Scientists have found that mindfulness meditation,known as “Samatha Meditation,” could be reducingthe pain that people experience. Fifteen researchsubjects given 120 degrees Fahrenheit heat pulsesfound the pain fifty-seven percent less unpleasantand forty percent less intense after just four twentyminute meditation sessions. Isn’t it hard tomeasure what people are feeling? The researchersdidn’t just asking people how they felt. They used anMRI, or magnetic resonance imaging machine tomeasure their brain activity. The MRI detects howmuch oxygen brain cells use. The more oxygen the cells use, the more active they are. As paingoes up, activity changes in certain areas of the brain.

【生词注释】

meditation n. 沉思; 冥想

session n.期间

measure v.测量

magnetic resonance imaging磁共振成像:

go up 上升;增长

【参考译文】

科学家们发现冥想，也叫作“Samatha Meditation”,能够减轻人们的疼痛感。15个人经受120华氏温度来进行试验，研究发现经过20分钟的冥想后，疼痛感减少了 57%，紧张度较少了40%。测量人们的感觉不是很难吗?研究人们不适直接询问实验人员的感觉。他们使用用磁共振成像机器来测验脑部活动。机器可以侦测到脑细胞使用的氧气，脑细胞使用的氧气越多，它们越活跃。随着疼痛的增加，脑部的局部区域细胞活动发生了变化。