Scientists have found that mindfulness meditation, known as “Samatha Meditation,” could be reducing the pain that people experience. Fifteen research subjects given 120 degrees Fahrenheit heat pulses found the pain fifty-seven percent less unpleasant and forty percent less intense after just four twenty minute meditation sessions. Isn’t it hard to measure what people are feeling? The researchers didn’t just asking people how they felt. They used an MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging machine to measure their brain activity. The MRI detects how much oxygen brain cells use. The more oxygen the cells use, the more active they are. As pain goes up, activity changes in certain areas of the brain.

【生词注释】
meditation n. 沉思; 冥想

session n.期间

measure v.测量

magnetic resonance imaging 磁共振成像

go up 上升;增长

【参考译文】
科学家们发现冥想，也叫作“Samatha Meditation”,能够减轻人们的疼痛感。15个人经受120华氏温度来进行试验，研究发现经过20分钟的冥想后，疼痛感减少了 57%，紧张度较少了40%。测量人们的感觉不是很难吗？研究人们不适直接询问实验人员的感觉。他们使用用磁共振成像机器来测验脑部活动。机器可以侦测到脑细胞使用的氧气，脑细胞使用的氧气越多，它们越活跃。随着疼痛的增加，脑部的局部区域细胞活动发生了变化。