目 录 上一节 下一节 
时差综合症的预防和治疗 The problem of Jet Lag is one every international traveller comes across at some time. But do you have to suffer? Understand what it is, and how a careful diet can minimize its worst effects, and your flights will be less stressful. 高速飞行时因时差而引起的生理节奏的推敲是每一个跨国旅行者有时会遇到的问题。但你必须得忍受吗？如果你了解它是怎么回事，并且知道如何注意饮食才可以将其最坏影响减到最小程度，你的飞行就不会那么紧张了。 The effects of rapid travel on the body are actually far more disturbing than we realize. Jet Lag is not a psychological consequence of having to readjust to a different time zone. It is due to changes in the body's physiological regulatory mechanisms, specifically the hormonal systems, in a different environment. 快速旅行对身体的影响实际上比我们所意识到的更加令人不安。调整的习行因时差而引起的生理节奏的破坏不是必须重新调整去适合不同时区的心理影响。它是由人体内的生理调节结构，特别是荷尔蒙系统在不同环境的变化引起的。 Confused? So was John Foster Dulles, the American Secretary of State, when he flew to Egypt to conduct negotiations on the Aswan Dam. He later blamed his poor judgement on Jet Lag. 感到困惑了吗？美国国务卿约翰·福斯·特杜勒斯飞往埃及进行关于阿斯旺大坝的谈判时也是这样。后来，他把他的不理想的判断归咎于时差反应的不良影响。 The effects can be used to advantage, too. President Johnson once conducted an important meeting in Guam and kept the entire proceedings at Washington DC time. The White House working personnel were as fresh as paint, while the locals, in this case, were jet-lagged. Essentially, they had been instantaneously transported to America. 时差的影响也可以加以利用。约翰逊总统曾经在关岛召开重要会议，其所有活动都按华盛顿时间进行。白宫工作人员个个精神焕发，而在这种情况下，当地人却受时差反应之苦。实际上，好像他们刚刚被飞机送到美国一样。 
既然我们懂得了什么是高速飞行时差综合症。很自然，这些活动不得不加以调节，人体现人有两套相互影响的调节系统。 One timing system comes from the evidence of our senses and stomachs, and the periodicity we experience when living in a particular time zone. The other belongs in our internal clocks (the major one of which may be physically located in a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus) which, left alone, would tie the body to a 25 hour - yes, 25 - rhythm. Normally the two timers are in step, and the external cues tend to regularise the internal clocks to the more convenient 24 hour period. 一个定时系统表现在我们的感觉和胃以及居住在一个特定时区时，我们所经历的周期。另一个定时系统在我们的人体时钟内，这些人体时钟在不受干扰时，会使人体有一个25小时，是的25小时的生理节奏。一般情况下，这两种定时器是步调一致的。外部信号常常调节人体时钟命使之达到更为便利的24小时周期。 If, however, you move the whole body to a time zone which is four hours different, the two clocks will be out of step, like two alarm clocks which are normally set together, but which have been reset a few hours apart. Whereas the two clocks would normally sound their alarms together, now they ring at different times. Similarly, the body can be set for evening while the sun is rising. 然而，如果你将整个身体转移到相差四个小时的时区，这两个小时钟就不协调了。就像两个闹钟通常一起设置，但被重新设置时相差了好几个小时。虽然这两个时钟通常会一起闹时，但现在它们在不同时刻响起。类似的，当太阳升起时身体可能被设定为晚上。 In time the physiological system will reset itself, but it does take time. One easily monitored rhythm is palm sweating. A man flown to a time zone different by 10 hours will take eight days to readjust his palm sweat. Blood pressure, which is also rhythmical, takes four days to readjust. 经过一段时间以后，生理系统将会重新调整过来。但这的确需要时间。一个容易监测的节律是手掌出汗的节律。血压也是有节律的，需要四天时间才能得到重新调整。 One reason for this discrepancy is that different bodily events are controlled by different factors. The hormone cortisol, which controls salt and water excretion, is made in the morning, wherever the body is. But the growth hormone is released during sleep, whenever in the day that sleep occurs. Normally these two hormones are separated by seven or eight hours, but if the body arrives at a destination in the early morning (local) and goes to sleep as soon as possible, the two hormones will be released simultaneously. 形成这种差异的百不同的身体活动由不同因素的支配。不管身在何处，控制盐和水分排泄的皮质醇激素是早上产生的。但不论何时睡眠，生长激素是在睡眠中释放的。通常这两种激素相隔七、八个小时释放，但如果人体在一大早到达目的地，并且尽快入睡，这两种激素将同时释放。 
关于这点我们能做些什么呢？等待几天直到身体适应新的时区是不可取的。幸好，有一条捷径。它依靠两点――胃调节其他活动定时的能力和咖啡的药物作用。 The basic assumptions are: 基本的道理是： Coffee delays the body clock in the morning, and advances it at night. Coffee at mid-afternoon is neutral.Protein in meals stimulates wakefulness, while carbohydrates promote sleep.Putting food into an empty stomach helps synchronize the body clock. 咖啡在早上可以延迟人体时钟，在晚间可以提早人体时钟。咖啡在下午三点左右是中性的。食物中的蛋白质使人不眠，而碳水化合物却使人易于入睡。空腹吃食物帮助人体时钟准时。 Controlling Your Concentration 控制你的注意力 CONCENTRATION IS CENTERING YOUR ATTENTION 聚精会神就是集中你的注意力 
按心理学定义，专心是一段时间内集中注意力的过程。然而，在实际应用中，成功地对待专心这个问题并不像定义中所说的那么简单。正因为这样，把以下几点记在心里是有帮助的。 Your attention span varies 你的注意力范围是变化的 Even with the greatest effort, our span of attention fluctuates. You can demonstrate for yourself this fluctuation of attention. In a quiet room, place a watch so that it can just scarcely be heard. Listen carefully and notice how the ticking increases in apparent intensity, fades to a point where it cannot be heard, and then increases again. This phenomenon reveals how our span of attention fluctuates, for the intensity of the ticking is actually constant. 即使付出最大努力，我们注意力的范围还是波动的。你可以自己证明这种注意力的变化。在一个安静的房间里，把一块表放在刚刚能听到它声音的地方，仔细听，注意到嘀嗒声是如何明显地提高强度，继而，衰弱到听不到，然后又提高了。这种现象揭示了我们注意力范围是如何波动的，因为嘀哒声的强度实际上并无变化。 You pay attention to one thing at a time 你在同一时刻注意一件事情 Evidence to date indicates that you attend to one idea at a time. It is possible for your attention to shift so rapidly that it seems that you attend to several concepts at once. But apparently this is only an illusion. In high concentration the shift from the focus of attention is of short duration and relatively infrequent. 至今为止的资料表明，在同一时刻你只能注意到一个念头。你的注意力可能转移得很快，似乎能立刻注意到几个概念。但显然这只是一个错觉。在注意力集中时，注意力的焦点转移是在很短时间内，而且比较而言是很少发生的。 
高度、适度、低注意力的说明 High attention has long periods of attending and short distraction periods. In low attention the periods of attending are short and the distraction periods long. In moderate attention there is a mixture of the extremes. Thus it is easy to see that it is highly unlikely that the student who has most of his attention centered on fancying at large will be able to recall even the major points of a lecture. 高度注意有较强的注意期和很短的注意力分散期。在低注意力下，注意到短期而注意力分散期长。适度注意力融合了两种极端。因此，显而易见，把自己的注意力集中在胡思乱想上的学生甚至不可能回想出讲课的要点。 Lack of concentration is a symptom, not the cause, of difficulty. When a student says "I can't concentrate", what he is really saying is, "I can't attend to the task at hand because my distractors are too strong." 缺乏注意力是困难的征兆，而不是起因。当一个学生说"我无法集中注意力"时，他其实在说，"因为分散我的注意力的东西太强，我不能专心手头的工作" DISTRACTORS ARE OF TWO SORTS - PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL 注意力的干扰有两种：心理上的和物质上的 A distractor is anything which causes attention to vary from a central focal point. In the study situation distractors may be thought of as either psychological or physical in nature. Both types of distractors must be understood before the student can attempt to remedy his lack of concentration. 干扰物是任何可以使注意力偏离中心焦点的东西。在学习的情况下，干扰物实际上可以被认为是心理的或者是物质的。在学生尝试补救自己注意力缺乏之前，应当首先了解这两种干扰物。 
情绪是最强大的干扰 The angry man forgets the pain of injury, the fearful man finds it difficult to enjoy pleasure and the tense or anxious person may react violently to the smallest of matters. In the student's life there are many psychological pressures and tensions which block effective productivity. The fears about making the grade, the doubts of the friendliness of a friend's behaviour and the pressures of limited finances - these are only a few of the emotional forces which affect the student. 生气的人会忘记伤害的疼痛，恐惧的人会发现很难享受快乐，紧张、焦虑的人可能对极小的事情反应强烈。在学生生活里，有许多心理压力和紧张，严重影响学习效率。对是否能取得好成绩的担忧，对朋友行为是否友好的怀疑和经济能力有限而造成的压力――这些仅仅只是几种影响学生的精神压力。 Emotional reaction varies greatly from person to person. Some persons gain goal and direction from their tensions and actually do better because of them. Others fall apart under pressure, while a few people do well despite the pressure. 每个人情绪的反应大不相同。一些人从他们的紧张中获得目标和方向，实际上却因此做得更好。基他人在压力下崩溃了，而一些人尽管有压力却做得很好。 Physical distractors are always present and rarely understood 物质干扰时常存在，却难以理解解 Our environment is much more important to how we feel and react than we often think. Particularly is this true of the effect of physical distractors on mental tasks. One research report has shown that comprehension and retention of reading were decreased when students listened to lively music. However, rate of reading was not affected, so that many students were not aware that they were affected by the background distractor. Another study found that the ability to recall accurately was affected by distracting conditions. Most of the evidence indicates that noise affects adversely higher mental task output. Still, the effect of distractors is seldom fully appreciated by students. 我们的环境对我们如何感受和反应比我们通常认为的重要得多。对脑力劳动的物质干扰的效果而言，尤其如此。一项研究报告表明，在听轻快的音乐时读书的理解力和记忆力降低了。然而，读书的速度未受影响。另一项研究发现准确回忆的能力受到纷杂环境的影响。许多迹象表明噪音对较高级脑力工作成果有不利影响。干扰物的影响仍没有得到学生们的充分重视。 
典型的情况是，当要求学生们拿出关于干扰物的证据时，他们提出自己的表兄弟、朋友或同学能在纽约的"中央火车站"学习，而且考试可以得"全优"。当然，有证据表明动机在克服干扰物的影响方面起了重要的作用。个人的注意力范围也有相当大的区别。这些事实中的任何一个都可以解释一些个别人能用低效的方法做得很好。一些例外的人在不利条件下做得很好的事实不能证明在同一方式下你也是例外的假设。如果你避开那些已知的妨碍一般学生的干扰物，你的成功机会就更大些。 | 
