听力文摘：暴力电玩会改变我们的大脑吗?

Do Violent Video Games Change Our Brains?

Video games are a huge industry kids and young adults spend more time playing them than watching movies or TV. And some of the most popular video games are ultra realistic war and fighting games featuring massive amounts of hi-res violence.

So if you’re a parent, or a pundit¹, or maybe even a dedicated² gamer, you’ve gotta wonder: does spending countless³ hours doing virtual violence to pixelated monsters and warriors⁴ have any effect on our sensitive and malleable⁵ brains?

To find out, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine studied the effects of violent video games on twenty-eight non gaming guys. Half of them played a violent game for a week and then took a week off. The other half didn’t play any video games, acting⁶ as the control group.

After one week the subjects underwent fMRI analysis and then again after two weeks. During the fMRI sessions both groups did tasks meant to test their cognitive⁷ abilities.

Now, twenty-eight subjects is a pretty small sample size, but the results were interesting. After only one week of gaming, the guys that played the violent game showed decreased activity in parts of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control. After a cool down week of no gaming, the subjects’ brain functioning was closer to normal.

So does this prove that violent video games warp⁸ young men’s minds? Not exactly. That would take a much larger study. But the study at the very least suggests that doing pretend violence may have a real effect on how we think and act.

1 pundit   

n.博学之人；权威

参考例句：

• Even the outstanding excellent graduate will learn constantly if he likes to be a pundit.即使最优秀的结业生，要想成为一个博学的人也要不断地研究。
• He is a well known political pundit.他是一个著名的政治专家。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

4 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

5 malleable   

adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的；(性格)可训练的

参考例句：

• Silver is the most malleable of all metals.银是延展性最好的金属。
• Scientists are finding that the adult human brain is far more malleable than they once thought.科学家发现成人大脑的可塑性远超过他们之前认识到的。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 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。

8 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。