辦公室的“技術(shù)達(dá)人”
自從電腦成了我們工作和生活中的必備工具，電腦技術(shù)人員就自然而然地成了眾人“追逐”的對象。死機了，中毒了，或是系統(tǒng)不靈光了，都得求“技術(shù)大哥”們幫忙，難怪他們都被稱為alpha geek呢。
Alpha geek refers to the most technically adept, knowledgeable person in a workgroup or office.
Alpha geek(技術(shù)達(dá)人)指辦公室里技術(shù)掌握最多、最嫻熟的人。
Those who study apes call the dominant member of the group the 'alpha male.' In the office or workplace, the most technically knowledgeable person often is called the alpha geek.
研究猩猩的人們通常會把猩猩群中處于主導(dǎo)地位成員稱為“頭號雄性”。由此，在辦公場所，最懂技術(shù)的人就常常被叫做“頭號高手”(即我們所說的“技術(shù)達(dá)人”)。
學(xué)音樂能提高外語水平
Learning to play a musical instrument can change your brain, with a US review finding music training can lead to improved speech and foreign language skills.
美國一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，學(xué)習(xí)樂器能夠使大腦發(fā)生變化，音樂訓(xùn)練能夠提高演講和外語水平。
Although it has been suggested in the past that listening to Mozart or other classical music could make you smarter, there has been little evidence to show that music boosts brain power.
盡管過去有人認(rèn)為聽莫扎特或其他古典音樂可以讓人變得更聰明，但是并沒有足夠的證據(jù)證明音樂能提高智力。
But a data-driven review by Northwestern University has pulled together research that links musical training to learning that spills over intoskills including language, speech, memory, attention and even vocalemotion.
如今，美國西北大學(xué)的一項研究以數(shù)據(jù)為支持，對探討音樂訓(xùn)練對語言、演講、記憶力、注意力甚至情感抒發(fā)等能力的影響的相關(guān)研究進(jìn)行了分析。
Researcher Nina Kraus said the data strongly suggested that the neural connections made during musical training also primedthe brain for other aspects of human communication.
研究人員妮娜 克勞斯說，這些數(shù)據(jù)充分表明，音樂訓(xùn)練過程中所產(chǎn)生的神經(jīng)元連接能增強大腦在人際交流其它方面的能力。
"The effect of music training suggests that, akin tophysical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness and thus requires society to re-examine the role of music in shaping individual development," the researchers said in their study.
研究人員在研究報告中說：“音樂訓(xùn)練所產(chǎn)生的這種影響表明，與體育鍛煉對身體健康的影響一樣，音樂能夠增強大腦活力，使聽覺更加敏銳。所以我們的社會有必要重視音樂在個人發(fā)展中所起的作用。”
Kraus said learning musical sounds could enhance the brain's ability to adapt and change and also enable the nervous system to provide a scaffoldingof patterns that are important to learning.
克勞斯說，學(xué)習(xí)聲樂能夠提高大腦的應(yīng)變能力，也可以讓神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)建立起一個有利于學(xué)習(xí)的結(jié)構(gòu)。
The study, published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, looked at the explosionof research in recent years focused on the effects of music training on the nervous system which could have strong implications for education.
這一在《神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)科學(xué)自然評論》上發(fā)表的研究對近幾年來該領(lǐng)域新增的大量研究進(jìn)行了回顧和分析，這些研究主要關(guān)注的是音樂訓(xùn)練對神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的影響及其可能會對教育產(chǎn)生的重要影響。
The study found that playing an instrument primes the brain to choose what is relevantin a complex process that may involve reading or remembering a score, timing issues and coordination with other musicians.
研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，演奏樂器能增強大腦在復(fù)雜的過程中分辨有價值信息的能力，這一復(fù)雜的過程可能包括看譜、記譜，計時或與其他樂師配合等。
"A musician's brain selectively enhances information-bearing elements in sound," Kraus said in a statement. "In a beautiful interrelationship between sensory and cognitive processes, the nervous system makes associations between complex sounds and what they mean."
克勞斯在一項聲明中說：“一個音樂家的大腦能夠有選擇性地分辨出聲音中含有信息的元素。在感覺和認(rèn)知過程的相互作用下，神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)能把復(fù)雜的聲音和它們所表達(dá)的意思聯(lián)系起來。”
The study reviewed literature showing, for example, that musicians are more successful than non-musicians in learning to incorporate sound patterns for a new language into words.
研究人員對以往的研究資料進(jìn)行分析后發(fā)現(xiàn)，懂音樂的人將一種新的語言的發(fā)音拼寫成單詞的能力強于未接受過音樂訓(xùn)練的人。