这里给出一个值得传播给 每个你认识的二十几岁的人的想法。

So here's an idea worth spreading to every twentysomething you know.


它和我学到的该跟Alex说的话一样简单。

It's as simple as what I learned to say to Alex.


它就是现在我有权利 每天对像Emma一样的二十几岁的人说的话： 30岁不再是新的20岁，所以把握好你的成年时期， 积累一些身份资本，利用你的微弱联系 并且选择好你的家庭。

It's what I now have the privilege of saying to twentysomethings like Emma every single day: Thirty is not the new 20, so claim your adulthood, get some identity capital, use your weak ties, pick your family.


别被你不知道的事或者没做的事 定义。

Don't be defined by what you didn't know or didn't do.


现在，你就在决定你的生命。


在我27岁的时候， 我辞去了一份非常有挑战性的职业—企业管理咨询， 转而投入了一份更加具有挑战性的职业：教育。

When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching.


我来到纽约的一些公立学校 教7年级的学生的数学。

I went to teach seventh graders math in the New York City public schools.


和别的老师一样，我会给学生们做小测验和考试，

And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests.


我会给他们布置家庭作业。


当这些试卷和作业收上来之后，我计算了他们的成绩。

When the work came back, I calculated grades.


让我震惊的是，IQ的高低并不是 我最好的和最差的学生之间唯一的差别。

What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students.


一些在课业上表现很好的学生 并不具有非常高的IQ分数。

Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores.


一些非常聪明的孩子反而在课业上表现的不那么尽如人意。

Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well.


当然，学生们在7年级需要学习的东西 是有难度的，像比率，小数， 平行四边形的面积计算。

The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram.


但是这些概念是完全可以被掌握的， 我坚信我的每一位学生 都可以学会教材内容， 只要他们肯花时间和精力的话。

But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long enough.


经过几年教学之后， 我得出一个结论，我们在教育方面所需要的是 从学习动力的角度和心理学的角度， 对学生和学习行为 进行一次更为深刻的理解。

After several more years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective.


在教育体系中， 我们都知道评价优秀学生的标准

In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ.


就是IQ， 但如果在学校和生活中的优秀表现 远不仅仅依赖于 你轻松高效学习的能力呢？

But what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?


所有我离开了讲台， 回到学校继续攻读心理学硕士学位。

So I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist.


我开始研究孩子和大人， 在各种非常具有挑战性的情况下， 以及在各项研究中，我的问题是 谁才是成功者，为什么他们会成功？

I started studying kids and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, and in every study my question was, who is successful here and why?


我和我的研究团队前往西点军校展开调研，

My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy.


我们试图预测哪些学员 能够耐得住军队的训练，哪些会被淘汰出局。

We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out.


我们前去观摩全国拼字比赛， 同时也试着预测哪些孩子会晋级到 最后的比赛。

We went to the National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition.


我们研究在恶劣的工作环境下工作的， 刚入行的老师，询问他们 哪些老师决定会在学年结束后 继续留下来任教， 以及他们之中谁能最快地 提高学生的学习成绩。

We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching by the end of the school year, and of those, who will be the most effective at improving learning outcomes for their students?


我们与私企合作，向他们询问 哪些销售人员可以保住工作，

We partnered with private companies, asking, which of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs?


在所有那些不同的情境下， 一种性格特征凸显了出来， 这种特征在很大程度上预示了成功。

In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.


不是漂亮的外表，强健的体魄，也不是很高的IQ，

It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ.


毅力是对长远目标的激情和坚持，

Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.


毅力是你对未来的坚持，日复一日 不是仅仅持续一个星期或者一个月， 而是几年甚至几十年努力奋斗着 让自己的梦想变为现实。

Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.


毅力是把生活当成一场马拉松而不是一次短跑。

Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.


几年前，在芝加哥的公立学校里， 我开始研究毅力。

A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools.


我对上千名初中生进行了 关于毅力的问卷调查， 然后等候了一年多， 来看最终哪些学生能毕业。

I asked thousands of high school juniors to take grit questionnaires, and then waited around more than a year to see who would graduate.


结果证明那些更具毅力的学生 在毕业的概率上占绝对优势， 即使是在同样可以量化的外在因素下 像家庭收入， 标准化成绩测验的分数， 甚至是孩子们在学校能获得多少安全感之类，仍是有毅力的学生更容易毕业

Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure, things like family income, standardized achievement test scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school.


所有不仅仅是在西点军校里或者全国拼字比赛上 才需要毅力。在学校亦是如此， 尤其是对于那些徘徊在辍学边缘的孩子们。

So it's not just at West Point or the National Spelling Bee that grit matters. It's also in school, especially for kids at risk for dropping out.


对于我自己来说，关于毅力最让我震惊的事情莫过于 对于毅力，我们知之甚少， 在培养毅力上，科学对理解的认识又是何等贫乏。

To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it.


每天都有家长和老师来问我， “我怎样做才能培养孩子的毅力呢?

Every day, parents and teachers ask me, "How do I build grit in kids?


该做些什么才能教授给孩子们真正的职业道德？

What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic?


又该怎样调动他们长期的积极性呢？”

How do I keep them motivated for the long run?"


老实说，我不知道。 我所知道的是，才华并不能使你坚韧不拔。

The honest answer is, I don't know. What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty.


我们的数据十分清楚地表明， 有许多才华横溢的人， 他们都无法坚持兑现自己的承诺。

Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments.


事实上，根据我们的数据来看，毅力通常与其他因素无关， 甚至与才华的衡量标准背道而驰。

In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent.


到目前为止，我所听说过的在孩子身上培养坚韧品质最有效的方法 叫“成长型思维模式。”

So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids is something called "growth mindset."


斯坦福大学卡洛杜威克提出过一个观点， 他相信 人的学习能力是可变的， 它随着你的努力程度而变化。

This is an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck, and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, that it can change with your effort.


杜威克教授表示，当孩子们阅读和学习有关大脑的知识 以及它在面对挑战时 所发生的变化和成长情况， 他们失败之后更容易坚持下去， 因为他们 不相信会一直失败下去。

Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.


因此，成长性思维模式对培养毅力大有裨益。

So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit.


我决定在此结束我的评论， 因为我们正在经历着这一切。

And that's where I'm going to end my remarks, because that's where we are.


我们要拿出最好的想法和最强的直觉， 我们要对他们进行实践。

We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them.


我们需要估量这一切是否成功 同时还要渴望对失败和错误， 要从这些失败中汲取经验重新再来。

We need to measure whether we've been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.


换句话说，我们只有自己变得更有毅力 才能让我们的孩子变得更有毅力。

In other words, we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier.


我在台湾长大。 作为一位书法家的女儿， 我最珍贵的记忆之一 是妈妈为我展示了 汉字的形意之美。

Growing up in Taiwan as the daughter of a calligrapher, one of my most treasured memories was my mother showing me the beauty, the shape and the form of Chinese characters.


从那时起， 我开始着迷于这美妙的语言。

Ever since then, I was fascinated by this incredible language.


但对于门外汉来说， 汉字就跟中国的长城一样 高不可攀。

But to an outsider, it seems to be as impenetrable as the Great Wall of China.


过去几年，我一直思考 如何能够攻克这堵墙， 让那些要理解和欣赏 这复杂语言优雅地方的人， 可以这样做。

Over the past few years, I've been wondering if I can break down this wall, so anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the beauty of this sophisticated language could do so.


我开始思考，如何创造一种新的、 快速的方法， 有助于学习汉字。

I started thinking about how a new, fast method of learning Chinese might be useful.


从五岁起，我开始学习 如何按照正确顺序、一笔一划的 书写每个汉字。

Since the age of five, I started to learn how to draw every single stroke for each character in the correct sequence.


我每天都学习新的汉字。 因为我们只有五分钟时间， 最好有一个更简易便捷的学习方式。

I learned new characters every day Since we only have five minutes, it's better that we have a fast and simpler way.


一位中文学者认识二万个汉字，

A Chinese scholar would understand 20,000 characters.


你只需认识一千个汉字， 就可看懂简单的文学作品。

You only need 1,000 to understand the basic literacy.


认识顶部二百个汉字， 让你看明白百分之四十的基本文献—— 足以读懂路标、餐厅菜单、 以了解中文网页的基本想法 或报纸内容。

The top 200 will allow you to comprehend 40 percent of basic literature -- enough to read road signs, restaurant menus, to understand the basic idea of the web pages or the newspapers.


今天我用八个汉字 来展示这个方法如何有效。

Today I'm going to start with eight to show you how the method works.


把你的嘴张得越大越好， 直到变成正方形。

Open your mouth as wide as possible until it's square.


“火”字的形状就是 一个人在两边有两只胳膊， 好像她正在大喊大叫： “救命啊！我着火了！” —— 实际上，这符号最初 来自于火苗的形状， 但是我喜欢那方法。 大家随便选。

If the shape of the fire is a person with two arms on both sides, as if she was yelling frantically, "Help! I'm on fire!" -- This symbol actually is originally from the shape of the flame, but I like to think that way. Whichever works for you.


“門”的符号 就像狂野西部片里轿车上的一对门。

The symbol of the door looks like a pair of saloon doors in the wild west.


它们是一堆组件， 以创造出很多其他的字。

They are the building blocks for you to create lots more characters.


如果另一个人走在后面， 意思就是“跟随”。

If someone walks behind, that is "to follow."


有句谚语， 二人为从，三人为众。

As the old saying goes, two is company, three is a crowd.


如果有个人打开双臂， 这个人说：「它有这么大。」

If a person stretched their arms wide, this person is saying, "It was this big."


把“人”放在“口”里，这个人被困住了。

The person inside the mouth, the person is trapped.


他就变成了"囚"徒， 就像约拿被困在鲸鱼肚子里。

He's a prisoner, just like Jonah inside the whale.


一棵树是"木"。 两棵树在一起，就是“树林”。

One tree is a tree. Two trees together, we have the woods.


三棵树在一起，就是“森林”。

Three trees together, we create the forest.


把一块木板放在树下面， 我们就有了“基本”。

Put a plank underneath the tree, we have the foundation.


把一张嘴放在树上，那是“呆子”。 记起来非常容易， 因为一棵会说话的树 是很呆傻的事情。

Put a mouth on the top of the tree, that's "idiot." Easy to remember, since a talking tree is pretty idiotic.


两团“火”在一起，就变得非常“炎热”了。


三团“火”在一起，就是“焱”， 非常多的火焰。

Three fires together, that's a lot of flames.


把火放在两棵树下， 就会“焚烧”。

Set the fire underneath the two trees, it's burning.


对于我们来说， 太阳是一切生机的来源。

For us, the sun is the source of prosperity.


两个太阳在一起，就是“昌”盛。


三个太阳在一起， 那就“闪闪发光亮晶晶”。


当太阳和月亮在一起闪耀时， 那就是“光明”。

Put the sun and the moon shining together, it's brightness.


一个白天一个夜晚之后，就是"明天"。

It also means tomorrow, after a day and a night.


太阳正从地平线上升起。“旦”。

The sun is coming up above the horizon. Sunrise.


一扇“门”。在门里放块木板， 就是“门闩”。

A door. Put a plank inside the door, it's a door bolt.


把一张嘴放在门里，就是“问”。

Put a mouth inside the door, asking questions.


这人正要溜出门口， “躲闪”，“逃避”。

This person is sneaking out of a door, escaping, evading.


两个女人在一起，准会有场争论。

Two women together, they have an argument.


三个女人在一起，要小心，就是通"姦"。

Three women together, be careful, it's adultery.


我们已经学了差不多三十个汉字，

So we have gone through almost 30 characters.


通过这个方法，这八个基本字 可以衍生出三十二个汉字，

By using this method, the first eight radicals will allow you to build 32.


下一组的八个汉字 又会衍生出另外32个汉字。

The next group of eight characters will build an extra 32.


所以，大家很轻松地 就可学到几百个汉字， 这相当于八岁中国孩子的汉语程度。

So with very little effort, you will be able to learn a couple hundred characters, which is the same as a Chinese eight-year-old.


在学过了这些字后，我们开始学习造词组。

So after we know the characters, we start building phrases.


比如，把“山”和“火”放在一起， 我们有“火山”。这是“火山”。

For example, the mountain and the fire together, we have fire mountain. It's a volcano.


我们知道日本是太阳升起的地方。

We know Japan is the land of the rising sun.


这里把太阳和原点放在一起， 因为日本位于中国的东面。

This is a sun placed with the origin, because Japan lies to the east of China.


所以把太阳和原点放在一起，就是“日本”。

So a sun, origin together, we build Japan.


在“日本”后面加个“人”，我们得到什么？


左边的字有两座山， 上下叠在一起。

The character on the left is two mountains stacked on top of each other.


在古代中国，这意味着流亡， 因为中国的皇帝把政敌 流放到大山之外。

In ancient China, that means in exile, because Chinese emperors, they put their political enemies in exile beyond mountains.


现今，“流放”变成了“走出去”。

Nowadays, exile has turned into getting out.


一个“口”字告诉你从哪里出去， 就是“出口”。

A mouth which tells you where to get out is an exit.


这张幻灯片提醒我，该结束演讲了， 并走下台。谢谢。

This is a slide to remind me that I should stop talking and get off of the stage. Thank you.


身为父亲最让我开心的， 就是可以看自己喜欢的电影。

You know, my favorite part of being a dad is the movies I get to watch.


我喜欢跟我的孩子分享我的电影， 当我的女儿四岁的时候， 我们一起看了《绿野仙踪》。

I love sharing my favorite movies with my kids, and when my daughter was four, we got to watch "The Wizard of Oz" together.


接下来几个月她完全被迷住了。

It totally dominated her imagination for months.


她最喜欢的角色，当然是葛琳达。

Her favorite character was Glinda, of course.


这让她把自己打扮的像仙女一样 还拿着魔杖。

It gave her a great excuse to wear a sparkly dress and carry a wand.


但是当你看了几遍之后， 你就会发现这部电影是多么的与众不同。

But you watch that movie enough times, and you start to realize how unusual it is.


现在, 我们生活，抚养小孩, 都是沉浸在一种儿童奇幻般复杂的世界里。

Now we live today, and are raising our children, in a kind of children's-fantasy-spectacular-industrial complex.


但是《绿野仙踪》独树一帜。


这种趋势是四十年后的今天才流行的. 很有意思的是, 另外一部电影 里面有一个铁大个儿 和一个毛绒绒的家伙 伪装成敌人的守卫去解救一个女孩。

Forty years later was when the trend really caught on, with, interestingly, another movie that featured a metal guy and a furry guy rescuing a girl by dressing up as the enemy's guards.


你猜到这是哪部电影了么？（观众笑声） 对的。

Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah.


这两部电影有很多不同， 《绿野仙踪》跟我们近年来看到的所有电影 在两三方面存在巨大的差异。

Now, there's a big difference between these two movies, a couple of really big differences between "The Wizard of Oz" and all the movies we watch today.


首先，《绿野仙踪》没有什么暴力成分。

One is there's very little violence in "The Wizard of Oz."


猴子算是里面比较暴力的了，类似的还有苹果树。

The monkeys are rather aggressive, as are the apple trees.


但是我想如果我们今天拍摄《绿野仙踪》， 巫师会说：“多萝西，你是预言中 拯救奥兹的人，

But I think if "The Wizard of Oz" were made today, the wizard would say, "Dorothy, you are the savior of Oz that the prophecy foretold.


用你的魔法拖鞋去打败 坏巫婆的军队吧。”

Use your magic slippers to defeat the computer-generated armies of the Wicked Witch."


《绿野仙踪》的独特性还体现在 片中绝大多数的英勇角色、 智者、甚至坏人 都是女性。

Another thing that's really unique about "The Wizard of Oz" to me is that all of the most heroic and wise and even villainous characters are female.


我是在几年之后， 跟我的女儿一起看《星球大战》的时候 意识到这点的，那时候情况有些不同。

Now I started to notice this when I actually showed "Star Wars" to my daughter, which was years later, and the situation was different.


他还太小，所以我们没叫他一起看

He was not invited to the screening. He was too young for that.


但是作为家里第二个孩子， 对他的照看一下子就松了很多。 结果他也跑了进来， 然后就入迷了 就像是小鸭子一出生见到鸭妈妈一样， 我不认为他看懂了这部电影的内容 但是他显然已经沉迷其中了。

But he was the second child, and the level of supervision had plummeted. So he wandered in, and it imprinted on him like a mommy duck does to its duckling, and I don't think he understands what's going on, but he is sure soaking in it.


我很好奇他喜欢这部电影的原因。


是影片主题体现出来的勇气、 毅力与忠诚？

Is he picking up on the themes of courage and perseverance and loyalty?


亦或是卢克加入军队 推翻政府的事实？

Is he picking up on the fact that Luke joins an army to overthrow the government?


还是说他意识到了 整部电影中除了贝鲁阿姨之外 都是男孩？哦，当然还有公主是女性， 很冷艳，但是她基本上只是跑个龙套 在故事最后给英雄发放一个奖章，抛个媚眼 感谢他拯救了世界， 用他与生俱来的魔力。

Is he picking up on the fact that there are only boys in the universe except for Aunt Beru, and of course this princess, who's really cool, but who kind of waits around through most of the movie so that she can award the hero with a medal and a wink to thank him for saving the universe, which he does by the magic that he was born with?


对比一下1939年的《绿野仙踪》。

Compare this to 1939 with "The Wizard of Oz."


多萝西是如何取得胜利的？


她通过跟每个人都成为好朋友 变成他们的领袖。

By making friends with everybody and being a leader.


我更希望自己孩子可以在这样的环境中—— 奥兹的世界——长大，而不是打来打去的世界， ——这种世界倒是很贴近现实。

That's kind of the world I'd rather raise my kids in -- Oz, right? -- and not the world of dudes fighting, which is where we kind of have to be.


为什么我们给小孩子的电影中 有那么多的暴力 那么少的黄砖路？

Why is there so much Force -- capital F, Force -- in the movies we have for our kids, and so little yellow brick road?


关于男性暴力电影对于女性的影响， 有很多出色的分析文章， 你应该去看看。写的很好。

There is a lot of great writing about the impact that the boy-violent movie has on girls, and you should do that reading. It's very good.


这种氛围对男孩的影响，我读的文章不多。

I haven't read as much on how boys are picking up on this vibe.


就我自己的经验而言, 从莱娅公主所处环境中得到的经验 不足以指导我在现实生活中引导孩子进入成人世界 成人世界是＂男女混居的＂。 我认为荧幕上的初吻 应该发生在电影的最后，最好是演员表出现的时候, 因为这是电影的结局，对么？

I know from my own experience that Princess Leia did not provide the adequate context that I could have used in navigating the adult world that is co-ed. I think there was a first-kiss moment when I really expected the credits to start rolling because that's the end of the movie, right?


我完成了使命，赢得芳心。


这些电影把重点放在打败坏人 获得奖励上，以至于没有多少时间 处理其他关系和经历。

The movies are very, very focused on defeating the villain and getting your reward, and there's not a lot of room for other relationships and other journeys.


基本上，如果你是男孩 你就是一个呆笨的动物， 如果你是女孩，你就应该穿上战袍。

It's almost as though if you're a boy, you are a dopey animal, and if you are a girl, you should bring your warrior costume.


当然反例也很多， 而且我会在你们面前为迪斯尼的公主们辩护。

There are plenty of exceptions, and I will defend the Disney princesses in front of any you.


但是这些电影给男孩子的感觉是 他们不是这些电影预期的观众

But they do send a message to boys, that they are not, the boys are not really the target audience.


这些电影有很大的一个功劳 就是教会女孩子如何反抗父权社会, 但是这些电影并没有 向男孩子们展示如何反抗父权社会。

They are doing a phenomenal job of teaching girls how to defend against the patriarchy, but they are not necessarily showing boys how they're supposed to defend against the patriarchy.


我们也有一些了不起的女性 开始为我们的孩子写新的故事 包括像赫敏和凯特里斯这样生动形象的角色， 但是还是属于战争电影。

And we also have some terrific women who are writing new stories for our kids, and as three-dimensional and delightful as Hermione and Katniss are, these are still war movies.


当然，史上最成功的电影工作室 连续不断的创造经典电影 每部电影都讲述一段故事 一个小男孩的，或一个大男人的， 或两个大男人，或父与子， 或是两个男人抚养一个小女孩。

And, of course, the most successful studio of all time continues to crank out classic after classic, every single one of them about the journey of a boy, or a man, or two men who are friends, or a man and his son, or two men who are raising a little girl.


终于，你们很多人都已经知道， 今年他们终于推出了《勇敢传说》。

Until, as many of you are thinking, this year, when they finally came out with "Brave."


我向你们所有人推荐这部电影。现在正在上映。

I recommend it to all of you. It's on demand now.


你还记得《勇敢传说》刚上映时的批评么？

Do you remember what the critics said when "Brave" came out?


“哦，不敢相信皮克斯也开始做公主电影了。”

"Aw, I can't believe Pixar made a princess movie."


It's very good. Don't let that stop you.


现在，这些电影几乎都没有通过“贝克德尔测试”。

Now, almost none of these movies pass the Bechdel Test.


我不知道你们是否听说过,


这个测试并不为人所知， 但是今天或许我们能做些推动。

It has not yet caught on and caught fire, but maybe today we will start a movement.


艾莉森·贝克德尔是一个漫画作家， 在80年代中期,，她记录下了她和一个朋友 在评估她们看过的电影时的讨论内容。

Alison Bechdel is a comic book artist, and back in the mid-'80s, she recorded this conversation she'd had with a friend about assessing the movies that they saw.


非常简单，只有三个问题： 这部电影中是否有一个以上的角色 是女性并且有台词？

And it's very simple. There's just three questions you should ask: Is there more than one character in the movie that is female who has lines?


如果是,这些女性角色在电影中是否交谈过？

And do these women talk to each other at any point in the movie?


如果交谈了，有没有跟她们共同的心上人 无关的谈话内容？ 明白了？谢谢。 非常感谢。

And is their conversation about something other than the guy that they both like? Right? Thank you. Thank you very much.


两个女人，有台词，有交谈。

Two women who exist and talk to each other about stuff.


确实有这样的电影。我看过， 但是在我们看过的和喜欢的电影中 是很少见的。

It does happen. I've seen it, and yet I very rarely see it in the movies that we know and love.


事实上，这个星期我刚看过 一部质量不错的电影《阿尔戈》。

In fact, this week I went to see a very high-quality movie, "Argo."


奥斯卡热门电影，票房很好， 公认的好莱坞电影高品质电影。

Right? Oscar buzz, doing great at the box office, a consensus idea of what a quality Hollywood film is.


但是贝尔德尔测试不及格。


我觉得这不应该。因为电影中的大部分情节 不知道你们看过没有，电影中的大部分情节 都发生在发生人质劫持事件的大使馆内， 男人和女人都躲在里面。

And I don't think it should, because a lot of the movie, I don't know if you've seen it, but a lot of the movie takes place in this embassy where men and women are hiding out during the hostage crisis.


我们看到好几个场景， 男人们在藏身处深刻而充满焦虑的对话。 而电影中一个女演员最出彩的情节 是隔着一扇门问道，“睡觉么，亲爱的？”

We've got quite a few scenes of the men having deep, angst-ridden conversations in this hideout, and the great moment for one of the actresses is to peek through the door and say, "Are you coming to bed, honey?"


2011年前100部最流行的电影中， 有多少部电影有女主角？

2011, of the 100 most popular movies, how many of them do you think actually have female protagonists?


就刚刚普选出的国会议员中 女性议员比例而言，这个比例算好的。

It's not as many percent as the number of women we've just elected to Congress, so that's good.


接下来这个比例比刚才的要高 而这个比例会让在座各位震惊。

But there is a number that is greater than this that's going to bring this room down.


去年，纽约时报发表了一份 由政府完成的报告。

Last year, The New York Times published a study that the government had done.


每五名美国女性中就有一位 曾经遇到过性骚扰。

One out of five women in America say that they have been sexually assaulted some time in their life.


我不认为是流行娱乐圈的过错。

Now, I don't think that's the fault of popular entertainment.


我不认为这是由于儿童电影导致的。

I don't think kids' movies have anything to do with that.


我甚至觉得 色情音乐和电影跟这都没有直接关系， 但是肯定哪里出问题了。 当我听到这个统计数字， 我当时想到的是 性骚扰者的数量竟然这么多。

I don't even think that music videos or pornography are really directly related to that, but something is going wrong, and when I hear that statistic, one of the things I think of is that's a lot of sexual assailants.


他们是谁？他们怎么被教出来的？

Who are these guys? What are they learning?


他们有没有理解电影的情节， 一个男性英雄打败了残暴的反派 然后获得荣誉和奖励--就是一个没有朋友 又不说话的女人?

Are they absorbing the story that a male hero's job is to defeat the villain with violence and then collect the reward, which is a woman who has no friends and doesn't speak?


我们有没有从这些故事中吸取到什么？


你知道， 作为一名有着抚养女儿 义务的父亲， 我跟你们所有为人父母的人一样， 对这个统计数字和这个世界存在危机感, 我们要做好防范。

You know, as a parent with the privilege of raising a daughter like all of you who are doing the same thing, we find this world and this statistic very alarming and we want to prepare them.


我们创造了一些类似“少女超人”的角色， 希望能够有所帮助， 但是我担心，“女性力量”能否保护她们， 同时, 有意无意地, 我们培养我们的儿子们要有英勇气概?

We have tools at our disposal like "girl power," and we hope that that will help, but I gotta wonder, is girl power going to protect them if, at the same time, actively or passively, we are training our sons to maintain their boy power?


我的意思是，我觉得 Netflix Queue 可以成为非常重要的一种方式， 我主要是针对父亲说的。

I mean, I think the Netflix queue is one way that we can do something very important, and I'm talking mainly to the dads here.


我认为我们应该为我们的男孩子们 展示一种新的男子气概。

I think we have got to show our sons a new definition of manhood.


现在的男子气概的定义已经本末倒置了。

The definition of manhood is already turning upside down.


你已经知道新的经济环境 正在改变女性在家男性养家胡口的角色。

You've read about how the new economy is changing the roles of caregiver and wage earner.


我们的儿子需要能够适应这些改变， 适应相互之间的新关系， 我认为我们需要身先士卒,展示如何成为 一个真正的男人， 他会信任他的姐妹 尊重她们，希望与她们为伍， 对抗真正的坏蛋， 那些虐待妇女的大坏蛋。

So our sons are going to have to find some way of adapting to this, some new relationship with each other, and I think we really have to show them, and model for them, how a real man is someone who trusts his sisters and respects them, and wants to be on their team, and stands up against the real bad guys, who are the men who want to abuse the women.


而且我认为我们需要在 Netflix Queue 中 寻找符合贝尔德尔测试的电影， 找到之后，再找出电影中的 女英雄们, 她们英勇无比，把大家团结起来， 并且鼓励我们的儿子认识到这些女主人公的英勇 并且说：“我想加入她的队伍。” 因为他们将来需要与她们合作。

And I think our job in the Netflix queue is to look out for those movies that pass the Bechdel Test, if we can find them, and to seek out the heroines who are there, who show real courage, who bring people together, and to nudge our sons to identify with those heroines and to say, "I want to be on their team," because they're going to be on their team.


当我问我的女儿最喜欢《星球大战》中的哪个角色， 你猜她说谁？

When I asked my daughter who her favorite character was in "Star Wars," do you know what she said?


欧比-旺 欧比-旺·克诺比和葛琳达


或许跟漂亮的衣服没有关系。


两个人在各自的电影中 都拥有比别人更多的知识， 并且乐意与他人分享他们的知识 帮助他人挖掘潜能。

I think these are the two people in the movie who know more than anybody else, and they love sharing their knowledge with other people to help them reach their potential.


我希望自己的女儿有这样的追求， 也希望自己的儿子有这样的追求。

I like that kind of quest for my daughter, and I like that kind of quest for my son.


我希望这样的追求越多越好。


我希望我的儿子不要被教育成 “冲出去一个人战斗” 而是主动的融入一个团队， 或许由一个女性来指挥， 帮助其他人成就自己， 变得更好， 就像奥兹仙女一样。

I want fewer quests where my son is told, "Go out and fight it alone," and more quests where he sees that it's his job to join a team, maybe a team led by women, to help other people become better and be better people, like the Wizard of Oz.


当我在缅因州长大的时候， 一件我最喜欢做的事 是在海滩上找沙钱。 因为大人说沙钱会带来好运。

When I was a child growing up in Maine, one of my favorite things to do was to look for sand dollars on the seashores of Maine, because my parents told me it would bring me luck.


But you know, these shells, they're hard to find.


因为沙子会盖在上面，几乎看不到。

They're covered in sand, they're difficult to see.


但是过了一段时间，我就找到诀窍了。

However, over time, I got used to looking for them.


我开始习惯 沙钱的形状以及规律

I started seeing shapes and patterns that helped me to collect them.


之后我养成了一股找东西的热情， 一股对古物和考古学的热爱。

This grew into a passion for finding things, a love for the past and archaeology.


后来当我开始研究埃及的时候， 我意识到光用肉眼去看是不够的。

And eventually, when I started studying Egyptology, I realized that seeing with my naked eyes alone wasn't enough.


因为在埃及，忽然间 我的沙滩，从一片缅因的小海滩 变成了800公里长，紧邻尼罗河的沙滩。 而我的沙钱

Because all of the sudden, in Egypt, my beach had grown from a tiny beach in Maine to one eight hundred miles long, next to the Nile.


And my sand dollars had grown to the size of cities.


这是我启用卫星照片的原因。

This is really what brought me to using satellite imagery.


为了画出过去的地图，我必须从另一个角度去观察。

For trying to map the past, I knew that I had to see differently.


让我来给你们一个例子，如何运用红外线 来从另一个角度观察。

So I want to show you an example of how we see differently using the infrared.


这个遗址坐落在埃及三角洲东部， 名叫班迪克斯。

This is a site located in the eastern Egyptian delta called Mendes.


从肉眼看来，遗址看起来是褐色的。 但当我们用红外线时， 经过假色处理，忽然间， 遗址反映出亮粉色。

And the site visibly appears brown, but when we use the infrared and we process it, all of the sudden, using false color, the site appears as bright pink.


你看到的其实是 古埃及人的建筑施工的材料 对地面产生的化学影响。

What you are seeing are the actual chemical changes to the landscape caused by the building materials and activities of the ancient Egyptians.


我今天想和你们分享的是 我们是如何用卫星数据 来找到一座已经失踪了数千年之久的 埃及古城： “伊其塔维”。

What I want to share with you today is how we've used satellite data to find an ancient Egyptian city, called Itjtawy, missing for thousands of years.


伊其塔维曾经是古埃及的首都， 历时400年， 当时古埃及处于中王国时期， 大约4000年前。

Itjtawy was ancient Egypt's capital for over four hundred years, at a period of time called the Middle Kingdom, about four thousand years ago.


遗址坐落在如今埃及的法尤姆。 这座遗址非常珍贵，因为在中王国时期 是一个古埃及艺术，建筑，宗教的复兴时期

The site is located in the Faiyum of Egypt, and the site is really important, because in the Middle Kingdom there was this great renaissance for ancient Egyptian art, architecture and religion.


埃及学家很早就知道伊其塔维的大概位置， 在两位开城国王的金字塔附近， 也就是用红圈的区域， 在这片广阔的泛洪区的某处。

Egyptologists have always known the site of Itjtawy was located somewhere near the pyramids of the two kings who built it, indicated within the red circles here, but somewhere within this massive flood plain.


这篇区域非常广阔， 四公里长，三公里宽。

This area is huge -- it's four miles by three miles in size.


尼罗河曾经在“伊其塔维”古城周围流过 随着河道变化，河流渐渐的向东移动 最终覆盖了这座城市。

The Nile used to flow right next to the city of Itjtawy, and as it shifted and changed and moved over time to the east, it covered over the city.


所以，如何在那么大的范围里 寻找一座被埋没的城市？

So, how do you find a buried city in a vast landscape?


随機的去尋找这座城市 就好像在海底捞针的同时， 还蒙着眼，带着棒球手套。

Finding it randomly would be the equivalent of locating a needle in a haystack, blindfolded, wearing baseball mitts.


所以，我们用NASA的地形数据 来精确的画出地形图。

So what we did is we used NASA topography data to map out the landscape, very subtle changes.


然后看出尼罗河过去流经哪里。

We started to be able to see where the Nile used to flow.


但你可以看到更多细节——更有意思的是 这一小片略微隆起的区域 就在这个圈内，是我们认为伊其塔维古城可能的位置

But you can see in more detail, and even more interesting, this very slight raised area seen within the circle up here which we thought could possibly be the location of the city of Itjtawy.


所以我们和埃及的科学家合作 一起完成了取芯的工作，也就是你现在看到的

So we collaborated with Egyptian scientists to do coring work, which you see here.


我指的取芯工作，有点象是冰层取芯， 但我们寻找的是有人类的痕迹的地层，而不是气候变化的痕迹。

When I say coring, it's like ice coring, but instead of layers of climate change, you're looking for layers of human occupation.


5米朝下， 在一层厚厚的泥浆下， 我们发现了包含大量陶器的地层。

And, five meters down, underneath a thick layer of mud, we found a dense layer of pottery.


这说明，在这个可能的位置 5米朝下 是一层有几百年历史的地层， 其历史可以追溯到中王国时期，正好是我们认为伊其塔维存在的时期。

What this shows is that at this possible location of Itjtawy, five meters down, we have a layer of occupation for several hundred years, dating to the Middle Kingdom, dating to the exact period of time we think Itjtawy is.


我们还找到了石料—— 各种玛瑙，水晶，显示出 这里曾经有一个珠宝作坊。

We also found work stone -- carnelian, quartz and agate that shows that there was a jeweler's workshop here.


这些可能看起来很普通， 但比较一下中王国时期 珠宝最常用的石料， 这就是那些最常见的石料。

These might not look like much, but when you think about the most common stones used in jewelry from the Middle Kingdom, these are the stones that were used.


所以我们在这里找到了一层人类居住过的痕迹， 一直追溯到中王国时期。

So, we have a dense layer of occupation dating to the Middle Kingdom at this site.


我们同样有一座名贵珠宝作坊的证据， 显示不论如何，这是一座非常重要的城市。

We also have evidence of an elite jeweler's workshop, showing that whatever was there was a very important city.


这里还不一定是伊其塔维， 但我们在不遠的未來就会回到这片遗址 去进行绘图。

No Itjtawy was here yet, but we're going to be returning to the site in the near future to map it out.


更重要的是， 我们筹资训练年轻的埃及人 使用卫星技术， 这样他们自己也能够做出这些重要发现了。

And even more importantly, we have funding to train young Egyptians in the use of satellite technology so they can be the ones making great discoveries as well.


所以我想用中王国时期，我最喜欢的引述 来作为结尾—— 这句话很可能在4000年前，在伊其塔维写下的

So I wanted to end with my favorite quote from the Middle Kingdom -- it was probably written at the city of Itjtawy four thousand years ago.


“分享知识是最伟大的使命。

"Sharing knowledge is the greatest of all callings.


世间没有其他事可以相提并论。”


结果你发觉，TED并不是公元1984年建立的。

So as it turns out, TED was not founded in 1984 AD.


这个想法其实是从公元前1984年， 从一座“失落了没多久”，又这样被找到的古城开始的。

Making ideas actually started in 1984 BC at a not-lost-for-long city, found from above.


这也让人们对找贝壳这事有了新的理解。

It certainly puts finding seashells by the seashore in perspective.


I'd like to invite you to close your eyes.


想象一下 你站在 自己家门口的外面

Imagine yourself standing outside the front door of your home.


请留心一下门的颜色 以及门的材质

I'd like you to notice the color of the door, the material that it's made out of.


现在请想象一群超重的裸骑者

Now visualize a pack of overweight nudists on bicycles.


正在进行一场裸体自行车赛 向你的前门直冲而来

They are competing in a naked bicycle race, and they are headed straight for your front door.


尽量让画面想象得栩栩如生近在眼前


他们都在奋力地踩脚踏板 汗流浃背 路面非常颠簸

They are pedaling really hard, they're sweaty, they're bouncing around a lot.


And they crash straight into the front door of your home.


自行车四下飞散 车轮从你身旁滚过 辐条扎进了各种尴尬角落

Bicycles fly everywhere, wheels roll past you, spokes end up in awkward places.


跨过门槛 进到门厅 走廊 和门里的其他地方 室内光线柔和舒适

Step over the threshold of your door into your foyer, your hallway, and appreciate the quality of the light.


The light is shining down on Cookie Monster.


他坐在一匹棕色骏马的马背上 正向你招手

Cookie Monster is waving at you from his perch on top of a tan horse.


你可以感觉到他的蓝色鬃毛让你鼻子发痒

You can practically feel his blue fur tickling your nose.


你可以闻到他正要扔进嘴里的葡萄燕麦曲奇的香气

You can smell the oatmeal raisin cookie that he's about to shovel into his mouth.


站在客厅里 把你的想象力调到最大档 想象小甜甜布兰妮

In your living room, in full imaginative broadband, picture Britney Spears.


她衣着暴露 在你咖啡桌上跳舞 并唱着"Hit Me Baby One More Time"

She is scantily clad, she's dancing on your coffee table, and she's singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time."


接下来 跟着我走进你的厨房


厨房的地面被一道黄砖路覆盖 依次钻出你的烤箱向你走来的是 《绿野仙踪》里的多萝西 铁皮人 稻草人 和狮子 他们手挽着手 蹦蹦跳跳地向你走来

In your kitchen, the floor has been paved over with a yellow brick road, and out of your oven are coming towards you Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion from "The Wizard of Oz," hand-in-hand, skipping straight towards you.


我要给你们讲一个每年春天在纽约

I want to tell you about a very bizarre contest that is held every spring in New York City.


都会举办的奇异竞赛 叫做全美记忆冠军赛

It's called the United States Memory Championship.


几年前我作为一名科技类记者 去报道这项竞赛 心里想着 大概那儿得像 怪才的"超级碗冠军赛"一样热闹吧

And I had gone to cover this contest a few years back as a science journalist, expecting, I guess, that this was going to be like the Superbowl of savants.


一大堆男人和屈指可数的女性 从小孩儿到老人 有些还不怎么注意个人卫生

This was a bunch of guys and a few ladies, widely varying in both age and hygienic upkeep.


有的奋力在只看一次的情况下 记下上百个任意列出的数字 有的在努力记住成群的陌生人的名字

They were memorizing hundreds of random numbers, They were memorizing the names of dozens and dozens and dozens of strangers.


有的想在几分钟内努力背下整篇诗歌

They were memorizing entire poems in just a few minutes.


还有的在比赛谁能以最快速度 记下一整副打乱的牌的顺序

They were competing to see who could memorize the order of a shuffled pack of playing cards the fastest.


我当时觉得 这太不可思议了


And I started talking to a few of the competitors.


这位叫Ed Cook 是从英格兰来的 他在那儿接受了最好的记忆训练

This is a guy called Ed Cook, who had come over from England, where he had one of the best-trained memories.


我问他 "Ed 你是什么时候开始意识到 自己是记忆天才的?"

And I said to him, "Ed, when did you realize that you were a savant?"


Ed答道 “我并不是什么专家


来参赛的每一个人 都会告诉你他们的记忆力只是一般水平

Everybody who competes in this contest will tell you that they have just an average memory.


我们都在训练自己后才能 完成这些奇迹般的记忆游戏 我们运用了一系列古老的技巧 这些技巧是希腊人在两千五百年前发明的 西塞罗正是用了这些技巧 来记忆他的演讲稿的 中世纪学者用这种技巧来背诵正本书籍的内容"

We've all trained ourselves to perform these utterly miraculous feats of memory using a set of ancient techniques, techniques invented 2,500 years ago in Greece, the same techniques that Cicero had used to memorize his speeches, that medieval scholars had used to memorize entire books."


我惊讶不已 "哇噻 怎么我从来没听说过呢?"

And I said, "Whoa. How come I never heard of this before?"


我们站在竞技大厅外 聪明过人 令人惊叹 而又稍有些古怪的英国人Ed 对我说 "Josh 你是个美国记者

And we were standing outside the competition hall, and Ed, who is a wonderful, brilliant, but somewhat eccentric English guy, says to me, "Josh, you're an American journalist.


你知道小甜甜布兰妮吧?”


我茫然不解 "什么? 当然 为什么要问这个?"


“因为我真的很想在 美国国家电台上教会布兰妮 怎样记住一整副打乱的牌的顺序 就能证明这是人人都可以做到的了"

"Because I really want to teach Britney Spears how to memorize the order of a shuffled pack of playing cards It will prove to the world that anybody can do this."


我说 "虽然我不是布兰妮 但你也可以教教我呀

I was like, "Well, I'm not Britney Spears, but maybe you could teach me.


总得找个人开教嘛 不是吗?"

I mean, you've got to start somewhere, right?"


接着 一段非常奇特的历程在我面前展开了序幕

And that was the beginning of a very strange journey for me.


结果 第二年的大部分时间 我都花在了训练自己的记忆力 同时调查研究记忆上 我想尝试理解产生记忆的原理 为何有时会记了又忘 及其它到底隐藏着什么样的潜力

I ended up spending the better part of the next year not only training my memory, but also investigating it, trying to understand how it works, why it sometimes doesn't work, and what its potential might be.


途中我遇到了很多有趣的人

And I met a host of really interesting people.


他患有健忘症 他的记忆力 恐怕是世界上最差的了

He's an amnesic who had, very possibly, the worst memory in the world.


他的记忆能力差到 甚至记不得自己有健忘症 真的很神奇

His memory was so bad, that he didn't even remember he had a memory problem, which is amazing.


虽然他是个悲剧角色 但通过他 我们能了解到 记忆在何种程度上塑造了我们的人格

And he was this incredibly tragic figure, but he was a window into the extent to which our memories make us who we are.


情况的另一个极端是 我遇到了这样一个人

At the other end of the spectrum, I met this guy.


他叫Kim Peek 他是Dustin Hoffman在电影《雨人》里的角色的原型

This is Kim Peek, he was the basis for Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie "Rain Man."


我和他花了一下午 在盐湖城公共图书馆里背电话簿 让我大开眼界

We spent an afternoon together in the Salt Lake City Public Library which was scintillating.


回家后 我读了许多关于记忆的论文 写于两千多年前的论文 用拉丁文写的 从古代 一直到后来中世纪期间

And I went back and I read a whole host of memory treatises, treatises written 2,000-plus years ago in Latin, in antiquity, and then later, in the Middle Ages.


我学到很多很有意思的事儿

And I learned a whole bunch of really interesting stuff.


其中一个就是 曾经 训练 规束 培养记忆力的这种概念 完全不像如今那样陌生

One of the really interesting things that I learned is that once upon a time, this idea of having a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory was not nearly so alien as it would seem to us to be today.


曾几何时 人们寄希望于自己的记忆 能不遗余力地装饰自己的心灵

Once upon a time, people invested in their memories, in laboriously furnishing their minds.


近几千年来 人类发明了一系列技术 从字母表到卷轴 到法典 印刷机 摄影技术 电脑 智能手机 让我们能越来越轻松地 外化记忆能力 让我们从根本上 把这种基础的人类能力拱手让出

Over the last few millenia, we've invented a series of technologies -- from the alphabet, to the scroll, to the codex, the printing press, photography, the computer, the smartphone -- that have made it progressively easier and easier for us to externalize our memories, for us to essentially outsource this fundamental human capacity.


这些技术让现代生活变为可能 但同时也改变了我们

These technologies have made our modern world possible, but they've also changed us.


不仅在文化上 我觉得也在认知上

They've changed us culturally, and I would argue that they've changed us cognitively.


不再需要费劲去记忆 有时会觉得我们已经忘了如何去记忆

Having little need to remember anymore, it sometimes seems like we've forgotten how.


在这片地球上已经很少有地方 能让你觉得人们仍热衷于 训练 规束 培养记忆力了 那非同寻常的记忆大赛算是一个

One of the last places on Earth where you still find people passionate about this idea of a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory, is at this totally singular memory contest.


其实它也没有那么非同寻常 世界各地都开始举办这样的竞赛

It's actually not that singular, there are contests held all over the world.


我对此深深着迷 想要知道这些人是怎么做到的

And I was fascinated, I wanted to know how do these guys do it.


几年前 伦敦大学学院的一组研究人员 请来一批记忆大赛的冠军接受研究

A few years back a group of researchers at University College London brought a bunch of memory champions into the lab.


他们想要弄明白 这些人的大脑 是否跟我们其他人在解剖学上的结构不一样?

They wanted to know: Do these guys have brains that are somehow structurally, anatomically different from the rest of ours?


他们给研究对象实施了一系列认知测试 依旧得出了否定结论

They gave them a bunch of cognitive tests, and the answer was: not really.


但对比受控制的比对目标的大脑 记忆大赛冠军们的大脑 确实有一处很有趣的不同 很说明问题

There was, however, one really interesting and telling difference between the brains of the memory champions and the control subjects that they were comparing them to.


这些人被送去做功能磁共振 扫描大脑时 当他们在记忆数字或人脸或雪花图案时 研究人员发现记忆大赛冠军们 的大脑激活的区域 跟普通人不太一样

When they put these guys in an fMRI machine, scanned their brains while they were memorizing numbers and people's faces and pictures of snowflakes, they found that the memory champions were lighting up different parts of the brain than everyone else.


值得注意的是 他们看来是在用 脑中在空间记忆和导航时会用到的部分

Of note, they were using, or they seemed to be using, a part of the brain that's involved in spatial memory and navigation.


为什么? 我们可以从中得出什么样的结论呢?

Why? And is there something that the rest of us can learn from this?


竞争性记忆的较量 被一种类似军事比赛的方式推向了白热化 每年都会有人 带着更有效的记忆方法现身赛场 而其他人就必须迎头赶上

The sport of competitive memorizing is driven by a kind of arms race where, every year, somebody comes up with a new way to remember more stuff more quickly, and then the rest of the field has to play catch-up.


这是我的朋友Ben Pridmore 赢得过三次国际记忆大赛冠军

This is my friend Ben Pridmore, three-time world memory champion.


在他的台前 有三十六副打乱顺序的牌 他要在一个小时内记下全部 用的是一种他自己发明的 也只有他会的技巧

On his desk in front of him are 36 shuffled packs of playing cards that he is about to try to memorize in one hour, using a technique that he invented and he alone has mastered.


用与此类似的方法 他曾一字不差地背下了 4140个任意排列的二进制数 只用了半个小时

He used a similar technique to memorize the precise order of 4,140 random binary digits in half an hour.


参赛者在这些竞赛中 运用过很多不同的记忆方法 各式各样 被运用到的所有技巧 最终都能归化为一个概念 心理学家称之为"精细编码"

And while there are a whole host of ways of remembering stuff in these competitions, everything, all of the techniques that are being used, ultimately come down to a concept that psychologists refer to as "elaborative encoding."


这个概念能用一则幽默的悖论完美诠释 叫做Baker/baker悖论 简单说来就是 假设我让两个人去记同一个词 我跟你说 "记住有个人叫Baker"

And it's well-illustrated by a nifty paradox known as the Baker/baker paradox, which goes like this: If I tell two people to remember the same word, if I say to you, "Remember that there is a guy named Baker."


我又来告诉你 "记住有个人是面包师"

And I say to you, "Remember that there is a guy who is a baker."


过了一段时间我又回来找到你们 问 "还记得我之前 叫你们记住的那个词吗?"

And I come back to you at some point later on, and I say, "Do you remember that word that I told you a while back?


被告知人名是Baker的人 记住这个词的可能性远不如 被告知职业是面包师的那个人

The person who was told his name is Baker is less likely to remember the same word than the person was told his job is a baker.


同样的词 导致不同的记忆程度

Same word, different amount of remembering; that's weird.


是因为 人名Baker没有任何特殊含义 没法跟你脑海里

Well, the name Baker doesn't actually mean anything to you.


零碎繁杂的记忆产生任何联系 但是面包师作为一个常用名词

It is entirely untethered from all of the other memories floating around in your skull.


But the common noun "baker" -- we know bakers.


他们下班回到家带着扑鼻的烤面包香

Bakers smell good when they come home from work.


甚至可能有些人有朋友就是面包师


我们初次听到这个词时 马上就会产生各种各样的联想 这使我们能在一段时间后还能回忆起来

And when we first hear that word, we start putting these associational hooks into it, that make it easier to fish it back out at some later date.


其实 要理解记忆竞赛中的 一切奥妙 或在日常生活中改善记忆力的秘诀 仅仅在于想办法把Baker中的大写B 变为面包师中的小写b 把没有前因后果 没有重要性 没有涵义的信息 用某种方法转化为 有意义的内容 跟脑海里的其他记忆串联起来

The entire art of what is going on in these memory contests, and the entire art of remembering stuff better in everyday life, is figuring out ways to transform capital B Bakers into lower-case B bakers -- to take information that is lacking in context, in significance, in meaning, and transform it in some way, so that it becomes meaningful in the light of all the other things that you have in your mind.


这种精确记忆的技巧 在两千五百年前的古希腊就已出现

One of the more elaborate techniques for doing this dates back 2,500 years to Ancient Greece.


It came to be known as the memory palace.


发明这种技巧的过程如下 有个叫做Simonides的诗人 他要去参加一个晚宴

The story behind its creation goes like this: There was a poet called Simonides, who was attending a banquet.


其实他算是被请去做表演嘉宾的 因为在那个年代 炫酷派对的标准 不是请D.J.来打碟 而是要请诗人来颂诗

He was actually the hired entertainment, because back then, if you wanted to throw a really slamming party, you didn't hire a D.J., you hired a poet.


他站起来 背出了他的全篇诗作 然后潇洒离去 他刚走出门口 晚宴大厅就塌了 砸死了里面所有的人

And he stands up, delivers his poem from memory, walks out the door, and at the moment he does, the banquet hall collapses. Kills everybody inside.


不仅全体死亡 所有的死者都被砸得面目全非

It doesn't just kill everybody, it mangles the bodies beyond all recognition.


没人说得清死者都有些谁 没人说得清谁坐在哪儿

Nobody can say who was inside, nobody can say where they were sitting.


导致死者的尸体没法得到合适的殉葬安置


这又加重了整件事的悲剧色彩


Simonides站在外面 作为废墟中的唯一幸存者 闭上眼睛 猛然意识到 在他的脑海中 他眼前出现了所有宾客所坐的位置

Simonides, standing outside, the sole survivor amid the wreckage, closes his eyes and has this realization, which is that in his mind's eye, he can see where each of the guests at the banquet had been sitting.


他就牵着亲属们的手 穿过废墟 把他们带到了亲人身边

And he takes the relatives by the hand, and guides them each to their loved ones amid the wreckage.


Simonides当时猛然醒悟的事 大概我们大家也都猜到了 其实是 不管我们 有多不善于记住姓名 电话号码 或是同事的每句指令 我们都拥有异常敏锐的视觉或空间记忆能力

What Simonides figured out at that moment, is something that I think we all kind of intuitively know, which is that, as bad as we are at remembering names and phone numbers, and word-for-word instructions from our colleagues, we have really exceptional visual and spatial memories.


要是我让你们逐字逐句地重述 我刚才讲的Simonides故事的前十个字 应该没几个人会记得

If I asked you to recount the first 10 words of the story that I just told you about Simonides, chances are you would have a tough time with it.


但我敢打赌 如果我让你们现在回想下 在你的门厅里 坐在会讲话的棕色骏马上的 是谁 你们就明白我刚才说的意思了

But, I would wager that if I asked you to recall who is sitting on top of a talking tan horse in your foyer right now, you would be able to see that.


记忆宫殿的原理 就是在你的脑海里建立一栋想象大厦 并让你想记住的东西 的影像充满其中 越是疯狂 古怪 奇诡 荒诞搞笑 乱七八糟 招人厌恶的影像 就越容易记住

The idea behind the memory palace is to create this imagined edifice in your mind's eye, and populate it with images of the things that you want to remember -- the crazier, weirder, more bizarre, funnier, raunchier, stinkier the image is, the more unforgettable it's likely to be.


这个建议来自于两千多年前 拉丁最早的记忆学者

This is advice that goes back 2,000-plus years to the earliest Latin memory treatises.


那么 这种说法的原理到底是什么呢


假设你被邀请 站上TED的中心讲台演讲 而你想脱稿完成 如西塞罗在两千年前在TEDx罗马上的演讲一般 他就会这么霸气走一回 而你也想这样

Let's say that you've been invited to TED center stage to give a speech, and you want to do it from memory, and you want to do it the way that Cicero would have done it, if he had been invited to TEDxRome 2,000 years ago.


你要做的就是 想象自己站在自家门前

What you might do is picture yourself at the front door of your house.


然后凭空想象出 一段完全荒诞疯狂难忘的景象 用来提示你上台要提的第一件事 就是这场诡异的裸骑大赛

And you'd come up with some sort of crazy, ridiculous, unforgettable image, to remind you that the first thing you want to talk about is this totally bizarre contest.


然后你走进房子里 想到甜饼怪物 坐在Ed先生背上的样子

And then you'd go inside your house, and you would see an image of Cookie Monster on top of Mister Ed.


这个景象会提醒你 要介绍你的朋友Ed Cook

And that would remind you that you would want to then introduce your friend Ed Cook.


然后你脑海里出现了小甜甜布兰妮的样子 你就会想起要讲那个关于布兰妮的小故事

And then you'd see an image of Britney Spears to remind you of this funny anecdote you want to tell.


然后你走进厨房 你要说到的第四个话题是 你花了一整年走过的奇妙历程 通过绿野仙踪就可以联想得到

And you'd go into your kitchen, and the fourth topic you were going to talk about was this strange journey that you went on for a year, and you'd have some friends to help you remember that.


这就是罗马演说家背诵演讲稿的秘诀 并非一字不差 逐字背诵只会平添麻烦 而是记住一个个主题

This is how Roman orators memorized their speeches -- not word-for-word, which is just going to screw you up, but topic-for-topic.


其实 短语"主题句" 就来源于希腊词"topos" 意思是"地点"

In fact, the phrase "topic sentence" -- that comes from the Greek word "topos," which means "place."


这是古时候 人们谈到演讲或是修辞时 会用到的空间术语

That's a vestige of when people used to think about oratory and rhetoric in these sorts of spatial terms.


短语 "第一" 就意味着你的记忆宫殿的第一层

The phrase "in the first place," that's like "in the first place of your memory palace."


这简直太有意思了 我对这起了很大的兴趣

I thought this was just fascinating, and I got really into it.


后来我又去了更多记忆大赛 我开始萌发了要更详细描写 这种竞技记忆文化的念头

And I went to a few more of these memory contests, and I had this notion that I might write something longer about this subculture of competitive memorizers.


问题是记忆大赛 其实过程很无聊的

The problem was that a memory contest is a pathologically boring event.


真的 就像一群人坐那儿高考一样 最最激动人心的时刻 也不过就是有人揉了揉太阳穴

Truly, it is like a bunch of people sitting around taking the SATs -- I mean, the most dramatic it gets is when somebody starts massaging their temples.


我是个记者 总得有东西可写呀

And I'm a journalist, I need something to write about.


我知道这些人脑子里肯定是惊涛骇浪 但我作为外人无法得见

I know that there's incredible stuff happening in these people's minds, but I don't have access to it.


我意识到 若我真的想报道这事儿 一定得亲身体验才行

And I realized, if I was going to tell this story, I needed to walk in their shoes a little bit.


所以我开始尝试着每天早上坐下来看纽约时报前 花上十五到二十分钟 尝试记忆一些事

And so I started trying to spend 15 or 20 minutes every morning, before I sat down with my New York Times, just trying to remember something.


背背小诗 背背我在跳蚤市场买来的 旧年鉴里的人名

Maybe it was a poem, maybe it was names from an old yearbook that I bought at a flea market.


我惊奇地发现这其实非常带劲

And I found that this was shockingly fun.


有趣在于 其实目标并不是要通过训练提高记忆力

It was fun because this is actually not about training your memory.


而是你在努力培养改善 创造力 想象力 在你的脑海里凭空造出 那些完全滑稽荒诞胡乱 最好是难忘的影像

What you're doing, is you're trying to get better and better at creating, at dreaming up, these utterly ludicrous, raunchy, hilarious, and hopefully unforgettable images in your mind's eye.


这是我戴着标准竞赛记忆者训练套装的样子

This is me wearing my standard competitive memorizer's training kit.


它有一对耳塞 一副护目镜 镜面全部遮黑 就留了两个小孔 因为竞技记忆者最大的敌人就是注意力分散

It's a pair of earmuffs and a set of safety goggles that have been masked over except for two small pinholes, because distraction is the competitive memorizer's greatest enemy.


最后 我再次回到了一年前报道的那场竞赛场上 我一时冲动 也想报名参加 就当做参与性新闻报道的实验了

I ended up coming back to that same contest that I had covered a year earlier, sort of as an experiment in participatory journalism.


我当时想 到时能在前言里调侃一下自己也好

It'd make, I thought, maybe a nice epilogue to all my research.


问题是 实验最后得到了意想不到的结果

Problem was, the experiment went haywire.


那场竞赛我赢了 真是完全出乎我预料之外

I won the contest -- which really wasn't supposed to happen.


对我来说现在 背演讲稿 电话号码 或是购物单 都是小菜一碟 倒是很不错 但其实这些都不重要了

Now, it is nice to be able to memorize speeches and phone numbers and shopping lists, but it's actually kind of beside the point.


这些记忆伎俩之所以有效 是因为它们依仗人类大脑运转的 一些基本原理

They work because they're based on some pretty basic principles about how our brains work.


并不用真的去建立记忆宫殿 或记下几副牌的顺序 你也完全可以从了解大脑运转原理中 获得一些益处

And you don't have to be building memory palaces or memorizing packs of playing cards to benefit from a little bit of insight about how your mind works.


我们总会议论记忆力很好的人 总觉得那些人是天赋异禀 事实并不是这样

We often talk about people with great memories as though it were some sort of an innate gift, but that is not the case.


强大的记忆力是可以习得的


从最根本的说起 专心致志就能记住

At the most basic level, we remember when we pay attention.


只要能想办法把信息和经历 转化为有意义的事 就能记住 想它为何重要 为何多彩 当我们能把它转化成为 有前因后果的事 并跟我们脑海中繁杂琐碎的其他事产生联想时 当我们能把人名Baker转化为面包师baker时

We remember when we are able to take a piece of information and experience, and figure out why it is meaningful to us, why it is significant, why it's colorful, when we're able to transform it in some way that makes sense in the light of all of the other things floating around in our minds, when we're able to transform Bakers into bakers.


记忆宫殿 或是那些记忆技巧 都只是捷径而已

The memory palace, these memory techniques -- they're just shortcuts.


其实 说到底它们都不能算捷径

In fact, they're not even really shortcuts.


这方法有效是因为它迫使你思考


它迫使你往更深层次去想 让你更加专注 大部分人平时并不会费力去训练这个

They force a kind of depth of processing, a kind of mindfulness, that most of us don't normally walk around exercising.


这一直就是我们能记住事物的原因


有一件事我希望你们能记住 就是E.P. 那个连自己患了健忘症都想不起来的人 让我深思 得出了一个感想 人生就是我们个人记忆的合集

And I think if there's one thing that I want to leave you with, it's what E.P., the amnesic who couldn't even remember he had a memory problem, left me with, which is the notion that our lives are the sum of our memories.


在短暂的人生里 你还愿意因为黑莓 iPhone 丧失多少瞬间 忽略对面坐着的人 在跟我们交谈的人 变得越发懒惰 不愿意

from our already short lives, by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones, by not paying attention to the human being across from us who is talking with us, by being so lazy that we're not willing to process deeply?


深究任何事？ 通过亲身经历 我发现 我们的身体里潜藏着

I learned firsthand that there are incredible memory capacities latent in all of us.


不可思议的记忆能力 但若你想活得难忘 就得做那种 记得时常记忆的人

But if you want to live a memorable life, you have to be the kind of person who remembers to remember.