时差N小时 永远记住面孔?

Remembering Faces Forever? Are you good at remembering faces? How about the face of a stranger you passed in the supermarket aisle¹ three months ago? Or the face of a waitress who served you dinner last year? That may seem unlikely, but some people are what's known as “super recognizers.”

永远记住面孔？你很擅长记住面孔？那你还记得三个月前在超市走道上碰见的陌生人的长相吗？或者是去年为你点过晚餐的服务员的长相？也许显得很不靠谱，但的确有人是所谓的“超级识别者”。

They can instantly recognize faces they glimpsed months and even years ago. This is interesting because it suggests that face recognition exists on a broad spectrum². Previously³, scientists thought that people fall into two basic categories. Most people have more or less the same, average ability for recalling faces.

他们能够立刻辨认出几个月甚至几年前瞥过一眼的面孔。这个现象很有趣，因为这表明面部识别的范畴是广泛的。很明显，科学家们认为人可分为两类。大多数人在记忆面孔的能力方面大抵相同。

But around two percent of people can hardly recognize faces at all—a condition called prosopagnosia. The discovery that a small percentage of people are super recognizers means the overall spectrum of face recognition is more expansive than we knew. While relatively⁴ few people fall into either extreme, most of us exist somewhere in between.

但是有2%的人根本辨认不出脸孔——这种情况叫做面容失认症。同时还发现一小部分人是超级面部辨认者，这意味着辨认面孔的整体频谱比我们知道的更为广泛。然而，相对来说属于这两种范畴的人很少，大多数人都是介于这两者之间。

But that doesn't mean that most people are equally competent at recognizing faces. Without being a super recognizer, Joe may exist somewhere in the neighborhood of strong facial recall. Whereas Jane's talent for remembering faces might lie closer to the prosopagnosia end of things.

但是，那并不意味着大多数人在辨认面孔的能力方面是一样的。乔不是一个超级面孔识别者，当他出现在一个辨认面孔整体水平很强的社区时，就显得像得了人面失认症。

For the most part, where you fall on the face recognition spectrum may not matter. But if, say, you're an eyewitness⁵ in a murder trial, then your relative ability for recalling faces might become a pivotal fact in the trial.

就绝大部分而言，你属于哪个范围并不要紧。然而，万一你是一桩犯罪案件的目击者，那么你识别面孔的能力就是审判的关键所在了。

1 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

2 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。