60秒：想提高思考能力？向后走几步就行

 [听力全文]

Remember the expression: “Talk to the hand.”?

Since it came from: "Talk to the hand, ‘cause the face don't give a damn." I’d say it’s a negative statement.

Well, regardless of the words, the image of a pushed out arm is often connected to something negative.

And an arm beckoning towards oneself is typically connected to something positive.

In fact, body movement can become so strongly connected to the accompanying thoughts that the mere movement itself can elicit associated feelings, according to studies.

A recent experiment published in Psychological Science shows that approaching or moving away from an object can actually affect our thought processes. And body movements which are connected to negative emotions tend to enhance cognitive ability. The authors say that’s probably because adverse situations typically require more cognitive control to deal with potentially bad consequences.

Working with 38 subjects, the scientists confirmed that either a step forward (a typically positive movement) or a step backward (usually negative) significantly changed one’s ability to perform a mental task.

Taking four steps back improved a subject’s accuracy and timing on the task, whereas taking four steps forward led to longer processing times and more errors.

Gives you a new angle on the line: “Take a step back and think for a second.”

—Christie Nicholson

 [重难点词汇、短语]

beckon: v. 吸引；（招手或点头）示意

elicit: v. 引出 

 [参考译文]

还记得“跟手说去”这句话吗?

它来自：“跟手说去，我根本不想理你。”我认为这是个负面的表述。

好吧，不管表述如何，向外推开手臂通常和一些负面的东西相关联。

而向内挥动手臂动作通常与积极的东西相关联。

事实上，研究表明肢体动作与相应的想法可以产生极其紧密的联系，单纯的动作就能引发相关的感觉。

发表在《心理》（Psychological Science）上的一项实验表明，接近或远离一个物体实际上会影响我们的思维过程，而与负面情绪相关的肢体动作往往会增强认知能力。作者表示，这或许是因为面对不利情况时，我们通常需要更多的认知控制能力来处理可能的不良后果。

通过对38名自愿者进行测试，家证实一个现象，那就是向前迈一步（通常是积极的动作）或向后退一步（通常是消极的动作）都会显著改变一个人完成脑力劳动的能力。

后退四步可以提高自愿者完成任务的准确性和效率，而向前迈四步则会导致更长的完成时间和更多的错误。

你或许会对“退一步思考”有了新的理解。

翻译 页一