节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-01
难易度:Medium
关键字:compel, informative, involve, sharpen, neural pathway, stimulation
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
Our lesson is called Make Your Brain Smarter.
So, yes, as you improve your English, your brain is getting smarter.
Well, what kinds of things do you do to keep your brain active?
Carolyn, what about you?
I think that one really great way to keep your brain active and thinking is to
read,
and not just read something that is basic or a children's book but to read
something that will get your brain thinking like the Bible.
There are so many things that people discuss about it and really have to
concentrate and think about.
I agree with you there, Carolyn.
I also think something else to make your brain active is to study another
language - just like you are doing.
You're learning English, and I have also studied Chinese.
Carolyn, does studying or speaking in Chinese help make your brain active as
well?
I think it certainly does.
And we will be talking about that in our lesson today, the benefits of learning
a language and how that can make your brain smarter.
Well, let's get started with our lesson Make Your Brain Smarter.
Make Your Brain Smarter.
Tips for developing an exercise plan for your brain.
You know that eating a sensible diet and getting plenty of exercise help make
your body healthy and strong.
But did you know that there are ways to make your brain healthier and smarter?
Studies show that when the brain is compelled to do something new, it creates
new neural pathways.
The more pathways you have, the faster you can think and the better memory you
will have.
Ten steps toward a smarter brain.
Limit your TV viewing.
Watching an average TV show requires very little brain power and brings the same
result as neglecting physical exercise.
Your brain will become weak just as your muscles do.
If you watch TV, choose something educational and informative.
That is a very good first tip.
But now let's go back to the beginning of our lesson here.
We read: Tips for developing an exercise plan for your brain.
Now Carolyn, what is an exercise plan?
Well, an exercise plan is a plan that you make to help yourself exercise, so.
Maybe you write out a weekly schedule of what exercises you're going to do and
what times you'll do them and how much you'll do so that you can become
healthier.
OK, so that's an exercise plan.
Maybe you have a weight loss plan, a plan that helps you lose weight.
Or maybe you have a savings plan, a plan to help you save money in the bank or
somewhere else.
So here we're talking about an exercise plan but not for your body, for your
brain!
That's right.
So this is a different kind of exercise plan.
And we get into our article:
You know that eating a sensible diet and getting plenty of exercise helps make
your body healthy and strong.
And I think that's pretty true.
That's what everyone agrees on - exercise and diet will help your body to be
healthy and strong.
That's right.
But did you know that there are ways to make your brain healthier and smarter?
So of course, if you have a sensible diet, that will make your body strong.
But there are ways to make your brain healthier as well.
This is very interesting.
And we see that studies show that when the brain is compelled to do something
new, it creates new neural pathways.
And this is a fantastic sentence with one of our Word Bank words, a key word
today: compel.
What does it mean if you are compelled to do something, Gabe?
Well, if you're compelled to do something, you're kind of inspired to do
something.
Something is driving you to do something.
And so if you are studying something new, you're doing something that makes your
brain active, well, that's compelling these things in your brain - the neural
pathways.
It creates new neural pathways.
That's right.
So if you feel compelled to do something, then you must do it, you have to.
Maybe you don't even have a choice.
Maybe you run into a foreigner and they don't speak any Chinese.
You will be compelled to use your English.
You must use it because they don't speak any other language.
Well, I love to compel my brain to speak... er.. to think in Chinese because it
does develop these new neural pathways to help my brain.
Well, let's talk about those words: neural pathways.
Of course, anything neural has to do with the nerves or the brain.
And so there are new pathways in the brain that come out when you are learning
something new, when you're making your brain smarter.
Well, we see here that the more pathways you have, the faster you can think and
the better memory you will have.
So this has many benefits.
If you have more pathways, you can think faster.
We might say "thinking on your feet." That means you didn't plan to say
something or think something, but you can think faster now.
And of course, your memory will improve.
That's right.
So it's a good idea to make these new neural pathways and to help encourage your
brain to be more active.
Now in our exercise plan for the brain, we have 10 steps toward a smarter brain.
Ten steps toward a smarter brain.
Let's take a look at a phrase in that sentence there: steps torward something.
If you have a step toward something, that means you have a goal in mind at the
end, and you might have to take one or more steps to get there.
That's right.
So this is a kind of plan.
You are taking a plan, and each step is just one part of the plan.
Maybe you want to take a step toward a brighter future or a step toward a better
tomorrow.
Usually when we use this phrase, a step toward something, it is very positive,
and it shows an improvement in the future.
That's right.
You want to take steps toward being a better you.
Take steps toward having better grades or having a healthier lifestyle.
OK. Here we're talking about 10 steps toward a smarter brain.
And the first tip here is limit your TV viewing.
OK, I think you've heard this from many adults especially.
Don't watch TV so much.
Watching an average TV show requires very little brain power and brings the same
result as neglecting physical exercise.
Well, that sounds pretty serious.
Who thought... who would have thought that just watching a TV show would be the
same as not exercising at all?
Because when you're watching something, your brain seems to be active.
But really if it's just an average TV show, there's nothing really special about
it, it's not educational in any way, then it's really not helping your brain.
That's right.
We see "requires little brain power." Of course brain power is like... is like
exercise for your brain.
And I've actually heard that you get more activity in the brain while you're
sleeping than you do watching some TV shows.
So well, it's time for us to learn something new with Liz in the Grammar Gym.
And then of course we will continue learning about this tip.
Hi there, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
We see this sentence in today's article:
Watching an average TV show requires very little brain power and brings the same
result as neglecting physical exercise.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the sentence pattern:
[doing something] requires [something] and brings the same result as [doing
something else].
This is a good sentence pattern to use when you want to talk about how you don't
need too much of a certain thing to do activity A and it can have the same
result as activity B.
For example:
The new kind of artificial lawn requires very little care and brings the same
result as having real grass.
Or: Taking care of a cactus requires very little effort and brings the same
result as having other kinds of plants.
So give this pattern a try.
And if you'd like to see some more example sentences, please check out today's
Grammar Tip section in your magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Bye.
Thank you, Liz, for that great tip in the Grammar Gym.
Continuing talking about our tip in this exercise plan to limit TV viewing, we
learn your brain will become weak just as your muscles do.
So it's just like your brain is being lazy like your body.
All right.
So if you watch TV, choose something educational and informative.
Of course it's nice to be a couch potato sometimes.
But you do want to exercise your brain if you have that opportunity while
watching TV.
Let's look at our word from our Word Bank: informative.
If something is informative, it's giving you some information of some kind.
That's right.
So it's helpful, it's useful.
You can use it later.
And maybe it is even educational.
You can describe it as being educational or informative providing that
information.
And you know, I think that the articles that we have in our Studio Classroom
magazine are very informative.
I always learn a lot of them just reading it.
It's true, Carolyn.
I agree. They are very informative.
If you want an even bigger challenge, you can try Advanced magazine.
I find those lessons very informative as well.
Well, Michelle always has a lot of information in the Language Lab.
Let's go and learn something with her now.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.