پادکست BBC شماره 244- The teenage brain

پادکست BBC شماره 244

سلام با دویست و چهل و چهارمین سری از پادکست‌های BBC 6 Minute English در خدمت شما هستیم.

در این قسمت درباره مغز نوجوانان و تاثیری که روی رفتار آنها داره صحبت میشه. دوران بلوغ در نوجوانان و هورمونهایی که در مغز آنها ترشح میشه باعث میشه یه سری احساسات و رفتارهایی مختص نوجوانان در آنها شکل بگیره. در این پادکست درباره مکانیزم مغز که از مهمترین عضوهای بدن هست صحبت میشه.

در زیر کلمات کلیدی که باید با آن‌ها آشنا شوید برایتان توضیح داده شده‌اند:

hoody: a jumper or sweatshirt that has a hood on it

hoody: گرمکن کلاهدار

detention: a period of time children have to stay at school after classes have finished as a punishment

detention: بازداشت

hormones: natural chemicals produced in animals that control how they develop and grow

hormones: هورمون ها

adolescence: time period in life when a person changes into an adult

adolescence: بلوغ

inhibits: (here) slows down or stops

inhibits: مانع شدن / جلوگیری کردن

get a kick out of something: (informal) to enjoy

get a kick out of something: لذت بردن

limbic system: part of the brain that encourages young people to take risks

limbic system: قسمتی از مغز که نوجوانان رو تشویق میکنه به ریسک کردن

prefrontal cortex: part of the brain that encourages a young person to slow down

prefrontal cortex: قسمتی از مغز که نوجوانان را تشویق میکنه به اینکه کند/آهسته عمل کنن

brainy: clever

brainy: باهوش

nothing between the ears: stupid

nothing between the ears: احمق

butt of a joke: target of someone’s joke/made fun of

butt of a joke: جوک ساختن از کسی/ هدف جوک کسی بودن

parody: copy someone’s style in an exaggerated way

parody: تقلید کردن

to demonize: to talk about someone/something to make people believe they are/it is evil or threatening

to demonize: معرفی کردن کسی یا چیزی به عنوان یک چیز خطرناک و تهدید آمیز

Transcript of the podcast

پادکست BBC 6 minute English – The teenage brain

Neil
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil…

Rob                                                                   
… and I’m Rob. Hello.

Neil                                        
Hello, Rob. I like your new hoody.

Rob
Oh, right! Thanks a lot. A hoody is a sweatshirt with a hood, by the way. You don’t think I’m too old for hoodies, do you?

Neil
Never. No, no. You too old? Never, Rob! It’s all about how young you feel inside, isn’t it?

Rob
Is that right? Well, I don’t feel a day over sixteen, Neil.

Neil
Excellent! Now, that might help you because in this programme we’re talking about the teenage brain! So, are you ready for today’s quiz question, Rob?

Rob
Yes, I am Neil. Fire away.

Neil
OK. What part of the brain is connected with basic emotions? Is it the…

a) prefrontal cortex?
b) cerebral cortex?
or c) limbic sytem?

Rob
OK. I was terrible at biology – I never listened in class. So I’m going to have to take a guess and say the answer is a) prefrontal cortex.

Neil
OK, well. We’ll find out if that’s the right answer at the end of the programme. Now Rob, were you a well-behaved student?

Rob
Well, I wasn’t badly behaved. But we had a horrible school uniform and sometimes I got detention just for having my shirt hanging out.

Neil
Well, that’s pretty harsh! Detention means having to stay at school after the day to do extra work.

Rob
Yes it was a punishment for doing something wrong. Now some people think that typical teenage behaviour such as embarrassment, anxiety, mood swings and risk taking is caused by changing hormones.

Neil
Mood swings are sudden changes of mood and hormones are chemicals in the body that stimulate cells and organs into action.

Rob
Yes. I bet you were a moody teenager, Neil!

Neil
I might have been (in a teenage voice)… no, let’s not go there, Rob. Now, apparently, it’s not only our hormones that change when we reach adolescence – that’s the age when we start changing into an adult.

Rob
That’s right. According to scientific research, some teenage behaviour is probably caused by changes in the brain. Let’s listen to Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore talking about this. What’s the phrase she uses to mean ‘to enjoy’?

INSERT
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
There’s a pretty established theory of risk taking – the biological basis of risk taking – which is that two different systems in the brain developed at different rates. The parts of the brain called the limbic system, which includes the regions of the brain that give you a rewarding feeling out of taking a risk, a kind of kick out of taking a risk, and an emotion out of taking a risk, are developing more quickly than the part of the brain called the pre-frontal cortex, which inhibits risk taking.

Neil
So what risks do teenagers typically take?

Rob
Well. The things most parents worry about, such as drinking, smoking, possibly taking drugs, and driving too fast.

Neil
And the reason that they take these risks might be because the area of the brain that rewards risk-taking behaviour develops more quickly than the area of the brain that inhibits – or slows down – risk-taking behaviour.

Rob
And what was the phrase she used to mean ‘enjoy something’?  

Neil
It was to get a kick out of something. Teenagers ‘get a kick out of’ and are rewarded for taking risks by one part of the brain – the limbic system – while the other part – the pre-frontal cortex – does little to slow things down.  

Rob
Well, that sounds more fun than being an adult. But actually, we often give teenagers a hard time. Let’s hear more about this from Sarah-Jayne.

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London
Something that I’ve noticed since working with teenagers is that they are the butt of many jokes. And they’re parodied left, right and centre. They’re demonized in newspapers. And whenever I tweet anything about the teenage brain – which I do quite frequently – invariably, inevitably, I’ll get a reply from someone saying, ‘Oh, what, teenagers actually have brains?’

Neil
Now of course some teenagers are very brainy – brainy is another way of saying clever. I know young people who are brilliant at maths, art and science.

Rob
But we heard Sarah-Jayne describe teenagers as being the butt of a joke – that means to be its target. And if you parody someone you copy their style in an exaggerated way to make people laugh.

Neil
And to demonize a person or a group means to talk about them as if they were evil or threatening. Poor teenagers, Rob!

Rob
Oh, don’t worry, Neil – they’ll grow up and be like us one day! And now it’s time to hear the answer to today’s quiz question.

Neil
Yes it is. I asked you, what part of the brain is connected with basic emotions? Is it the… a) prefrontal cortex? b) cerebral cortex? or c) limbic system?

Rob
And I chose a) prefrontal cortex. Was I right?

Neil
Well. I’m afraid to say, Rob, that you were absolutely wrong.

Rob
Using the wrong part of my brain, obviously.

Neil
Yes. The answer is c) the limbic system. But don’t get too emotional about getting that wrong and instead, please remind us of the words we learned today?

Rob
Good idea. We heard:

hoody
detention
hormones
adolescence
inhibits
get a kick out of something
limbic system
prefrontal cortex
brainy
butt of a joke
parody
to demonize

Neil
Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. I hope you got some kicks from today’s show! You can hear more programmes at bbclearningenglish.com. Please join us again soon.

Both
Bye.

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