評論
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Let's say that it would take you ten minutes to solve this puzzle.
假如你要用十分鐘完成這個拼圖。
How long would it take if you received constant electric shocks to your hands?
如果你的手被持續電擊，你會用多久完成它？
Longer, right? Because the pain would distract you from the task.
更長的時間，是不是？因為痛苦讓你從工作中分神。
Well, maybe not; it depends on how you handle pain.
其實，也許不是；這取決于你如何控制疼痛。
Some people are distracted by pain.
疼痛使有些人分心。
It takes them longer to complete a task, and they do it less well.
讓他們花更長的時間去完成工作，并完成得沒有那么好。
Other people use tasks to distract themselves from pain, and those people actually do the task faster and better when they're in pain than when they're not.
還有一些人通過工作轉移注意力，忘記疼痛，他們在疼痛的時候比沒有疼痛的時候工作得更快更好。
Some people can just send their mind wandering to distract themselves from pain.
一些人可以轉換思維去轉移對疼痛的感知。
How can different people be subjected to the exact same painful stimulus and yet experience the pain so differently?
為什么不同的人在受到相同的疼痛刺激時感受的疼痛程度不同？
And why does this matter?
它為什么有意義呢？
First of all, what is pain?
首先，什么是疼痛？
Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
疼痛是個不愉悅的感知和情感經歷，與實際或潛在的組織損傷有關。
Pain is something we experience, so it's best measured by what you say it is.
疼痛是我們經歷的東西，所以最好用你所說的來衡量。
Pain has an intensity; you can describe it on a scale from zero, no pain, to ten, the most pain imaginable.
疼痛有強度；你可以把它用刻度表示出來，從零級沒有疼痛到十級最疼。
But pain also has a character, like sharp, dull, burning, or aching.
不過疼痛是有特點的，比如尖銳的、遲鈍的、灼燒的或心痛的。
What exactly creates these perceptions of pain?
到底是什么產生了疼痛的感覺呢？
Well, when you get hurt, special tissue damage-sensing nerve cells, called nociceptors, fire and send signals to the spinal cord and then up to the brain.
其實，當你受傷時，特殊組織損傷敏感神經細胞，也叫傷害感受器，觸動并發送信號到脊髓，再傳送到大腦。
Processing work gets done by cells called neurons and glia.
這個過程由神經元與神經膠質完成。
This is your Grey matter.
這就是你的灰質。
And brain superhighways carry information as electrical impulses from one area to another.
并且腦路攜帶信息就像電子脈沖一樣從一個區域到另一個。
This is your white matter.
這就是白質。
The superhighway that carries pain information from the spinal cord to the brain is our sensing pathway that ends in the cortex, a part of the brain that decides what to do with the pain signal.
這個攜帶疼痛信息從神經元到大腦的腦路是我們的感覺通道，它到皮質層結束，皮質層是決定如何處理疼痛信號的腦部。
Another system of interconnected brain cells called the salience network decides what to pay attention to.
另外一個相互關聯的腦細胞系統叫做突顯網絡，它決定需要注意什么。
Since pain can have serious consequences, the pain signal immediately activates the salience network.
因為疼痛可能會有嚴重的后果，疼痛信號會立刻激發突顯網絡。
Now, you're paying attention.
現在，你就會注意到疼痛了。
The brain also responds to the pain and has to cope with these pain signals.
大腦也會回應疼痛并處理這些疼痛信號。
So, motor pathways are activated to take your hand off a hot stove, for example.
因此，運動元神經被激發，比如讓你把手從火爐上移開。
