀檢測

T(true)or F(false)questions

（ ）1.Reading is a time-tested way to improve our memory.

（ ）2.The right temporal cortex is an area linked with language reception.

（ ）3.The benefits of reading won't continue after you've put down the book.

（ ）4.Reading makes the language part of the brain get a workout.

（ ）5.Poor readers actually can't benefit from reading books.

探究視角①語篇分析

“狡黠者鄙讀書，無知者羨讀書，惟明智之士用讀書，然書并不以用處告人，用書之智不在書中，而在書外，全憑觀察得之。”書籍也是一種“營養品”，可修身，可怡情，還可“煉腦”。研究表明，每天堅持閱讀可以鍛煉和提升大腦的記憶和認知能力。本文圍繞“閱讀于大腦的重要性”來展開，是一篇議論文。 議論文通常可以分為引論（提出問題），本論（擺出證據）和結論（重申簡介或主張）。

本文的篇章結構如下：

Structure Paragraph（s） Main idea（s）Topic Para.1 ●Reading can improve memory and cognitive functioning.ImpactPara.2●Reading lets the brain work harder and better.●The benefits of reading will last even after you've put down that book.Reasons Para.3～5●Reading not only practices the language part of the brain,but also energizes the central sulcus.●Poor readers can also benefit from enough reading.Conclusion Para.6 ●Reading is important to your brain.

探究視角②語言學習

Ⅰ.文本填空

1.The cheapest,easiest,and most time-tested way to(sharp)your brain is reading.

2. The most basic impact occurs in the the left temporal cortex associatedlanguage reception.

3.It's（hard）surprising that the language part of the brain would get a workout from reading.

4.And the more parts of your brain get a workout,the（good）it is for your overall cognitive performance.

5.What if you are a poor readerfeels as if you'll never be able to read enough to get these benefits?

Ⅱ.指代關系

1.What does the underlined word“they”in paragraph 2 mean?

2.What does the underlined word“that”in paragraph 3 mean?

3.What does the underlined word“it”in paragraph 4 mean?

Ⅲ.寫作推薦

1.OK,you say,it's hardly surprising that the language part of the brain would get a workout from reading.好吧，你說大腦的語言部分通過閱讀得到了鍛煉，這不足為奇。

【信息提取】It's hardly surprising that...意為“……不足為奇”。

【句式仿寫】他取得如此大的進步不足為奇。

2.What if you are a poor reader who feels as if you'll never be able to read enough to get these benefits?如果你是一個不擅長閱讀的人，感覺似乎讀得再多都難以獲得這些好處，那該怎么辦？

【信息提取】What if...?意為“如果……,該怎么辦？”。

【句式仿寫】如果火車晚點該怎么辦呢？

3.Reading is really of great importance to your brain.閱讀對你的大腦真的很重要。

【信息提取】be of great importance to...意為“對……很重要”，源于結構be+of+名詞，與be+adj.表達的意思一樣。

【句式仿寫】每天鍛煉對孩子的成長很重要。

探究視角③論證方法

議論文常見的論證方式有舉例論證、道理論證、對比論證、比喻論證和引用論證等。本文使用的論證方法有：

引用論證 A small study at Emory University found that some of those benefits lasted for five days.比喻論證 We call that a shadow activity,almost like a muscle memory.舉例論證 You may not actually be riding a horse when you're reading Seabiscuit,but your brain acts as if it were.

常見論證方法的作用：

道理論證——通過講道理的方式證明觀點，使論證更概括、更深入。

對比論證——突出強調，使人印象深刻，更具有說服力。

比喻論證——使論證更生動形象，淺顯易懂。

引用論證——增強說服力和權威性。

探究視角④思維拓展

董卿談閱讀

董卿曾接受《環球人物》采訪，該采訪視頻播放量高達1，263 萬，視頻中董卿談了自己的閱讀心得。

問：你的閱讀習慣是?

答：我一直保持每天睡覺之前一個小時的閱讀，這個是幾乎雷打不動的，沒有什么特別的，很多人問，你還能堅持嗎?我覺得這個好像無所謂堅持不堅持，就是你習慣了，臥室里沒有電視機和手機，沒有任何電子產品，這也是我的一個習慣，安安靜靜地看會兒書就可以睡覺了。

問：你覺得值得反復看的書有哪些?

答：在這個世界上值得反反復復去閱讀的是唐詩宋詞。因為它短小，但隨著你年齡的增長，在不同的生命階段，讀一首詩、一首詞的理解是不一樣的，可能小時候就覺得堆砌辭藻的詩文的東西會更觸動到自己，但是大了之后就會越來越喜歡蘇東坡甚至陸游，覺得人生不如意十有八九，他們都寫在詩詞里面。

“床前明月光，疑是地上霜。舉頭望明月，低頭思故鄉。”你能說它簡單嗎？沒有一個字是你不認識的，可能小學，甚至不用讀小學的小朋友早教都有了，但是你寫不出來呀。這個真是太偉大了，它面上的極簡和它背后所包含的縱橫捭闔的這種精神的情懷和高度，就讓你贊嘆不已，寫出千古能夠引起共鳴的情感，挺難的。