TED演讲:周二是什么颜色的?探索联觉(1)

 　　Imagine a world in which you see numbers and letters as colored even though they're printed in black, 想像这样一个世界，你从中看到的数字和字母是彩色的，尽管它们是用黑色写下的，

　　in which music or voices trigger a swirl¹ of moving, colored shapes, 这里的音乐或声响会激起由移动彩色色块组成的漩涡，

　　in which words and names fill your mouth with unusual flavors. 在这里，词语和名字会用不寻常的味道填满你的嘴巴。

　　Jail tastes like cold, hard bacon while Derek tastes like earwax. “Jail”尝起来像冰冷坚硬的培根，而“Derek”吃着像耳屎。

　　Welcome to synesthesia, the neurological phenomenon that couples two or more senses in 4% of the population. 欢迎来到联觉的世界，联觉是一种神经学现象，它将4%的人的两种或两种以上的感觉连接在了一起。

　　A synesthete might not only hear my voice, but also see it, taste it, or feel it as a physical touch. 一个联觉者可能不仅会听到我的声音，还会看到、尝到或者以物理接触的方式感知到我。

　　Sharing the same root with anesthesia, meaning no sensation, synesthesia means joined sensation. 联觉和感觉缺失的词根相同，感觉缺失是指没有感觉，而联觉是指感觉被联通。

　　Having one type, such as colored hearing, gives you a 50% chance of having a second, third, or fourth type. 拥有一种联觉，例如“色-听”联觉，你便有50%的可能拥有第二种、第三种甚至第四种联觉。

　　One in 90 among us experience graphemes, the written elements of language, 90个人中便有一个会感觉字素，即构成语言的书面成分，

　　like letters, numerals, and punctuation² marks, as saturated³ with color. 例如字母、数字还有标点符号都是五彩缤纷的。

　　Some even have gender⁴ or personality. 有些甚至有性别或性格。

　　For Gail, 3 is athletic⁵ and sporty, 9 is a vain, elitist girl. 对盖尔来说，3充满运动气息，9则是一个自负的精英女孩。

　　By contrast, the sound units of language, or phonemes, trigger synestetic tastes. 与之相对，语言单位或者说音素会联发味觉。

　　For James, college tastes like sausage, as does message and similar words with the -age ending. 对詹姆斯来说，"college"尝起来像香肠，"message"和其他类似的以"age"结尾的词也一样。

　　Synesthesia is a trait, like having blue eyes, rather than a disorder⁶ because there's nothing wrong. 联觉是人的一种特征，就像蓝眼睛一样，它不是一种紊乱，因为它并不代表什么毛病。

　　In fact, all the extra hooks endow synesthetes with superior memories. 事实上，所有这些额外的关联赋予了联觉者超凡的记忆力。

　　For example, a girl runs into someone she met long ago. 举个例子，一个女孩遇见了一个她很久以前认识的人。

　　"Let's see, she had a green name. D's are green: Debra, Darby, Dorothy, Denise. Yes! Her name is Denise!" “让我看看，她有个绿色的名字。D开头的是绿色的：Debra，Darby，Dorothy，Denise. 没错！她叫Denise！”

1 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

2 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

3 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

6 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。