保持專心致志有時(shí)很難。不過，要是知道讓自己分心的原因，就可能有助集中注意力?？茖W(xué)家研究了導(dǎo)致 “拖延癥” 的原因，找出了一些幫助人們進(jìn)入工作或?qū)W習(xí)狀態(tài)的方法。本期 “隨身英語” 節(jié)目圍繞這些建議展開討論。

詞匯：concentration 精神集中

When you were at school, were you ever told to stop?daydreaming?and concentrate? It was easy for your?mind to wander?if you weren’t interested in what you were learning or if you had better things to think about. Staying?focused?can still be a challenge in adult life, but understanding how to do it, and knowing what is?distracting?you, can help.

你在學(xué)校的時(shí)候，有沒有被告知要停止做白日夢(mèng)，集中注意力?如果你對(duì)你正在學(xué)習(xí)的東西不感興趣，或者你有更好的事情去思考，你的思想很容易走神。在成年人的生活中，保持專注仍然是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)，但了解如何做到這一點(diǎn)，知道什么會(huì)分散你的注意力，會(huì)有所幫助。

Scientists have looked at what makes us?procrastinate?and found a number of ways to help us stay?in the zone. One of the most obvious things is eliminating noise. Research by Science Focus magazine found?silence?is best for concentration, or a gentle background hum and coffee shop noise is great! It also found turning off notifications on your phone, or switching it off altogether, removes a major distraction and helps us focus on the?task at hand.

科學(xué)家們研究了導(dǎo)致我們拖延的原因，并找到了一些幫助我們保持狀態(tài)的方法。最明顯的方法之一就是消除噪音。《科學(xué)焦點(diǎn)》雜志的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，安靜最有助于集中注意力，或者柔和的背景嗡嗡聲和咖啡館的噪音也很好!研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，關(guān)掉手機(jī)上的通知，或完全關(guān)掉手機(jī)，可以消除一個(gè)主要的干擾，幫助我們專注于手頭的任務(wù)。

Another possible cure for a?short attention span?is?brain training. Psychologists and?neuroscientists?are increasingly interested in our ability to?knuckle down?and have looked at what we can change inside our head to make us concentrate. An article for BBC Future by Caroline Williams says that “Attention Researcher Nilli Lavie of University College London has found that making a task more?visually demanding… takes up more?processing power?and leaves the brain nothing left to process distractions.” So, keeping your mind busy might be the answer.

另一種治療注意力短暫的方法是大腦訓(xùn)練。心理學(xué)家和神經(jīng)科學(xué)家對(duì)我們認(rèn)真工作的能力越來越感興趣，并研究了我們可以改變自己的大腦來讓我們集中注意力?？辶铡ね匪乖跒锽BC Future撰寫的一篇文章中寫道:“倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院的注意力研究人員尼利·拉維發(fā)現(xiàn)，對(duì)視覺要求更高的任務(wù)……需要更多的處理能力，從而使大腦無法處理干擾?！彼裕屇愕拇竽X忙碌起來可能是答案。

There are more practical tips to keeping your mind focused. These include making a list or timetable of the tasks you have to do, finding a workspace where you’re not tempted to do other things, or chewing some gum! It’s possible the movement in your mouth occupies parts of the brain that might otherwise get distracted.

還有一些更實(shí)用的技巧可以讓你保持注意力集中。這些方法包括列出你必須做的事情的清單或時(shí)間表，找一個(gè)你不會(huì)被誘惑去做其他事情的工作空間，或者嚼口香糖!有可能你嘴里的運(yùn)動(dòng)占據(jù)了大腦的某些部分，否則可能會(huì)分心。

But according to Science Focus magazine, distraction isn’t all bad. “If we were always so focused that we never got distracted, we’d miss potential changes, such as?threats, in our environment. Distraction is vital for survival.”

但據(jù)《科學(xué)焦點(diǎn)》雜志報(bào)道，分心也不全是壞事?！叭绻覀兛偸侨绱藢Ｗ?，從不分心，我們就會(huì)錯(cuò)過環(huán)境中潛在的變化，比如威脅。分散注意力對(duì)生存至關(guān)重要?！?/p>

詞匯表

daydream 做白日夢(mèng)
mind to wander 走神，心不在焉
focused 專注的
distract 干擾，使分心
procrastinate 拖延
in the zone 狀態(tài)極佳，在狀態(tài)
silence 安靜，無聲
task at hand 手頭的任務(wù)
short attention span 注意力持續(xù)時(shí)間短，注意力不集中
brain training 大腦訓(xùn)練
neuroscientist 神經(jīng)科學(xué)家
knuckle down 開始努力工作或?qū)W習(xí)
visually demanding 視覺上費(fèi)力的，需要?jiǎng)谏窨吹?br>processing power 處理能力
threat 威脅

測(cè)驗(yàn)與練習(xí)

1.?閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. What should you try to remove if you want to concentrate properly?

2. According to one expert, what uses up processing power in our brain?

3. What might we miss if we didn’t get distracted?

4. Why might finding a suitable workspace help you concentrate?

5. Who are particularly interested in our ability to stay focused?

2.?選擇意思恰當(dāng)?shù)膯卧~或詞組來完成下列句子。

1. I was _______ on the train and missed my stop!

focused? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? distracting? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?daydreaming? ? ? ? ? ? ?silence

2. My son has a _______ and can’t concentrate on his schoolwork.

short attention span? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? short attention spans????????

short attentive span? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? attention short span

3. You need to _______ if you want to get all your work completed on time.

procrastinate? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?task at hand? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?knuckle down? ? ? ? ? ?daydream

4. There must be absolute _______ in the exam hall.

threats? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?silence? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?focused? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?neuroscientists

5. In our yoga class, we were told to relax and allow our _______.

wander our mind? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?wandering mind??????????????????

mind to wandering? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? mind to wander

答案

1.?閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. What should you try to remove if you want to concentrate properly?
One of the most obvious things is eliminating noise.

2. According to one expert, what uses up processing power in our brain?
Attention Researcher Nilli Lavie of University College London has found that making a task more visually demanding takes up more processing power.

3. What might we miss if we didn’t get distracted?
According to Science Focus magazine, if we were always so focused that we never got distracted, we’d miss potential changes, such as threats, in our environment.

4. Why might finding a suitable workspace help you concentrate?
Finding a workspace means you’re not tempted to do other things.

5. Who are particularly interested in our ability to stay focused?
Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly interested in our ability to try and focus and concentrate.

2.?選擇意思恰當(dāng)?shù)膯卧~或詞組來完成下列句子。

1. I was?daydreaming?on the train and missed my stop!

2. My son has a?short attention span?and can’t concentrate on his schoolwork.

3. You need to?knuckle down?if you want to get all your work completed on time.

4. There must be absolute?silence?in the exam hall.

5. In our yoga class, we were told to relax and allow our?mind to wander.

文章來源BBC，侵權(quán)刪，本文僅用于英語學(xué)習(xí)。?