時差N小時:學習一門語言

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

唐：又到了《科學時刻》讀信時間了......

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

雅艾爾：一位聽眾來信：親愛的《科學時刻》欄目組，為什么有人很輕松就能學好一門外語，而有些人卻要拼命努力呢?

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

唐：好問題!雅艾爾，你能說幾種語言?

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，加拿大式英語，英式英語還有澳大利亞式英語。

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：對不起。但是，我在語言方面很差。不過，我有一位朋友能說差不多5種語言。她學習的方法就是到處旅行，用完全陌生的語言問路，與人交談。

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

唐：那是因為她的顳橫回較大的緣故。

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家們認為右邊的顳橫回較左邊大時，你就越有可能學好一門外語。

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

雅艾爾：啊——是因為大腦在處理語言或其它事物時，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，比如說音高與音量。但是與言語沒有直接關(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——你是說如果我碰巧有較小的右側(cè)顳橫回，那我就學不了一門新語言?

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。只能說在你學習過程中會遇到一定的困難。當然，相比顳橫回較大的人，肯定不如他們?nèi)菀?。但是你還是可以學會的。