动物恐惧症Animal phobias

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是尼尔。
And I’m Sophie.Neil, what are you afraid of?
我是苏菲。你害怕什么?
I’m not keen on anything with wings, but I particularly hate moths. They’re disgusting, with their fat hairy bodies and… fluttery wings!
我不喜欢任何带翅膀的东西，但我格外讨厌蛾子。它们很恶心，毛绒绒肥大的身体，不停颤动的翅膀。
Oh, Neil. Moths are completely harmless.They aren’t something to be scared of.
好吧，尼尔。蛾子完全无害。它们不是什么让人害怕的东西。
Yes, they are… They get in my face… and my hair.It makes my flesh creep just thinking about them.
它们很可怕。会飞到我的脸上，碰到我的头发。我一想到蛾子就毛骨悚然。
If something makes your flesh creep it makes you feel very frightened. Well, I hope you’re going to survive the show today, Neil, because it’s all about animal phobias– and a phobia is a strong and irrational fear.That’s a fear not based on reason.
如果某物让你毛骨悚然，是指它让你非常害怕。我希望你能挺过今天的节目，因为都是关于动物恐惧症的。phobia是指强烈的，非理性的恐惧。这种恐惧没有任何来由。
OK – I’ll try. Do you have any animal phobias, Sophie?
好吧，我尽力。你有动物恐惧症吗，苏菲？
I can’t stand dogs.
我受不了狗。
Man’s best friend?How can you not like dogs – they’re cute and loveable. They protect you. They can do tricks!
人类最好的朋友？你怎么能不喜欢狗呢？它们多可爱。它们可以保护你。它们可以逗乐耍把戏。
Look, for you it’s moths – and that’s pretty ridiculous, by the way – and for me it’s dogs.And that isn’t ridiculous. Dogs can be aggressive – they have sharp teeth, they bear their teeth and bark.
对你来说害怕的是蛾子，顺便说一下，这很荒谬，对我来说害怕的是狗。这一点也不荒谬。狗也有侵略性，它们有尖牙，龇着牙，狗吠。
What, like this? [sound of dog growling and barking]
就像这样吗？（模仿狗叫，咆哮）
Yes – and please turn that off, it’s upsetting me.It’s time for today’s quiz question.Can you tell me, Neil, what’s the word that describes an irrational fear of insects? Is it…a) entomophobia?b) thanatophobia?Or c) pogonophobia?
没错，赶紧停下来，这让我很不舒服。是时候看今天的问题了。你能告诉我，下列哪个词是描述对昆虫非理性的恐惧？a) 昆虫恐怖症？b) 死亡恐怖症？c) 胡须恐惧症？
I’ll say thanatophobia.
我选thanatophobia（死亡恐怖症）。
Well, we’ll find out if you got the answer right later on in the show.But now let’s listen to Dr Dean Burnett, neuroscientist at Cardiff University in the UK, talking about what causes phobic reactions in us.
之后我们再看你回答得是否正确。现在我们听听迪恩·博纳特教授，英国卡迪夫大学神经系统科学家讲述什么原因造成我们这种恐惧反应。
The sensory information is just relayed directly into your brainOne part of it is routed into the cortex, where it’s sort of thought about:that’s that thing, I know that from last time I experienced this, and you can kind of rationalise your way through it.But it also sends a message directly to the amygdala, which immediately triggers the fight or flight response – bang, fire alarm, off it goes, flood the body just in case. It’s a survival mechanism.
这种感官信息直接传输到大脑，一部分进入大脑皮层，传递了这样的信息：这就是那个事，上次经历过我知道，然后你会理性地做出反应。但信息也会直接传到杏仁核，直接触发你或战或逃的心理反应，如突然巨响、警报、逃离，情绪充斥身体。这是一种生存机制。
Dr Dean Burnett there.So, the sensory information for me is a moth fluttering around, getting in my hair.
上述是博纳特教授的讲话。所有对我来说，感官信息就是蛾子到处飞，钻到我头发里。
That’s right – Or for me, it’s a dog getting anywhere near me! Anyway, this information goes into our brains and is processed in two different parts of the brain – the central cortex and the amygdala.
没错，对我来说就是到处都有狗围着我。总之，这种信息进入我们的大脑，然后经加工进入我们大脑的两部分，大脑皮层和杏仁核。
And the information sent to the central cortex triggers a rational response, like, oh it’s only a harmless moth– and the stuff that goes to the amygdala triggers an instinctive reaction – the fight or flight response – like, aaarrrggghhh!It’s a disgusting moth! Get away from me!
信息进入大脑皮层会触发理性反应，如，哦，这只是一只无害的蛾子。这种信息进入杏仁核会触发本能反应，或战或逃的反应，如啊啊的大叫！这是一只恶心的蛾子！快走开！
The fight or flight response is a normal response to stress or danger,and it involves the hormone adrenalin being pumped quickly round the body. The problem is this response can get triggered when there isn’t any danger.And this is at the heart of what a phobia is.
或战或逃的反应是面对压力或危险的正常反应，会导致肾上腺素快速充斥全身。问题是这种反应在面对不危险的状况时也会触发。这就是恐惧症的关键。
So, that’s the moth flying in my face while I’m reading in bed,and I feel my heart beating so fast I think I’m going to pass out and I nearly die from anxiety.
所以当我在床上读书，蛾子飞到我脸上时，我感到我的心跳非常快，我感觉我要晕过去了，会焦虑致死。
Poor Neil! Pass out means to faint or lose consciousness, by the way. Well, we’re going to hear from Stephen and Reena now, two self-confessed arachnophobes.They have strong emotional reactions just like you, Neil.Can you identify which animal they fear?
可怜的尼尔。Pass out 是指昏倒，失去意识。接下来我们听听斯蒂芬和里纳自述蜘蛛恐惧症。他们的反应和你一样强烈。你能辨认出他们害怕的是什么动物吗？
So when I see a spider, I feel like I’ve been punched in the chest.
当我看到一只蜘蛛时，我感到胸口受了一记重拳一样。
Complete fear – it’s absolutely paralysing.They’ve never been OK with me.I’ve always hated them.
特别恐惧，完全瘫在那里。对于蜘蛛，我从来都感觉不好。我非常讨厌它们。
I’ve spent a lot of time driving around in the car afraid to go home while my husband worked in London.
我丈夫在伦敦工作时，我每天花很长时间驾车乱逛，不敢回家。
All rationality goes out the window, and it’s… my emotions completely take over.
理智全然抛之脑后，我的感性思想完全控制了自己。
I just…. I just run.
我的反应就是逃跑。
So arachnophobes have a strong fear of spiders.And it’s the most common animal phobia apparently.
所以arachnophobes是指对蜘蛛的强烈恐惧。这显然是很常见的动物恐惧症。
You could understand that if you were living in Australia – where a bite from a spider might kill you.But the little spiders you get here in the UK don’t seem threatening at all.
当你生活在澳大利亚你就可以理解了，随便一只蜘蛛咬你一口都可能杀死你。但在英国你看到的小蜘蛛完全没有威胁。
Yes, but recent research has shown that we have a reflexive awareness of spiders – whether we fear them or not – which means we can spot them automatically without thinking about it.And we don’t have the same reflexive awareness of houseflies – or moths – for example.
是的，但最近的研究显示，无论我们害不害怕蜘蛛，我们都对蜘蛛有反射性意识。也就是说不用思考立马就能认出那是蜘蛛。我们对家蝇、蛾子就不会有这样的反射性意识。
I expect this awareness is to do with our ancestors.It would’ve been extremely useful to spot a spider as an early human on the plains of the African Savannah.A bite might kill you – or make you vulnerable to attack from other animals.
我猜这种意识和我们的祖先有关。早先生活在非洲大草原的人们，能快速辨认蜘蛛是非常有用的。被咬一口就有可能死亡，或者使你极易受到其他动物攻击。
You’re right, Neil! But do you think you were right about today’s quiz question?I asked: What’s the word that describes an irrational fear of insects?Is it… a) entomophobia, b) thanatophobia or c) pogonophobia?
没错。你觉得今天的问题你答对了吗？我的问题是：哪一个词描述了对昆虫非理性的恐惧？a)昆虫恐惧症, b)死亡恐惧症 还是 c)胡须恐惧症？
I said thanatophobia!
我选的是死亡恐惧症。
That’s the wrong answer.It’s actually a) entomophobia.Entomophobia (also known as insectophobia) is a specific phobia characterized by an excessive or unrealistic fear of one or more classes of insect.Thanatophobia is the fear of death and pogonophobia is the fear of beards or bearded people.
你答错了。真正答案是a)昆虫恐惧症。Entomophobia是一种特殊的恐惧症，对某一种或某一类昆虫过度害怕。Thanatophobia是指对死亡的恐惧，pogonophobia是对胡须或留大胡子人的恐惧。
Well, moths are kind of hairy…Let’s remind ourselves of some of the words we heard today:
蛾子也是毛绒绒的。我们来听听今天学到的单词。
make your flesh creep
令人毛骨悚然
phobia
恐惧症
irrational
不合理的
fight or flight response
或战或逃的反应
pass out
昏倒
arachnophobes
蜘蛛恐惧症
reflexive awareness
反射性意识
And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English.Don’t forget to join us again soon!
六分钟英语就到这里。我们下期再见。
Bye!
再见！