Blinking is something we do automatically, without thinking. We blink 15–20 times a minute. There are several reasons why we blink. One is to stop our eyes from becoming dry. This helps our vision. Another reason is to protect our eyes from dust or sudden insect attacks. Scientists in Canada think they have found another function of blinking. The researchers are from Concordia University in Montreal. They found that we blink less when we are listening to someone speak. This happens more when there is background noise. Lead researcher Penelope Coupal said blinking less means our brain has a little more energy. This allows us to focus on what another person is saying.
眨眼是我們自然而然、不假思索就會做的事情。 我們每分鐘會眨眼 15–20 次。眨眼有幾個原因，其中之一是防止眼睛乾燥，這有助於維持視力。另一個原因是保護眼睛免受灰塵或突然的昆蟲攻擊。加拿大的科學家認為，他們發現了眨眼的另一個功能。這些研究人員來自蒙特婁的康考迪亞大學。他們發現，當我們在聆聽別人說話時，眨眼次數會減少。當有背景噪音時，這種情況更明顯。首席研究員佩內洛普·庫帕爾（Penelope Coupal）表示，眨眼次數減少意味著大腦能保留更多能量，讓我們更專注於他人所說的話。
The research team conducted two experiments on 49 participants. All of the test participants listened to sentences being read aloud. In one experiment, there was no background noise. In the other test, there was background noise, which made it harder for the people to hear the sentences. The scientists said that people in the test with background noise blinked a lot less. When the background noise increased, blink rates dropped even further. Study co-author Dr Mickael Deroche said we automatically blink less "when important information is coming". Ms Coupal agreed. She said: "We don't just blink randomly. In fact, we blink systematically less when important information is presented."Less blinking may mean more active listening.研究團隊對 49 名參與者進行了兩項實驗。所有受試者都聽取了朗讀的句子。在其中一項實驗中，沒有背景噪音；另一項實驗則有背景噪音，使人們更難聽清句子。科學家表示，在有背景噪音的測試中，人們眨眼次數明顯減少。當背景噪音增加時，眨眼率進一步下降。研究共同作者米卡埃爾·德羅什博士（Dr Mickael Deroche）說，我們在「重要資訊到來時會自動減少眨眼」。庫帕爾女士也同意，她說：「我們並不是隨機眨眼。事實上，當重要資訊呈現時，我們會系統性地減少眨眼。」
Vocabulary
- Blinking (verb/noun) - Closing and opening the eyes quickly.
- Background noise (noun phrase) - Unwanted sound.
- Focus (verb) - Concentrate.
- Conducted (verb) - Carried out.
- Experiments (noun) - Tests.
- Participants (noun) - People taking part.
- Rate (noun) - Speed or frequency.
- Systematically (adverb) - In a planned way.
- Presented (verb) - Given or shown.
