同样引人注意的是重复播放在触发这些音乐所发挥的功用。

　　Songs tend to get stuck when we listen to them recently and repeatedly.

　　当我们在近期内不断重复地听到这些歌时，很可能会让你无法摆脱。

　　If repetition is such a trigger, then perhaps we can blame our earworms on modern technology.

　　如果重复拨放是导火索，那也许我们可以把耳朵虫现象归咎于现代科技。

　　The last hundred years have seen an incredible proliferation of devices that help you listen to the same thing again and again.

　　在过去100年里，我们看到可以使你一再重复听取相同内容的电子设备在不可思议般的激增。

　　Records, cassettes, CDs, or streamed audio files.

　　比如说唱片、卡式录音带、CD片、串流音乐等。

　　Have these technologies bread some kind of unique, contemporary experience, and are earworms just a product of the late 20th century?

　　这些技术真的带来了某种独有的、短暂的体验吗？耳朵虫只是二十世纪末才有的产物吗？

　　The answer comes from an unlikely source: Mark Twain.

　　答案来自于一个我们猜不到的人：马克吐温。

　　In 1876, just one year before the phonograph was invented,

　　在1876年的时候，正是留声机被发明的前一年，

　　he wrote a short story imagining a sinister takeover of an entire town by a rhyming jingle.

　　他写了一篇短文，想像着押着韵的叮铛声凶兆般的掌控住整个城镇。

　　This reference, and others, show us that earworms seem to be a basic psychological phenomenon,

　　这个描述以及其他的内容向我们说明了耳朵虫看起来像是一种很普通的心理现象，

　　perhaps exacerbated by recording technology but not new to this century.

　　也许录音技术令其变得更加严重了，但绝非是本世纪的新玩意儿。

　　So yes, every great historical figure, from Shakespeare to Sacajawea, may well have wandered around with a song stuck in their head.

　　从莎士比亚到萨卡加维，每一位伟大的历史人物也许都有一首歌盘踞在脑袋里四处乱晃。

　　Besides music, it's hard to think of another case of intrusive imagery that's so widespread.

　　除了音乐以外，很难想到另一个如此广泛的侵扰式假想案例。

　　Why music? Why don't watercolors get stuck in our heads? Or the taste of cheesy taquitos?

　　为什么是音乐？为什么不是水彩画留在我们的脑海？又或是墨西哥起司卷饼的味道？

　　One theory has to do with the way music is represented in memory.

　　有个理论提及了音乐在记忆里呈现的方法。