跟讀練習: 5 Weird Involuntary Behaviors Explained! - 通過影片學習英語口語

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We like to think we walk through our lives completely conscious,

free to choose whatever we like, totally, completely in control.

Not even close.

Our bodies leave a lot to autopilot, which is a good thing, because imagine having to regulate your heartbeat and your breathing and your digestive system and your body temperature,

while not peeing your pants and falling down.

That would be hard.

Many of those involuntary actions are mysterious, annoying, and just plain weird.

Here are five of the human body's strangest out-of-control behaviors.

Start typing why does my into Google, and the top result is an eye-opener.

Involuntary twitching of the muscles around the eye has a number of causes, including dry eyes, caffeine, bright lights, and just like during a tough workout, from simple fatigue.

It's usually totally harmless and eventually goes away on its own, and it's a good hint that you've probably been looking at that screen enough for one day.

Looking at bright light can cause more than an eye twitch.

In Aristotle's book of problems, he asks, why is it that one sneezes more after one has looked at the sun?

Proving that people have been asking a lot of the same questions for a long time, and no one told Aristotle that you're not supposed to stare at the sun.

Like, ever.

The so-called photic sneeze reflex, aka the autosomal cholinergic heliophthalmic outburst,

abbreviated achoo, yes, seriously, is experienced by about one in four people, leading scientists to believe that it is genetically heritable.

While the exact cause hasn't been pinpointed, Many scientists think that it's due to crosstalk between the optic nerve

and the nerve that feeds the tickling sensation in your nose.

The visual cortex of sun-sneezing people is also prone to overstimulation, which might send the sneeze-sensing parts of their brain haywire.

Have you ever been just about to go to sleep, walking through the gates to dreamland, only to have the floor pulled out from under you and suddenly you're falling and then you wake up?

These frustrating sleep starts have another cool medical name, hypnagogic myoclonus.

When we drift off, the areas of our brain that control motor function are inactivated, in favor of those that control our sleep cycles.

Which is why you can dream about riding your bike without actually moving your feet.

As the sleepy part of your brain fights with the awake and moving parts of your brain, that battle can spontaneously tip back in favor of the motor control side,

and then suddenly you're like, whoa, I'm awake.

Sleep starts aren't the only myocloni that we experience.

Makeups are an uncontrollable contraction of the diaphragm muscle that we use to draw air into our lungs.

About a quarter second after that muscle contracts, the vocal cords snap shut, creating that characteristic… Scientists still aren't sure what causes them,

but possible explanations include hiccups being an evolutionary remnant from a few hundred million years ago, when our ancestors still had to pump water over their gills.

Or, since hiccups mainly happen in mammals, that they they started as a way for nursing infants to clear air from their stomachs.

If you want to get rid of hiccups, it seems that increasing the amount of CO2 in your blood can do the job, which is why common remedies include drinking water, holding our breath, or breathing into a paper bag.

Yawning, another long, slow, involuntary form of breathing, is common throughout the animal kingdom, and it even happens in the womb.

We know it's associated with sleep and boredom, but that doesn't explain why it happens.

Unlike most human behaviors, if you stop and think about yawning long enough, it starts to become a really weird thing to do.

Hippocrates believed that yawns released noxious fumes that had built up in the body, but modern medicine has shown us that that usually happens on the other end of the body.

We also know that about 50% of people who observe a yawn will yawn in response, so it's thought to be a social cue to synchronize our biological clocks.

One theory says yawns might even cool the brain slightly to make us more alert as we get bored or sleepy.

Even watching someone talk for extended periods of time can induce yawning.

So next time you're getting bored in class, tell your teacher it's Mother Nature's fault.

Finally, I'll leave you with one bonus behavior, post-micturition convulsion syndrome, or the pee shivers.

This is another behavior for which scientists haven't quite shaken out all the details,

but some believe it's simply because we're exposing sensitive areas of our body to the cold while we expel some internal warmth.

They might also arise from a bit of conflict between our autonomous nervous system that's usually quietly keeping all that pee inside,

and the part of our conscious mind that's in charge of the plumbing at that moment.

These weird, wild, and often twitchy behaviors may define nice neat explanations, and yes, sometimes they are very annoying, but in the great movie that is life,

they're a nice reminder of all the amazing things going on behind the scenes.

Here's a reflex action, you click subscribe, and I'll see you again next week.

Stay curious.

When the mercury plummets, we don't actually feel the temperature.

We feel the flow of energy.

We feel the heat.

Feel, feel, feel, feel my heat.

Or really, we feel the unheat, because cold can never move into something.

It's heat flowing out.

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這節 B2 級別的口語課以影片“5 Weird Involuntary Behaviors Explained!”為素材。影片中反覆出現的詞有：behavior, brain, sleep, yawn, scientists。這段影片共有 55 個句子、931 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 5:12。說話人語速自然，每分鐘約 179 個詞，接近日常對話。只有 80% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，詞彙難度較高。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中最難的 15 個單詞，附發音和釋義：

單詞	發音	釋義
yawn 動詞	/jɔn/	打哈欠, 打呵欠
sneeze 動詞	/sniːz/	打噴嚏 /打噴嚏
hiccup 名詞	/ˈhɪkʌp/	打嗝（兒） /打嗝（兒）, 呃逆
involuntary 形容詞	/ɪnˈvɑ.lənˌtɛɹ.i/	不小心
annoy 動詞	/əˈnoɪ̯/	攪擾 /攪擾, 煩擾 /煩擾
reflex 名詞	/ˈɹiːflɛks/	反射
sleepy 形容詞	/ˈsliːpi/	昏昏欲睡, 睏 /困
twitch 名詞	/twɪt͡ʃ/	抽搐
bore 動詞	/boɹ/	煩擾 /煩擾
awake 動詞	/əˈweɪk/	醒, 醒來 /醒來
nerve 名詞	/nɝv/	神經 /神經
abbreviate 動詞	/əˈbɹi.vi.eɪt/	縮寫, 縮略
ancestor 名詞	/ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/	祖先
autopilot 名詞	/ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/	自動駕駛儀 /自動駕駛儀, 自動駕駛 /自動駕駛
boredom 名詞	/ˈbɔɹ.dəm/	無聊 /無聊, 乏味

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	發音	釋義
fall down 動詞	/fɔl ˈdaʊn/	落下, 倒下
wake up 動詞	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	醒, 醒來 /醒來

影片中的語法

說話人最常用的結構，並附上影片中的原話：

結構	影片中的用法
現在完成進行時 have/has been + -ing — 以前開始、現在仍在繼續的動作	you've probably been looking · have been asking
現在完成時 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去發生但與現在仍有關聯的事	has looked · hasn't been pinpointed · Have you ever been
定語從句 who / which + 從句 — 補充說明人或事物	autopilot, which is · job, which is · people who observe
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的	been pinpointed · are inactivated

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 16 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 you're, aren't, I'll。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, convulsion /kənˈvʌlʃən/, noxious /ˈnɑkʃəs/, shiver /ˈʃɪvɚ/
長單詞——注意重音位置: involuntary /ɪnˈvɑ.lənˌtɛɹ.i/, abbreviate /əˈbɹi.vi.eɪt/, autopilot /ˈɔtoʊˌpaɪlət/, heritable /ˈhɛɹɪtəbəl/, hypnagogic /ˌhɪpnəˈɡɑd͡ʒɪk/

中文母語者容易讀錯的音：

/v/ — 不要讀成 /w/，上齒輕觸下唇: involuntary /ɪnˈvɑ.lənˌtɛɹ.i/, nerve /nɝv/, abbreviate /əˈbɹi.vi.eɪt/, convulsion /kənˈvʌlʃən/, digestive /daɪˈdʒɛstɪv/
詞尾子音 — 要讀清楚，後面不要加母音: sneeze /sniːz/, hiccup /ˈhɪkʌp/, myoclonus /ˌmaɪoʊˈkloʊnəs/, reflex /ˈɹiːflɛks/, twitch /twɪt͡ʃ/
/r/ 和 /l/ 的區別: involuntary /ɪnˈvɑ.lənˌtɛɹ.i/, reflex /ˈɹiːflɛks/, heritable /ˈhɛɹɪtəbəl/, harmless /ˈhɑɹmləs/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 yawn, sneeze, hiccup 這類單詞。

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →

跟讀練習: 5 Weird Involuntary Behaviors Explained! - 通過影片學習英語口語

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