你能相信自己的眼睛吗？Can you trust your own eyes?

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Catherine…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是凯瑟琳。
And I’m Neil.
我是尼尔。
So, Neil, do you notice anything different about me today?
尼尔，你注意到我今天有什么不同吗？
Have you done your hair differently?
你换了不一样的发型？
No.
不是。
Is that a new outfit?
这是新外套？
Honestly, Neil!
老老实实说，尼尔！
I give up. I don’t know what’s different about you.
我放弃了。我看不出你有哪点不一样。
OK. Well, maybe by the end of the show you’ll have figured it out. Anyway, today we’re discussing memory and whether we can remember things accurately.So are you ready to answer today’s quiz question, Neil?
也许到了节目最后，你可以弄明白。总之，我们今天要谈论记忆，以及我们是否能够准确地记忆事物。你准备好回答今天的问题了吗，尼尔？
I am.
我准备好了。
OK. So in which part of the brain is there an area dedicated to remembering faces?Is it…a) the temporal lobe?b) the hypothalamus?or c) the cerebellum?
大脑中的哪部分负责记忆面孔？a) 颞叶？b)下丘脑？还是c) 小脑？
Well, I have no idea. But I’ll say a) the temporal lobe.
我不知道。但我想选a) 颞叶。
OK and we’ll find out whether you chose the correct answer later on in the show.But let’s talk more about how our memories can play tricks on us.We tend to think of memory as being like a video recorder that we can replay and recall again and again as it originally occurred.But memory doesn’t work like that. It’s a reconstructive process.
好的，之后我们看你选择得是否正确。但我们现在谈谈我们的记忆是如何欺骗我们的。我们倾向于将记忆想成一个录像机，我们可以将其重放，一遍一遍像原本发生的一样唤起记忆。但记忆并不是这样运作的。记忆是一个重建的过程。
A reconstructive process?
一个重建的过程？
Yes. We reconstruct - or rebuild - memories, and during this process, they may be distorted – or changed – for different reasons.Let’s listen to Tim Valentine, retired professor of psychology at Goldsmith’s College at the University of London, talking about this.
没错。我们会重建记忆，在这个过程中，记忆会因为不同的原因而扭曲，或者说发生改变。我们听听蒂姆·瓦伦丁，伦敦大学金史密斯学院退休的心理学教授谈论这一点。
From all those TV dramas you’ve watched you’ll be familiar with the forensic scenes of crimes officers wearing their paper suits and covering their shoes and their hairto make sure they don’t introduce their DNA or physical traces onto the crime scene. So that in the same way anybody who has any interaction with a witness needs to make sure that they don’t distort their memory.
你看过的所有电视剧，你一定熟悉在命案现场进行司法鉴定的法医，他们穿着纸装，罩着鞋和头发，确保他们不会将自己的DNA或生理痕迹带到犯罪现场。所以同样的，和目击证人有任何接触的人需要确保他们不会扭曲记忆。
So crime officers wear protective clothing at crime scenes so they don’t contaminate it with their DNA.
所以调查人员在犯罪现场穿上保护性服装，这样他们的DNA不会弄脏了现场证据。
That’s right. A crime scene is a place where a crime was committed. And contaminated means made impure through contact with an outside source.So for example, if an officer touches something without gloves on, they introduce new information.And once this has happened, you can’t get back to the original information.
没错。犯罪现场是指一项犯罪发生的地方。contaminated是指通过接触外部来源变得不纯。例如，如果一名调查人员不戴手套接触某物，就会添入新信息。一旦这种情况发生，你就不能再提取原有信息。
Now, Tim Valentine says that when police officers talk to the witness of a crime, they might also introduce new information.And this could change the witness’s memory of what happened.
蒂姆·瓦伦丁说当调查人员和犯罪现场的目击者谈话时，他们也许会添加新的信息。这也许会改变目击者对发生事件的记忆。
And it isn’t only police questioning that can distort memory.Other factors such as stress can affect your ability to recall events accurately. For example, if you’re being held at knifepoint you are likely to be concentrating on the weapon rather than on your attacker’s face. And at knifepoint means under threat of being stabbed.
不仅仅是警察的提问会造成记忆的扭曲。其他因素，例如压力也会影响你准确回忆事件的能力。例如，如果你被刀尖抵着，你的注意力会更多地放在武器上，而不是攻击者的脸。at knifepoint 是指在刀尖的威胁下。
So why do we place so much importance on eyewitness accounts?
所以为什么我们把目击者证词看得如此重要呢？
Eyewitness accounts can sound very convincing in court– but in fact according to research, they are often unreliable.Karen Newirth, senior attorney at the Innocence Project in New York, explains this further.
目击者证词在法庭上很有说服力。但事实上，根据调查，证词经常不可靠。凯伦·纽威斯，纽约无罪计划的高级律师会进一步进行解释。
First, I think it’s sort of natural for people to want to believe that memory can be accurate.It’s very disconcerting to think that we’re going through life relying on our memoriesand then to learn how mistaken they can be - and how frequently.Second is that the testimony of eyewitnesses has become a very expected piece of criminal trialso jurors sort of anticipate it, look for it, and tend to believe it.
首先，人们相信记忆是准确的这一点很自然。一想到我们一生依赖记忆而活，然后意识到它们有可能是错的，而且很频繁出错，这让人很不安。第二，刑事审判中非常指望目击者证词，所以陪审员会期待证词，寻找证词，而且倾向于相信证词。
So we like to trust in our ability to remember things accurately. And it’s disconcerting to learn that memory is frequently inaccurate.And disconcerting means…
所以我们乐于相信我们准确记忆事物的能力。意识到记忆经常不准确会让人很不安。disconcerting是指……
…it means confusing and a bit upsetting.
是指感到困惑，很沮丧。
Karen Newirth also says that people expect eyewitness testimony – or spoken statements – in court. Do you think that’s true, Catherine?
凯伦还说道，人们在庭审现场期待目击者证词，也就是口证。你觉得这是真的吗？
Yes – and it’s the most commonly used evidence brought against criminal defendants in court, even though they are often inaccurate.
是的。目击者证词是法庭上对抗刑事被告最常使用的证据，即便它们经常不准确。
Are there any ways to improve accuracy?
有什么方式提高准确性吗？
Yes, there are. For example, in a police line-up you can prevent eyewitnesses receiving information from the officer giving instructions,which might influence their response.
有的。例如，在排队辨认嫌疑犯时，你要避免目击者从警官的暗示中获取信息，这也许会影响他们的反应。
Yes, I see.Well, you didn’t give anything away when you asked what was different about your appearance at the beginning of the show.
我明白了。当你在节目最初问我你外表看起来有什么不同时，你没有透露任何信息。
Yes, that’s true, Neil.But I can now reveal to you that... I’m wearing glasses, Neil.I’ve lost my contact lenses!
没错。但我现在想要透露给你，我今天戴了眼镜。因为我弄丢了我的隐形眼镜。
I don’t know how I missed that.Because actually you do look, well, completely different with glasses.
我不知道我怎么能看不出来。明明你戴上眼镜和你平时很不一样。
Just a bit, yes. So, now we’re running out of time, so let’s move onto the answer to today’s quiz question.Remember I asked: in which part of the brain is there an area dedicated to recognizing faces? Is it…a) the temporal lobe?b) the hypothalamus?or c) the cerebellum?
只有一点不一样。我们的时间快到了，我们来看今天问题的答案。还记得我的问题吗？大脑中哪一部分负责记忆面孔？a) 颞叶？b)下丘脑？还是c) 小脑？
I said a) the temporal lobe. Was I right?
我选的是a) 颞叶？我回答对了吗？
You were indeed, Neil! Very well done, it was the correct answer!
你答对了！做得好！这就是正确答案。
The main part of the brain dedicated to recognising faces – called the Fusiform Face Area – is positioned in the temporal lobe, which can be found roughly in the area just behind your ears.
大脑中主要负责记忆面孔的部分叫做纺锤状脸部区域，位于颞叶中，大致在耳后区域。
Fascinating! Now, here are the words we learned today…
很有意思！现在我们听听今天学到的单词：
reconstruct
重建
distorted
歪曲的
crime scene
犯罪现场
contaminated
污染的
at knifepoint
在刀尖的威胁下
disconcerting
令人不安的
testimony
证词
And that bring us to the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to join us again soon!
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。别忘了下次再会。
Bye!
再见。