E12 女生天生数学差？这样的谣言别再信了

长期以来，我们似乎对男女两性的大脑存在差异形成了共识，例如男性左脑更加发达，擅长逻辑思维，而女性则主要是右脑生物，更加温柔细致，语言能力、艺术能力更强。
但美国芝加哥医学院的神经科学教授莉斯·埃利奥特（Lise Eliot）提出，男性和女性的大脑之间并没有能分辨的差异。男性和女性之间的行为差异是后天教育造就的结果，而非来源于先天条件。她在今年的一次演讲中说到，“人们说男人来自火星，女人来自金星，但大脑是一个不分性别的器官。我们具有完全相同的大脑结构。”
“我们一直在寻找一种生物差异，每每找到之后，这些差异又无一例外地被证实不可信。但我们似乎仍然非常渴望找到另一种差异。”埃利奥特教授将这种循环部分归咎于学术界和媒体。因为大多数学者都知道，任何男女之间在统计学上的微小差异都会成为头条新闻。学者们迫切渴求研究资金和注意力，因而往往把研究重点放在性别差异上。
本篇课程首发于@友邻优课 YLYK 2019年1月15日，选自 The Atlantic

Are Male and Female Brains Biologically Different?

biologically /ˌbaɪəˈlɒdʒɪkəli, ˌbaɪəˈlɑːdʒɪkəli/: adv. 生物上地

① Pop neuroscience has long been fascinated with uncovering secret biological differences between male and female brains. The question of whether men and women have innately different brains rarely fails to get people riled up.

pop /pɒp, pɑːp/: adj. 流行的 (popular)
neuroscience /ˌnjʊərəʊˈsaɪəns, ˈnʊroʊˈsaɪəns/: n. 神经科学
be fascinated with (doing) sth.: 着迷于 (做) 某事
innately /ɪˈneɪtli/: adv. 内在地
rarely fail to: 极少做不到；往往能做到 (almost always)
get sb. riled up / rile up sb. /raɪl/: 激怒某人

② But Lise Eliot, a professor of neuroscience at the Chicago Medical School says that anyone who goes searching for innate differences between the sexes won't find them. "People say men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but the brain is a unisex organ," she said.

neuroscience: [ ˈnjʊːrəʊsʌɪəns ] n. 神经科学
unisex /ˈjuːnɪseks/: adj. 不分性别的；男女皆宜的
organ [ 'ɔrɡən ] n. 器官，风琴 / 管风琴

③ A study found that "averaged across many people, sex differences in brain structure do exist, but an individual brain is likely to be just that: individual, with a mix of features," as New Scientist reported in 2015.

average /ˈævərɪdʒ/: vt. 取平均值
individual /ˌɪndɪˈvɪdʒuəl/: adj. 单个的；独特的

④ Eliot blames academia and the media in part for the cycle that leads to the ongoing argument over biological brain differences. Because most scholars know that any small statistical difference between men and women will make headlines, academics, desperate for funding and attention, often focus studies on gender disparities.

blame sb. for sth: 责怪某人；把……归咎于某人
academia /ˌækəˈdiːmiə/: n. 学术界
in part: 在某种程度上；部分
ongoing [ ˈɑnˌɡoʊɪŋ ] adj. 持续的 / 正在进行的
argument 美[ 'ɑrɡjumənt ] 英[ 'ɑːgjʊm(ə)nt ] n. 激烈的争吵，争执 / 争论
scholar /ˈskɒlə, ˈskɑːlər/: n. 学者
make headlines: 上头条
academic /ˌækəˈdemɪk/: n. 学者；大学教师
(be) desperate for something: 渴望/急需……
gender disparities: 性别差异
gender 美[ ˈdʒɛndər ] 英[ ˈdʒɛndə ] n. （名词、代词的）性

▍词汇拓展

1. biologically: adv. 生物上地
   · biology /baɪˈɒlədʒi, baɪˈɑːlədʒi/: n. 生物学
   biological parents 亲生父母；生身父母
   We are biologically related. = We are related by blood
   我们之间是有血缘关系的。
2. pop: adj. 流行的 (popular)
   pop music 流行音乐
   pop star 流行歌手
   pop festival 流行音乐节
3. pop neuroscience: 流行/大众神经科学
   The Brain that Changes Itself 《改变是大脑的天性》
   The Brain's Way of Healing 《自愈是大脑的本能》
   Phantoms in the Brain 《寻找脑中幻影》
   Brain Rules 《大脑当家》
4. be fascinated with (doing) sth.: 着迷于 (做) 某事
   · be fascinated by sb./sth.: 被……给迷住了
   The boy is fascinated with Douyin recently.
   这孩子近来着迷于刷抖音不能自拔。
   I was fascinated by her voice.
   我被她的嗓音迷住了。
   I was fascinated by his looks.
   我被他的颜给迷住了。
5. get sb. riled up / rile up sb.: 激怒某人
   rile up customers 激怒用户
   get the passengers riled up 激怒乘客
6. unisex: adj. 不分性别的；男女皆宜的
   a unisex restroom 无性别厕所
   a unisex hairstyle. 不分男女、可盐可甜的发型
7. average: vt. 取平均值
   They averaged the gain among themselves.
   他们自己把收益给均分了。
8. blame sb. for sth: 责怪某人；把……归咎于某人
   She still blames herself for my being late.
   她仍在为我的迟到而自责。
9. in part: 在某种程度上；部分
   This is in part my fault.
   在某种程度上，这是我的错。
10. make headlines: 上头条
    make the list 上榜单
    make sth. / make it 做成某事
11. (be) desperate for something: 渴望/急需……
    I was desperate for his attention.
    我极度渴望得到他的关注。
    She is desperate for a job, any job.
    她现在急需一份工作。
    ▍责任编辑
    李焕、武志琳、章晓丹