VOA慢速英语2017 为什么我们不记得婴儿最初几年的事？（在线收听）

Did you ever wonder why you have no memory of when you were a baby or very young child?

你有没有想过为什么你不记得自己小时候的事情？

Researchers in the United States are investigating this question. The researchers work at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

美国的研究人员正在研究这个问题。研究人员在宾夕法尼亚州费城的坦普尔大学进行研究工作。

The question of why adults do not remember how they learned to walk or talk has long been a mystery.

为什么大人不记得他们如何学会走路或说话的问题长久以来都是一个谜。

Nora Newcombe is a psychology professor at the university. She joined Zoe Ngo, a Temple graduate student, in the memory research project.

诺拉·纽康比是大学心理学教授。她与坦普尔大学的研究生佐伊一起进行研究。

Newcombe says: “You know you learned how to walk and talk, but the funny thing is that you don't remember when and how you learned this.”

纽康比说：“你知道你学会了走路和说话，但有趣的是，你不记得你是什么时候学的和如何学的。”

The Temple University study involved computer-based tests. The tests were designed to work like games. They were given to 32 four-year-olds, 32 six-year-olds and 50 young adults.

坦普尔大学使用计算机测试进行研究。测试被设计得和游戏。他们让32名四岁、32名6岁和50岁的年轻人参与游戏。

The tests measured the memory process that helps people recognize differences between experiences. For example: A walk with your dog when you saw a friend, and a different walk without your dog or when you did not see your friend.

该测试检查了人的记忆过程，帮助人们辨别体验之间的差异。如，你看到你的一个朋友和你的狗一起散步，和没有你的狗或者没有你的朋友时有什么区别。

“In order to remember those kind of autobiographical events, you need to relate one element to another,” Newcombe said. She notes that many people often take walks in a favorite park, but the experience might differ one day from another.

“为了记住这些记忆中的事件，你需要将一个元素与另一个元素联系起来，”纽康比说。她指出，很多人经常在最喜爱的公园散步，但是每一天的经历可能会有所差异。

Special memory skills are needed to remember when different events happen, like meeting a friend, she said. This differentiation is known as relational memory.

她说，我们需要特殊的记忆能力来记住发生的不同事件，比如和朋友见面。这种差异被称为关系记忆。

This skill would also be important to remembering where you parked your car today, compared to where you left it yesterday or last week.

这个技能对你记住你今天停车的地方也很重要，因为这与你昨天或上周停车的地方可能不同。

The second test involved showing the test subjects a number of photographs. The children and young adults taking the test were asked to compare the first group of photos with a second set of pictures.

第二个测试涉及到展示测试对象的一些照片。他们让儿童和年轻人比较第一组照片和第二组照片。

Sometimes, the two sets of photos were the same. But other times, they were different. Remembering differences in objects, such as pictures, is known as pattern separation.

有时，这两套照片是一模一样的。但其他时候，照片是不同的。记住不同的事务（如图片）的差异称为分隔模式。

The results showed that in both tests, six-year-olds demonstrated far better memory than 4-year olds. The six-year-olds performed about as well as the young adults on the two tests.

结果显示，在两项测试中，6岁儿童的记忆力明显高于4岁。在这两项测试中，六岁的孩子和年轻人都表现出色。

The two tests suggest that memory skills are more advanced for six-year-olds than 4-year-olds. That might help explain why adults do not remember when they learned to walk or talk. But they do remember their third, fourth or fifth birthdays.

两项测试表明，6岁以上孩子的记忆能力比4岁儿童更好。这可能有助于解释为什么大人不记得什么时候学习走路或说话。但他们确实记得他们的第三、第四或第五个生日。

“We don't have any memories in the first two years of life, and all of a sudden we're able to form these memories for specific past events,” said Temple graduate student Zoe Ngo. “So, there must be something going on in early childhood or middle childhood that's very interesting.”

坦普尔大学的研究生佐伊·诺格说：“我们没有任何关于两岁前的记忆，在某个瞬间，我们能够形成特定过去事件的记忆。 所以，幼儿时期或初中时期一定有一些事情很有意思。”

Newcombe said memory research is important as doctors try to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Persons with the disease suffer memory loss.

纽康比说，记忆研究对试图寻找治疗阿尔茨海默病的医生来说相当重要。患有该疾病的患者会丧失记忆。

For some people, memory loss is just for recent events. People may not remember what they did that morning, but remember experiences from 50 years ago.

有些人只丧失了最近几年的记忆。人们可能不记得那天早上做了什么，但记得50年前的事情。

But memory loss research is not limited to helping Alzheimer's patients.

但记忆丧失的研究并不仅限于帮助阿尔茨海默病患者。

It could help with law enforcement officers trying to get more detailed descriptions from witnesses to crimes, Newcombe said.

纽康比说，这可能有助于执法人员试图从证人那里得到更详尽的描述。

It could also help find ways to get better and more reliable information from young victims of crime, such as child abuse by family members or care givers.

它也可以帮助在犯罪案件中从年轻受害者那里获得更好更可靠的信息，例如家庭成员或照料者虐待儿童。

Words in This Story

funny - adj. causing laughter

autobiographical - adj. relating to your own experiences of life story

park - n. a piece of public land in or near a city that is kept free of houses and other buildings and can be used for pleasure and exercise

park - v. to leave a car in a particular place, often on the street or in a parking lot

advanced - adj. further along in a course of progress or development

specific - adj. special or particular

reliable - adj. able to be trusted to do or provide what is