科学美国人60秒 SSS 2014-08-13_在线英语听力室

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How often have you longed to have time to just sit quietly and think? Well, be careful what you wish for. Because a study shows that many people find such interludes incredibly unpleasant. So uncomfortable, in fact, that they would rather zap themselves with electricity than be left alone with their thoughts. The shocking results appear in the journal Science.

In the experiment, participants were asked to sit alone in a room for up to 15 minutes…with no cell phone, no reading material, no music—so, nothing to entertain them, save their own rambling¹ thoughts. Afterward², most subjects reported that they found it difficult to concentrate and that they did not enjoy the experience.

Then, to assess just how much subjects disliked doing nothing, the researchers repeated the experiment. Only this time they gave volunteers the added option of occasionally giving themselves a mild electric jolt³. Two thirds of the men in the study—and one quarter of the women—chose to take advantage of the shock option at least once during their time out.

The results suggest that if there’s anything worse than losing your mind, it’s getting caught alone with it.

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1 rambling
adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的
参考例句：
We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。 It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

2 afterward
adv.后来；以后
参考例句：
Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。 Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

3 jolt
v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸
参考例句：
We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。 They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

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科学美国人60秒 SSS 2014-08-13