台中洋碩美語 makes our lives valuable

Who doesn’t love a tear jerker? We are not robots. While a lot of times we need our rom-coms to cheer us up, sometimes we just want to curl up on the couch and settle in for some melancholic watching. Why do we watch sad movies? A question many of us might have wondered. Is it just because seeing people’s misery makes us appreciate what we have? After listening to this podcast, you will be surprised to find out the real reason why most people are drawn to melancholy. 

誰不喜歡看賺人眼淚的電影呢?

我們不是機器人

雖然很多時候我們需要看喜劇來讓自己開心，但有的時候我們就只想要窩在沙發上看一些令人感傷的電影

為什麼我們會想要看悲傷的電影呢?

這個問題可能我們大家都想過

是因為看別人的不幸會讓我們更珍惜我們所擁有的嗎?

聽完這個播客後，你可能會對大家喜歡看悲傷電影的原因感到很驚訝

點我->聽播客

1. tear jerker (n.)賺人眼淚的電影

2. rom-com (romantic comedy)(n.)浪漫愛情喜劇

3. melancholic(adj.)使人悲傷的
    It was that kind of melancholic evening, that’s all there was to it. 那就是一個悲傷的夜晚，沒什麼特別的。
    melancholy(n.)悲傷

4. misery(n.)不幸
    The strike has caused us a lot of misery. 這個罷工帶給了我們很多不幸。

A new study reveals watching distressing movies may boost our tolerance to pain. 

1.reveal(v.)揭露

2.distressing(adj.)令人痛心

3.boost(v.)增強

Researchers of Oxford University say that movies that get your emotions going can increase the amount of endorphins released by the brain.  

4.endorphin(n.) 腦內啡

Dr. Robin Donbar, the co-author of the study explained that maybe the emotional distress you get from tragedy triggers the endorphin system. 

5.trigger(v.)引發

He added,”The same areas in the brain that deal with physical pain also handle psychological pain.”

6.psychological(v.)心理的 

The invited 169 people to take part in the experiment. One group watched a traumatic drama about a disabled man battling homelessness, drug addiction, and alcoholism. 

7.disabled(adj.)殘障的

8.battle(v.)戰鬥

9.addiction(n.)上癮

Another group watched a documentary on the geology and archeology of Britain. 

10.documentary(n.)紀錄片

11.geology(n.)地質學

12.archeology(n.)考古學 

13.Britian(n.)英國

The result showed that on average, the pain tolerance of those who watched a traumatic drama increased by 13.1 %. 

14.pain tolerance(n.)痛的容忍力

15.traumatic(adj.)創傷的

This compared to an average decreasing pain threshold of 4.6 % for those who watched a documentary. 

16.pain threshold(n.)疼痛閾值

Dr. Donbar suggested one reason we like watching sad movies is the natural high from the endorphins.   

17.natural high(n.) 自然嗨

a euphoric or excited state that is not due to ingestion of drugs or another substance
Crossing the items off her to-do list gave her a natural high. 

除此之外，一篇報導也曾提過類似的研究

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/21/watching-a-sad-films-boosts-endorphin-levels-in-your-brain-psychologists-say

大家有興趣可以去讀讀唷：）

文/ Freda

參考來源/ Breaking News English, The Guardian