TED演讲:恋爱中的大脑(2)

 　　We found activity in a tiny, little factory near the base of the brain  我们发现在大脑底部附近有一块活跃的微小的区域

　　called the ventral tegmental area.  腹侧背盖区。

　　We found activity in some cells called the A10 cells,  其中活跃的细胞称为ApEn细胞。

　　cells that actually make dopamine, a natural stimulant,  实际上，这种细胞制造了多巴胺——一种天然的兴奋剂，

　　and spray it to many brain regions.  并将它散发到大脑的众多区域。

　　Indeed, this part, the VTA, is part of the brain's reward system.  准确地说来，这里腹侧背盖区是大脑奖励系统的一部分。

　　It's way below your cognitive¹ thinking process.  它运作在潜意识中，

　　It's below your emotions.  也不受情绪控制。

　　It's part of what we call the reptilian² core of the brain,  腹侧背盖区也是被我们称作爬虫类脑核的部分。

　　associated with wanting, with motivation,  它关系到欲求、动机、

　　with focus and with craving³.  专注和渴望。

　　In fact, the same brain region where we found activity  事实上，这一片区域

　　becomes active also when you feel the rush of cocaine⁴.  在可卡因瘾发作时也会活跃起来。

　　But romantic love is much more than a cocaine high --  但比起可卡因，爱情让它更加活跃——

　　at least you come down from cocaine.  至少你还能从可卡因中回过神来。

　　Romantic love is an obsession⁵. It possesses you.  爱情萦绕于心，占据着你。

　　You lose your sense of self.  你失去自我意识，

　　You can't stop thinking about another human being.  不能自主地去想他

　　Somebody is camping in your head.  他一直盘踞在你脑中。

　　As an eighth-century Japanese poet said,  就如8世纪的一位日本诗人所说，

　　"My longing⁶ had no time when it ceases."  “我的渴求永不停止。”

　　Wild is love.  爱情是狂热的。

　　And the obsession can get worse when you've been rejected.  当你被抛弃之后，牵挂会更深。

　　So, right now, Lucy Brown and I, the neuroscientist on our project,  我和项目组中的神经系统学家露西·布朗

　　are looking at the data of the people  当下正在研究

　　who were put into the machine after they had just been dumped.  被抛弃的人们的核磁共振测试数据。

　　It was very difficult actually,  但说服他们

　　putting these people in the machine,  进行测验实在是困难，

　　because they were in such bad shape.  因为他们心情实在是太糟了。

　　So anyway, we found activity in three brain regions.  总之，我们在大脑中发现了三个与之有关的区域。

　　We found activity in the brain region,  我们在那块大脑区域，

　　in exactly the same brain region  也就是腹侧背盖区，

　　associated with intense romantic love.  找到了与热恋相关的大脑活动。

　　What a bad deal.  这是多么坏的事情啊！

　　You know, when you've been dumped,  当你被甩之后，

　　the one thing you love to do is just forget about this human being,  你会想着要忘掉他，

　　and then go on with your life --  并继续你的正常生活，

　　but no, you just love them harder.  但事与愿违，你只会更爱他了。

　　As the poet Terence, the Roman poet once said,  就像罗马诗人特伦斯曾说过的：

　　he said, "The less my hope, the hotter my love."  “我的祈求越少，我的爱情便越炽烈。”

　　And indeed, we now know why.  时至今日，我们知道这是为什么了。

　　Two thousand years later, we can explain this in the brain.  2000年后的今天，我们能够解释大脑中的这一过程。

　　That brain system -- the reward system  大脑中的奖赏系统

　　for wanting, for motivation, for craving, for focus --  与欲望、动机、渴望和专注有关，

　　becomes more active when you can't get what you want.  它在你不能得到你所要的时，反而变得更加活跃。

　　In this case, life's greatest prize:  倘若如此，生命中最大的奖赏即是：

　　an appropriate mating partner.  一个适当的约会对象。

　　We found activity in other brain regions also --  我们发现大脑中

　　in a brain region associated with calculating gains and losses.  计算得失的区域也与爱情有关。

　　You know, you're lying there, you're looking at the picture,  测试者躺在核磁共振仪中，

　　and you're in this machine,  看着昔日爱人的照片，

　　and you're calculating, you know, what went wrong.  然后开始回想到底是什么出错了。

　　How, you know, what have I lost?  我失去了什么？

　　As a matter of fact, Lucy and I have a little joke about this.  事实上，露西和我对此开过一些玩笑。

　　It comes from a David Mamet play,  在大卫·梅米特的一部剧中，

　　and there's two con⁷ artists in the play,  有两个行骗高手，

　　and the woman is conning⁸ the man,  其中女士在勾引男士，

　　and the man looks at the woman and says,  于是他看着那位女士说：

　　"Oh, you're a bad pony⁹, I'm not going to bet on you."  “你真调皮，我是不会犯错的。”

　　And indeed, it's this part of the brain,  当你在计算得失时，

　　the core of the nucleus¹⁰ accumbens, actually, that is becoming active  大脑中的这部分——伏隔核的核心

　　as you're measuring your gains and losses.  变得活跃起来。

　　It's also the brain region that becomes active  当你要因为得到或失去

　　when you're willing to take enormous risks  而去冒巨大的风险时，

　　for huge gains and huge losses.  它也会变得活跃。

　　Last but not least, we found activity in a brain region  最后，我们还在一块区域中

　　associated with deep attachment¹¹ to another individual.  发现了与深度依恋有关的大脑活动。

　　No wonder people suffer around the world,  难怪世界各地的人们都遭受着痛苦，

　　and we have so many crimes of passion.  难怪我们中这么多人被负心的情人伤害

　　When you've been rejected in love,  当你被爱抛弃时，

　　not only are you engulfed¹² with feelings of romantic love,  你不仅被对爱情的渴望吞没，

　　but you're feeling deep attachment to this individual.  而且感到对他深深的依恋。

　　Moreover, this brain circuit for reward is working,  此外，大脑的奖赏回路开始工作，

　　and you're feeling intense energy, intense focus,  这使得你感到强烈的精力，强烈的专注，

　　intense motivation and the willingness to risk it all  强烈的干劲，和想要不顾一切地

　　to win life's greatest prize.  赢得生命中最高奖赏的愿望。

　　So, what have I learned from this experiment  那么，关于这次实验，

　　that I would like to tell the world?  我又有什么样的体会要分享给全世界呢？

　　Foremost, I have come to think  最重要的一点，我的结论是

　　that romantic love is a drive, a basic mating drive.  爱情是人类最基本的寻求配对的冲动。

　　Not the sex drive -- the sex drive gets you out there,  这不是性冲动——性冲动让你寻找

　　looking for a whole range of partners.  能够成为性伴侣的人。

　　Romantic love enables you to focus your mating energy  而爱情让你同时只对一个人产生配对的冲动，

　　on just one at a time, conserve¹³ your mating energy,  并节制地使用它，

　　and start the mating process with this single individual.  开始同他恋爱。

　　I think of all the poetry that I've read about romantic love,  我脑海中浮现出读过的所有关于爱情的诗篇，

　　what sums it up best is something that is said by Plato,  其中最适合概括这一点的是

　　over 2,000 years ago.  2000多年前的诗人柏拉图的一首诗，

　　He said, "The god of love lives in a state of need.  “爱神栖于爱欲之国。

　　It is a need. It is an urge.  爱是欲求，是冲动，

　　It is a homeostatic imbalance.  是恒久的失衡。

　　Like hunger and thirst, it's almost impossible to stamp out."  如饥似渴，不能熄灭。”

　　I've also come to believe that romantic love is an addiction¹⁴:  我同样也相信爱情让人成瘾：

　　a perfectly¹⁵ wonderful addiction when it's going well,  爱若甜蜜，人们沉溺其中；

　　and a perfectly horrible addiction when it's going poorly.  爱若苦涩，人们深陷其中，难以自拔。

　　And indeed, it has all of the characteristics of addiction.  确然，爱情拥有成瘾的所有特征，

　　You focus on the person, you obsessively¹⁶ think about them,  你专注于他，执念于他，

　　you crave¹⁷ them, you distort reality,  渴望得到他，并扭曲现实，

　　your willingness to take enormous risks to win this person.  愿不顾一切以赢得他的爱。

　　And it's got the three main characteristics of addiction:  成瘾的三个主要特征也在爱情上得以体现：

　　tolerance¹⁸, you need to see them more, and more, and more;  首先是耐受性——你总是想要得到更多以维持最初的感觉，

　　withdrawals¹⁹; and last, relapse.  而后耐受性消退，最后又复发。

　　I've got a girlfriend who's just getting over a terrible love affair.  我的一位女朋友刚从一段痛苦的恋情中恢复过来，

　　It's been about eight months, she's beginning to feel better.  经过了八个月，她终于好多了。

　　And she was driving along in her car the other day,  这之后的一天，她正开着车，

　　and suddenly she heard a song on the car radio  收音机里的一首歌

　　that reminded her of this man.  让她又想起了那个男人。

　　And she -- not only did the instant craving come back,  于是，瞬时的渴望充满全身，

　　but she had to pull over  她控制不住情绪，把车停在路边，

　　from the side of the road and cry.  大哭了一场。

　　So, one thing I would like the medical community,  因此，我希望医学界、

　　and the legal community, and even the college community,  法学界和高教界

　　to see if they can understand, that indeed,  都关注到上述这一点：

　　romantic love is one of the most addictive²⁰ substances on Earth.  爱情确实是世界上最让人成瘾的东西。

1 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

2 reptilian   

adj.（像）爬行动物的；（像）爬虫的；卑躬屈节的；卑鄙的n.两栖动物；卑劣的人

参考例句：

• The chick is ugly and almost reptilian in its appearance. 这只小鸡长得很丑，看起来几乎像个爬行动物。 来自辞典例句
• Being from Orion do Zetas contain DNA from the Reptilian race? 齐塔人是从猎户座而来，DNA来自爬虫族吗？ 来自互联网

3 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。

4 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

5 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

6 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

7 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

8 conning   

v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He climbed into the conning tower, his eyes haunted and sickly bright. 他爬上司令塔，两眼象见鬼似的亮得近乎病态。 来自辞典例句
• As for Mady, she enriched her record by conning you. 对马德琳来说，这次骗了你，又可在她的光荣历史上多了一笔。 来自辞典例句

9 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

10 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

11 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

12 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

14 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 obsessively   

ad.着迷般地，过分地

参考例句：

• Peter was obsessively jealous and his behaviour was driving his wife away. 彼得过分嫉妒的举止令他的妻子想离他而去。
• He's rude to his friends and obsessively jealous. 他对他的朋友很无礼而且嫉妒心重。

17 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。

18 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

19 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

20 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。