【英语时差8,16】她的脸

Imagine not being able to recognize faces. You could see faces, but you'd be entirely¹ unable to distinguish one face from another. All faces would look more or less the same--an amorphous² assemblage of eyes, ears, noses, lips, and chins. To put it mildly, that would be strange.   For some unlucky people, having a problem with facial recognition is more than just strange. It's an affliction known as prosopagnosia, or face blindness.

It might be hard to imagine what it would be like to suffer from face blindness, given that most of us take for granted the ability to read facial expressions for clues to a person's emotional state. Being face blind is a bit like being tone deaf and unable to distinguish one musical note from another. Tone deafness is arguably less of a burden, however. Not being able to hum along with a Mozart sonata³ or a Metallica dirge⁴ may be annoying, but it pales in comparison to not being able to tell faces apart. In the most severe cases, people who suffer from face blindness can't even recognize the faces of family members.

Scientists believe that face blindness is caused by damage to a part of the brain called the fusiform face area, or FFA. As research continues, scientists hope to learn more about how the FFA allows us to recognize and read faces and how damage to this area could result in face blindness.

Meanwhile, people with face blindness must find ways to cope. Some recognize others by the way they walk or by their voice. But those are weak substitutes for what's contained in a face.

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 amorphous   

adj.无定形的

参考例句：

• There was a weakening of the intermolecular bonds,primarily in the amorphous region of the polymer.分子间键合减弱，尤其在聚合物的无定形区内更为明显。
• It is an amorphous colorless or white powder.它是一种无定形的无色或白色粉末。

3 sonata   

n.奏鸣曲

参考例句：

• He played a piano sonata of his own composition.他弹奏了一首自作的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• The young boy played the violin sonata masterfully.那个小男孩的小提琴奏鸣曲拉得很熟练。

4 dirge   

n.哀乐，挽歌，庄重悲哀的乐曲

参考例句：

• She threw down her basket and intoned a peasant dirge.她撂下菜篮，唱起庄稼人的哀歌。
• The stranger,after listening for a moment,joined in the mournful dirge.听了一会儿后这个陌生人也跟著唱起了悲哀的挽歌。