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Alice: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟，我是爱丽丝。
Neil: And I’m Neil. Did you have a good weekend, Alice?
我是尼尔。周末过得愉快吗，爱丽丝？
Alice: Yes, but it flew by – which means it went quickly – and here we are again, back at work!
挺好的，但是时间飞逝，也就是说时间过得好快。我们又回到这里，开始工作了！
Neil:
Hm. I know what you mean. Though I must say, time really dragged for me
– and that means it went slowly. I was on a train, which broke down.
我懂你的意思。但是我必须说，时间是拖着我走，对我来说时间走得太慢了。我坐的那辆火车临时出故障了。
Alice: Oh dear!
天啊！
Neil: And it felt like it took forever to arrive – though actually it was only delayed only by one hour.
火车似乎永远都不会来了，但事实上它只推迟了一个小时。
Alice:
Well, today we’re talking about our perception of – or the way we see –
time. It’s true that when we’re busy doing lots of things, time flies
by.
今天我们要谈论的是我们对时间的看法。如果我们忙着做很多事，时间就会过得很快。
Neil: And when we’re bored or have nothing to do, it drags. And I didn’t have
anything to do on the train. Do you think time flows at the same rate
for everyone – even animals? My cat doesn’t get bored doing nothing all
day. I wonder if time drags for her sometimes?
当我们无所事事时，时间就会很慢。我在火车上就没事可做。你觉得时间流逝的速度对每个人来说都是一样的吗？甚至对动物也是一样的吗？我的猫整天无所事事也不觉得无聊。我在想是不是对她来说有时时间也走得很慢？
Alice:
Good question! Did you know, Neil, that, according to a new study,
smaller animals perceive time as if it is passing in slow motion?
好问题！你知道吗？一项新研究显示，越小的动物越觉得时间过的慢。
Neil: That sounds weird. Do you think they hear us like this: talking slowly?
这听上去很奇怪。你觉得他们听我们讲话是不是这样：说的很慢？
Alice:
Don’t be silly, Neil! What I meant was that small animals such as
insects and small birds can observe more detail in a certain period of
time – for example, a second – than larger animals.
别傻了，尼尔！我的意思是小动物，例如昆虫和小鸟，相比大一点的动物，能在一段时间内，如一秒内，观察到更多的细节。
Neil: And how does this help them, exactly? It sounds like the day would really drag if every second got stretched out like that!
这对他们来说有什么帮助吗？这听上去像每一秒都拉长了，一天真的就过得很慢。
Alice:
It helps them by giving them time to escape larger predators. Now, I
have a question for you, Neil. Can you tell me roughly how much more
quickly a fly’s eye can react than a human eye? Is it …a) twice as
quickly? b) four times as quickly? Or c) ten times as quickly?
这让他们有时间逃脱大型的捕食者。我有一个问题要问你，尼尔。你能告诉我，苍蝇的眼睛比人眼的反应速度快多少倍吗？a)两倍？b) 四倍？还是c)十倍？
Neil: Well, I’ll go for c) ten times. Flies are pretty nippy – and that’s another word for quick.
我选c)十倍。苍蝇反应太快了。Nippy是指快。
Alice:
Yes. Well, we’ll find out later on if you got the answer right or not.
Now, small animals can typically process more visual information than we
can. But in a dangerous situation our brains can work in overdrive to
process information more quickly. And overdrive means a state of extreme
activity. Let’s listen to Raza Rumi, a writer and broadcaster in
Pakistan, talking about the unusual way his brain worked when gunmen
opened fire on him in his car.
好的。稍后我们再公布你的回答是否正确。小动物处理的视觉信息要比我们多。但在危险的情形下，我们的大脑可以超速运转，更快速地处理信息。overdrive是指超速运作状态。我们来听听巴基斯坦的作家兼广播员拉扎·鲁米是怎么说的，他讲述的是枪手向他的车开火时，他大脑的异常活动。
It
lasted for a few minutes – but to me that particular incident feels
like it was for hours. I think my brain was working in a very strange
way. Parallel and multiple thoughts and streams of consciousness were
sort of running along: ’I have to save my head because if I get a bullet
in my brain I’m dead. ’ And at the same time, ’ Was it all worth it?’
And, ’Alas, what a short life it was, it was lovely. ’ I was petrified
that I was going to die.
这其实只持续了几分钟，但对我来说这次事件仿佛持续了好几个小时。我觉得我的大脑以一种非常奇怪的方式运转。大脑中出现了两种或多种想法和意识流：“我得护住我的头，因为如果子弹打进头部，我就会死。”同时，我还想“这值得吗？”以及，“生命多么短暂，生命多么美好。”意识到我要死了，把我吓傻了。
Neil:
Raza Rumi there. So, he was petrified by the attack – which means
extremely frightened. As a result, his brain started working in a
strange way. He was thinking and feeling lots of different things at the
same time.
上述是拉扎·鲁米的想法。所以他被这次的枪击事件吓傻了。结果他的大脑开始以一种奇怪的方式运转。他同时在想很多不同的事。
Alice: That’s right – he remembers thinking practical thoughts like, ’I have to save my head’.
没错。他记得他想到了一些很实际的想法，如“我得护住我的头。”
Neil:
But in parallel – or at the same time – he also remembers having
philosophical thoughts, such as: What a short life it was, it was
lovely.
但同时，他还想到一些哲学思想，如生命多么短暂，生命多么美好。
Alice: Have you ever been in a dangerous situation where your brain went into overdrive, Neil?
尼尔，你遇到过大脑超速运转的危险情况吗？
Neil: Yes, I was ten years old and I fell backwards out of a big tree in our garden.
有，十岁的时候，我从园子里的大树上掉下来。
Alice: Oh no!
天啊！
Neil:
Yeah. I have a vivid memory of the sun flashing above me, and the
clouds moving across the sky, and the leaves rustling in the tree above
me– my mum was screaming through the kitchen window as she saw me fall. I
experienced so much in the space of just a few seconds, just like Raza
Rumi describes.
我还记得那个生动的画面，太阳在头顶上照耀，云彩飘过天空，树上的叶子沙沙作响。我的妈妈在厨房看到我掉下来，大叫起来。虽然只是几秒的时间，我却感受到了那么多，就像拉扎·鲁米描述的那样。
Alice: Yes. A vivid memory, by the way, is clear and detailed. Oh, poor Neil! Did you hurt yourself?
很生动的回忆，很清晰也很具体。可怜的尼尔！你受伤了吗？
Neil: Some big bruises – but no broken bones.
有大片的擦伤，但没有伤到骨头。
Alice:
Glad to hear it. Now, it’s a strange trick of memory that in a scary
situation your brain starts to record everything in great detail. And
the more memory you have of an event, the longer you believe it took.
This idea explains why children often feel that time is passing slowly –
because their experiences are new, and they are creating lots of new
memories.
那还真幸运。在令人恐惧的情形下，你的大脑开始记录每一个细节，这种记忆真的很奇怪。你对一个件事的记忆越多，你就会觉得这个事件持续的时间越长。这就解释了为什么孩子们经常觉得时间过得慢，因为他们的经历都很新奇，他们在不断创造新的记忆。
Neil:
Whereas boring grown-ups like us are following routines that don’t
require new memories because they’re so familiar. But let’s listen to
Claudia Hammond, author of Time Warped, talking about how we can stretch
time and make our days feel longer – in a good way!
然而像我们这样无聊的成人，每天做着固定的事，我们没有更新记忆，因为所做的事都太熟悉了。但是让我们来听听《时间跳跃》的作者克劳迪娅·哈蒙德的看法。她讲述的是如何以一种良好的方式，延长时间，让我们感觉每天都很长。
If
you can spend your weekend filling it with loads of new different
activities, it’ll go fast, at the time, because you’re having fun. But
when you look back, say, on Sunday night, and you’ve got to go to work
next day, it will feel as if your weekend was long, because you filled
it with new memories.
如果你在周末做很多不同的新鲜事，时间就会过得很快，因为你过的很开心。但当你在周日晚回忆这些事，并且第二天要上班，你会感觉你的周末过得很长，因为你有了很多新的记忆。
Alice: We should do that, this weekend, Neil. What do you think?
这周末我们就应该这么做。你觉得呢？
Neil: Definitely. I’m going to buzz around like a fly, creating loads of new memories.
当然。我要像苍蝇一样忙起来，创造许多新的记忆。
Alice:
Now, are you ready for the answer to today’s quiz question? I asked:
Roughly how much more quickly a fly’s eye can react than a human eye? Is
it … a) twice as quickly, b) four times as quickly or c) ten times as
quickly?
现在该揭晓今天问题的答案了吧？我的问题是：苍蝇的眼睛比人眼的反应速度快多少倍 a) 两倍, b)四倍，还是 c) 十倍？
Neil: And I said c) ten times as quickly.
我选的是 c) 十倍。
Alice:
The correct answer is b) four times as quickly. Flies have eyes that
send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyes
because they can process the information more quickly. This speed
illustrates the impressive capabilities of even the smallest animal
brains.
正确答案是b)四倍。苍蝇的眼睛向大脑发送更新信息的速度比我们的速度快。因为他们能更快地处理信息。这一速度说明了即便是如此小的动物的大脑都拥有如此令人惊叹的能力。
Neil: Well, before we buzz off, perhaps we should hear the words we learned today. They are:
我们匆匆结束前，先回顾一下今天学到的单词吧。它们是：
flew by
飞逝
dragged
拖曳
perception
观点，看法
nippy
快的
overdrive
超速运转
petrified
惊呆的
in parallel
同时
Neil: Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Remember to join us again soon!
今天的英语六分钟就到这里了。请记得收听我们下期的节目。
Both: Bye!
再见！
