摘要：考研英语作为一门考研公共课，虽然大家都学了英语十几年，却仍经常有总分过线挂在英语上的情况，因此英语复习不单单是单词、做题。阅读作为考研英语的大头，仅仅做考研真题或许没法满足你的阅读量，因此帮帮之后会不定时推出一篇英文美文，这些文章都与考研英语阅读同源，多读必有好处。

　　A new study suggests that, unconsciously, we actually do believe that looking exerts a slight force on the things being looked at. Karen Hopkin reports.

　　一项新研究表明，在潜意识上，我们确实相信我们目光对所看的事物施加了轻微的力量 —— 凯伦·霍普金报道。

　　You’re at a party and you suddenly feel someone looking at you. But how can it be possible to feel another person’s glance? I mean, it’s not like people shoot actual beams out of their eyes.

　　在参加派对时，你突然觉得有人在看着你。 但是你怎么可能会感受到另一个人的目光呢？ 我的意思是，人们并没有从眼睛里射出实实在在的光线。

　　Yet…a new study suggests that, unconsciously, we actually do believe that looking exerts a slight force on the things being looked at. That eye-opening finding appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Arvid Guterstam et al, Implicit model of other people’s visual attention as an invisible, force-carrying beam projecting from the eyes]

　　然而......一项新研究表明，在潜意识上，我们确实相信我们目光对所看的事物施加了轻微的力量。这一令人大开眼界的发现刊登在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。 [Arvid Guterstam 等人著，将他人视觉注视当作从眼里放射产生隐形不可见力光束的非显性模型]

　　Vision depends on light entering the eye…a form of ocular intromission, if you will. But kids…even those in college…often express a belief in “extramission”…the idea that the eyes emit a form of invisible energy.

　　视觉的产生依赖于进入眼睛的光......如果你愿意的话，这是一种视觉射入眼球的形式。 但是孩子们......甚至那些在大学里的年轻学生......往往表示相信眼睛“射出”......这种观点就是相信眼睛会发射出一种肉眼不可见的能量。

　　To probe this perception, researchers at Princeton asked volunteers to look at a computer screen and gauge the angle at which a cardboard tube…shown being slowly tilted on its side… would finally topple over. Now, in some of the tests, they included an image of a young man watching the tube as it tilted toward him.

　　为了探究这种看法，普林斯顿大学的研究人员要求志愿者们看一下电脑屏幕并测量硬纸管摆放的一个角度，在该角度下，电脑显示其侧面缓慢倾斜最终会翻倒。 现在，在一些测试中，他们收集了一个年轻人看着管面向向他倾斜的图像资料。

　　What the researchers found is that, when there was someone staring at the tube, subjects thought that the tube could tilt a little further before it toppled toward the fella looking at it. Which means that, unconsciously, the volunteers must have imagined that the guy’s gaze exerted a slight force on the tube, keeping it from falling.

　　研究人员发现，当受试者盯着硬纸管时，受试者认为管子可能会先稍微向反方向倾斜，然后才会向面对受试者的方向倾倒。 这意味着，在潜意识中，志愿者肯定预先认为受试者目光在管上施加了轻微的力，防止它掉下来。

　　But this force was not strong. When the researchers replaced the cardboard tube with a brick, the subjects felt that the Jedi eyebeams wouldn’t support the added weight…they said the brick would fall at the same angle, whether or not there was someone there to watch it.

　　但这种力量不强。 当研究人员用砖块替换硬纸管时，受试者觉得神奇的眼睛发出的光束不能抵抗增加的重量......受试者说无论是否有人在那里注视它，砖块都会以相同的角度落下。

　　Interestingly, when the participants were explicitly asked about eyeball extramission, only 5 percent of them fessed up to believing in some sort of force being exerted by the eyes. But deep down, it looks like many of us put stock in the awesome power of the staredown. Just don’t depend on it if something weighty is about to fall your way.

　　有趣的是，当受试者者被明确询问眼球是否外射出力量时，只有5％的人认为眼睛会施加某种力量。 但在内心深处，似乎我们中的许多人都坚信双眼注视某物时会产生强大的力量。但是一些重量级的东西向你坠落时，你可不能依赖这种力量。

　　（全文共380个词，科学美国人）

　　►帮帮提示：考研英语同源外刊美文赏读汇总

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