Agatha Christie’s Grey Cells Mystery

Rehabilitation is the system of measures, aimed at renewal of disordered functions, adaptation of the patient to the environment and his participation in social life. Implementation of the mentioned measures begins in the acute period of craniocerebral trauma. The following tasks are solved to that end: 1) organization of the most favourable conditions for renewal of the activity of reversibly damaged structures and structural-functional renewal of the integrity of the damaged tissues and organs because of the growth and propagation of specific elements of nervous tissue; 2) prophylaxis and treatment of complications from the side of the respiratory and cardivascular system; 3) prophylaxis of secondary contractures in paretic extremities.

Implementation of the mentioned tasks is provided by the a complex of measures - medicinal therapy, curative physical training, work therapy. In the presence of incapacitating complications of CCT, professional reorientation of the patient is needed.

• Prognosis of craniocerebral trauma is as an obligatory constituent part of every case history as diagnosis. At the discharge of the patient from the permanent establishment, they estimate the nearest functional results and forecast the final outcomes of the treatment that determines the complex of medical and social measures for their optimization.

• One of important links of the complex system of rehabilitation of invalids survived CCT is their professional rehabilitation which consists of psychological aiming of the invalid at labour activity indicated for him by the state of health, labour recommendations on a rational job placement, professional training and retraining.

Agatha Christie’s Grey Cells Mystery

The mystery behind Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities collaborating on a study of more than 80 of her crime novels.

Despite the worldwide sales of two billion, critics such as the crime writer P D James pan her writing style and “cardboard cut-out” characters. But the study by neuro-linguists at the universities of London, Birmingham and Warwick shows that she peppered her prose with phrases that act as a trigger to raise levels of serotonin and endorphins, the chemical messengers in the brain that induce pleasure and satisfaction .

“Christie’s language patterns stimulate higher than usual activity in the brain,” said Dr Roland Kapferer, who coordinated the research.

The study involved loading Christie’s novels onto a computer and analyzing her words, phrases and sentences.

One finding was that she used a very limited vocabulary. “It means that readers aren’t distracted and so they concentrate more on the clues and the plots,” said Dr Pernilla Danielson from the school of humanities at Birmingham University.

Despite the grisly theme of her novels, researchers say that much of her vocabulary is pleasing and gentle. Favourite words or phrases, repeatedly used in a “mesmerising” way, help to stimulate the pleasure-inducing side of the brain. They include she, yes, girl, kind, smiled and suddenly. Common phrases include can you keep an eye on this, more or less, a day or two and something like that.

“Christie does not give her readers too much detail,” said Kapferer. “Her narrative lays down what can be described as a general mist of ideas in which the reader is shrouded until the plot has unfolded. It creates what we call ‘minimum cognitive distraction’.”

Another trick deployed by Christie, who died in 1976, is the frequent use of the dash to create a faster-paced, unreflective narrative. Each phrase followed by a dash entices readers to carry on and they are seldom distracted by the adjectival or adverbial phrases used by other crime writers.

However, Mathew Prichard, Christie’s grandson, was skeptical of the research. “It’s not really a mystery. She was simply a writer of great plots,” he said.

From “The Sunday Times”

English learner’s Digest 2006 №17

Part 1 DECEMBER 22ND

Chapter 1

Vocabulary

Active vocabulary words

Recognition vocabulary

Word combinations

1. to go with smth

2. to dwell on the past

3. to wipe out smth (to wipe smth out of one`s memory)

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1135