spring-clean your mind
If you struggle to remember names and numbers or frequently fail to follow the plot of a film, help could be at hand. Scientists say the problem is that you know too much - and you need to declutter, or spring-clean your mind.
Experiments show that the memory lapses that come with age are not simply due to brain slowing down. Instead, they can be blamed on the well-used brain finding it more and more difficult to stop irrelevant information interfering with the task in hand。
如果你覺得自己住不住人名和數字，或者電影看著看著就忘了前面的故事情節，這篇文章幫得上忙。科學家說記不住是因為你記太多東西。你的大腦應該進行一次大掃除，刪除多餘的記憶。
年紀大的人記憶力差並不是因為腦子不夠用，恰恰相反，正是因為他們頭腦運轉靈活，處理手頭工作時，不相干的記憶會不停地冒出來干擾。
The first step in the study was to compare the working memory of the young and old。
In the context of the study, it involved giving the volunteers groups of sentences and asking them to work out whether each line made sense - and to remember the last word of each sentence。 Overall, the younger people, who had an average age of 23, did better。
第一項實驗是比較年輕人和老年人的短期記憶力。實驗是給實驗的對象一組句子，讓他們判斷這些句子是否有意義，看看他們能否記住每句話的最後一個單字。結果平均年齡23歲的年輕人勝出。
Researchers then did a second experiment to see what was hindering the older volunteers, who had an average age of 67. This involved being shown pictures of eight animals and being asked to memorize the order in which the creatures appeared。 The volunteers were then shown dozens of the pictures and asked to click on their computer mouse when the first animal in their memorized sequence occurred, then the second and so on. The older adults found it more difficult to progress, suggesting the previous picture was stuck in their mind。
研究人員又做了第二項實驗，目的在於找到影響這群平均年齡為67歲的老年實驗對象的原因。這項實驗讓他們看八幅動物圖片，並記住圖片出現的先後順序。實驗結束後，研究人員要求這些老年人根據自己的記憶在電腦螢幕上按圖片出現順序點擊動物圖片。這些老年人表示這個實驗很難，因為上一幅圖片在他們腦子裡揮之不去。
Mervin Blair, of Montreal's Concordia University, said: "We found that the older adults had more difficulty in getting rid of previous information, which accounted for a lot of the working memory problems seen in the study." A third study confirmed that the memory problems were not simply due to a simple slowing down of the mind。
蒙特羅協和大學的馬文布萊爾說：“我們發現，老年人忘不掉過去的事情，導致短期記憶障礙。”第三項實驗證明老人記不住東西並不是因為思維速度減緩。布萊爾這為博士候選人說，老年人似乎很難排除不相關的資訊，因此他們無法集中精神處理眼前工作。他建議那些記不住東西的人放鬆身心，忘掉那些不重要的事情。
Mr Blair, a PhD candidate, says that the older mind appears to have trouble suppressing irrelevant information. This makes it more difficult to concentrate on the here and now. For those who have trouble remembering, he suggests relaxation exercises to declutter the mind。 "Reduce clutter, if you don't, you may not get anything done." Keeping the mind young, through learning a language or musical instrument can also help。
他說道：忘掉不重要的記憶，才能做好眼前的事情。
讓大腦一直處於年輕狀態，學語言或樂器都是很好的方法。
關鍵口語字
At hand、on hand、in hand 三個片語
文章出現了in hand和at hand這兩個詞。還有一個詞on hand也常見，我們一起來看看這三個詞。
At hand原意是「在手邊、在附近」，引申為「即將來到」的意思，例如﹕
lHe lives close at hand. 他就住在附近。
lThis reported there was trouble at hand. 這表示我們快有麻煩了。
In hand是「手頭有…」的意思，例如：I still have some money in hand. 我手頭還有些錢。既然手頭有，就表示這是可控制的，所以in hand又可以引申為「控制，處理，進行」。例如：
lThe work is in hand and will soon be completed. 工作正在進行中，不久就可完成。
lGive them a call and let them know we have the matter in hand. 給他們打個電話，告訴他們我們已控制了局勢。
On hand有「在手上」、「尚待處理」或「在場」的意思。
lIt is always advisable to have some cash on hand. 手上有些現金總是好的。
lI can’t go as I still have a lot of work on hand. 我手邊還有多工作，不能去了。
lour staff will be on hand to help you fill in the forms. 我們的職員會在場，幫助你填寫表格。
關鍵閱讀字
clutter & declutter
clutter可以當名詞或動詞，是。「凌亂」或「使凌亂」，相對地，declutter就是解決這個凌亂，簡化的意思。
lapse
可以當名詞或動詞。當名詞是指小錯誤，多半是時間差引起的小毛病。I had a lapse of memory. 我記錯了。在法律上這個字指「失效」。The lease has lapsed. 這一租約已經失效。
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