《大脑秘码》试译稿

不是我翻译的

PREFACE

I am eager to share how you can help your brain function better by using its own algorithm – the brain code – to improve your memory, mental and emotional health, relationships, sleep and general wellbeing.

Let’s start from the beginning of my journey. After completing my medical studies at one of Israel’s premier universities devoted to scientific research, Technion, I chose to specialize in psychiatry. The human mind has always aroused my curiosity and I wanted to understand it better. Luck was on my side, and I was soon heading to the Department of Brain Research at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, to commence my postdoctoral research. 

我迫切地想和你分享，如何使用大脑的算法——大脑密码——来帮助大脑更好地运作，从而提高记忆力，改善睡眠，增益人际关系，促进身心健康。

让我们从头说起吧。在以色列理工学院（一所致力于科学研究的以色列一流大学）完成医学学业以后，我选择专攻精神病学。人类大脑一直激发着我的好奇心，我想更深入地了解它。幸运之神眷顾了我，很快，我被位于以色列雷霍沃特（Rehovot, Israel）的魏茨曼科学研究所（Weizmann Institute）脑科学系录取，开始了我的博士后研究。

I didn’t know it then, but this was a great time to be doing such work as it was the beginning of a golden age in brain research. Groundbreaking studies had discovered that the human brain can change continually, adapting to its environment, improving and even repairing itself. The term “the flexible brain” was born, and in the corridors of the Weizmann Institute (and in the cafeteria) there was huge excitement about the wondrous flexible brain, with people asking, “What does this mean?”

当时我并不知道，这是从事此类工作的绝佳时期，因为大脑研究的黄金时代开始了。突破性的研究发现，人类大脑可以不断变化，以适应环境，并进行自我改善和修复。“可塑性大脑”（the flexible brain）这一术语应运而生，在魏茨曼研究所的走廊和餐厅里，人们对这一奇妙的“可塑性大脑”无比兴奋，不断询问，“它是什么意思？”。

Over two decades have passed since those heady early discoveries of the flexible brain. And many neuroscientists today are grappling with the question of how to harness that understanding to improve our physical and mental health. I think that there are two main reasons why the theory of the flexible brain has not yet reinvigorated and changed how we practise medicine.

关于“可塑性大脑”的早期研究发现令人激动不已，自那以来，已经过去了20多年了。今天，许多神经科学家正在努力，试图利用这些发现来改善我们的身心健康。但是时至今日，“可塑性大脑”这一理论并未再现生机，改变我们的行医方式。究其原因，我认为主要有以下两点：

The first is that relatively few doctors are involved in brain research.This field has instead attracted biologists, programmers, engineers, physicists and mathematicians. As a result, more resources have been allocated to the practical and intriguing field of “brain–machine interfaces” and left behind the more intriguing study of what I shall term “flexible neurology”.

第一，参与大脑研究的医生相对较少。这一领域反而吸引了大量生物学家、程序员、工程师、物理学家和数学家。因此，更多的资源分配到了“脑机接口”这一实用而有趣的领域，而更为引人入胜的研究——我称之为“可塑性神经学”（flexible neurology）——却被抛在了后面。 

Secondly, there is a tendency in Western society for scientists to specialize, as well as narrow, their areas of study over time. This tendency guarantees a laser-sharp focus on the chosen subject but prevents researchers from being able to zoom out and see the full picture. Naturally, this phenomenon extends to medicine. In the past, most doctors were generalists, their work varying greatly from treating diseases and wounds to obstetrics and ophthalmology. However, today, fields of specialism are becoming even narrower, such that, for example, in ophthalmology there are further subspecialties in the various parts of the eye. The situation is similar in other branches of medicine.

第二，随着时间推移，西方社会的科学家倾向于专业化，不断缩小自己的研究领域。这一倾向保证了对所选研究课题的极度专注，却也使研究人员无法跳脱出自己的研究领域，看到全局。自然，这一现象也延伸到了医学领域。过去，大多数医生都是多面手，从治疗疾病、处理伤口到产科和眼科，他们都完全可以胜任。然而，现在的专业领域更为细化，例如，在眼科中，依据眼睛的不同部位便细分出了多个次级专业。其他医学分支的情况也与此类似。

Brain research is no exception and, indeed, it is more evident in this field than in many others. The complexity of the human brain and all the knowledge we have about it mean that there are many areas to study: awareness, the brain–machine interface, the functions of emotion and creativity, and language and memory, to name but a few. As a result, a researcher focused on one of these areas will not be well acquainted with the others. Thus, a neuroscientist working on memory will only focus on the neural pathways in the brain and the unique structure of the brain in the areas associated with memory. They will also learn about the relay race-type mechanism that happens throughout the brain to enable the efficient retrieval of memories. Nevertheless, even while knowing all these things, they might be surprised to hear that walking improves memory, whereas excess sleep (not only a lack of it) damages our ability to remember things.

大脑研究也不例外，事实上，这一领域更为明显。人类大脑的复杂性，以及关于大脑的所有知识，意味着有许多领域可供研究：意识、脑机接口、情绪和创造性的功能、以及语言和记忆，诸如此类。因此，专注于其中一个领域的研究人员可能并不熟悉其他领域。因此，研究记忆的神经学家只会关注大脑中的神经通路，以及大脑中与记忆相关区域的独特构造。他们也会研究大脑中进行的“接力赛”机制，以便更高效地检索记忆。然而，即使了解了以上知识，听到散步可以提高记忆力，而过度睡眠（不仅仅是睡眠不足）会损害记忆，他们仍可能会感到惊讶。

A possible solution to this situation was shown to me a few years ago when I taught a course in neuroanatomy at the Weizmann Institute. I was criticized by some of the students for paying too much attention to the big picture and not to the details. While initially these comments stung because I thought that I had created an exceptional course, it was a defining moment. In the years that followed, I took advantage of being both a doctor and a neuroscientist, combining my scientific knowledge with clinical experience to promote a new and fascinating scientific field: flexible brain therapy.

几年前，我在魏茨曼研究所教授一门神经解剖学课程时，发现了一种可能的解决方案。当时，一些学生批评我过于关注全局而非细节。一开始这些批评刺痛了我，我认为我开了一门不合常规的课程，但这是一个决定性的时刻。接下来的几年里，我利用自己身兼医生和神经学家的优势，将我的科学知识和临床经验结合起来，发展了一个令人着迷的全新科学领域：可塑性大脑疗法(flexible brain therapy)。

When my efforts in this field began to mature into this book, I decided to concentrate on topics that interest us all in our daily lives – from physical and mental health to happiness, memory and learning.I gathered knowledge and scientific data about them, processed it and distilled what I learned here so everyone can understand how the brain works. You will also find tools that I have derived from scientifically proven methods to apply to your daily life to improve how your brain functions.

我在这一领域的付出和努力成就了这本书，我也决定把注意力集中在日常生活中所有人都感兴趣的话题上——从身心健康到幸福、记忆和学习。我收集了与此相关的知识和科学数据，对它们进行了处理和提炼，以便每个人都能理解大脑的运作机制。同时，书中提供了一系列经由科学证明而衍生出来的工具，你可以将它们应用到日常生活中，以改善大脑功能。

The result? In each chapter of this book, you will meet a brain function that is intertwined with your everyday life. First, you can get to know it, the two of you becoming acquainted and even friends. Then, later, I describe how each function can be improved, so you can decide whether to settle for merely being acquainted or take a more active approach and journey toward self-improvement. However, there is no need to wait until the end of the book to start working as there are some practical exercises given at the end of each chapter to keep your brain actively engaged and continually improving.

结果呢？在本书的每一章，你都会了解一个与日常生活息息相关的大脑功能。首先，你可以了解它，与它熟识甚至成为好友。然后，我会讲解如何改善这些功能，这样你就可以决定是满足于粗浅地了解这些功能，还是采取更积极的方式完善自我。与此同时，每一章的结尾都提供了一些实用的练习，帮助你的大脑积极参与并不断改善，因此阅读过程中便可以进行训练。

Thanks to the understanding and knowledge you will gain from reading this book, you will be able to strengthen your immunity to diseases (such as flu and mild colds) and turn crises into opportunities.Included are physical and mental activities that you can integrate into your daily life and apply as needed to reduce mental stress. Studies prove that an active life that is as stress-free as possible promotes physical and mental health and longevity.

本书中对大脑的理解和知识，可以帮你提高对抗疾病（如流感和轻度感冒）的免疫力，并将危机转化为机会。书中包含了多种身体和思维活动，有需要时可以将其融入到日常生活中，减轻精神压力。研究证明，尽可能无压力的积极生活能促进身心健康，延年益寿。