insula
insula — 名詞
- insulasingular
- insulasplural
1. A small, folded area of the brain's surface that lies hidden beneath the temples
腦島；島葉
大腦深處的情緒處理區
A small, folded area of the brain's surface that lies hidden beneath the temples on each side, thought to process feelings such as disgust, empathy, and bodily awareness.
Functional MRI scans showed that the insula lit up when participants felt disgust.
功能性MRI掃描顯示，受試者感到厭惡時腦島便會活躍起來。
collocation: insula lit up (neural activation)
Damage to the insula can reduce a person's ability to recognise when they are hungry or in pain.
腦島受損可能會使人難以察覺自己是否感到飢餓或疼痛。
Subject: damage + to the insula
The neuroscientist explained that the insula helps the brain map the body's internal state.
這位神經科學家解釋，腦島幫助大腦繪製身體的內部狀態。
Studies suggest that meditation can increase grey-matter density in the insula over time.
研究顯示，冥想可以隨著時間增加腦島中的灰質密度。
- insular cortex
the full anatomical name for this region; more precise but interchangeable with 'insula' in most neurology writing
- island of Reil
an older, less common name; rarely used today outside historical texts
文法句型
the insula
用法筆記
In academic writing the term is usually preceded by 'the'. Often used in medical or psychological contexts; outside those fields the general public rarely uses this word.
2. In ancient Rome, a multi-storey building divided into rental apartments, usually
公寓；街區
古羅馬市區的多層出租公寓
In ancient Rome, a multi-storey building divided into rental apartments, usually surrounding a central courtyard, with shops or workshops facing the street.
Excavations in Ostia have revealed the remains of an insula with shops on the ground floor.
Ostia 的挖掘工作發現了一座 insula 遺跡，其底層曾有店鋪。
collocation: remains of an insula
Most poor families in imperial Rome lived in cramped wooden insulae that often collapsed or caught fire.
羅馬帝國時期，大多數貧困家庭住在狹窄的木造 insula 裡，這類建築經常倒塌或起火。
Professor Mancini showed the students a diagram of a typical Roman insula, with five floors of apartments.
Mancini 教授向學生展示了一座典型羅馬 insula 的圖解，該建築有五層公寓。
The Roman writer Juvenal complained about the dangers of crumbling insulae in the city of Rome.
羅馬作家 Juvenal 曾抱怨羅馬城中岌岌可危的 insula 建築帶來的危險。
- apartment block
modern equivalent; lacks the historical-specific meaning of the Roman building type
- tenement
similar concept of multi-family rental housing, but the term is general and not Roman-specific
文法句型
an insula
the insulae
用法筆記
The plural is 'insulae' (pronounced IN-suh-lee). This sense appears almost exclusively in discussions of ancient Roman urban life, archaeology, or architecture.