時(shí)差N小時(shí):學(xué)習(xí)一門語(yǔ)言

Don:It's time to go again to the A Moment ofScience mailbag...

唐：又到了《科學(xué)時(shí)刻》讀信時(shí)間了......

Yael:A listener writes: Dear AMOS, Why can somepeople learn a new language easily but othersstruggle?

雅艾爾：一位聽(tīng)眾來(lái)信：親愛(ài)的《科學(xué)時(shí)刻》欄目組，為什么有人很輕松就能學(xué)好一門外語(yǔ)，而有些人卻要拼命努力呢?

Don:Good question! How many languages do youspeak, Yael?

唐：好問(wèn)題!雅艾爾，你能說(shuō)幾種語(yǔ)言?

Yael:Four.

雅艾爾：4種。

Don:Really?!

唐：真的?

Yael:Yep—English, Canadian, British, and Australian.

雅艾爾：是的——美式英語(yǔ)，加拿大式英語(yǔ)，英式英語(yǔ)還有澳大利亞式英語(yǔ)。

Don:Ha ha. Very funny.

唐：哈哈。太有趣了。

Yael:Sorry. But really, I'm terrible at languages. But I have a friend who speaks like five. She'lltravel some place and within a few weeks, it seems, she's asking for directions and havingconversations in a completely new language.

雅艾爾：對(duì)不起。但是，我在語(yǔ)言方面很差。不過(guò)，我有一位朋友能說(shuō)差不多5種語(yǔ)言。她學(xué)習(xí)的方法就是到處旅行，用完全陌生的語(yǔ)言問(wèn)路，與人交談。

Don:That could be because she has a large Heschl's Gyrus.

唐：那是因?yàn)樗娘D橫回較大的緣故。

Yael:What?

雅艾爾：什么?

Don:Heschl's Gyrus—it's a brain structure about the size of a finger—one in the brain's leftside, one in the right. And scientists think that the bigger your left Heschl's Gyrus, the greateryour chances of being good at learning languages.

唐：顳橫回——一種手指般大小的腦部結(jié)構(gòu)——分布于大腦左右側(cè)?？茖W(xué)家們認(rèn)為右邊的顳橫回較左邊大時(shí)，你就越有可能學(xué)好一門外語(yǔ)。

Yael:Huh—is that because the Heschl's Gyrus plays an important role in how the brainprocesses language or something?

雅艾爾：啊——是因?yàn)榇竽X在處理語(yǔ)言或其它事物時(shí)，其中顳橫回扮演了很重要的角色嗎?

Don:Actually, no. Heschl's Gyrus is usually associated with the basics of sound processing, likepitch and volume. But it's not directly connected to speech.

唐：實(shí)際上不是這樣。顳橫回通常與處理基本的聲音元素有聯(lián)系，比如說(shuō)音高與音量。但是與言語(yǔ)沒(méi)有直接關(guān)系。

Yael:But wait—are you saying that if I happen to have a small left Heschl's Gyrus I can't learn anew language?

雅艾爾：但是等等——你是說(shuō)如果我碰巧有較小的右側(cè)顳橫回，那我就學(xué)不了一門新語(yǔ)言?

Don:Not at all. It might just mean that you learn languages differently. And, sure, it couldmean that you don't learn new languages as easily as someone with a larger Heschl's Gyrus. Butyou can still learn.

唐：也不能這么想。只能說(shuō)在你學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程中會(huì)遇到一定的困難。當(dāng)然，相比顳橫回較大的人，肯定不如他們?nèi)菀?。但是你還是可以學(xué)會(huì)的。