Why reading is so important for your brain

江苏白蒲高级中学 张 馨

三毛说：“读书多了，容颜自然改变，许多时候，自己可能以为许多看过的书籍都成过眼烟云，不复记忆，其实它们仍是潜在气质里、在谈吐上、在胸襟的无涯，当然也可能显露在生活和文字中。”

难词探意

1.cognitive adj.认知的

2.cortex n.大脑皮层

3.neuron n.神经元

预 读 思 考

1.文章的结构与各段段落大意是什么？

2.文章采用了哪些论证方法来论证阅读对大脑的重要性？

There are countless methods to improve your memory andcognitivefunctioning.But the cheapest, easiest, and most time-tested way to sharpen your brain is right in front of your face.It's called reading.

The most basic impact occurs in the area associated with language reception, the left temporalcortex.Processing written material—from the letters to the words to the sentences to the stories themselves—snaps theneuronsto attention astheystart the work of transmitting all that information.That happens when we process spoken language,too,but the very nature of reading encourages the brain to work harder and better.

And the benefits of reading continue long after you've put down that great book.A small study at Emory University found that some of those benefits lasted for five days. “We callthata shadow activity,almost like a muscle memory,”said Gregory Berns,PhD,director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory.In fact,this is how reading in a way can improve your memory.

OK,you say,it's hardly surprising that the language part of the brain would get a workout from reading.But reading also energizes the region responsible for motor activity,the central sulcus.That's because the brain is a very active play actor.When it is reading about a physical activity,the neurons that control that activity get busy as well.You may not actually be riding a horse when you're reading Seabiscuit,but your brain acts as if it were.And the more parts of your brain get a workout,the better it is for your overall cognitive performance.

What if you are a poor reader who feels as if you'll never be able to read enough to get these benefits?A book can fix that problem，too! Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University studied children aged eight to ten who were below-average readers. One hundred hours of extra reading classes significantly improved the quality of their brains'white matter—the tissue that carries signals between areas of gray matter,where information is processed.The researchers'conclusion is that the brains of these children had begun to rewire themselves in ways that could benefit the entire brain, not only the reading-centric temporal cortex.

Reading is really of great importance to your brain.Why not turn off your phone and your computer,and just read for an hour or two every day from now on?

阅读检测

T(true)or F(false)questions

（ ）1.Reading is a time-tested way to improve our memory.

（ ）2.The right temporal cortex is an area linked with language reception.

（ ）3.The benefits of reading won't continue after you've put down the book.

（ ）4.Reading makes the language part of the brain get a workout.

（ ）5.Poor readers actually can't benefit from reading books.

探究视角①语篇分析

“狡黠者鄙读书，无知者羡读书，惟明智之士用读书，然书并不以用处告人，用书之智不在书中，而在书外，全凭观察得之。”书籍也是一种“营养品”，可修身，可怡情，还可“炼脑”。研究表明，每天坚持阅读可以锻炼和提升大脑的记忆和认知能力。本文围绕“阅读于大脑的重要性”来展开，是一篇议论文。 议论文通常可以分为引论（提出问题），本论（摆出证据）和结论（重申简介或主张）。

本文的篇章结构如下：

Structure Paragraph（s） Main idea（s）Topic Para.1 ●Reading can improve memory and cognitive functioning.ImpactPara.2●Reading lets the brain work harder and better.●The benefits of reading will last even after you've put down that book.Reasons Para.3～5●Reading not only practices the language part of the brain,but also energizes the central sulcus.●Poor readers can also benefit from enough reading.Conclusion Para.6 ●Reading is important to your brain.

探究视角②语言学习

Ⅰ.文本填空

1.The cheapest,easiest,and most time-tested way to(sharp)your brain is reading.

2. The most basic impact occurs in the the left temporal cortex associatedlanguage reception.

3.It's（hard）surprising that the language part of the brain would get a workout from reading.

4.And the more parts of your brain get a workout,the（good）it is for your overall cognitive performance.

5.What if you are a poor readerfeels as if you'll never be able to read enough to get these benefits?

Ⅱ.指代关系

1.What does the underlined word“they”in paragraph 2 mean?

2.What does the underlined word“that”in paragraph 3 mean?

3.What does the underlined word“it”in paragraph 4 mean?

Ⅲ.写作推荐

1.OK,you say,it's hardly surprising that the language part of the brain would get a workout from reading.好吧，你说大脑的语言部分通过阅读得到了锻炼，这不足为奇。

【信息提取】It's hardly surprising that...意为“……不足为奇”。

【句式仿写】他取得如此大的进步不足为奇。

2.What if you are a poor reader who feels as if you'll never be able to read enough to get these benefits?如果你是一个不擅长阅读的人，感觉似乎读得再多都难以获得这些好处，那该怎么办？

【信息提取】What if...?意为“如果……,该怎么办？”。

【句式仿写】如果火车晚点该怎么办呢？

3.Reading is really of great importance to your brain.阅读对你的大脑真的很重要。

【信息提取】be of great importance to...意为“对……很重要”，源于结构be+of+名词，与be+adj.表达的意思一样。

【句式仿写】每天锻炼对孩子的成长很重要。

探究视角③论证方法

议论文常见的论证方式有举例论证、道理论证、对比论证、比喻论证和引用论证等。本文使用的论证方法有：

引用论证 A small study at Emory University found that some of those benefits lasted for five days.比喻论证 We call that a shadow activity,almost like a muscle memory.举例论证 You may not actually be riding a horse when you're reading Seabiscuit,but your brain acts as if it were.

常见论证方法的作用：

道理论证——通过讲道理的方式证明观点，使论证更概括、更深入。

对比论证——突出强调，使人印象深刻，更具有说服力。

比喻论证——使论证更生动形象，浅显易懂。

引用论证——增强说服力和权威性。

探究视角④思维拓展

董卿谈阅读

董卿曾接受《环球人物》采访，该采访视频播放量高达1，263 万，视频中董卿谈了自己的阅读心得。

问：你的阅读习惯是?

答：我一直保持每天睡觉之前一个小时的阅读，这个是几乎雷打不动的，没有什么特别的，很多人问，你还能坚持吗?我觉得这个好像无所谓坚持不坚持，就是你习惯了，卧室里没有电视机和手机，没有任何电子产品，这也是我的一个习惯，安安静静地看会儿书就可以睡觉了。

问：你觉得值得反复看的书有哪些?

答：在这个世界上值得反反复复去阅读的是唐诗宋词。因为它短小，但随着你年龄的增长，在不同的生命阶段，读一首诗、一首词的理解是不一样的，可能小时候就觉得堆砌辞藻的诗文的东西会更触动到自己，但是大了之后就会越来越喜欢苏东坡甚至陆游，觉得人生不如意十有八九，他们都写在诗词里面。

“床前明月光，疑是地上霜。举头望明月，低头思故乡。”你能说它简单吗？没有一个字是你不认识的，可能小学，甚至不用读小学的小朋友早教都有了，但是你写不出来呀。这个真是太伟大了，它面上的极简和它背后所包含的纵横捭阖的这种精神的情怀和高度，就让你赞叹不已，写出千古能够引起共鸣的情感，挺难的。