The ability to speak two languages can make [w]bilingual[/w] people better able to pay attention than those who can only speak one language, a new study suggests.一項(xiàng)新研究結(jié)果顯示，同只能講一種語(yǔ)言的人相比，能說(shuō)兩種語(yǔ)言的雙語(yǔ)者能夠更好地集中注意力。

Scientists have long suspected that some enhanced mental abilities might be tied to structural differences in brain networks shaped by learning more than one language, just as a musician’s brain can be altered by the long hours of practice needed to master an [w]instrument[/w].長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)，科學(xué)家們一直懷疑，一些人思維能力的提升可能與學(xué)習(xí)多種語(yǔ)言的過(guò)程中形成的大腦網(wǎng)絡(luò)結(jié)構(gòu)差異有關(guān)，正如音樂(lè)家們?yōu)檎莆找环N樂(lè)器而進(jìn)行長(zhǎng)時(shí)間練習(xí)之后，其大腦結(jié)構(gòu)會(huì)發(fā)生改變。

Now, in a study published in the Poceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Northwestern University for the first time have documented differences in how the bilingual brain processes the sounds of speech, compared with those who speak a single language, in ways that make it better at picking out a spoken [w]syllable[/w], even when it is buried in a babble of voices.如今，發(fā)表在《美國(guó)國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》上的一項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果顯示，美國(guó)西北大學(xué)(Northwestern University)的研究者首次證明了雙語(yǔ)者的大腦在處理語(yǔ)音時(shí)的不同之處。與講單一語(yǔ)言的人相比，雙語(yǔ)者更善于識(shí)別人們說(shuō)出的音節(jié)，即使這些音節(jié)被淹沒(méi)在嘈雜聲音里。

That biological difference in the auditory nervous system appears to also enhance attention and working memory among those who speak more than one language, they say.這一聽覺(jué)神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)上的生物學(xué)差異似乎還加強(qiáng)了能說(shuō)多種語(yǔ)言的人集中注意力的能力和工作記憶。

“Because you have two languages going on in your head, you become very good at determining what is and is not [w]relevant[/w],” says Dr. Nina Kraus, a professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern, who was part of the study team. “You are a mental juggler.”參與了這項(xiàng)研究的西北大學(xué)神經(jīng)生物學(xué)和生理學(xué)教授克勞斯博士說(shuō)，由于你的腦子里運(yùn)行著兩種語(yǔ)言體系，你會(huì)變得非常善于決定哪些聲音有意義，哪些聲音沒(méi)有意義；你的思維就如同在表演雜技一般。

In the new study, Kraus and her colleagues tested the involuntary neural responses to speech sounds by comparing brain signals in 23 high school students who were fluent in English and Spanish to those of 25 teenagers who only spoke English. When it was quiet, both groups could hear the test syllable — “da” — with no trouble, but when there was background noise, the brains of the bilingual students were significantly better at detecting the fundamental frequency of speech sounds.在這項(xiàng)新研究中，克勞斯和她的同事們通過(guò)對(duì)比兩組受試者的大腦信號(hào)，測(cè)試了他們對(duì)聲音的下意識(shí)神經(jīng)反應(yīng)。這兩組受試者中，一組是23名能講流利英語(yǔ)和西班牙語(yǔ)的高中生，另一組是25名只會(huì)講英語(yǔ)的十幾歲的青少年。當(dāng)周圍環(huán)境安靜時(shí)，兩組受試者都能聽到測(cè)試音節(jié)“da”，而且毫不費(fèi)力。但是如果背景嘈雜，講雙語(yǔ)的學(xué)生明顯更善于識(shí)別語(yǔ)音的基本頻率。

“We have determined that the nervous system of a bilingual person responds to sound in a way that is [w]distinctive[/w] from a person who speaks only one language,” Kraus says.克勞斯說(shuō)，我們已經(jīng)得出結(jié)論，雙語(yǔ)者的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)對(duì)聲音的反應(yīng)方式與只能講一種語(yǔ)言的人明顯不同。

Through this fine-tuning of the nervous system, people who can master more than one language are building a more [w]resilient[/w] brain, one more proficient at multitasking, setting priorities, and, perhaps, better able to withstand the ravages of age, a range of recent studies suggest.最近的一系列研究表明，通過(guò)這種神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的微調(diào)，那些可掌握一種以上語(yǔ)言的人們將其大腦建設(shè)得更富彈性。他們的大腦在執(zhí)行多重任務(wù)和決定事情的優(yōu)先級(jí)別時(shí)會(huì)更為熟練，甚至可能經(jīng)得起歲月的無(wú)情摧殘。

Indeed, some preliminary research suggests that people who speak a second language may have enhanced defenses against the onset of dementia and delay Alzheimer’s disease by an average of four years, as WSJ reported in 2010.其實(shí)正如《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》2010年所報(bào)道的，一些初步研究結(jié)果表明，會(huì)說(shuō)第二外語(yǔ)的人可能不僅增強(qiáng)了對(duì)癡呆癥發(fā)病的抵御能力，還將老年癡呆癥的發(fā)作平均延緩了四年。

The ability to speak more than one language also may help protect memory, researchers from the Center for Health Studies in Luxembourg reported at last year.健康研究中心駐盧森堡的研究人員去年稱，具備說(shuō)一種以上語(yǔ)言的能力可能還有助于人們保護(hù)記憶力。

After studying older people who spoke multiple languages, they concluded that the more languages someone could speak, the better: People who spoke three languages were three times less likely to have cognitive problems compared to bilingual people. Those who spoke four or more languages were five times less likely to develop cognitive problems.在研究了會(huì)說(shuō)多國(guó)語(yǔ)言的老年人后，這些研究者總結(jié)認(rèn)為，能說(shuō)越多語(yǔ)言對(duì)人越好，因?yàn)樗麄儼l(fā)現(xiàn)，說(shuō)三種語(yǔ)言的人其產(chǎn)生認(rèn)知問(wèn)題的可能性比講兩種語(yǔ)言的人要小三倍，能說(shuō)四種或以上語(yǔ)言的人出現(xiàn)認(rèn)知問(wèn)題的可能性比雙語(yǔ)者要小五倍。

Not so long ago, people worried that children who grew up learning two languages at once were at a developmental disadvantage compared with those who focused on only one.不久前，人們還在擔(dān)心，相比成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中只專注學(xué)習(xí)一門語(yǔ)言的孩子，那些同時(shí)學(xué)習(xí)兩種語(yǔ)言的孩子會(huì)處于成長(zhǎng)劣勢(shì)。

New research suggests that even babies have little trouble developing bilingual skills.新研究結(jié)果表明，即使嬰兒在發(fā)展雙語(yǔ)技巧方面都不存在什么困難。

Researchers at the University of British Columbia's Infant Studies Centre reported that babies being raised in a bilingual family show from birth a preference for each of the native languages they heard while still in the womb and can readily distinguish between them. 加拿大英屬哥倫比亞大學(xué)嬰兒研究中心的研究人員稱，在雙語(yǔ)家庭中長(zhǎng)大的寶寶從一出生就顯示出對(duì)其在子宮中聽到的兩種母語(yǔ)的偏好，并且很容易就能將兩者區(qū)分開來(lái)。

Moreover, bilingual infants appear to learn the grammars of their two languages as well as babies learning a single language, even when the two languages are as different from one another as English and Japanese, or English and Punjabi.此外，在語(yǔ)法學(xué)習(xí)方面，雙語(yǔ)嬰兒似乎能與只學(xué)習(xí)一種語(yǔ)言的嬰兒學(xué)得一樣好，哪怕這兩種語(yǔ)言就像英語(yǔ)和日語(yǔ)或者英語(yǔ)和旁遮普語(yǔ)一樣極不相同。