【在生活中學習語言】《中英對照讀新聞》Swearing ’helps to reduce pain’說髒話有助減輕疼痛
◎鄭寺音

Uttering expletives when you hurt yourself is a sensible policy, according to scientists who have shown swearing can help reduce pain.

受傷時罵髒話是一項明智的策略，根據證明罵髒話有助減輕疼痛的科學家指出。

A study by Keele University researchers found volunteers who cursed at will could endure pain nearly 50% longer than civil-tongued peers.

基爾大學的研究人員發現，隨意罵髒話者比講話彬彬有禮的同儕，忍受疼痛的時間長將近50%。

Dr Stephens, from Keele’s school of psychology, came up with the idea for the study after swearing when he accidentally hit his thumb with a hammer as he built a garden shed. He recruited 64 volunteers to take part and each individual was asked to submerge their hand in a tub of freezing water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice.

基爾大學心理學院的史蒂文斯教授，在搭建花園小屋不小心被鎚子捶到大拇指之後，有了罵髒話可減痛的想法。他召募64名志願者參加，每名志願者被要求把手浸入冰水桶中，持續時間越久越好，同時重複咒罵自己想罵的髒話。

They were then asked to repeat the experiment, this time using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table.

接著志願者被要求重複同樣的實驗，此次是要他們說會用來描述一張桌子的較平常的話語。

On average, the students could tolerate the pain for nearly two minutes when swearing compared with only one minute and 15 seconds when they refrained from using expletives.

這些學生在咒罵時，平均可以忍受近2分鐘的痛苦，而節制不罵髒話時，僅能維持1分15秒。

新聞辭典

expletive：名詞，咒罵語。例句：She dropped the book on her foot and let out a string of expletives.（她的腳被掉落的書砸到，咒罵連連。）

civil：形容詞，彬彬有禮的。例句：His manner was civil, though not particularly friendly.（他的態度彬彬有禮，不過並不特別友善。）

submerge：動詞，把……浸入水中。例句：She was taken to hospital after being submerged in an icy river for 45 minutes.（她浸在冰冷的河水中45分鐘之後，被送去醫院。）

自由時報-980730
++++++++++++++++++++++++