Chaps, if you’re dreading the prospect of following your better half for hours to trawl the Boxing Day sales, this will be welcome news.
親們，如果你也擔(dān)心自己的理智不夠堅(jiān)定，不足以讓你在數(shù)小時(shí)的節(jié)禮日采購(gòu)中保持冷靜和理智，你也許會(huì)喜歡下面的這個(gè)消息。

小編注：Boxing Day是西方的節(jié)禮日，即12月26日，圣誕節(jié)之后的第二天日。通常英國(guó)商家都會(huì)在這一天開(kāi)始打折，因此這天也是人們搶購(gòu)便宜商品的好時(shí)機(jī)。土豪你好！中國(guó)游客成倫敦節(jié)禮日消費(fèi)大戶>>>

For it turns out the most effective shopping sprees are the snappiest ones – with our ability to spot a bargain dropping off significantly after less than half an hour.
研究證明，在購(gòu)物狂潮中動(dòng)作最快的人才是最會(huì)買東西的人。——我們討價(jià)還價(jià)的能力在不到半小時(shí)的時(shí)間內(nèi)就會(huì)明顯降低。

According to experts, the rational part of the brain begins to shut down after just 23 minutes on average when comparing deals.
專家研究顯示，平均而言，人們大腦中進(jìn)行數(shù)理運(yùn)算的部分（我們?cè)谫?gòu)物中正是運(yùn)動(dòng)這部分大腦）在短短23分鐘后就會(huì)暫停運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。

The speed at which our cognitive abilities switch off was revealed in tests on 400 people who were placed in a ￡3 million 20-tonne medical MRI scanner.
為了研究我們大腦感知能力停滯的速度，專家對(duì)400名實(shí)驗(yàn)參與者進(jìn)行了研究。這400位實(shí)驗(yàn)參與者在一部?jī)r(jià)值三百萬(wàn)英鎊重達(dá)20公噸的核磁共振掃描儀上接受了檢查。

It found the higher brain functions in the pre-frontal cortex initially give us the edge when hunting for bargains.
研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在人們購(gòu)物時(shí)，依靠的是前額葉皮層產(chǎn)生的高級(jí)腦功能。

But relying on it for long periods is tiring, causing us to revert to more primitive parts of the brain, like the insular cortex, which are no good when it comes to judging value for money.
但是前額葉皮層長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作會(huì)產(chǎn)生疲勞，使我們更多的倚靠大腦中構(gòu)造較為簡(jiǎn)單的部分，例如島葉皮層，這樣人們揣度商品價(jià)值的能力因而降低。

The good news for committed shoppers is a so-called ‘soft break’ – a few minutes rest grabbing a coffee, for example - can reinvigorate our senses, although only temporarily.
對(duì)于那些熱衷購(gòu)物的人來(lái)說(shuō)，好消息是，稍事休息一下——比如花幾分鐘喝杯咖啡——可以使我們的感官重新振作，雖然這僅是暫時(shí)的。