VOA慢速英语:Study Suggests Play Video Games Might Help Dyslexics

Dyslexia is a learning disorder, it interferes with the ability to recognise words, and for some readers to understand what they have read.
读写困难是一种学习障碍，它对人们识别单词的能力造成干扰，对一些阅读者来说，还会干扰他们理解所读内容。

Experts say dyslexia affects about five to ten percent of the population of the United State. Researchers have long known that people with dyslexia write or read words and letters backwards in the wrong order.
专家说读写困难影响了美国人口的5%到10%。研究人员早就发现，有读写困难的人书写或阅读单词和字母的顺序不对。

But a new study shows that people with dyslexia may have trouble redirecting their attention between senses, from seeing something to hearing something. The study suggests something that might help dyslexic people learn more quickly - play video games.
但一项新的研究表明，有读写困难的人可能在将注意力从看到听这种感官之间的转移上存在困难。这项研究表明玩视频游戏能帮助有读写困难的人学得更快。

Vanessa Harrar of Britain's University of Oxford led the study. She reported the findings in the journal Current Biology. The study suggests that dyslexic people may have trouble moving quickly from what they read to what they hear. Doctor Harrar calls this a "sluggish shifting of attention across the senses."
英国牛津大学的Vanessa Harrar负责这项研究。她将研究结果发表在《当代生物学》杂志上。该研究表明有读写困难的人可能在从读到听的快速转换上遇到麻烦。Harrar博士称之为“跨感官转移注意力迟缓。”

"So, if you are trying to read something and then trying to listen to somebody who's reading aloud and you're trying to follow along with what they are reading -- they have to switch their attention from hearing what they are saying to looking at the piece of paper and back again. So we found they have quite sluggish shifting of attention across the senses," said Harrar.
Harrar称，“如果你一边看一边听别人大声朗读，你想听清楚别人念的内容，就必须将注意力从听转到看，然后周而复始。我们发现他们在感官之间转换注意力时非常迟缓。”

In the study, Doctor Harrar tested 17 people with dyslexia, and 19 others without reading problems. The volunteers were asked to push a button as quickly as possible when they heard a sound, saw a light or experienced both together. Doctor Harrar compared the speed of their reactions.
在这项研究中，Harrar博士测试了17名有读写困难的人以及19名不存在阅读障碍的人。这些志愿者被要求在听到声音或看到闪光，或两者同时发生时尽快按下按钮。Harrar博士比较了他们的反应速度。

She found that people with dyslexia were just as fast as the others when they saw only a picture or heard only a sound. But the dyslexics had a slower reaction time when they heard a sound and saw a picture at the same time.
她发现，在只看或只听时，有读写困难的人和其他人反应一样快。但当同时看和听时，有读写困难的人反应就慢了。

Doctor Harrar feels like playing action video games could help dyslexic people shift from seeing to hearing more quickly. She adds that images in video games force the eyes to move and focus quickly.
Harrar博士认为，像玩动作类视频游戏可以帮助有读写困难的人更快地从看转到听。她补充说，视频游戏画面迫使眼球更迅速的移动和聚焦。

"Video game types of things pop out of here and there, they move your eyes around the screen quite quickly in response to things quite quickly, and the more you play a video game the faster you get that kind of thing. So, the video game is really training the attention system to move quickly," said Harrar.
Harrar说，“视频游戏类型的画面随时蹦出来，它们使你的眼睛在屏幕上快速移动以适应非常快速的画面。你游戏玩得更多,就能更快跟上这类画面。因此，视频游戏能训练注意力系统更迅速移动。”

The study also shows that dyslexic people have the most difficulty going between what they saw and what they heard, this may have an effect on how dyslexic children are taught how to read.
这项研究还表明，有读写困难的人从看转移到听是最困难的，这可能会对如何教有读写困难的孩子阅读产生影响。

When children learn the alphabet，they usually see the letter first and then hear the sound, or they see and hear the letter at the same time. The study shows that dyslexics might learn more quickly if they hear the sound of a letter or word first before seeing it.
当孩子学习字母时，他们通常是先看到字母再听到读音，或者同时听到和看到这个字母。研究表明，如果有读写困难的人在看到单词或字母时先听到它，可能他们会学得更快。