The text we obtain every day is categorized. In the book "The Smart Reader," it is divided into three categories: informational text, narrative text, and aesthetic text.
An Example 🌰#
When describing a boy pursuing a girl, how are these three types of texts expressed:
- Informational text: I am ambitious and have many strengths; after we are together, I will give my all for you; many years later, we will embrace a bright future.
- Narrative text: I used to be happy, but since I met you, I am not as happy anymore. - This is how Zhang Ailing met Hu Lancheng, Lu Xun met Xu Guangping, and Hu Shi met Wei Liansi.
- Aesthetic text: On a lonely morning in the north / A morning in the north / Four years with one person. - This is a line from Hai Zi's poem "Parachute Tower."
We can observe some patterns from the sentences above.
Informational sentences focus on content and logic, emphasizing the presentation of corresponding information points.
Narrative text emphasizes the order of events and will involve at least two things. In the above sentences, there are three things: 1️⃣ I used to be happy, 2️⃣ I met you, 3️⃣ I became unhappy. The relationship between these three things is causal.
Aesthetic text emphasizes form and style, and I think it should also include emotions. In Hai Zi's poem, the phrase "a morning in the north" is repeated, and there are no punctuation marks between sentences, but line breaks are used. It employs personification and other rhetorical devices. At first glance, it may be difficult to understand, but upon closer examination, it creates a captivating feeling that is hard to describe.
How does our brain process these three different types of text?#
In the book "Thinking, Fast and Slow," it is described that the human brain has two processes: a fast process and a slow process.
The fast process thinks quickly, relies on less stored knowledge, and is good at making associations. It thinks intuitively and often reacts subconsciously. The results of this kind of reaction are often inaccurate.
The slow process thinks slowly, combines our known knowledge to judge current things, and is good at logical analysis. It is more rational and objective.
So how does the brain process the above three types of text?
Informational text: When faced with informational text, our brain calls upon the slow process for analysis. This consumes a lot of energy to analyze the main content contained in the current text, usually based on rules.
So what are rules?
Rules are conventions, principles, or laws that constrain and guide human behavior, activities, and the development of things.
For example, we often see "美" (beautiful) and "丽" (beautiful) appearing together, and "快" (fast) and "乐" (happy) appearing together. Our brain will conclude that "美丽" (beautiful) is a word, "快乐" (happy) is a word, but "美快" is not a word.
The book explains: From the beginning of our learning, we are actually learning one rule after another and storing these rules in our brain for the slow process to call upon when analyzing things.
Narrative text: When faced with narrative text, our brain tends to use the fast process for analysis. This analysis usually involves the context and situation of the text.
So what is narrative?
Narrative refers to the description of a story or event in a time sequence conveyed through language, words, images, sounds, etc.
For example, 1️⃣ I am eating, 2️⃣ After eating, I need to go to class. Event one describes me eating, and event two is that I need to go to class after eating. There is a sequence of events in the time sequence.
Aesthetic text: When faced with aesthetic text, our brain uses a processing method between "fast" and "slow." How should this be understood?
As mentioned before, aesthetic text emphasizes form, style, and emotion. When our brain receives this type of text, it automatically presents the corresponding images and decodes the emotions.
For example, when we read the lines "此去泉台招旧部，旌旗十万斩阎罗，" it evokes a heroic and passionate emotion. When we read "杨柳岸，晓风残月，" it automatically presents an image of swaying willow trees and sparse moonlight, creating a gentle emotion.
The book explains: When faced with aesthetic text, our brain first combines the spatial and temporal beauty between words and the emotions expressed by words.
Our brain loves this type of text the most. We love the romantic scent of "蒹葭苍苍，白露为霜，所谓伊人，在水一方" (The reeds are verdant, the white dew turns frosty, so-called the beloved, by the water's edge); we love the casual and unrestrained feeling of "明月松间照，清泉石上流" (The bright moon shines through the pine trees, the clear spring flows over the rocks); we love the stirring sentiment of "醉里挑灯看剑，梦回吹角连营" (Drunk, I hold up the lamp to examine the sword, in my dreams, I hear the sound of horns and the continuous campfires). Even after thousands of years, even if the future is uncertain, the emotions conveyed by these combinations of words still move us.