注意力的质量

The Quality of Your Attention

文、译/林巍

〔1〕人们接收外部的信息，靠的是注意力；而注意力是有质量的—这决定了对所接收信息的处理、储存及提取的质量。

[1] Information is received into our sensory system by attention and its quality determines how well it will be processed, stored and retrieved afterward.

〔2〕同样的信息，对于不同的人，所吸引的注意力是不同的。为什么有时会过目不忘，有时则又视若罔闻？有的细节会记忆深刻，有的部分却又全无印象？人接收的事物，都是经过注意力筛选的；注意力的质量，离不开注意力的选择与分配。

[2] The same information may attract different forms and levels of attention from different people. We may all have experienced times when information has been photographically retained, or ignored. It may be vividly imbedded in detail, or discarded as we turn a blind eye. All information we receive in fact is filtered by our attention, and the way to select and distribute attention determines its quality.

〔3〕对我们注意力产生影响的，有兴趣、经历、能力、情绪、知识结构、环境及时间等等；这些因素的综合搭配，产生了不同效果，有时相差甚远。

[3] Factors affecting our attention are personal interest, experience, ability, emotion, knowledge structure, environment and timing and so on, and the combination of these may lead to results which are sometimes vastly divergent.

〔4〕一个人的注意力，在一定时段内，其总量是有限的，是个“常数”；但在具体的环节上，又是可以相对集中的，是个“变数”， 可“以局部优势”解决问题。所以，我们常可以见到，智力看似平平的人，可以在某些方面有着超群的表现—注意力的合理分配，不能不说是其中的一个要素。

[4] A person’s attention capacity as a “constant” is limited within a certain time-span. In dealing with certain issues, however, it can be organized as a “variable”, concentrating on a targeted area by its comparative edge. Therefore, it is not surprising to observe that somebody with an average intelligence can have an outstanding performance in certain fields, supported presumably by a rational attention distribution, psychologically speaking. 

〔5〕有人认为，要做翻译主要得学好外语。固然不错，但这还只是注意力分配中的一部分，还有两部分——母语的质量和在两种语言间转换的质量。特别是在口译中，注意力合理分配的作用就更加突出。

[5] Learning translation has long been regarded as learning a foreign language, which is not wrong but is not in itself adequate. Concerning the quality of attention, the package should include foreign language, mother tongue and the convertibility between the two languages. When it comes to oral interpretation, rational attention distribution plays an even more crucial role.

〔6〕令人欣慰的是，在生理学上讲，人的注意力是可以塑造、训练和加强的。所以，不断提高我们注意力的质量，是个值得重视的问题。

[6] The good news is that biologically speaking, a person’s attention can be shaped, trained and strengthened by effective exercises. With that in mind, we should constantly improve the quality of our attention.

（转自微信公众号：英语学习）