时间是快是慢？Are we there yet?

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是爱丽丝。
And I’m Neil. Did you have a good weekend, Alice?
我是尼尔。周末过得愉快吗，爱丽丝？
Yes, but it flew by – which means it went quickly – and here we are again, back at work!
挺好的，但是时间飞逝，也就是说时间过得好快。我们又回到这里，开始工作了！
Hm. I know what you mean. Though I must say, time really dragged for me – and that means it went slowly. I was on a train, which broke down.
我懂你的意思。但是我必须说，时间是拖着我走，对我来说时间走得太慢了。我坐的那辆火车临时出故障了。
Oh dear!
天啊！
And it felt like it took forever to arrive – though actually it was only delayed only by one hour.
火车似乎永远都到不了，但事实上它只推迟了一个小时。
Well, today we’re talking about our perception of – or the way we see – time.It’s true that when we’re busy doing lots of things, time flies by.
今天我们谈论的是看待时间的方式。如果我们忙着做很多事，时间就会过得很快。
And when we’re bored or have nothing to do, it drags. And I didn’t have anything to do on the train.Do you think time flows at the same rate for everyone – even animals? My cat doesn’t get bored doing nothing all day.I wonder if time drags for her sometimes?
当我们无所事事时，时间就会很慢。我在火车上没什么事可做。你觉得时间流逝的速度对每个人都是一样的吗？甚至对动物也是一样的吗？我的猫一天无所事事也不觉得无聊。我在想是不是对她来说时间有时走得很慢？
Good question!Did you know, Neil, that, according to a new study, smaller animals perceive time as if it is passing in slow motion?
好问题！你知道吗？一项新研究显示，越小的动物越能觉察到时间缓慢流逝。
That sounds weird.Do you think they hear us like this: t…a…l…k…i…n…g s…l…o…w…l…y…?
这听上去很奇怪。你觉得他们听我们讲话是不是这样：说……慢……点……？
Don’t be silly, Neil!What I meant was that small animals such as insects and small birds can observe more detail in a certain period of time – for example, a second – than larger animals.
别傻了，尼尔！我的意思是小动物，例如昆虫和小鸟，相比大一点的动物，能在一段时间内，如一秒内，观察到更细节的东西。
And how does this help them, exactly?It sounds like the day would really drag if every second got stretched out like that!
这对他们来说有什么帮助吗？这听上去像每一秒都拉长了，一天真的就过得很慢。
It helps them by giving them time to escape larger predators.Now, I have a question for you, Neil. Can you tell me roughly how much more quickly a fly’s eye can react than a human eye? Is it …a) twice as quickly?b) four times as quickly?Or c) ten times as quickly?
这使得他们有时间逃脱大型的捕食者。我有一个问题要问你，尼尔。你能告诉我，苍蝇的眼睛比人眼的反应快多少倍吗？a)两倍？b) 四倍？还是c)十倍？
Well, I’ll go for c) ten times.Flies are pretty nippy – and that’s another word for quick.
我选c)十倍。苍蝇反应相当快了。Nippy是指快。
Yes. Well, we’ll find out later on if you got the answer right or not.Now, small animals can typically process more visual information than we can.But in a dangerous situation our brains can work in overdrive to process information more quickly.And overdrive means a state of extreme activity.Let’s listen to Raza Rumi, a writer and broadcaster in Pakistan,talking about the unusual way his brain worked when gunmen opened fire on him in his car.
好的。之后我们再看你回答的是否正确。小动物比我们处理的视觉信息要多。但在危险的情形下，我们的大脑可以超速运转，更快速地处理信息。overdrive是指超速运作状态。我们来听听巴基斯坦作家兼广播员Raza Rumi的观点，他要讲述枪手向他的车开火时，他的大脑的异常活动。
It lasted for a few minutes – but to me that particular incident feels like it was for hours. I think my brain was working in a very strange way.Parallel and multiple thoughts and streams of consciousness were sort of running along:’I have to save my head because if I get a bullet in my brain I’m dead.’And at the same time, ’Was it all worth it?’ And, ’Alas, what a short life it was, it was lovely.’I was petrified that I was going to die.
这只持续了几分钟，但对我来说这次事件仿佛持续了几个小时。我觉得我的大脑以一种非常奇怪的方式运作。两种及多种想法，以及意识流在脑海中延伸：“我得护住我的头，因为如果子弹打进头部，我就会死。”同时，我还想“这值得吗？”以及，“生命多短暂，生命是这么美丽。”意识到我要死了，这让我都懵了。
Raza Rumi there.So, he was petrified by the attack – which means extremely frightened. As a result, his brain started working in a strange way.He was thinking and feeling lots of different things at the same time.
上述是Raza Rumi的讲话。所以遇到这次袭击，他非常害怕。结果他的大脑开始以一种奇怪的方式运作。他同时在想很多不同的事。
That’s right – he remembers thinking practical thoughts like, ’I have to save my head’.
没错。他记得他想到一些很实际的想法，如“我得护住我的头。”
But in parallel – or at the same time – he also remembers having philosophical thoughts, such as: What a short life it was, it was lovely.
但同时，他也想到一些哲学思想，如生命多么短暂，生命多么奇妙。
Have you ever been in a dangerous situation where your brain went into overdrive, Neil?
尼尔，你遇到过在险境中大脑超速运转的情况吗？
Yes, I was ten years old and I fell backwards out of a big tree in our garden.
有，我十岁的时候，我从园子中的大树上掉下来。
Oh no!
天啊！
Yeah. I have a vivid memory of the sun flashing above me, and the clouds moving across the sky, and the leaves rustling in the tree above me– my mum was screaming through the kitchen window as she saw me fall.I experienced so much in the space of just a few seconds, just like Raza Rumi describes.
我还记得那个生动的画面，太阳在头顶照耀，云彩飘过天空，树上的叶子发出沙沙的响声。我的妈妈在厨房看到我掉下来，大叫起来。只是几秒的时间，我却感受到了那么多，就像Raza Rumi描述的那样。
Yes. A vivid memory, by the way, is clear and detailed. Oh, poor Neil! Did you hurt yourself?
回忆很生动，很清晰也很具体。可怜的尼尔！你受伤了吗？
Some big bruises – but no broken bones.
有大片的淤青，但没有伤到骨头。
Glad to hear it.Now, it’s a strange trick of memory that in a scary situation your brain starts to record everything in great detail.And the more memory you have of an event, the longer you believe it took. This idea explains why children often feel that time is passing slowly – because their experiences are new, and they are creating lots of new memories.
幸好啊。在令人恐惧的情形下，你的大脑开始记录每一个细节，这种记忆真的很奇怪。你关于一件事的记忆越多，你感觉它发生的时间越长。这就能解释为什么孩子们经常觉得时间过得慢，因为他们的经历都很新奇，他们不断创造新的记忆。
Whereas boring grown-ups like us are following routines that don’t require new memories because they’re so familiar.But let’s listen to Claudia Hammond, author of Time Warped,talking about how we can stretch time and make our days feel longer – in a good way!
然而像我们这样无聊的大人，每天做着固定的事，没有新的记忆，因为一切都太熟悉了。但是让我们来听听《时间跳跃》的作者Claudia Hammond的观点。她会讲述如何以一种良好的方式，延长时间，让我们感觉每天都很长。
If you can spend your weekend filling it with loads of new different activities, it’ll go fast, at the time, because you’re having fun.But when you look back, say, on Sunday night, and you’ve got to go to work next day,it will feel as if your weekend was long, because you filled it with new memories.
如果你在周末做很多不同的新鲜事，时间就会过得很快，因为你在其中收获了快乐。但当你在周日晚回忆这些事，并且第二天要上班，你会感觉你的周末过得很长，因为你新添了很多新的记忆。
We should do that, this weekend, Neil. What do you think?
这周末我们应该这么做。你觉得呢？
Definitely. I’m going to buzz around like a fly, creating loads of new memories.
当然。我要像苍蝇一样四处跑，创造许多新的记忆。
Now, are you ready for the answer to today’s quiz question?I asked: Roughly how much more quickly a fly’s eye can react than a human eye?Is it … a) twice as quickly, b) four times as quickly or c) ten times as quickly?
现在是时候揭晓今天问题的答案了吧？我的问题是：苍蝇的眼睛比人眼的反应快多少倍 a) 两倍, b)四倍，还是 c) 十倍？
And I said c) ten times as quickly.
我选的是 c) 十倍。
The correct answer is b) four times as quickly. Flies have eyes that send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyesbecause they can process the information more quickly. This speed illustrates the impressive capabilities of even the smallest animal brains.
正确答案是b)四倍。苍蝇的眼睛向大脑发送信息更新的速度比我们快。因为他们能更快地处理信息。这一速度说明了即便是大脑如此小的动物，都拥有如此令人惊叹的能力。
Well, before we buzz off, perhaps we should hear the words we learned today.
在我们匆匆离去前，再听一下今天学到的单词吧。
They are:
单词有：
flew by
飞逝
dragged
拖延的
perception
感觉
nippy
锐利的
overdrive
超速运转
petrified
惊呆的
in parallel
同时
Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Remember to join us again soon!
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。记得下次节目再会！
Bye!
再见！