古希臘人非常崇拜記憶力，認(rèn)為它是女神妮莫辛的化身。妮莫辛是所有女神中最漂亮的一個(gè)，宙斯跟她呆在一起的時(shí)間最長(zhǎng)，共廝守了9天9夜，結(jié)果她生了9個(gè)繆斯女神，分別主司愛(ài)情詩(shī)、史詩(shī)、贊美詩(shī)、舞蹈、喜劇、悲劇、音樂(lè)、史學(xué)和天文學(xué)。在希臘人看來(lái)將活力(宙斯)注入記憶(妮莫辛)就會(huì)產(chǎn)生創(chuàng)造力和智慧?，F(xiàn)在我們用來(lái)稱呼記憶法的專用術(shù)語(yǔ)"記憶術(shù)" --mnemoncis，就是由女神妮莫辛的名字演化來(lái)的。

英文閱讀古希臘記憶法

　　Good news for people who have difficulty in remembering things. A memory technique invented by the ancient Greeks has recently been proved to be able to greatly improve ordinary people’s memory ability. You may even become a memory champion if you practice hard enough.

　　對(duì)于記憶力不好的人來(lái)說(shuō)，有這樣一個(gè)好消息。古希臘人發(fā)明的一個(gè)記憶法在近期被證實(shí)能夠大大提升普通人的記憶力。如果你肯努力練習(xí)，或許還能成為記憶冠軍。

　　This is according to a study published in the journal Neuron. Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands found that memory champions aren’t all that different to us. People with an average memory can greatly improve their memory ability by using what’s known as the mind palace method.

　　以上觀點(diǎn)來(lái)源于科學(xué)期刊《神經(jīng)元》上發(fā)表的一篇研究。荷蘭拉德堡德大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)中心的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，記憶冠軍們并非與我們有很大差別。通過(guò)此種被稱為思維殿堂的方法，普通人也能極大地提高自己的記憶力水平。

　　The method is the secret weapon (武器) of the fictional (虛構(gòu)的) character Sherlock Holmes.

　　該方法是虛構(gòu)人物夏洛克·福爾摩斯的秘密武器。

　　In order to do this, you need to picture a place you’re familiar with, such as your living room. Then, you have to remember this place in as much detail as possible as this is your own mind palace.

　　為了提高記憶力，你需要想象一個(gè)你熟悉的地方，比如你家的客廳。然后，你要盡可能多地回想起這里的細(xì)節(jié)，因?yàn)檫@就是你自己的思維殿堂。

　　Suppose you want to remember a shopping list. You can start by spreading out all the items around your living room in your mind. This means each item on your list is connected with a remembered place in your living room. You travel to that remembered place as you recall the list.

　　假設(shè)你想記住一個(gè)購(gòu)物清單。你可以先把清單上的所有物品都分散在你想象中的客廳里。這便意味著清單上的每個(gè)物品都和記憶中的位置產(chǎn)生了聯(lián)系。前往記憶中的地點(diǎn)就能想起清單上的內(nèi)容。

　　To explore the effects of this method on the brain, researchers gathered 51 participants with average memory levels and no previous memory training. After 40 days of daily 30-minute training sessions (一段時(shí)間), participants doubled the amount of words they could remember – they went from recalling an average of 26 words out of 72, to an impressive 62. Four months later, even without continued training, their recall performance remained high.

　　為探索這個(gè)腦力方法的效果，研究人員召集了51名記憶力在平均水平的實(shí)驗(yàn)參與者，這些人先前都未經(jīng)過(guò)記憶力訓(xùn)練。參與者們每天都接受了30分鐘的記憶力訓(xùn)練，40天后，他們能夠記住的單詞數(shù)量增加了一倍 在72個(gè)單詞中，他們從一開(kāi)始平均只能記住26個(gè)單詞，上升到后來(lái)十分可觀的62個(gè)。而四個(gè)月后，就算沒(méi)有繼續(xù)參加訓(xùn)練，他們的記憶力表現(xiàn)依然十分出色。

　　Once you are familiar with these strategies and know how to apply them, you can keep your performance high without much further training, Martin Dresler, assistant professor from Radboud University Medical Center, told the Daily Mail.

　　一旦你熟悉了這些策略，知道怎么去運(yùn)用它們，你就能在不進(jìn)行更進(jìn)一步訓(xùn)練的情況下，保持著出色的記憶力，拉德堡德大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)中心副教授馬丁·德萊斯勒在接受《每日郵報(bào)》采訪時(shí)表示。

　　In addition, the training also affects the way our brain cells connect. After training, the way that the participants’ brain cells connect began to be like those of memory champions compared to scans (掃描檢查) taken before training. Researchers believe this could be responsible for their increased memory.

　　除此之外，訓(xùn)練也同樣影響了我們腦細(xì)胞的連接方式。和參與訓(xùn)練之前的腦部掃描相比，訓(xùn)練之后參與者們腦細(xì)胞的連接方式變得與記憶冠軍們的大腦相似起來(lái)。研究人員認(rèn)為，這與他們?cè)鰪?qiáng)了記憶力有關(guān)。

　　But what makes this research so fascinating is that it seems to prove that the talent to store things in your mind isn’t down to genes. Dresler found there was no difference in brain structure between memory champions and normal people, which means memory champions are not born with different brains.

　　但這項(xiàng)研究最吸引人的地方在于，它似乎證實(shí)了在記憶才能并非與基因有關(guān)。德萊斯勒發(fā)現(xiàn)，記憶冠軍們的大腦構(gòu)造和普通人的并無(wú)區(qū)別，這意味著記憶力冠軍們并非生來(lái)就有著不同的大腦。

　　They, without a single exception, trained for months and years using methods to achieve these high levels of performance, Dresler told Science Daily.

　　無(wú)一例外的是，他們都用了一些方法經(jīng)年累月地進(jìn)行訓(xùn)練，從而練成了出色的記憶力，德萊斯勒在接受《每日科學(xué)》采訪時(shí)表示。

　　It’s clear that more studies are needed to find out what’s going on here, but the mind palace method might be your best bet to never forget an important name, date or appointment ever again.

　　很清楚的一點(diǎn)是，我們需要進(jìn)行更多的研究來(lái)弄明白原理，但思維殿堂這一方法或許是你記住一個(gè)重要的名字、日期或是邀約的最佳方法。