读书也是健身：每天阅读6分钟 效果胜于散步 （中英双语））
Benefits of the brain: Books can improve your brain capacity
对大脑的益处：书本可以改善你的大脑容量
Reading is good for you. I would say that, of course. I’m a novelist – I’ve written five books for teenagers – and it’s obviously in my interest to encourage people to read.
阅读对你是有益的。当然我会这么说，因为我是个小说家——我已经为青少年写了5本书，很显然，鼓励人们阅读符合我的利益。
But there’s increasing evidence that reading for pleasure isn’t just another leisure pursuit, or merely a way of improving literacy skills and factual knowledge.
但是有越来越多的证据表明明阅读不仅仅是为了娱乐消遣，或者提高文学水平和实际知识。
It might actually be good for our mental and physical health too. In an age of Twitter and short attention spans, reading novels – which requires intense concentration over a long period of time – could be the antidote.
它可能也对我们的身心健康有利。在当今 Twitter 和 短暂注意力盛行的时代里，读小说这个需要在一个很长时间段内完全投入注意力的活动能够成为一种“解药”。
Neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield says that reading helps to lengthen attention spans in children and improves their ability to think clearly. ‘Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end – a structure that encourages our brains to think in sequence, to link cause, effect and significance,’ she says.
精神学家苏珊·格林菲尔德男爵夫人说读书可以帮助孩子延长注意力时间并且帮助他们提高清晰思维的能力。“故事拥有开头、发展和结局——这种结构能够促进大概按照顺序思维，将原因、影响和意义联系到一起，”她说。
‘It is essential to learn this skill as a small child, while the brain has more plasticity, which is why it’s so important for parents to read to their children.
“学习这种技能对于小孩子来说很重要，因为大脑有很大的可塑造性，这就是为什么父母为自己的孩子读书如此重要。
‘The more we do it, the better we get at it.’
“我们做的越多，在其上的收获越多。”
Reading can enrich our relationships by increasing our understanding of other cultures and helping us learn to empathize.
阅读可以帮助我们了解其他的文化，从而丰富我们人际关系，阅读还可以帮助我们体会他人。
A recent study at the University of Michigan found that there had been a 48 per cent decrease in empathy among college students, with the sharpest decline in the past ten – most technology dependent – years, suggesting, although not proving, a correlation. Encouraging reading could counteract this.
最近一份来自美国密歇根大学的研究发现，48%的大学生在体会他人情感方面的能力有所下降，这是过去10年来最急剧的一次下降，这也是对人们对科技最依赖的一段时间，表明了这两者之间（尽管还没有得到证实）的关系。鼓励阅读可以抵制这种现象。
Brain exercise: Imagining an event in a book is as good at activating the brain as actually 'doing' it.
大脑练习：想象书中的一件事对于活动大脑来说，和实际做了此事的效果一样。
‘In a computer game, you might have to rescue a princess, but you don’t care about her, you just want to win,’ explains Baroness Greenfield.
“在电脑游戏里面，你有可能要营救公主，但是你并不关心她，你只是想要赢得游戏。”格林菲尔德男爵夫人解释道。
‘But a princess in a book has a past, present and future, she has connections and motivations. We can relate to her. We see the world through her eyes.’
“但是书里的公主却是不一样的，她有过去现在和未来，她有各种各样的关系和感情。我们能够与她关联起来，我们可以通过她的眼睛看到世界。”
According to John Stein, emeritus professor of neuroscience at Magdalen College, Oxford, reading is far from a passive activity. ‘Reading exercises the whole brain,’ he explains.
根据牛津莫德林学院退休精神学教授约翰·斯坦的研究，阅读绝非是一个被动活动，“阅读可以运动整个大脑，”他解释道。
Development: Reading stories to your child will help their brains develop the ability to analyse cause, effect and significance of events
发育：为你的孩子读故事可以帮助他们的大脑发展分析事件原因、影响和意义的能力。
‘When we “get lost” in a good book, we’re doing more than simply following a story. Imagining what’s happening is as good at activating the brain as “doing” it.’
“当我们‘沉浸’在一本好书中的时候，我们不仅仅是简单的跟从故事情节的发展。想象正在发生的事情对于活动大脑来说，和实际做了此事的效果一样。”
New MRI scanning techniques now enable science to prove this. In 2009, an American brain-imaging study showed that when we read and imagine the landscapes, sounds, smells and tastes described on the page, the various areas of the brain that are used to process these experiences in real life are activated, creating new neural pathways.
新的核磁共振技术使得此事可以用科学方法来证明。在2009年 ，美国大脑图像学研究表明，当我们读书或者想象书中画面，声音，气味和味道的时候，大脑的各个分管部位就像在实际生活中一样被激活了，形成一个新的神经通道。
In other words, our brains simulate real experiences, just as if we were living them ourselves. This doesn’t happen when we’re watching TV or playing a computer game.
换句话说，我们的大脑模拟真实的经历，就像我们身在其中一样。这种经历在我们看电视和玩电脑游戏的时候是不会发生的。
Getting stuck into a good novel appears to be beneficial to our mental health. As the old saying goes: ‘You’re never alone with a book.’ Reading not only staves off feelings of loneliness, it helps us to wind down, destress and forget our own problems for a while.
沉醉在一本好小说中对我们的精神健康是非常有益的。就像过去老话说的一样：‘在书中你永远不会孤单。’读书不仅仅能够帮助你化解孤单，还能帮助你平静下来，暂时的消除紧张的情绪和忘记自身的困难。
In 2009, researchers at the University of Sussex found that just six minutes of reading can reduce stress levels by more than two-thirds, more than listening to music or going out for a walk.
在2009年来自英国萨塞克斯大学的研究表明，仅仅6分钟的阅读便可以把压力水平降低2/3，高于听音乐和户外行走。
It is thought that the concentration required to read distracts the mind, easing muscle tension and slowing the heart rate.
这是因为读书时需要投入的注意力转移了你的思维，放松了肌肉紧张并且放慢了心跳速率。
nner calm: Reading can also benefit your mental health as it starves off loneliness and helps de-stress and takes the focus of our personal problems.
内心平静：读书有益于精神健康，它可以消除孤独，缓解压力和忘记我们周边的困难。
Reading may be good for physical health too, preventing brain ageing and disease.
阅读对你的身体健康也是有好处的，阻止大脑老化和疾病侵扰。
A study, just published in the Archives of Neurology, from the University of California, Berkeley, found that engaging in brain-stimulating pursuits including reading on a daily basis – from a young age – could help prevent Alzheimer’s by inhibiting the formation of the amyloid (protein) plaques which are found in the brains of those with the disease.
加州大学伯克利分校刚刚发表在《精神学档案》上的一项研究发现，从年轻的岁数开始，每天从事于刺激大脑的活动（包括阅读）会保护你的大脑通过抑制形成淀粉样斑块（在有病人群里大脑发现的），从而远离老年痴呆。
Scientists scanned the brains of healthy adults aged 60 and over (average age was 76) with no signs of dementia and found those who had been doing daily brain-stimulating activities, such as reading, playing chess, and writing letters since they were six years old showed very low levels of amyloid plaques.
科学家通过扫描一组60岁以上（平均年龄在76岁）的没有痴呆现象的健康成年人发现，自从6岁起每天都有类似读书、下象棋或者写信的刺激大脑活动的人大脑中淀粉样斑块含量非常少。
But those who did not enjoy these activities had lots of plaques.
但是那些不喜欢这些活动的人大脑里面则存在大量的淀粉样斑块。
Although the study was small and did not take socio-economic effects into account, it is certainly an indication that reading may be as good for the brain as it is for the mind.
尽管这份研究非常小并且没有将社会经济效应考虑进去，但它显然可以说明，阅读对于大脑就像对于精神一样有益。
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