VOA慢速英語：不友善之詞會傷害大腦

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語健康和生活方式報道。
There is a popular saying in the English language: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."
英語里有一種俗語：“棍棒和石頭可能會打斷我的骨頭，但是惡言惡語永遠傷不到我。”
Well, that is not true.
這種說法是不正確的。
Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called "the silent treatment" can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so.
不友善之詞、辱罵甚至是所謂的“冷遇”對孩子的傷害不亞于遭受身體毆打，有時候甚至更甚。
A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal abuse by other children can harm development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts.
最近一項針對中學生的研究表明，其他孩子的語言暴力會損害大腦發(fā)育。這項研究是馬薩諸塞州哈佛醫(yī)學院研究人員的一個項目。
Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, ages 18 to 25. These young men and women had no experience with domestic violence, sexual abuse or physical abuse by their parents.
研究員馬丁·泰契爾(Martin Teicher)及其團隊研究了年齡在18到25歲的青年。這些青年男女都未曾遭受過家庭暴力、性虐待或父母身體虐待。
The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.
研究人員讓這些青年評價他們遭受父母或其他孩子語言暴力的童年。然后研究人員對這些受試者進行大腦成像測試。
The images showed that the individuals who reported suffering verbal abuse from their peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain.
圖像顯示，自稱在中學遭受了同齡人語言暴力的這些個人的左腦和右腦之間存在著欠發(fā)達的連接。
The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.
大腦兩側(cè)通過一大束被稱之為胼胝體的連接纖維互相連接，這就是所提到的欠發(fā)達的大腦區(qū)域。
The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period had the greatest effect.
中學是大腦連接發(fā)育的階段。所以，在此期間來自兒童或成人不友善的、傷害性的言論的影響最大。
The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of individuals had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.
研究人員測試了這項研究中所有青年的精神和情感狀態(tài)。測試表明，和這項研究中的其他人相比，這群人都存在較高程度的恐懼、抑郁、憤怒和濫用藥物。
The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatry's website.
研究人員在《美國精神病學雜志》的網(wǎng)站上發(fā)表了他們的研究結果。
We cannot control what other people say to our children. But we can prepare them. A website called CreativeWithKids.com suggests 64 things that all children need to hear.
我們無法控制別人怎么說我們的孩子。但是我們可以讓他們做好準備。CreativeWithKids.com網(wǎng)站給出了孩子需要聽到的64句話。
Here, are our top 20.
以下是前20句。
I am curious what you think.
我很好奇你是怎么想。
You are creative.
你很有創(chuàng)意。
I believe in you.
我相信你。
You can ask for help.
你可以求助。
You make me smile
你讓我開心。
I have faith in you.
我對你有信心。
You are imperfect. So am I.
你我都不完美。
You are a good friend.
你是一個很好的朋友。
I will do my best to keep you safe.
我會盡全力保護你。
Trust your instincts.
相信你的直覺。
My world is better with you in it.
我的世界有你才更好。
I love you.
我愛你。
It's fun to do things with you.
和你一起做事真有趣。
You are valuable.
你很有價值。
Your choices matter.
你的選擇很重要。
You can change your mind.
你可以改主意。
You make a difference.
你與眾不同。
I'm ready to listen.
我在聽。
You can learn from your mistakes.
你可以從錯誤中吸取教訓。
I'm proud of you.
我為你感到驕傲。
Share one or more of these statements with a child in your life. Actually, maybe we all need to hear some of these statements.
在生活中和孩子們分享這些語句。其實，也許我們大家都需要聽到這些語句。
Choose another and say it to an adult you care about.
選擇另一句說給你關心的成年人聽吧。
I'm Anna Matteo.
我是安娜·馬特奧。