英语听力文摘 English Digest 502、“懒惰”的年轻人

 　　M: Kids these days! They have no respect; they don't know the value of dollar;they can't pay attention to anything for long.

 

　　F: Actually, that last one may be true. Well,the older generation always complains about kids. But researchers who study the effects of television actually have data to suggest that young people today don’t pay attention in the way their parents do.

 

　　M: What's the connection to TV?

 

　　F: Annie Lang and her colleagues at Indiana University have done a series of studies in which college-age people and middle-aged¹ people were shown a string of t.v. and movie clips². In one trial, they showed images that changed at a fast rate — over eleven shots every thirty seconds.

 

　　Other trials had images that changed at slower rates — five to six changes, or zero to three changes, every thirty seconds. People from all three groups were quizzed after watching the videos to see how much they could remember.

 

　　M: The results?

 

　　F: The results differed depending on a couple of factors, such as how arousing³ the images themselves were. But in general they found that young people have a much harder time than adults in paying attention to, and remembering, slower-moving material.

 

　　M:I knew it, those  lazy kids!

 

　　F: It’s not quite  laziness. They try, but slow material is hard for them. And adults fared worse at remembering fast-moving material.

 

　　男：现在的小孩子们不懂得尊重（别人），不知道钱的价值，也不能把注意力长时间放在一件事上。

 

　　女：事实上，最后一个或许是真的。上一代人老是抱怨孩子。但是研究电视（对人的）影响的研究人员真的有数据可以证实现在的年轻人并不能像他们的父母一样集中注意力。

 

　　男：跟电视有什么关系？

 

　　女：印第安纳大学的Annie Lang和他的同事们对做了一系列的研究。（研究人员给）大学年龄层的年轻人和中年人展示了一系列的电视节目和电影剪辑。他们一组用很每30秒超过11次的速度快速给他们展示了图像。另两组，他们又以更慢—— 每30秒5到6次或是0到3次的速度（展示）。 看完录像后，三组人会被测试能记忆多少内容。

 

　　男：结果是？

 

　　女：结果受一些因素的影响而有所不同。比如说图像本身振奋人心的程度。但是总的来说，研究人员发现未成年人比成年人更难对慢速移动的东西集中注意力并且记忆住。

 

　　男：我知道了，懒惰的孩子们！

 

　　女：也不一定是懒惰。他们有尝试，但是（运动）慢的东西对他们来说很难（集中注意力并且记忆住）。而成年人在记忆快速移动的东西上更遭。

1 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

2 clips   

n.剪（ clip的名词复数 ）；剪短；剪报；（塑料或金属的） 夹子v.用别针别在某物上，用夹子夹在某物上（ clip的第三人称单数 ）；剪掉；缩短；给…剪毛（或发）

参考例句：

• toe clips on a bicycle 自行车上的踏脚夹套
• Use the crocodile clips to attach the cables to the battery. 用鳄鱼嘴夹把电缆接到蓄电池上。

3 arousing   

v.引起( arouse的现在分词 )；唤醒；激起性欲；使行动起来

参考例句：

• They drove away slowly to avoid arousing suspicion. 他们缓缓驾车离去，以免引起怀疑。
• They abused their power and bullied the people, thus arousing intense discontent among the masses. 他们仗势欺人，引起群众强烈的不满。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》