词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Memory Improvement

Broadcast on "Coast to Coast": September 26, 2002
Re-broadcast on VOA News Now: September 29, 2002

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER 鈥?some ways to help you improve your memory.

ELDH: "We don't forget, we just haven't learned it in the first place."

RS: That's Wendi Eldh. She's a communications trainer who teaches memory skills. One technique she uses she calls the three R's -- record, retain and retrieve¹.

ELDH: "That is, you have to say, what is the piece of information I want to learn, and you record that. Then you have to figure out where you're going to put it. I don't just throw it in my brain. Am I going to put it with car information, will I put it with insurance information. So you actually get disciplined enough to organize the information you retain in some kind of filing system. And then when you're ready to retrieve it, you know where to get it, just like filing information in a filing cabinet."

RS: "But this is your head." [laughter]

ELDH: "Exactly."

AA: "Is your brain set up that way?"

ELDH: "Sometimes. It takes a lot of work. And I would say that in addition to the epiphany of learning that until you learn it you can't forget it, I think the other thing to realize about memory is that it takes a tremendous amount of discipline."

RS: "Well, how do you go about doing that?"

ELDH: "Well, there are many different memory techniques. I would say that the majority of them have to do with using very intense visual images. The more elaborate, the more bright, the more it draws on all your senses, the better you'll remember. Let's say somebody's name is Campbell. How are you going to remember Campbell? Well, break it up -- camp bell. You want to see that person at a campsite. He's got a huge bell in his hand and he's ringing it. And you see that in your mind, and you hear the bell ringing, very loudly, and you smell the pine needles. Now, you're never going to forget Mister Campbell."

AA: "So you file that, what file do you put that under?"

ELDH: "I'm going to put that under names, and I would probably file it -- depending on the scenario² -- under a workplace name. Now that is a danger, though, because then we have what is called 'queue dependency."

RS: "Aren't you at risk of forgetting your cue?" [laughter]

ELDH: "You definitely are, and in fact that is one of the ways that we forget. We forget from decay. If you've studied another language, you know that if you don't use it, you lose it. And we've all heard that. Another is depression. When we have either a mental or a physical illness, our ability to remember and retain information goes down dramatically."

RS: "How would you apply these techniques that you've been talking about, the three R's -- record, retain and retrieve -- to learning a foreign language?"

ELDH: "I think that I would use a lot of the pneumonic³ devices where you make associations with words. I would also use the device that we use where you use the first letter of each of the words that you have to memorize. I'll give you an example: In America, we have what are known as the Great Lakes. Of course, we all know that. How do we remember the Great Lakes. Can either one of you remember how you ... "

AA: "Let's see, Huron, Michigan, Superior -- what are the other two?" [laughter]

RS: "Erie."

AA: "Erie, right, of course."

ELDH: "Now, I'll tell you an easier way to memorize this. You take the H for Huron, the O for Ontario, the M for Michigan, the E for Erie and the S for Superior and you make the word homes. Now you don't stop there -- and this is what I really want people to get from this information, that you don't just stop at homes, you don't just stop at an acronym⁴, you take it further. You see homes -- it can be floating homes, on the lake, and you see people talking about their homes on the lake, and they're saying 'aren't these lakes beautiful that we float around on in our homes.' And so you can see you deepen the image that you have."

RS: "At one point in my life, I really, really wanted to be good at telling jokes. I never told many jokes and I thought it would be really fun to do that. And so what I did is -- but I could never remember the punch lines of the jokes that I'd hear. So I would write the punch lines down or a word or two, and all of a sudden I had a repertoire⁵ of jokes. So I think that writing down reinforces in some ways the things you're trying to remember."

AA: "Assuming you can remember where you put the paper. You know that situation ... "

ELDH: "Absolutely."

AA: "You write something down and you can't -- is there a simple way to remember where you put the paper?"

ELDH: "Ahhh ... "

RS: Memory and communications trainer Wendi Eldh. Now let's see if you can remember some addresses.

AA: The first address is our Web site: voanews.com/wordmaster. Next, our e-mail address. That's。。。。。。And, finally, our postal⁶ address. It's VOA Wordmaster, Washington DC 20237 USA.

RS: With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "Thanks for the Memory"/Bob Hope and Shirley Ross, from the film "The Big Broadcast of 1938"

 

1 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。

2 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

3 pneumonic   

adj.肺的；肺炎的

参考例句：

• The chill superinduced a pneumonic condition. 受寒并发了肺炎。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The fatality rate of pneumonic plague a staggering 95 percent. 肺鼠疫的死亡率是达到惊人95％。 来自互联网

4 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

5 repertoire   

n.(准备好演出的)节目，保留剧目；(计算机的)指令表，指令系统， <美>(某个人的)全部技能；清单，指令表

参考例句：

• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。
• He has added considerably to his piano repertoire.他的钢琴演奏曲目大大增加了。

6 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。