sharing

Is modern world bad for your brain?

 

事務太多，要一眼關七、同時做幾件事已是常態。心思思，坐唔定，原來會影響腦袋？現代生活，究竟令我們愈來愈聰明，還是愈來愈無法集中？

 

In an era of email, text messages and social media, we’re all required to do several things at once, but this constant multitasking is taking its toll. Research shows that our addiction to technology is making us less efficient.    
        
(摘自英國衛報The Guardian)

 

multitasking 同時處理多項工作，一心多用

(noun 名詞)

 

► thankless task 苦差

例子：These people were employed to get thankless task done.

 

toll

► toll  〔道路﹑橋等的〕通行費

(noun 名詞)

 

► toll 傷亡率 （報道常用）

 (noun 名詞)

 

例子：People expect that the casualty toll may be higher.

 

► toll 緩緩響起

(verb 動詞)

 

例子：Church bells tolled.

例子：The pilgrims tolled the bell.

 

► take its toll (on) 對…產生嚴重的不良影響

 

例子：Years of smoking have taken their toll on his health .   多年的吸煙已嚴重損害了他的健康。

 

當你以為自己一心多用的時候，報道指這不過是幻象… …
 

Although we think we’re doing several things at once, this is a powerful and diabolical illusion.

 

diabolical 邪惡的，毒辣的

(adjective 形容詞)

 

►diabolical abuse   殘酷的虐待

►a diabolical plan to destroy him   一個要毀掉他的惡毒計劃

 

diabolical【BrE informal】很壞的﹐糟透的

(adjective 形容詞)

 

例子：The apartment was in a diabolical state.

 

同時要處理多項工作，小心效率不升反降！

Even though we think we’re getting a lot done, ironically, multitasking makes us demonstrably less efficient.
 

 

demonstrate 示範

(verb 動詞)

 

demonstrable 明顯的

(adjective 形容詞)

 

麻省理工學者Earl Miller指出，自言可一心多用者，都有自欺之嫌：

People can’t do multitasking very well, and when they say they can, they’re deluding themselves.
 

 

delude 欺騙

(verb 動詞)

 

► delude sb/yourself 自欺欺人

► delude sb into doing sth

 

例子：That job title is just a way of deluding employees into thinking they are professional.

 

但何解人們自覺multitasking時心情愉快，甚至有點點上癮之感呢？

It is the dumb, novelty-seeking portion of the brain driving the system that induces a feeling of pleasure.
 

 

induce 導致

(verb 動詞)

 

► induce someone to do sth = persuade 說服

 

例子：Some employees were induced to take early retirement.

 

Kevin 教室

 

terrible  vs.  terrific
 

You might think that these are connected to terror in the same way that 'horrible' and 'horrific' are connected to horror, but in fact in modern English this isn't true - I'm afraid they're not.

So you can use 'terrible' in several different ways:

'Terrible' has both the meanings of 'horrible', so we can talk about:
"A terrible accident" or
"A terrible cup of coffee".

We can also use it - excuse me - with very general meaning, meaning just very bad. So you could say:
"This movie is terrible" or
"This actor is terrible".

On the other hand, 'terrific' is most often used to mean 'very good', so:

"This homework is terrific" and that's the opposite of
"This homework is terrible".

'Terrific' can also mean 'very strong' or 'very intense', so we can talk about 'terrific speed' - you could say:
"The car is travelling at terrific speed."

 

Reference:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1837_aae/page31.shtml

   
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