英语六分钟：记忆

Catherine: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Catherine… 大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟，我是凯瑟琳。 Neil: And I'm Neil. 我是尼尔。 Catherine: So, Neil, do you notice anything different about me today? 尼尔，你有注意到我哪里不一样吗？ Neil: Have you done your hair differently? 你换了个发型？ Catherine: No. 不是。 Neil: Is that a new outfit? 穿了新外套？ Catherine: Honestly, Neil! 认真点，尼尔！ Neil: I give up. I don't know what's different about you. 我放弃了。我真看不出你有什么不一样的。 Catherine: OK. Well, maybe by the end of the show you'll have figured it out. Anyway, today we're discussing memory and whether we can remember things accurately. So are you ready to answer today's quiz question, Neil? 好吧，也许在节目的最后，你会发现的。总之，我们今天要谈论的是记忆，以及我们能否准确地记忆事物。你准备好回答今天的问题了吗，尼尔？ Neil: I am. 我准备好了。 Catherine: OK. So in which part of the brain is there an area dedicated to remembering faces? Is it…a) the temporal lobe? b) the hypothalamus? or c) the cerebellum? 人脑的哪个部分是负责记忆面孔的？a) 颞叶？b)下丘脑？还是c) 小脑？ Neil: Well, I have no idea. But I'll say a) the temporal lobe. 我不知道。但我想选a) 颞叶。 Catherine: OK and we'll find out whether you chose the correct answer later on in the show. But let's talk more about how our memories can play tricks on us. We tend to think of memory as being like a video recorder that we can replay and recall again and again as it originally occurred. But memory doesn't work like that. It's a reconstructive process. 好的，稍后我们再看你的回答是否正确。现在我们来谈谈记忆是如何欺骗我们的。我们普遍认为大脑就像一台录像机，我们可以一遍又一遍地回放之前发生的事情。不过，记忆并不是这样运作的。回忆是记忆重建的过程。 Neil: A reconstructive process? 重建的过程？ bbc6fz209.jpg Catherine: Yes. We reconstruct - or rebuild - memories, and during this process, they may be distorted – or changed – for different reasons. Let's listen to Tim Valentine, retired professor of psychology at Goldsmith's College at the University of London, talking about this. 没错。我们会重建记忆，在这个过程中，记忆会因为各种原因而发生改变。我们来听听伦敦大学金史密斯学院退休的心理学教授蒂姆·瓦伦丁的观点。 From all those TV dramas you've watched you'll be familiar with the forensic scenes of crimes officers wearing their paper suits and covering their shoes and their hair to make sure they don't introduce their DNA or physical traces onto the crime scene. So that in the same way anybody who has any interaction with a witness needs to make sure that they don't distort their memory. 你看过那么多电视剧，一定对那些在命案现场取证的法医们非常熟悉，他们穿着纸装，戴着鞋套和头套，以确保不会将自己的DNA或物理痕迹带到犯罪现场。同样地，任何与目击证人有接触的人都要确保不会扭曲目击证人的记忆。 Neil: So crime officers wear protective clothing at crime scenes so they don't contaminate it with their DNA. 法医在犯罪现场穿上防护衣是为了不让自己的DNA破坏现场证据。 Catherine: That's right. A crime scene is a place where a crime was committed. And contaminated means made impure through contact with an outside source. So for example, if an officer touches something without gloves on, they introduce new information. And once this has happened, you can't get back to the original information. 没错。犯罪现场是犯罪事件发生的地方。contaminated是指由于外界的接触而导致信息不纯。例如，如果一名调查人员接触某物时未戴手套，他就会带入新信息。一旦发生这种情况，你就不能再提取原有信息。 Neil: Now, Tim Valentine says that when police officers talk to the witness of a crime, they might also introduce new information. And this could change the witness's memory of what happened. 蒂姆·瓦伦丁说当调查人员与目击者谈话时，他们也许会给目击者的记忆添加新信息。这也许会改变目击者对当时事件的记忆。 Catherine: And it isn't only police questioning that can distort memory. Other factors such as stress can affect your ability to recall events accurately. For example, if you're being held at knifepoint you are likely to be concentrating on the weapon rather than on your attacker's face. And at knifepoint means under threat of being stabbed. 不仅警察的提问会造成记忆的扭曲。其他因素，例如压力也会影响你准确回忆事件的能力。例如，如果有人拿刀威胁你，你的会更注意那件武器，而不是攻击者的脸。at knifepoint 是指有被刺伤危险。 Neil: So why do we place so much importance on eyewitness accounts? 那么，为什么我们把目击者证词看得如此重要呢？ Catherine: Eyewitness accounts can sound very convincing in court– but in fact according to research, they are often unreliable. Karen Newirth, senior attorney at the Innocence Project in New York, explains this further. 目击者证词在法庭上很有说服力。但事实上，调查显示，证词通常不可靠。纽约无罪计划的高级律师凯伦·纽威斯会进一步进行解释。 First, I think it's sort of natural for people to want to believe that memory can be accurate. It's very disconcerting to think that we're going through life relying on our memories and then to learn how mistaken they can be - and how frequently. Second is that the testimony of eyewitnesses has become a very expected piece of criminal trial so jurors sort of anticipate it, look for it, and tend to believe it. 首先，人们自然相信记忆是准确的。我们依靠记忆而活，而它们有可能会出错，而且很频繁地出错，这让人很不安。第二，在刑事审判中，人们很期待目击者证词，所以陪审员会期待证词、寻找证词，而且倾向于相信证词。 Neil: So we like to trust in our ability to remember things accurately. And it's disconcerting to learn that memory is frequently inaccurate. And disconcerting means… 所以我们乐于相信我们准确记忆事物的能力。而记忆经常出错，这让我们感到很不安。disconcerting是指…… Catherine: it means confusing and a bit upsetting. 是指困惑、沮丧。 Neil: Karen Newirth also says that people expect eyewitness testimony – or spoken statements – in court. Do you think that's true, Catherine? 凯伦·纽威斯还说，在庭审现场，人们对目击者证词很期待。你觉得这是真的吗？ Catherine: Yes – and it's the most commonly used evidence brought against criminal defendants in court, even though they are often inaccurate. 是的。虽然目击者证词往往不准确，但在法庭上，通常被用作判决刑事被告人的有力证据。 Neil: Are there any ways to improve accuracy? 有什么方法能提高目击者证词的准确性吗？ Catherine: Yes, there are. For example, in a police line-up you can prevent eyewitnesses receiving information from the officer giving instructions, which might influence their response. 有的。例如，在一群警察询问问题时，你要避免目击者从警察的暗示中获取信息，因为这也许会影响他们回答问题。 Neil: Yes, I see. Well, you didn't give anything away when you asked what was different about your appearance at the beginning of the show. 我明白了。开始你问我，你今天有什么不同时，你没有透露任何信息。 Catherine: Yes, that's true, Neil. But I can now reveal to you that. . . I'm wearing glasses, Neil. I've lost my contact lenses! 没错。不过，我现在可以透露给你了，我今天戴了眼镜。我之前的隐形眼镜丢了。 Neil: I don't know how I missed that. Because actually you do look, well, completely different with glasses. 我怎么就没看出来。你戴上眼镜和你平时完全不一样。 Catherine: Just a bit, yes. So, now we're running out of time, so let's move onto the answer to today's quiz question. Remember I asked: in which part of the brain is there an area dedicated to recognizing faces? Is it…a) the temporal lobe? b) the hypothalamus? or c) the cerebellum? 有点不一样。今天的节目快要结束了，我们来看今天问题的答案。还记得我的问题吗？人脑的哪个部分是负责记忆面孔的？a) 颞叶？b)下丘脑？还是c) 小脑？ Neil: I said a) the temporal lobe. Was I right? 我选的是a) 颞叶？我回答对了吗？ Catherine: You were indeed, Neil! Very well done, it was the correct answer! 你答对了！不错！这就是正确答案。 Neil: Yes! 太好了。 Catherine: The main part of the brain dedicated to recognising faces – called the Fusiform Face Area – is positioned in the temporal lobe, which can be found roughly in the area just behind your ears. 大脑中主要负责记忆面孔的部分叫做纺锤状脸部区域，位于颞叶中，大致在耳后区域。 Neil: Fascinating! Now, here are the words we learned today… 很有意思！现在我们来听听今天学到的单词： reconstruct 重建 distorted 扭曲 crime scene 犯罪现场 contaminated 污染 at knifepoint 在刀尖的威胁下 disconcerting 令人不安的 testimony 证词 Catherine: And that bring us to the end of today's 6 Minute English. Don't forget to join us again soon! 今天的英语六分钟就到这里了。欢迎继续收听我们下一期的BBC六分钟。 Both: Bye! 再见。 Neil: 6 Minute English from the BBC. BBC英语六分钟。