So, I have a little test for you.

所以，我有一個小測試給你。

Don't panic.

不要驚慌。

I'm not here to judge you.

我不是來評判你的

It's just a little test, OK?

這只是一個小測試，好嗎？

First, you get 30 seconds to memorize 10 words in the right order.

首先，你有30秒的時間，按照正確的順序記住10個單詞。

After that, you get 30 seconds to write down what you remembered.

之後，你有30秒的時間來寫下你記住的東西。

And then finally, you get 30 seconds to check your answers.

最後，你有30秒的時間來檢查你的答案。

So, are you guys ready?

那麼，你們準備好了嗎？

Well, we're going to start anyway.

好吧，反正我們要開始了。

So,

所以，

memorize 10 words in the right order in 30 seconds

30秒內背出10個正確的單詞。

in three, two, one, go!

三，二，一，走！

OK. Stop.

好的停止。

Now write down what you remember.

現在把你記得的東西寫下來。

OK, and stop.

好了，停下來。

Now quickly check your answers.

現在快速檢查你的答案。

OK, and stop.

好了，停下來。

Very exciting; I heard a lot of grunting and moaning.

非常刺激，我聽到了很多叫聲和呻吟聲。

So I hope I didn't stress you out too much.

所以我希望我沒有給你太大的壓力。

Now a moment of reflection.

現在反思一下。

I'd like you to ask yourself,

我想讓你問問自己。

"How did I memorize this, and was it the best way to do it?"

"我是怎麼背的，這是最好的方法嗎？"

Now, for the generation of my parents and grandparents,

現在，對於我的父母和祖父母這一代。

being able to memorize something like this was an absolutely essential skill.

能夠記住這樣的東西，絕對是一項必不可少的技能。

But nowadays, why would anyone want to remember a list of anything?

但如今，為什麼有人要記住一份什麼清單呢？

You just take a picture of the screen, and you're done, right?

你只要對著螢幕拍張照片，就可以了，對吧？

it seemed as if memorizing has somehow become less important.

好像背誦在某種程度上變得不那麼重要了。

So why should we then, in today's day and age,

那麼，在今天這個時代，我們為什麼要。

still want to get better at memorizing?

還想更好的背誦嗎？

Well, to answer that question, I'd like to tell you a little story.

好吧，為了回答這個問題，我想給你講一個小故事。

In high school, I flunked a grade, twice.

高中時，我成績不及格，兩次。

After seven years of torture, I finally got my diploma.

經過七年的折磨，我終於拿到了畢業證。

Sweet, sweet freedom!

甜蜜，甜蜜的自由！

What would I do with it?

我會用它做什麼？

I didn't know.

我不知道。

One thing I did know, however,

不過，有一點我是知道的。

was that I didn't want to go back to school

是我不想再回學校了

because that old learning business,

因為那個老學究。

it wasn't cut out for me.

它不適合我。

So instead, I went to sunny California for nine months,

所以，我反而去了陽光明媚的加州九個月。

and there I worked as a bagger, not beggar - bagger.

在那裡，我做了一個包工頭，而不是乞丐--包工頭。

So in a supermarket,

所以在超市裡。

I had to put people's groceries in bags, and then I'd get a little tip.

我得把別人的雜貨裝在袋子裡，然後我會得到一點小費。

Surprisingly, that year I learned so much.

出乎意料的是，那一年我學到了很多東西。

I learned how to bag a bunch of groceries really, really quickly.

我學會了如何把一堆雜貨裝進袋子裡，真的，真的很快。

I learned how to drive a car.

我學會了如何駕駛汽車。

And in California,

而在加州。

people are a little bit more open than they are in Amsterdam.

人們比阿姆斯特丹的人更開放一些。

So I also learned how to have a little chat with a stranger,

於是，我也學會了如何和陌生人聊一聊。

just for the hell of it.

只是為了它的地獄。

That year I discovered that I don't hate learning,

那一年我發現，我並不討厭學習。

just the specific way of doing it.

只是具體的做法。

So I decided to go and study psychology.

於是我決定去學習心理學。

Now for the first time ever,

現在是有史以來第一次。

I was getting information that I absolutely wanted to know.

我得到了我絕對想知道的資訊。

Now I was spending more time in the library

現在我在圖書館的時間更多了

than I spent skipping school as a teenager, voluntarily.

比我十幾歲時逃學的時間還長，自願。

The only problem was that I was spending all of my time in the library

唯一的問題是，我把所有的時間都花在了圖書館裡。

because I'd never learned how to learn.

因為我從未學會如何學習。

So I started experimenting with different methods of reading texts,

於是我開始嘗試不同的文本閱讀方法。

of memorizing texts,

的背誦課文。

and I got my reading time of three hours per chapter down to one.

我把每章三個小時的閱讀時間降到了一個小時。

This way of studying enabled me to do an honors program,

這種學習方式使我能夠進行榮譽課程的學習。

to get my degree,

以獲得我的學位。

and to fall in love with learning.

並愛上學習。

And now I happily work for a company called Remind,

而現在，我愉快地在一家叫Remind的公司工作。

in which we teach people the science and art of learning.

在其中，我們教人們學習的科學和藝術。

We're trying to bring back into education what we ourselves missed.

我們是想把我們自己錯過的東西重新帶入教育。

Now for the past three years,

現在，在過去的三年裡。

we've also organized the Dutch National Memory Championships

我們還組織了荷蘭國家記憶錦標賽。

for high schoolers.

對於高中生來說。

We do this to show that everybody is capable of amazing feats of memory,

我們這樣做是為了表明，每個人都能有驚人的記憶力。

but also to show that memorization

但同時也表明，記憶

is about a lot more than just learning your French or your Spanish words.

不僅僅是學習法語或西班牙語單詞。

And today I'd also like to share this with you.

而今天我也想和大家分享一下。

So, in the beginning,

所以，在一開始。

I made you do this little test,

我讓你做這個小測試。

just to make you aware of how you're memorizing things right now.

只是為了讓你知道你現在是怎麼背東西的。

Next, I'd like to give you a new type of memory experience.

接下來，我想給你一種新的記憶體驗。

This time you can even sit back and relax.

這個時候你甚至可以坐下來放鬆一下。

So I'm going to ask you to find a comfortable position to sit,

所以我要請你找一個舒服的姿勢來坐。

to close your eyes, and to take a deep breath.

閉上眼睛，深呼吸。

Now, I want you to think of someone you know called John,

現在，我要你想一個你認識的叫約翰的人。

and I want you to see him.

我想讓你見見他

Now, John just grabbed the sun out of the sky,

現在，約翰只是抓住了天上的太陽。

and he just threw it on your feet.

他只是把它扔在你的腳。

And now your feet are getting really big and red and swollen

現在你的腳變得又大又紅又腫了

because John just threw the sun on your feet.

因為約翰剛把陽光灑在你的腳上。

Now you look to your knees,

現在你看你的膝蓋。

and on your knees, you see 10 little guys playing basketball -

在你的膝蓋上，你看到10個小傢伙打籃球 -

very strange sight.

非常奇怪的景象。

And on their shirts,

而在他們的襯衫上。

you can see in brightly colored letters the "New York Knicks,"

你可以看到在鮮豔的字母 "紐約尼克斯"。

so you have some Knicks on your knees.

所以你有一些尼克斯在你的膝蓋。

Next, you look to where your thighs are,

接下來，你看一下大腿的位置。

but they're gone.

但他們已經走了。

Your thighs have been replaced with Fords, the cars.

你的大腿已經換成了福特，汽車。

They could be Ford Focuses or Ford Mustangs.

他們可能是福特福克斯或福特野馬。

Your thighs have been replaced with Fords.

你的大腿已經被福特車取代了。

Now, with your bottom,

現在，用你的屁股。

you feel a hard plastic seat of a go-kart vibrating.

你會感覺到卡丁車的硬塑膠座椅在震動。

With your bottom, you feel the hard plastic seat of a go-kart.

用屁股去摸卡丁車的硬塑膠座椅。

Your belly starts rumbling very loudly.

你的肚子開始非常響亮地隆起。

So you follow your belly, and it leads you to McDonald's,

所以你跟著你的肚子走，它把你帶到了麥當勞。

and there Ronald McDonald starts shooting rays of light at you

然後麥當勞叔叔開始向你射出光束

with a ray gun.

用射線槍。

Ronald McDonald is shooting rays of light at you with a ray gun.

麥當勞叔叔正用射線槍向你射出光線。

He hits you on your chest,

他打你的胸部。

and now from your chest, a big bush of gray hairs is growing.

現在從你的胸前，長出了一大叢白髮。

A huge bush of gray hair is growing from your chest.

你的胸前長出了一大叢白髮。

So obviously, you hurry home to shave it off,

所以很明顯，你趕緊回家把它刮掉。

and on your doormat, you see a letter.

在你的門墊上，你看到一封信。

So you open it and it has good news.

所以，你打開它，它有一個好消息。

As you read it, you feel a huge weight falling off your shoulders.

當你讀到這裡時，你會感覺到肩上有一個巨大的重量落下。

A huge weight falling off your shoulders.

一個巨大的重量從你的肩膀上落下。

Your shoulders get all light and tingly because you just paid all of your bills.

你的肩膀變得又輕又麻，因為你剛剛付清了所有的賬單。

Big bills, little bills,

大鈔，小鈔。

each and every bill has been paid for, and you have plenty of money to spare.

每一筆帳單都已經付清，你有足夠的錢。

Now you proceed to the bathroom,

現在，你繼續去衛生間。

because now on your neck,

因為現在你的脖子上。

a bunch of tiny bushes of thin blonde hairs have appeared.

出現了一堆細細的金色毛髮的小樹叢。

On your neck, a bunch of tiny bushes of thin blonde hair.

脖子上，一束細細的金髮小叢。

As you look in the mirror,

當你照鏡子的時候。

suddenly your mouth just starts talking all by itself,

突然間你的嘴就開始自己說話了。

and it's saying, "Yes, we can; yes we can; yes we can."

它說，"是的，我們可以；是的，我們可以；是的，我們可以。"

Now you turn around, and now suddenly your eyes are, ah,

現在你轉身，現在突然你的眼睛，啊。

because Donald Duck just poked out both of your eyes

因為唐老鴨剛把你的兩隻眼睛都戳出來了。

with a trumpet made of pure gold.

用純金做的小號。

Now you can open your eyes again and come back to this place.

現在你可以再次睜開眼睛，回到這個地方。

Luckily, it's a lot safer here than where you just came from.

幸運的是，這裡比你剛來的地方安全多了。

So, I just made you guys memorize

所以，我只是讓你們記住

the past 10 presidents of the United States of America

過去10位美利堅合眾國總統的名單

in the right order.

順序正確。

Now I'm going to show you,

現在我要讓你看看。

and then you can see how many of these you still know.

然後你可以看看你還知道多少這些。

So with each body part, I'm going to ask you what happened there,

所以每一個身體部位，我都會問你那裡發生了什麼。

and then you could think of it.

然後你就可以想辦法了。

Even better would be if you just shout it out.

如果你直接喊出來就更好了。

Now, what happened to your feet?

現在，你的腳怎麼了？

John threw the sun, yeah - President Johnson.

約翰把太陽扔了，是的--約翰遜總統。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Now, what happened on your knees? Knicks, yes - President Nixon.

現在，你的膝蓋上發生了什麼？尼克斯，是的--尼克松總統。

OK. So what were your thighs replaced with?

好吧，那你的大腿被換成什麼了？那麼，什麼是你的大腿更換？

Fords - President Ford.

福特--福特總統。

OK, and what did you feel with your bottom?

好吧，那你的屁股是什麼感覺？

OK, President Carter, yes.

好吧，卡特總統，是的。

Some people are ahead of the game.

有些人是走在前面的。

Now, your belly led you to McDonald's;

現在，你的肚子把你帶到了麥當勞。

what happened?

發生了什麼？

OK. Ronald McDonald shooting rays of …

好的麥當勞叔叔射出的光線......。

So Ronald Reagan.

所以羅納德-里根。

He hits in your chest, and you got what?

他打在你的胸口，你得到了什麼？

Big bush of gray hairs - Bush senior.

大叢的白髮--叢高級。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

Now, your shoulders got light, why?

現在，你的肩膀變輕了，為什麼？

Paid all your bills - Bill Clinton.

支付了所有的賬單--比爾-克林頓。

Now, what did you have on your neck?

現在，你的脖子上有什麼？

OK, a bush of thin blonde hairs.

好吧，一叢細細的金毛。

Bush junior.

小布什。

What was your mouth saying?

你的嘴裡在說什麼？

"Yes we can" - President Obama.

"是的，我們可以"--奧巴馬總統。

And what happened to your eyes?

那你的眼睛怎麼了？

Yeah, Donald Duck, trumpet, pure gold.

是啊，唐老鴨，小號，純金。

Who else but Donald Trump?

除了唐納德-特朗普還有誰？

So, if you memorized more this time than the first time, please stand up.

所以，如果你這次背的比第一次多，請站起來。

OK. So we have almost everyone standing up;

好了，我們幾乎所有人都站起來了；所以，我們有幾乎每個人都站起來。

that's awesome.

這是真棒。

Now, if you think this way of memorizing is more fun than the last way you used,

現在，如果你覺得這種記憶方式比上一種方式更有趣。

please stand up or remain standing if you're already standing.

請站起來，如果你已經站起來了，請保持站立。

Oh whoa, now we almost have everyone.

哦，哇，現在我們幾乎有每個人。

I'm very pleased to see this.

我很高興看到這個。

OK. You guys can sit back down.

好了，你們可以坐下來了。你們可以坐下來了。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝你。

Now, when you make bizarre images to memorize,

現在，當你做出奇異的影像來記憶。

suddenly it becomes a lot easier.

忽然間就變得容易多了。

If you tie these bizarre images to a place you know well,

如果你把這些奇異的影像和你熟悉的地方聯繫起來。

like your body,

像你的身體。

suddenly memorizing things in order becomes a lot easier.

忽然間，記憶東西的順序變得簡單了許多。

OK. Well, cool.

好吧。嗯，很酷。

But I asked you guys in the beginning,

但我一開始就問過你們。

"Why should we, in today's day and age,

"為什麼要這樣做，在今天這個時代。

still want to get better at this - at memorizing?"

還想在這方面有更好的發展--背書？"

Well, because by getting better in a skill like this,

好吧，因為通過在這樣的技能中變得更好。

you can also get better at a different skill:

你也可以在不同的技能上變得更好。

the skill of experimentation.

實驗的技巧。

By experimenting with different methods of doing things,

通過嘗試不同的做事方法。

I found out that I can get better at anything.

我發現，我可以在任何事情上變得更好。

I found out what works for me and what doesn't.

我發現了什麼適合我，什麼不適合我。

What if I'd never learned the skill of experimentation?

如果我從來沒有學過實驗的技能呢？

I may have never gone back to school;

我可能從來沒有回過學校。

I may have never enjoyed studying psychology,

我可能從來沒有喜歡過學習心理學。

and I probably would not have been standing here today,

而我今天可能就不會站在這裡了。

because one of the things I thought I really couldn't do was public speaking.

因為我認為我真的不能做的事情之一是公開演講。

Now, there are people of every generation not doing things that they might love,

現在，每一代人都有人不做自己可能喜歡的事情。

that they might even be great at

他們甚至可能擅長

because they think they can't do it.

因為他們認為自己做不到。

So how beautiful would it be

那該有多美啊

if in schools we can teach kids that they can get better at anything,

如果在學校，我們可以教孩子們，他們可以得到更好的任何東西。

and they can even get better at getting better at things, get it?

他們甚至可以更好地在變得更好的事情，明白嗎？

But not just the kids,

但不只是孩子們。

because the older generation is often seen as too old to learn.

因為老一輩的人往往被認為年齡太大，無法學習。

But they're not too rusty.

但他們並不太生疏。

Anyone can improve themselves by experimenting,

任何人都可以通過實驗來提高自己。

and I hope you experienced that today.

我希望你今天能體會到這一點。

Now at Remind,

現在在Remind。

we break up this process of experimentation into three steps:

我們把這個實驗過程抽成三個步驟。

the check, the experience and the experiment.

的檢查、經驗和實驗。

The check is all about becoming aware of what you're doing right now.

檢查就是要意識到自己現在在做什麼。

So maybe during the first test, you became aware of the fact

所以，也許在第一次測試中，你就意識到了一個事實

that you just repeat the words over and over

你只是重複的話，一遍又一遍

and that that doesn't work too well.

而這並不太行得通。

The second step:

第二步：

the experience is all about being open to new possibilities and trying them out.

經驗就是對新的可能性持開放態度，並進行嘗試。

So maybe during the visualization,

所以也許在可視化過程中。

you realize that this works a bit better or at least you like it more.

你會意識到這樣做的效果更好一些，或者至少你更喜歡它。

And the third step is the experiment.

而第三步就是實驗。

This is about taking something from that new experience that you had

這是要從你的新經驗中獲取一些東西

and applying it in your own life to see how it works for you.

並將其應用在自己的生活中，看看它是如何為你工作的。

So, maybe you're one of those people

所以，也許你是那些人中的一個。

that when someone introduces themselves to you,

當有人向你介紹自己時

you just immediately forget their name.

你只是立即忘記他們的名字。

Yeah, sound familiar?

是啊，聽起來很熟悉？

And you want to use visualization to do something about that.

而你想用可視化來做一些事情。

So far I've only taken you guys through the first two steps.

到目前為止，我只帶你們走了前兩步。

The final step is up to you.

最後一步就看你自己了。

So when I'm done here, I'd like you to take a moment for yourself

所以當我說完後，我希望你能為自己花點時間。

and to write down an experiment on the little card we've given you

並在我們給你的小卡片上寫下實驗內容

and to put that in your wallet as a reminder.

並把它放在錢包裡作為提醒。