Reading is an exercise for the mind. It is good for our vocabulary and literacy skills, teaching us math or science concepts and helping us learn history. Have you read a story and felt tears well up because of a character's suffering? If so, that is because you have empathy (共情) for the character. Empathy is a magic eye that sees into other people's hearts and it can be learned through various fictions.
Research shows that human brains react differently to stories and facts. Many more areas of your brain light up when you're enjoying a story, and your brain thinks you are in the story. .
Empathy helps you to read people's emotions and work out the best way to respond. This skill, called emotional intelligence (EI), can make it easier to communicate and connect with people. One study found that people who read the Harry Potter novels, which tell stories about humans fighting against the evil, were less likely to behave unfairly towards powerless groups including refugees (难民).
After reading The Boy at the Back of the Class, a story about a boy who is a refugee escaping from the war, students in St Michael's High School were inspired to do a 10-mile walk for the non-profit organization Refugee Action. Their empathy also stimulated them to raise £1,000 for people who were forced to leave their homes because of war.
Reading encourages us to empathise with others, which could potentially lead to several beneficial outcomes. Not only are we more likely to engage in helpful behaviors when we feel empathy for other people, but others are also more likely to help us when they experience empathy. .
A. Apart from those, reading has another benefit.
B. In a way, all this increases our ability to read well.
C. This theory of EI has been put into practice in schools.
D. This permits people to understand the emotions that others are feeling.
E. This means you experience the characters' thoughts as if they were real.
F. Research shows that building this intelligence can lead to greater tolerance.
G. For society to develop, communicative and empathetic individuals really matter.
