考研英語(yǔ)時(shí)文賞讀（53）：為什么看到可愛(ài)的寶寶或者動(dòng)物我們會(huì)忍不住去揉捏？

　　摘要：考研英語(yǔ)作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學(xué)了英語(yǔ)十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過(guò)線掛在英語(yǔ)上的情況，因此英語(yǔ)復(fù)習(xí)不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語(yǔ)的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒(méi)法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會(huì)不定時(shí)推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語(yǔ)閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　Scientists may have found a reason why you can’t stop pinching the cheeks of adorable babies.

　　科學(xué)家們可能已經(jīng)找到原因，為啥你會(huì)忍不住捏可愛(ài)寶寶的臉頰。

　　Researchers at Yale University describe this phenomenon as “cute aggression.”

　　耶魯大學(xué)的研究人員將這種現(xiàn)象描述為“可愛(ài)侵略性”。

　　They studied the brains of 52 participants via electrophysiology and found that people have a strong reaction to pets and humans with more infantile features.

　　他們通過(guò)電生理學(xué)研究了52名參與者的大腦，發(fā)現(xiàn)人們對(duì)寵物和有更多嬰兒特征的人類反應(yīng)強(qiáng)烈。

　　“The Yale researchers initially found that people reported feeling cute aggression more in response to baby animals versus adult animals,” Katherine Stavropoulos, a special education professor at the University of California, wrote in a press release. “But even beyond that, people reported feeling cute aggression more in response to picture of human babies that had been digitally enhanced to appear more infantile, and therefore ‘more cute,’ by enlarging features like their eyes, cheeks, and foreheads.”

　　加州大學(xué)特殊教育教授凱瑟琳·斯塔夫羅普洛斯在一篇新聞稿中寫道：“耶魯大學(xué)的研究人員最初發(fā)現(xiàn)，與成年動(dòng)物相比，人們對(duì)幼小動(dòng)物的可愛(ài)侵略性更強(qiáng)烈。但除此之外，當(dāng)人們看到經(jīng)過(guò)數(shù)碼強(qiáng)化處理，更嬰兒化的嬰兒照片時(shí)，他們的可愛(ài)侵略感也更強(qiáng)烈。這些照片通過(guò)放大他們的眼睛、臉頰和額頭等面部特征顯得更‘可愛(ài)’。”

　　The study also saw that respondents felt more overwhelmed and wanted to take care of cute baby animals over less cute adult animals.

　　研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，與不太可愛(ài)的成年動(dòng)物相比，被調(diào)查者會(huì)不可抑制地更想照顧可愛(ài)的小動(dòng)物。

　　Stavropoulos argues that our “cute aggression,” the feeling that something is so adorable you can’t take it, serves as an evolutionary function.

　　斯塔夫羅普洛斯認(rèn)為，我們的“可愛(ài)侵略性”是一種感覺(jué)，即認(rèn)為某樣?xùn)|西太可愛(ài)了，你無(wú)法接受，這是一種進(jìn)化功能。

　　“For example, if you find yourself incapacitated by how cute a baby is — so much so that you simply can’t take care of it — that baby is going to starve,” Stavropoulos said. “Cute aggression may serve as a tempering mechanism that allows us to function and actually take care of something we might first perceive as overwhelmingly cute.”

　　斯塔夫羅普洛斯說(shuō)：“舉例來(lái)說(shuō)，如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己無(wú)法忍受寶寶的可愛(ài)程度，以至于你根本無(wú)法照顧它，那么寶寶就會(huì)餓死?？蓯?ài)侵略性可以作為一種調(diào)節(jié)機(jī)制，讓我們能夠正常生活，并真正照顧那些我們一開始覺(jué)得超級(jí)可愛(ài)的東西。”

　　(全文共241個(gè)詞，每日郵報(bào) )

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