视频加载中...
看过BBC神剧《神探夏洛克》的朋友，一定震惊于夏洛克神一般的记忆力，夏洛克常用的记忆方法就是“记忆宫殿”法。看起来很神奇的能力，我们普通人通过刻意练习，也可以掌握这种厉害的记忆方法。
I have a terrible memory.
我的记忆力很不好。
I can't remember birthdays, I notoriously butcher movie lines, and I forget somebody's name five seconds after I meet them.
我记不住别人生日，甚至记不住电影的台词，与某些人初识，五秒后我就忘了他们叫什么。
But by the end of this video I'm going to be reciting an entire chapter from Moby Dick by heart, because, as it turns out, there's a way for anybody to hack their memory.
但在今天这个视频结束前，我会牢记《白鲸》中一整章的内容，因为事实证明，总有种方法是可以提高任何人的记忆力的。
The way that we normally try to memorize stuff is inefficient and pretty bad.
我们一般记忆事情的方法低效且糟糕。
Flash cards, rote repetition, anxiously putting your hand on your forehead just don't work.
利用闪卡、一遍又一遍地死记硬背、焦虑地把手抵在额头上这些都没用。
That's because as much as we'd like to, our brains don't respond well to brute force.
因为尽管我们自己乐此不疲，但我们的大脑对这些“蛮力”不会有丝毫回应。
What we are good at is remembering things when we have a context, be it visual, emotional, or spatial.
我们擅长的是在情境中记忆，比如一个视觉上的、充满感情的或是空间中存在的情境。
We're good at remembering faces, we instinctively remember what song was playing during our first kiss, and we can effortlessly walk a few blocks to the store and get back to our house without even having to think about it.
我们能很好地记住人们的脸，本能地记住在我们接吻时放的音乐，还可以轻松地穿过几个街区走到商店然后再回到家，（期间的路）甚至想都不用想。
Why is that?
为什么能这样呢？
Well, it turns out that the same part of our brain that's thought to be involved in emotion and spatial navigation, the hippocampus, also happens to control short- and long-term memory processing.
这是因为海马体这个大脑组织在参与控制情感和空间导航的同时，也控制着短期和长期记忆。
Now, I know what you're thinking: If only there were a way to combine the two.
我知道你现在在想什么：要是有种方法把两者合二为一就好了。
Enter: the memory palace.
那就让我们进入“记忆宫殿”吧。
A memory palace is a memorization technique that makes it easier to remember things by giving it a visual and spatial hook.
记忆宫殿是一种记忆技巧，它能通过感情和空间联想让我们更轻松地记事情。
It combines something that humans are innately pretty bad at with something that we've been doing for ages.
它把人们生来就不擅长的事和我们做了多年的事结合到了一起。
Basically, you assign images to the content you want to memorize, then place them on a path in a real-life location.
一般来说，人们要给想记住的情境分配图像，然后把它们“放”在现实生活中的一条路上。
Then when you retrace the path in your mind, you see the images, are able to recall the content, and all of the sudden you look like a memory genius.
然后当你在脑海里回忆这条路的时候就会“看见”那些图像，继而回忆起情境，瞬间你就成为了一个记忆大师。
So does this actually work?
那这么做真的有用吗？
Step 1: choose a location that you know really well to serve as your memory palace.
第一步：选择一个你熟知的地方作为你的记忆宫殿。
It seems pretty generous to deem it a palace, but for this example I chose to use my apartment.
可能把我的公寓想象成宫殿太过夸张了，不过为了举这个例子，我还是要用它。
I went around and mentally mapped out the space, making sure I had a clear image of the layout, where the furniture was, and whether or not I needed to change my cat's litter box, which, it turns out, I did.
我在里面转了一圈，在脑海里勾勒出整个空间的地图，确定自己对公寓布局有了一副清晰的图像，家居在什么位置，是否需要把猫窝挪个地方，事实上，我也那么做了。
Step 2: choose what you want to memorize.
第二步：选择你想要记忆的事情。
You can choose anything that you want: a poem, the state capitals, the first 25 digits of PI.
你可以选择任何想记住的东西：一首诗、各州的首府或者圆周率的前25位。
Whatever. I chose a chapter from one of my favorite books, Moby Dick.
任何东西。我从一本我最喜欢的书——《白鲸》里选了一章。
Granted, it's one of the shorter chapters, but it's really good, and you've got to start somewhere, so how about everyone justplay it cool, all right?
当然，这是比较短的一章，但写得真的很好，总要有所尝试，请大家拭目以待。
I've read this chapter a number of times, but I don't remember more than a few words off the top of my head.
虽然这一章我已经读过好几遍了，但我肯定没记住几个词。
So I know that the first line is,"I leave a white wake".
我知道第一句是“我留下白色的痕迹。”
There's a line where he talks about a heavy crown.
有一句台词是他在谈论一顶沉重的王冠。
And his destiny is on rails at some point.
他的命运取决于在铁路上的那一刻。
Step 3: create a really compelling visual image for each line or item.
第三步：给每句台词或事物创造一个非常鲜明的视觉图像。
What I did was take the chapter and break it up into individual sentences, 38 in all, each one getting their own image.
我是这么做的：把这一章拆分成单独的句子，一共38句，每句都有各自的情境。
So for the first line — "I leave a white and turbid wake;pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail" —
I create in my mind an image of John Waters, pale and dressed in white, crying uncontrollably at somebody's wake.
对于第一句，“不管航船到达什么地方都会留下一条痕迹，远逝的海水白茫茫一片，船两旁的水花白得晃眼”
——我在脑海里勾勒出约翰·沃特斯的形象，脸色苍白，穿着白衣，*情纵**哭泣，在为某个人守灵。
Pretty memorable image, right?
非常令人难忘的情境，不是吗？
You want to make all of your images as distinctive and interesting as possible.
你要尽可能把所有情境变得鲜明独特而有趣。
The weirder and more emotional that they are, the easier it will be for you to remember.
情境越是离奇，情感越是丰富，记忆起来越容易。
Feel free to make them vulgar or outrageous.
把它们想得粗俗或者离谱一些也没关系。
Nobody needs to know what's inside your memory palace.
人们没必要知道你的记忆宫殿里面是什么。
Step 4: place your images along a path through your memory palace.
第四步：在记忆宫殿里，沿着一条路径“放置”你设定的情境。
I took the John Waters' image and placed it on the first stop of my path: the landing on the stoop of my apartment.
我拿着约翰·沃特斯的照片，把它放在我这条路上的第一站——我公寓门阶的楼梯上。
I did this for the rest of the chapter, line by line, until each line had a unique, weird image.
对这章其他的台词也一句一句地如法炮制，每句台词都要有独特的、离奇的情境。
Step 5: memorize.
第五步：记忆。
The thing about memory palaces is that they're not going to help you memorize anything instantly.
记忆宫殿无法帮你瞬时记忆。
You still have to go through and do the work.
要记忆的话还需要你去回忆那条路。
And it is work.
那就是你要做的事。
But studies have shown that students who use memory palaces or other mnemonic techniques to study consistently and significantly outperform students that don't.
但研究表明，使用记忆宫殿或其他记忆技巧的学生在学习上坚持不懈，成绩显著优于不使用这些技巧的学生。
It's also proven to be a powerful learning tool for students with disabilities.
同时也证实，对于有学习障碍的学生而言，它是一个强大的学习工具。
So does this actually work?
那记忆宫殿真的有用吗？
I got up in front of all my co-workers to find out.
我要当着我所有同事的面证明给大家看。
I leave a white and turbid wake.
不管航船到达什么地方都会留下一条痕迹。
Pale waters, paler cheeks, wherever I sail.
远逝的海水白茫茫一片，船两旁的水花白得晃眼。
The envious billow sidelong swell to whelm my track, let them, but first I pass.
海涛在两侧翻腾，妒忌地要把我们的航道遮住。不管它们怎样，我要走我自己的路。
Yonder, by ever-brimming goblet's rim, the warm waves blush like wine.
远处始终满得要流出的高脚杯，其边缘迅疾的浪涛像红葡萄酒一样。
The gold brow plums the blue.
陡峭的岩壁呈金色直插云天。
The diver sun — slow dived from noon — goes down, my soul mounts up.
潜水鸟一样的太阳自中午就慢慢向下沉，最终落了下去。我的灵魂此时却在向上腾飞！
Spending three or four hours everyday practicing, it only took me about four days to memorize the whole thing.
我每天用三到四小时练习，只用了四天就全记住了。
The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.
我既定目标的实现之路上已经铺好了铁轨，我的心灵在上面疾驰。
Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrent's beds, unerringly I rush.
从荒无人烟的峡谷穿过，从沟沟坎坎的深山穿过，从激荡澎湃的河流穿过，我在这条一路畅通的笔直铁道上异常准确地飞奔着。
Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle, to the iron way.
没有障碍，没有偏见，我奔向那铁路。
So now that I know some of the secrets to memorization, does that mean that I'm going to enter next year's US Memory Championship?
现在我知道了记忆的诀窍，要不要参加美国明年的记忆锦标赛呢？
Um, we'll see.
等着瞧吧。