Unit 60

“Half the game is 90 percent mental,” Yogi Berra once said, or something like that, and science is now getting around to putting his aphorism to the test. Researchers including Debbie Crews of Arizona State University and John Milton of the University of Chicago have been studying patterns of brain activation—not in baseball players but in golfers, who make better subjects because they don’t move around as much and the electrodes stay stuck to their heads. Yogi might have been surprised by the researchers’ conclusion, though: the better the golfer, the less brain activity he shows in the seconds before he makes his shot.

Crews, a sports psychologist who studies putting—even the minimal agitation of a chip shot can upset her experimental apparatus—has found that a key difference between amateurs and pros lies in the left hemisphere. This is the seat of logic, analysis, verbal reasoning and the kinds of thoughts—Maybe I should just kind of squinch over a little more to the left—that you never imagine crossing Tiger Woods’s mind. Professionals, once they’ve determined how to make a shot, follow an invariable routine that renders conscious thought unnecessary. “How you think is probably more important than what you think,” Crews says. “Quieting the left hemisphere is really critical.”

Or, to put it another way, when Milton asked some LPGA golfers what they thought about just before taking a shot, they answered: nothing. To test this, he rounded up a half-dozen pros and an equal number of amateurs and had them imagine making a specific shot—a wedge shot of 100 yards to the green, with no wind—while monitoring their brains in a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine. “The professionals are just much more specialized and efficient,” Milton says. “You put in a quarter and you get your shot.” The amateurs, by contrast, showed more total brain activation, involving more areas of the brain. In particular, amateurs activated the basal ganglia—involved in learning motor functions—and the basal forebrain and amygdala, responsible for, among other functions, emotions. “They’re not fearful or anxious,” Milton says, “but they get overwhelmed by details, by the memories of all the shots they’ve missed in the past.” Some of his subjects worried about hitting the ball into the water, which was curious, because he hadn’t even mentioned a water hazard in describing the imaginary shot to them.

Professional athletes, as a rule, know how to keep focus, although there are exceptions, like Chuck Knoblauch, the Yankee second baseman who suddenly lost the ability to make a routine throw to first base. Milton is already trying to apply these lessons to stroke and other rehabilitation patients who have to relearn skills like walking; he recommends putting more emphasis on visualization and improving mental focus. In many aspects of life, it seems, half the game really is 90 percent mental.

注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 4（个别题目顺序加以调整）。

1. The views of Yogi Berra and researchers including Crews and Milton are ______.

A) similar

B) identical

C) opposite

D) complementary

2. We can learn from the text that the difference between pros and amateurs lies in ______.

A) the activity of the left hemisphere

B) the way of their thinking

C) the ability to control one’s brain

D) the ability to forget the past failures

3. Tiger Woods, according to the text, is probably ______.

A) a researcher

B) a professional baseball player

C) a sports psychologist

D) a professional golf player

4. What is the key to the success of golfers according to the text?

A) Not to think of anything related to your past losses.

B) Quiet your left hemisphere and think of nothing.

C) Try to activate your whole brain.

D) To be more specialized and efficient.

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A) What the researchers have found proves Yogi Berra’s words.

B) Baseball player should do as Yogi Berra said.

C) Mentality plays a very important role in many aspects of life.

D) Sports and medicine share some common principles.

篇章剖析

本文以约吉·贝拉一句非常有名的话开头，引出文章的主要论点，研究人员的研究成果却正好与之相反，指出运动员球技越高，他在击球之前几秒钟内的大脑活动就越少。第一段指出研究人员的实验结果与约吉·贝拉的观点正好相反；第二段指出体育心理学家克鲁斯发现一名业余球手与一名职业球手之间的关键区别在于大脑的左半球；第三段指出另一名研究人员米尔顿发现业余球手和职业球手的区别在于业余球手的大脑活动较多；第四段指出集中注意力对治疗一些病人的作用。

词汇注释

get around 绕过，规避；到处走动，到处旅游；散布，流传

aphorism /ˈæfərɪz(ə)m/ n. 格言，警语，谚语，箴言

putting /ˈputɪŋ/ n. （高尔夫球）打球入洞

agitation /ædʒɪˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 搅动；激动；焦虑

chip shot （高尔夫球）打出滚地球，让球滚进球洞

pro /prəʊ/ n. 专业人员；职业人员

verbal reasoning 言语推理

squinch /skwɪntʃ/ v. 斜眼；挤紧；蹲下

LPGA 美国女子职业巡回赛（Ladies Professional Golf Association）

functional magnetic resonance imaging machine功能磁谐振成像机

put in 打击；花时间

basal ganglia /ˈgæŋglɪə/ 基底神经节

motor /ˈməʊtə(r)/ adj. 运动神经的；肌肉运动的

visualization /ˌvɪʒʊlaɪˈzeɪʃən/ n. 形成思维图像；视觉化；具体化；想象

难句突破

Researchers including Debbie Crews of Arizona State University and John Milton of the University of Chicago have been studying patterns of brain activation—not in baseball players but in golfers, who make better subjects because they don’t move around as much and the electrodes stay stuck to their heads.

主体句式：Researchers have been studying patterns of brain activation.

结构分析：本句虽是个长句，但句子结构并不复杂。主语是researchers，后面跟的是include的现在分词形式作后置定语来修饰主语；破折号之后的句子成分起到进一步解释说明的作用；who引导从句来修饰golfers，从句中又有because引导的原因状语从句。需要注意make、as much和stay的用法。make在这里的意思是“成为”，as much的意思是“同样，同样多”，stay同其他许多表状态的动词一样，比如lie, keep, stand, etc.，后面跟形容词表示所处的状态，stuck在这里是形容词，意思是“卡住的，不能动弹的”。

句子译文：研究人员——其中包括亚利桑那州州立大学的黛比·克鲁斯和芝加哥大学的约翰·米尔顿——一直在研究（不是棒球球员的，而是高尔夫球球手的）大脑活动方式。高尔夫球球手之所以是更好的研究对象在于他们不怎么移动，这样，电极就可以一直贴在他们头上。

题目分析

1. C 细节题。Yogi Berra的观点是“Half the game is 90 percent mental”，他强调了比赛中精神因素的重要性，而研究人员的发现是“the better the golfer, the less brain activity he shows in the seconds before he makes his shot”，这句话的意思是说，越是好的运动员，他在击球之前数秒钟内的大脑活动越少。这跟Yogi Berra的观点是完全不一样的，所以“Yogi might have been surprised by the researchers’ conclusion”。

2. A 推理题。原文对应信息是：“a key difference between amateurs and pros lies in the left hemisphere”。

3. D 细节题。在文章第一段就介绍了做这一研究的是Crews和Milton，他们把研究对象定为高尔夫运动员；后来又进一步介绍Crews是“a sports psychologist who studies putting”，在这里“putting”的意思是“（高尔夫球）打球入洞”，从这里我们可看出Crews是一位体育心理学家，专门研究高尔夫球比赛中击球入洞问题。根据上下文，Tiger Woods应该是一位高尔夫运动员，属于Crews的研究范围。

4. B 细节题。文章第一段介绍研究结果：高尔夫球手的球技越高，他在击球之前几秒钟内的大脑活动就越少。第二段继续指出“职业球手一旦决定击球，他们会按照一种视有意识的思想为多余的固定不变的常规行事”，并引用研究人员的话：“让大脑左半球平静下来的确是极其重要的”，由此可见答案应该为B。

5. C 推理题。原文对应信息是：“In many aspects of life, it seems, half the game really is 90 percent mental.”从这句话我们可看出心理作用对日常生活的意义重大。

参考译文

约吉·贝拉曾经说：“半数的比赛90%的是心理战”，或类似这样的话，而科学目前正在寻找检验他的格言的时机。研究人员——其中包括亚利桑那州州立大学的黛比·克鲁斯和芝加哥大学的约翰·米尔顿——一直在研究（不是棒球球员的，而是高尔夫球球手的）大脑活动方式。高尔夫球球手之所以是更好的研究对象在于他们不怎么移动，这样，电极就可以一直贴在他们头上。但研究人员得出的结论或许会使约吉惊讶不已：高尔夫球手的球技越高，他在击球之前几秒钟内大脑活动就越少。

克鲁斯是一名体育心理学家，专门研究高尔夫球比赛中击球入洞问题——甚至连滚地球入洞时最轻微的摇动都会扰乱她的实验仪器的正常工作——她发现一名业余球手与一名职业球手之间的关键区别在于大脑的左半球。这是逻辑、分析、言语推理和思维——我也许应该稍稍偏向些左脑——那种你永远想象不出泰格·伍兹头脑中闪过何种念头的所在地。职业球手一旦决定击球，他们会按照一种视有意识的思想为多余的固定不变的常规行事。“你如何想可能比你想什么更重要，”克鲁斯说，“让大脑左半球平静下来的确是极其重要的。”

或换一种方式说，当米尔顿问一些美国女子职业巡回赛高尔夫球手在击球之前想些什么的时候，球手回答说，什么都不想。为了对此进行验证，他召集了6名职业球手和6名业余球手，并让他们想象正要击球——在无风情况下从100码处劈起杆向果岭（球洞区）击球——同时用功能磁共振成像机监测他们的大脑。米尔顿说：“职业选手显得更加专业，效率更高，用了一刻钟的时间就完成了击球。”相反，业余选手更多地显示出整个大脑的活动，涉及更多的大脑区域。尤其是业余选手使基底神经节——涉及学习运动功能——和基底前脑和扁桃体组织兴奋起来。这些组织除了负责其他功能外，还负责人的情感。米尔顿说：“他们不是害怕，也不是紧张，但他们被一些细节和过去没有打好球的记忆所控制。”有些研究对象担心会把球打入水中，这听起来很奇怪，因为他在给他们说明虚构的击球条件时根本未提到过有球入水的危险。

尽管有例外，比如，像扬基垒球队的二垒手查克·诺布劳奇，他突然间丧失了向一垒例行投掷的能力，但一般来说，职业运动员懂得如何集中精力。米尔顿已开始尝试把这些经验教训应用到中风患者和其他康复患者身上，因为这类患者必须重新学习走路等这样的技能。他建议把更多重点放在想象和提高注意力的能力上。生活中的很多方面似乎符合下面这句话——半数比赛的确是90%的心理战。