【英语时差8,16】使用多种语言防止痴呆2

 It takes a lot of mental power to speak more than one language. In fact, being multilingual may help people cope with dementia better than people who speak only one language. Being Multilingual Is An Advantage Scientists think that people who are multilingual have a highly developed sense of inhibitory or cognitive¹ control that is, the ability to focus on one thing, then abruptly² switch focus to something else. That’s similar to how people who are multilingual have to mute one language when communicating in another. Several studies have shown that multilingual speakers are better at ignoring distracting or irrelevant³ information than people who speak only one language.

1 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。

2 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

3 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。