动力来啦：讲外语7大优势，动动大脑更健康_BEC初级作文

动力来啦：讲外语7大优势，动动大脑更健康

7 Reasons Why It's Good To Speak Another Language

It's one of life's truths: Being bilingual or multilingual can only be considered a good thing. The ability to travel seamlessly in another country; to interact with people you wouldn't otherwise be able to communicate with; to really understand and immerse yourself in another culture, whether it be your own or another's; and on the most trivial level, to order off a menu and truly know what you're ordering.

生活的真相是：会讲两种或多种语言只会有益。可以无障碍地去另外一个国家旅行；和那些如果你不会讲外语就无法与其沟通的人互动；真正地品读和沉浸在另外一个文化里，无论是你自己的或者他人的；还有最微不足道的好处，可以自己点餐同时知道自己点的是啥。

But aside from all these reasons, there is a multitude of research showing how speaking more than one language is also good for your health -- particularly, the health of your brain. Here's where the bilingual among us have an advantage:

但是，除这些原因以外，大批研究表明会讲外语对你的健康——尤其是大脑的健康也很有益。以下就是我们中会讲外语的人占据优势的原因：

They have better "cognitive flexibility".

他们有更好的“认知灵活性”。

Older adults who have spoken two languages since childhood seem to have better cognitive flexibility -- meaning, they are better able to go with the flow in the face of a new or unexpected circumstance -- than adults who only speak one language, according to a Journal of Neuroscience study. The study involved having participants complete a cognitive flexibility task; while monolingual and bilingual adults were both able to complete the task, the bilingual adults did it more quickly and certain parts of their brains used less energy to do so.