人类注意力比金鱼还差

 　　Goldfish Now Have Better Attention Spans Than We Do

　　人类注意力比金鱼还差

　　Last week, Microsoft released a study that sought to analyze¹ the impact that technology – cellphones and social media specifically – is having on our attention span and the quality of our focus. They found some pretty significant changes compared with research conducted 15 years ago. Let's take a look at the findings

　　上周，微软公司就现代科技——手机和社交媒体对我们注意力时长和质量的影响做了一项调查。研究发现，与15年前做的调查相比，有了很大的改变。让我们来看看调查结果。

　　人类注意力比金鱼还差

　　1. The average attention span has fallen to just eight seconds.

　　1.平均注意力时长降到了8秒

　　The average human attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds, and now it's just eight. The decrease was found across genders² and all age groups. Apparently³, a goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds. Measuring the attention span of animals is sort of tricky⁴ stuff though … so it's possible we still have them beat.

　　2000年人类平均注意力时长为12秒，现在只有8秒。各个年龄段的注意力时长都有下降。连一条金鱼的注意力时长都有9秒。不过研究动物时会有其他不确定因素，所以也许我们仍领先。。。

　　2. Young people were most likely to demonstrate addiction-like behaviors when it came to digital technology.

　　2.年轻人更容易痴迷科技产品

　　Seventy-seven percent of 18- to 24-year-olds responded "yes" when asked if the following statement was true for them: "When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone." Only 10 percent of people over 65 said the same thing.

　　当问及以下问题是，18到24年龄段的青年中有77%人回答“是的”。这些问题是：“如果眼前没什么可做的，我会想到第一件事就是看手机。”而65岁以上人群中仅有10%会这么做。

　　3. Young people may be more alert, just for shorter increments⁵ of time.

　　3.相对下降的注意力，年轻人更灵敏

　　The good news is that these young people, "early adopters of technology," as the study sometimes refers to them, have developed some strengths to accommodate for their shorter attention spans.

　　好消息是这项研究提到，那些走在科技前沿的年轻人已经进化出其他能力来弥补较短的注意力时长。

　　4. The ability to multitask has improved.

　　4.同时处理多重事件的能力有改变

　　Part of the explanation for the shortened attention span comes from what the study refers to as "multi-screening" – viewing multiple screens at once, using social media while consuming the latest news, etc. As long as the environment is active, early tech adopters are able to process information and commit it to memory more efficiently⁶. But, their capabilities⁷ fall short if the digital experience is passive – probably due to their decreased ability to focus for long periods of time.

　　变短的注意力时长有些方面也可归因为“多屏”处理能力，即人们可以同时注视多个屏幕，比如看新闻的时候使用社交应用，等等。在主动环境下，使用科技产品的老手可以更有效的处理信息并把信息储存在记忆里。但是，如果是被动的，这些能力很可能会因为他们下降的注意力时长而减弱。

1 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

2 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

5 increments   

n.增长( increment的名词复数 )；增量；增额；定期的加薪

参考例句：

• These increments were mixed and looked into the 5.56mm catridge case. 将各种药粒进行混和，装在5．56毫米的弹壳中。 来自辞典例句
• The Rankine scale has scale increments equal to the FahrenheIt'scale. 兰氏温标的温度间距与华氏温标的相同。 来自辞典例句

6 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

7 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓