老外说：单词这样背1分钟牢记1个！

　　I'm going to share with you a technique that you can use to remember English vocabulary. And the reason that I recommend this technique is that it's pretty effective.

　　我想和大家分享一个记忆英语单词的方法，原因是这个方法非常有效。

　　I actually did a small experiment. I created two lists of words that I didn't know and I just tried to memorize the words in each list. I did not use any technique to memorize the first list. It was just pure repetition.

　　实际上，我曾经做过一个实验。我创建了两张生词表，并尝试记忆这两张表上的单词。记忆第一张单词表的时候我没有使用任何技巧，只是纯粹的重复。

　　But for the second list, I used the technique that you're about to learn. The next day I tried to recall the meanings of the words in both lists.

　　但是第二张单词表，我运用了你们即将学习的技巧。第二天，我尝试着回忆两张单词表上所有单词的意思。

　　老外说：单词这样背1分钟牢记1个！

　　For the first list, I was able to recall only 12 %. But for the second list, I recalled as much as 50 %. This is pretty impressive considering the fact that I spent only one minute memorizing each word. So let me explain the technique.

　　第一张生词表，我只记起其中12%的单词的意思。但第二张生词表我大约记起了50%。这一结果令我惊讶，因为每个单词我只花了一分钟时间记忆。所以让我来给你们介绍这一方法吧。

　　So let’s say we want to remember the word adroit¹, which means clever or skillful at something; really good at something.

　　如果说我们想要记住“adroit”这个单词，这一单词的意思是灵巧的，机敏的，熟练的。

　　The first thing we need to do is to come up with another word that sounds similar to this word. And that word must refer to something that we can visualize² - something that we can see in our mind.

　　我们要做的第一件事是想出一个发音和它类似的单词。这个单词必须是我们可以视觉化的，可以在我们脑海中显现的事物。

　　So for this word, the substitute word could be the word 'android' which means a robot. Right Adroit and android sound pretty close to each other.

　　这个单词的替代词即 “android”,是机器人的意思。 “adroit”和“android”的发音非常相近。

　　We could also use the phrase a drawing. That sounds similar as well. Adroit. A drawing.

　　我们可以将这个单词在脑海中呈现出一幅画。发音也要相似。一边是“adroit”，一边是图画。

　　What these words have in common is that they refer to something that we can visualize and this is a very important point and you're going find out why soon.

　　这些单词有个共同点，那就是他们都是可以视觉化的，这一点很重要，稍后你就会知道为什么了。

　　So we have two options here but let's use the word 'android' as the substitute word. Now visualize an android. You know... a robot that looks like a human.

　　所以我们有两个选择了，但我们需要将“android”作为替换词。现在就开始想象一个机器人吧。你知道的，就是长得像人类的东西。

　　Next, we have to associate this image to the meaning of the word that we want to remember. And again the meaning is skillful at something. That's the meaning.

　　接下来，我们就要把这个单词的影像和我们所要记住的那个单词联系起来了，再强调一下，那个单词的意思是灵巧的。

　　So perhaps we can imagine the android doing something that requires a lot of skill. Maybe we can imagine the android playing the guitar on stage. Maybe there's a competition going on and we can imagine other guitarists come up on stage and try to compete with the android. But everybody loses because the android is very good at playing the guitar. The android is adroit at playing the guitar.

　　所以我们可以想象一个机器人正在做一件需要很多技巧的事情，也许我们可以想象机器人正在舞台上弹奏吉他，再或者我们还可以想象有一场吉他手和机器人吉他手的比赛，但最终吉他手都输了，机器人大获全胜，因为机器人十分擅长弹奏吉他，也就是说机器人弹吉他很熟练。

　　So what we're doing here is associate the pronunciation with the meaning through an image or a story. We're creating an association between them. So when you come across this word again, the pronunciation will remind you of the association and therefore the meaning of the word.

　　所以我们正在做的事情就是将发音和意思通过一个影像或是一个故事结合起来。我们正在建立他们之间的联系。所以当你再一次遇到这个单词的时候，发音就会帮助你回忆起我们所创建的那个联系，那样整个单词的意思就蹦出来了。

　　Suppose we want to memorize the word lambaste, which means to criticize (someone or something) harshly.

　　假设我们想要记住“lambaste”这个单词，这个单词意为：严厉地批评某人或某件事。

　　For the first syllable⁴ 'lam,' we can use lamb - the animal, or lamp - the thing that generates light, as the substitute word.

　　对于第一个音节“lam”，我们可以用“lamb”或者“lamp”替代，lamp即发光的台灯。

　　For the second syllable baste³, we can use bass⁵ - the musical instrument. And I also happen to have a friend named Bass. So personally, I can use his name as the substitute word as well.

　　第二个音节“baste”,我们可以用“bass”来替代，这是一种乐器。我突然想起来我有一个朋友就叫Bass，所以对我而言，我可以用他的名字来替代“baste”。

　　But let's use lamb the animal and bass the musical instrument together.

　　现在让我们将“羊”这一动物和“贝司”这一乐器联系起来。

　　So we can imagine a lamb playing the bass. But unfortunately, the lamb is really terrible at playing the bass. So the bass gets angry and starts criticizing the lamb. The bass is lambasting the lamb.

　　所以我们可以想象一只小羊在弹奏贝丝。但是这只小羊弹得很糟糕，所以贝丝生气了开始批评这只羊，即贝丝在严厉批评这只小羊。

　　OK. That's it!

　　好了，这就是全部内容了。

1 adroit   

adj.熟练的，灵巧的

参考例句：

• Jamie was adroit at flattering others.杰米很会拍马屁。
• His adroit replies to hecklers won him many followers.他对质问者的机敏应答使他赢得了很多追随者。

2 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

3 baste   

v.殴打，公开责骂

参考例句：

• The paper baste the candidate for irresponsible statement.该报公开指责候选人作不负责任的声明。
• If he's rude to me again,I'll baste his coat.如果他再对我无礼的话，我就要揍他了。

4 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

5 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。