英語聽力文摘 幽默不老
老人們?nèi)阅苄蕾p幽默嗎?
Maybe when people get older, sense of a humor is the first thing to go.
Actually, research suggests that old folks, if they’re healthy, can still appreciate humor as much as a younger person can. They still smile and laugh when they get the joke. However, there is evidence to suggest that with age we may lose our ability to comprehend more complex forms of humor.
Scientists believe that the tools we need to get a complex joke are primarily located in the brain’s frontal lobes. People with damage to their right frontal lobe experience difficulty getting punch lines and prefer slapstick humor instead.
There’s also evidence that the functions located in the brain’s frontal lobes may be the first to diminish with aging. This may explain why in a recent experiment older folks performed significantly worse than younger folks in comprehending more complex forms of humor.
Of course, it’s also important to take into account such factors as social differences in the kind of humor people prefer, social setting, and health. Maybe an elderly person would laugh at a joke if she were socializing with a group of her friends, but not laugh with her neighbor whom she doesn’t know well or finds annoying.
也許，人年紀(jì)越大，越是幽默感至上。
事實(shí)上，研究 表明，和年輕人一樣，健康的老人們?nèi)匀恍蕾p幽默。有人開玩笑依舊會(huì)面帶微笑或大笑。但是，研究也證實(shí)隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)，我們無法理解比較復(fù)雜形勢(shì)的幽默。
科學(xué)家相信，理解復(fù)雜玩笑主要靠的是腦前葉的功能。腦前葉右部受損會(huì)造成笑話中妙語的困擾，而這類人也更傾向于淺顯幽默。
有證明顯示，腦前葉功能會(huì)隨著年老而最先退化。這也解釋了最近的實(shí)驗(yàn)中，年長(zhǎng)者們?cè)诶斫飧鼜?fù)雜幽默上明顯不如年輕人。
當(dāng)然，綜合考慮其他因素也很重要：比如社會(huì)差異影響個(gè)體的幽默傾向、社會(huì)背景、健康狀況。
也許，和朋友相處的一個(gè)老人會(huì)因?yàn)橥嫘Χ笮?但是，和不熟悉或惱人的鄰里就不會(huì)大笑。
