TED演讲:周二是什么颜色的?探索联觉(2)

 　　Once established in childhood, pairings remain fixed¹ for life. 一旦在儿时建立了联系，关联感觉间的联系就会伴随终身。

　　Synesthetes inherit a biological propensity² for hyperconnecting brain neurons, 联觉者遗传了在大脑神经元之间建立超链接的生物倾向，

　　but then must be exposed to cultural artifacts, such as calendars, food names, and alphabets. 但之后必须接触文化产品，例如日历、食物的名字，还有字母表。

　　The amazing thing is that a single nucleotide change in the sequence of one's DNA³ alters perception. 令人惊奇的是，在DNA序列中一个核苷酸的变化就可以改变一个人认知世界的方式。

　　In this way, synesthesia provides a path to understanding subjective⁴ differences, 通过这种方式，联觉提供了一种途径来研究主观认知的区别，

　　how two people can see the same thing differently. 以及两个人如何对同样的事物产生不同的认知。

　　Take Sean, who prefers blue tasting food, such as milk, oranges, and spinach⁵. 拿肖恩来说，他喜欢蓝色味道的食物，像牛奶、橙子，还有菠菜。

　　The gene⁶ heightens normally occurring connections between the taste area in his frontal lobe⁷ and the color area further back. 基因会增强额叶中味觉区和较靠后的色觉区之间的正常连接。

　　But suppose in someone else that the gene acted in non-sensory areas. 但假如另外一个人的基因在非感觉区作用。

　　You would then have the ability to link seemingly unrelated things, 他就会拥有连接看似无关事物的能力，

　　which is the definition of metaphor⁸, seeing the similar in the dissimilar. 这就是象征的定义，从不相似中发现相似。

　　Not surprisingly, synesthesia is more common in artists who excel at making metaphors⁹, 自然地，联觉更频繁地出现在善于运用比拟的艺术家中，

　　like novelist Vladimir Nabokov, painter David Hockney, and composers Billy Joel and Lady Gaga. 像小说家弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫，画家大卫·霍克尼，还有作曲家比利·乔尔以及Lady Gaga。

　　But why do the rest of us non-synesthetes understand metaphors like "sharp cheese" or "sweet person"? 但为何我们这些非联觉者会明白像“锐利的芝士”，“甜蜜的人”之类的比喻？

　　It so happens that sight, sound, and movement already map to one another so closely, 碰巧，视觉、听觉还有运动已经联系得十分紧密，

　　that even bad ventriloquists convince us that the dummy¹⁰ is talking. 即使是拙劣的口技表演者也能让我们相信人偶真的在说话。

　　Movies, likewise, can convince us that the sound is coming from the actors' mouths rather than surrounding speakers. 类似地，电影让我们相信声音是来自演员的嘴巴，而不是周围的音响。

　　So, inwardly, we're all synesthetes, outwardly unaware¹¹ of the perceptual couplings happening all the time. 所以，在内心深处，我们都是联觉者，在表面上却不知晓感觉的联结每时每刻都在发生。

　　Cross-talk in the brain is the rule, not the exception. 大脑里信息的互相干扰是常态，而不是例外。

　　And that sounds like a sweet deal to me! 而在我听来，这真是一件甜蜜的事！

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 propensity   

n.倾向；习性

参考例句：

• He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
• She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。

3 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

4 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

5 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

6 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

7 lobe   

n.耳垂，（肺，肝等的）叶

参考例句：

• Tiny electrical sensors are placed on your scalp and on each ear lobe.小电器传感器放置在您的头皮和对每个耳垂。
• The frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for controlling movement.大脑前叶的功能是控制行动。

8 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

9 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

10 dummy   

n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头

参考例句：

• The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。
• The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。

11 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。