第1663期:How to stay focused

When you were at school, were you ever told to stop daydreaming and concentrate? It was easy for your mind to wander if you weren’t interested in what you were learning or if you had better things to think about. Staying focused can still be a challenge in adult life, but understanding how to do it, and knowing what is distracting you, can help.

当你在学校的时候，你有没有被告知要停止做白日梦并集中注意力？如果您对正在学习的内容不感兴趣，或者如果您有更好的事情要考虑，您的思绪很容易走神。保持专注仍然是成人生活中的一个挑战，但了解如何做到这一点，并知道是什么让你分心，会有所帮助。

Scientists have looked at what makes us procrastinate and found a number of ways to help us stay in the zone. One of the most obvious things is eliminating noise. Research by Science Focus magazine found silence is best for concentration, or a gentle background hum and coffee shop noise is great! It also found turning off notifications on your phone, or switching it off altogether, removes a major distraction and helps us focus on the task at hand.

科学家们研究了导致我们拖延的原因，并找到了多种方法来帮助我们保持拖延状态。最明显的事情之一是消除噪音。 Science Focus 杂志的研究发现安静最适合集中注意力，或者柔和的背景嗡嗡声和咖啡店的噪音很棒！它还发现关闭手机上的通知，或完全关闭它，可以消除主要的干扰并帮助我们专注于手头的任务。

Another possible cure for a short attention span is brain training. Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly interested in our ability to knuckle down and have looked at what we can change inside our head to make us concentrate. An article for BBC Future by Caroline Williams says that “Attention Researcher Nilli Lavie of University College London has found that making a task more visually demanding… takes up more processing power and leaves the brain nothing left to process distractions.” So, keeping your mind busy might be the answer.

注意力持续时间短的另一种可能的治疗方法是大脑训练。心理学家和神经科学家对我们屈服的能力越来越感兴趣，并研究了我们可以通过改变大脑内部的什么来让我们集中注意力。卡罗琳·威廉姆斯 (Caroline Williams) 为 BBC Future 撰写的一篇文章称，“伦敦大学学院的注意力研究员尼莉·拉维 (Nilli Lavie) 发现，让一项任务对视觉要求更高……会占用更多的处理能力，让大脑没有任何东西可以处理分心。”因此，保持头脑忙碌可能就是答案。

There are more practical tips to keeping your mind focused. These include making a list or timetable of the tasks you have to do, finding a workspace where you’re not tempted to do other things, or chewing some gum! It’s possible the movement in your mouth occupies parts of the brain that might otherwise get distracted.

还有更多实用技巧可以帮助您保持注意力集中。这些包括列出您必须完成的任务的清单或时间表，找到一个您不想做其他事情的工作空间，或者嚼点口香糖！嘴里的运动可能会占用大脑的一部分，否则这些区域可能会分心。

But according to Science Focus magazine, distraction isn’t all bad. “If we were always so focused that we never got distracted, we’d miss potential changes, such as threats, in our environment. Distraction is vital for survival.”↳

但据《科学焦点》杂志报道，分心并不全是坏事。 “如果我们总是如此专注以至于从不分心，我们就会错过环境中的潜在变化，例如威胁。分心对生存至关重要。”

词汇表

daydream 做白日梦
mind to wander 走神，心不在焉
focused 专注的
distract 干扰，使分心
procrastinate 拖延
in the zone 状态极佳，在状态
silence 安静，无声
task at hand 手头的任务
short attention span 注意力持续时间短，注意力不集中
brain training 大脑训练
neuroscientist 神经科学家
knuckle down 开始努力工作或学习
visually demanding 视觉上费力的，需要劳神看的
processing power 处理能力
threat 威胁