精选外刊｜自言自语这事儿，很奇怪吗？

2025-12-27 00:00:00

独处时，很多人会选择听音乐、刷手机或看书来排解寂寞。实际上，有些人会通过一种更直接却略显特别的方式——自言自语——来陪伴自己。这种行为常被视为怪异或尴尬，甚至让人担心会被误解为“疯狂”。然而，科学研究和真实案例表明，自言自语不仅广泛存在，还有很多积极作用。那么，它是如何影响人的大脑的？又能给生活带来哪些实际帮助？今天，让我们和 Natasha 一起回顾这篇首次发布于 2024 年 12 月 13 日的文章吧。

讲解人 · Natasha

5年线下线上英语教学经验流利说®️发音明星老师，课程设计师

原文

** The surprising benefits of talking out loud to yourself ** When Ellie Shoja goes for a walk, she slips on her headphones and starts talking — but there's no other voice ricocheting through the speakers.

It’s merely a convenient way to disguise the fact that she’s engrossed in a conversation with herself.

“It slows down your thinking just by the nature of verbalizing something, “ she says.

“You have language that limits the amount of chaos, because you have to express it.

You become more focused, and your anxiety levels and stress actually lower significantly.”

Shoja is far from alone:

Many people talk out loud to themselves — which is commonly called external self-talk or private speech, as opposed to inner speech, which is the silent dialogue running through your mind.

Yet as Shoja’s headphone strategy suggests, talking to an internal audience can be associated with a perception of, well, strangeness.

As you might expect, people who spend lots of time alone are more likely to keep themselves company by chit-chatting out loud.

The same goes for only children.

The other main reason is to deal with novel or highly stressful situations.

Studies have found that when you’re anxious or experiencing, for example, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, you’re much more likely to talk to yourself.

Shoja, the headphone-wearing self-talker, hopes more people start to reconsider their preconceptions around self-talk.

“We’ve made a decision somehow that talking to yourself is kind of cuckoo, “ she says.

But in reality, there’s great power in extricating all the thoughts and ideas jumbled up inside you and stringing them together into words and sentences meant for your own ears.

“It allows you to feel seen by yourself, “ she says, “and when that happens, you can allow others to see you.”

带着问题听讲解

如何理解 disguise 这个单词？
文章中，为什么人们对自言自语会有偏见？
根据文章，为什么自言自语对一些人特别重要？

讲解

** 精选外刊｜自言自语这事儿，很奇怪吗？ **

When Ellie Shoja goes for a walk, she slips on her headphones and starts talking — but there's no other voice ricocheting through the speakers. It's merely a convenient way to disguise the fact that she's engrossed in a conversation with herself.

当艾莉·肖亚外出散步时，她会戴上耳机开始说话——但耳机里并没有其他人的声音在回荡。这只是方便掩盖她正全神贯注地与自己对话的事实。

"It slows down your thinking just by the nature of verbalizing something," she says. "You have language that limits the amount of chaos, because you have to express it. You become more focused, and your anxiety levels and stress actually lower significantly."

她说：“语言表达的本质会减缓你的思考速度。语言限制了混乱的程度，因为你必须表达出来。你会变得更加专注，你的焦虑程度和压力实际上也会大大降低。”

Shoja is far from alone: Many people talk out loud to themselves — which is commonly called external self-talk or private speech, as opposed to inner speech, which is the silent dialogue running through your mind. Yet as Shoja's headphone strategy suggests, talking to an internal audience can be associated with a perception of, well, strangeness.

肖亚并不是唯一这样做的人：许多人都会大声自言自语——这通常被称为“外在自我交谈”或“私人语言”，与之相对的是“内在交谈”（就是在你脑海中流淌的无声对话）。然而，正如肖亚的耳机策略所暗示的那样，对着内在听众说话可能会让人感到奇怪。

As you might expect, people who spend lots of time alone are more likely to keep themselves company by chit-chatting out loud. The same goes for only children. The other main reason is to deal with novel or highly stressful situations. Studies have found that when you're anxious or experiencing, for example, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, you're much more likely to talk to yourself.

正如你所预料，那些独处时间较长的人更有可能通过大声闲聊来陪伴自己。对于独生子女来说也是如此。另一个（自言自语的）主要原因是为了应对新奇或者极具压力的情况。研究发现，当你感到焦虑或者存在强迫症倾向时，你更有可能自言自语。

Shoja, the headphone-wearing self-talker, hopes more people start to reconsider their preconceptions around self-talk. "We've made a decision somehow that talking to yourself is kind of cuckoo," she says.

戴着耳机自言自语的肖亚希望更多人去重新考虑他们对自言自语的先入之见。“我们不知不觉间已经认定，自言自语这事儿有点疯疯癫癫的，”她说。

But in reality, there's great power in extricating all the thoughts and ideas jumbled up inside you and stringing them together into words and sentences meant for your own ears. "It allows you to feel seen by yourself," she says, "and when that happens, you can allow others to see you."

但实际上，将你内心混乱的思绪和想法剥离出来，然后串词成句说给自己听，这其中蕴含着巨大的力量。“这让你感觉到被自己看见，”她说，“当这种感觉出现的时候，你也能让别人看见你。”

重点词汇

slip on
迅速穿上、戴上

相关词汇：slip（v. 滑倒；滑落）
- 例句：My keys slipped out of the pocket.
例句：She was already at the door slipping on her shoes.

ricochet

/ˈrɪk.ə.ʃeɪ/

v. 弹跳似的移动；反弹

例句：The sound ricocheted around the hall.

disguise

/dɪsˈɡaɪz/

v. 掩盖；掩饰

同义词：conceal
搭配短语：to disguise the fact (that)
- 例句：There's no disguising the fact that business is bad.

engrossed

/ɪnˈɡroʊst/

adj. 全神贯注的；专心致志的

词根词缀：en-（表示使进入某种状态）
例句：He became engrossed in his work and lost track of time.

verbalize

/ˈvɝː.bə.laɪz/

v. 用文字表达；用言辞描述

相关词汇：verb（n. 动词）
派生词：verbal（adj. 与语言或言语有关的）
- 搭配短语：good verbal skills
英文释义：to express your feelings or ideas in words

far from
远非；完全不

例句：The battle is far from over.

perception

/pɚˈsep.ʃən/

n. 看法；认识

搭配短语：the public perception of foreigners

as you might expect/imagine
正如你所料

例句：As you might expect, a top-of-range Mercedes is not cheap.

chit-chat

/ˈtʃɪt.tʃæt/

v. 闲聊

同义词：chat（v.）
英文释义：informal talk about things that are not very important
词性拓展：chit-chat（n.）
- 例句：We exchanged some chit-chat about the weather.

go for
适用于

同义词（组）：apply to

obsessive-compulsive
adj.（思想或行为）强迫性的

关词汇：obsessive（adj. 过度的；n. 强迫症患者）
- 例句：He is obsessive about his appearance.
相关词汇：compulsive（adj. 难以抑制的）
- 英文释义：impossible to control and therefore sometimes harmful
- 搭配短语：a compulsive eating disorder
英文释义：someone who is obsessive-compulsive tends to repeat particular actions in a way that is not necessary, because they have strong anxious feelings