TED演讲:和老年痴呆症说再见(8)

 　　How can this be? We think it's because these nuns¹ had a high level of cognitive² reserve, 这是怎么回事呢？我们认为这是因为这些修女拥有高级的认知储备，

　　which is a way of saying that they had more functional³ synapses⁵. 意味着她们有功能更强的突触。

　　People who have more years of formal education, who have a high degree of literacy, 接受正式教育的时间越长的人，拥有较强读写能力的人，

　　who engage regularly in mentally stimulating⁶ activities, all have more cognitive reserve. 定期参加刺激心理活动的人，这些人都有更高的认知储备。

　　They have an abundance and a redundancy in neural⁷ connections. 他们有着大量甚至多余的神经连接。

　　So even if they have a disease like Alzheimer's compromising some of their synapses, 所以即使他们患上老年痴呆等疾病损伤了部分突触，

　　they've got many extra backup connections, and this buffers⁸ them from noticing that anything is amiss. 他们依然有充足的额外后备连接，而这减缓了他们的大脑产生混乱。

　　Let's imagine a simplified example. Let's say you only know one thing about a subject. Let's say it's about me. 让我们来看一个简单的例子。假设你只知道关于某一主题的一件事。比方说是关于我的。

　　You know that Lisa Genova wrote "Still Alice," and that's the only thing you know about me. 你知道丽莎·吉诺瓦写下了《依然爱丽丝》，这是你唯一知道的关于我的事。

　　You have that single neural connection, that one synapse⁴. Now imagine you have Alzheimer's. 你拥有一处单一的神经连接，那一个特定突触。如果现在你患上了老年痴呆。

　　You have plaques⁹ and tangles¹⁰ and inflammation and microglia devouring¹¹ that synapse. 你有样斑块、神经纤维缠结和炎症，并且小神经胶质细胞吞噬了那一突触。

　　Now when someone asks you, "Hey, who wrote 'Still Alice?'" you can't remember, 现在若有人问起你，“嘿，谁写了《依然爱丽丝》？”你无法回想起来了，

　　because that synapse is either failing or gone. You've forgotten me forever. 因为那个突触要么衰弱要么消失了。你把我忘得一干二净。

　　But what if you had learned more about me? Let's say you learned four things about me. 但是如果你对我了解更深呢？比如你了解我的四件事情。

　　Now imagine you have Alzheimer's, and three of those synapses are damaged or destroyed. 现在如果你患上了老年痴呆，即使三处突触已损伤或者毁坏。

　　You still have a way to detour¹² the wreckage¹³. You can still remember my name. 你依然有一条路来绕过阻碍找到我的信息。你依然记得我的名字。

　　So we can be resilient to the presence of Alzheimer's pathology through the recruitment of yet-undamaged pathways. 所以我们可以通过使用那些未损坏的通路有效应对老年痴呆。

　　And we create these pathways, this cognitive reserve, by learning new things. 同时我们通过学习新事物，创造了新的通路，改变着认知储备。

　　Ideally, we want these new things to be as rich in meaning as possible, recruiting sight and sound and associations and emotion. 理想情况下，我们希望这些新事物的意义尽可能丰富，吸纳视觉与听觉的联合感受。

　　So this really doesn't mean doing crossword¹⁴ puzzles. 所以这并不意味着去做横纵字谜游戏。

　　You don't want to simply retrieve¹⁵ information you've already learned, 你不希望去重拾那些你早已学会的信息，

　　because this is like traveling down old, familiar streets, cruising neighborhoods you already know. 这就好比游览老旧的熟悉街道，那些周边环境你早已了然于心。

　　You want to pave new neural roads. Building an Alzheimer's-resistant brain means learning to speak Italian, 你想要开辟新的神经道路。使你的大脑抵抗老年痴呆，意味着学习说意大利语，

　　meeting new friends, reading a book, or listening to a great TED¹⁶ Talk. 去遇见新朋友，读一本书，或是听一场精彩的TED演讲。

　　And if, despite all of this, you are someday diagnosed with Alzheimer's, 如果做了所有的这一切之后，有一天你被诊断为老年痴呆，

　　there are three lessons I've learned from my grandmother and the dozens of people I've come to know living with this disease. 我从我的祖母以及我认识的许多患者中学习到了三件事情。

　　Diagnosis¹⁷ doesn't mean you're dying tomorrow. Keep living. 诊断并不意味着死期将至。顽强地活下去吧。

　　You won't lose your emotional memory. You'll still be able to understand love and joy. 你不会丢失你的情感记忆。你依然可以理解爱与喜悦。

　　You might not remember what I said five minutes ago, but you'll remember how I made you feel. 你也许不会记得我五分钟前的话语，但是你依然会记得我带给你的感受。

　　And you are more than what you can remember. Thank you. 你远胜于你所能记住的一切。谢谢。

1 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

2 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

3 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

4 synapse   

n.突触

参考例句：

• The chemical floods the synapse, overwhelming the serotonin receptors.这种化学物质湮没了突触，覆盖了5--羟色胺的受体。
• Ecstasy also keeps serotonin from being reabsorbed,further increasing the concentration in the synapse.毒品引起的狂迷还能阻止5--羟色胺的再吸收，进一步增加了突触内5--羟色胺的浓度。

5 synapses   

n.（神经元的）突触( synapse的名词复数 )；染色体结合( synapsis的名词复数 )；联会；突触；（神经元的）触处

参考例句：

• Nerve cells communicate with one another at the synapses, where their membranes almost touch. 神经细胞在突触部位彼此沟通，在这里它们的膜几乎接触到一起了。 来自辞典例句
• Glutamatergic synapses are common excitatory chemical connections in mammalian central nervous system. 谷氨酸性突触是哺乳动物神经系统的主要兴奋性突触。 来自互联网

6 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

7 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

8 buffers   

起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头

参考例句：

• To allocate and schedule the use of buffers. 分配和计划缓冲器的使用。
• Number of times the stream has paused due to insufficient stream buffers. 由于流缓冲区不足导致流程暂停的次数。

9 plaques   

（纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑

参考例句：

• Primary plaques were detectable in 16 to 20 hours. 在16到20小时内可查出原发溶斑。
• The gondoliers wore green and white livery and silver plaques on their chests. 船夫们穿着白绿两色的制服，胸前别着银质徽章。

10 tangles   

（使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Long hair tangles easily. 长头发容易打结。
• Tangles like this still interrupted their intercourse. 像这类纠缠不清的误会仍然妨碍着他们的交情。

11 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

12 detour   

n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道

参考例句：

• We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走，避开繁忙的交通。
• He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家，而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。

13 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

14 crossword   

n.纵横字谜，纵横填字游戏

参考例句：

• He shows a great interest in crossword puzzles.他对填字游戏表现出很大兴趣。
• Don't chuck yesterday's paper out.I still haven't done the crossword.别扔了昨天的报纸，我还没做字谜游戏呢。

15 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

16 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

17 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。