為什么兒童學東西這么快？

Why do children learn things quickly？ Is it simply a necessity， or is a child's brain more capable of taking in new information than anadult’s brain is？

兒童為什么學東西很快？這完全是出于必要嗎？還是兒童的大腦比成人的大腦更能接受新信息呢？

It is a common way of thinking that \"children are like sponges\"and have themagical ability to learnnew skills fasterthananadult，but therearesome misconceptions here.Experts studying earlychildhoodbehaviorbelievethata child's cognitive development is agerelated and，naturally， children perform worse than their older peers in most areas.However，therearetimeswhen being youngconfersanadvantage，and thisclustersaroundtheirearliestyears.

人們通常認為“兒童就像海綿一樣”，具有比成人更快速學習新技能的神奇能力。但這里存在一些誤解。研究兒童早期行為的專家認為，兒童的認知發育與年齡有關，當然，兒童在大多數領域的表現比年齡較大的同伴要差。然而，有些時候，年齡小能帶來優勢，而這個特點集中在他們最年幼的幾年。

This advantage is largely due to neuroplasticity，meaning the brain's ability to form and change its connections，pathways and wiring based on experiences. Neuroplasticity is what gives children the capacityto learn.This ability is mostconstant and_rapid before a child's fifth birthday，when much of what they experience is novel.

這個優勢在很大程度上源于神經可塑性，也就是大腦根據經驗形成和改變連接、路徑和線路的能力。神經可塑性使得兒童有能力學習，這種能力在兒童年滿五歲之前最為恒定和快速。那個時候，他們的許多經歷都是新奇的。

The experts noted that language acquisition， inparticular，isanareawherechildrenoftenhavea hugeadvantage over adults.This is largely because “babies areable to tunein to the rhythm and sounds used in their native language，and can therefore become fluent speakers by the age of four.\" This ability can help young children learn a second or third language with apparent ease.

專家指出，尤其是在語言習得領域，兒童與成人相比往往有著巨大優勢。這在很大程度上是因為“嬰兒能夠適應母語使用的節奏和發音，因此到四歲就能流利地講母語了”。這種能力可以幫助幼童輕松學習第二門或者第三門語言。

A research paper published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science suggests that “human infants are born seeing and hearing linguistic information that older children and adults miss， although they lose this ability with more experience in their environments.\" Moreover， infants can “discriminate speech sounds and tones used in all of the world's languages， making them open to all input， regardless of the linguistic environment they are born into\".

一篇在《心理學展望》雜志發表的研究論文提出：“人類嬰兒出生時會看到和聽到一些語言信息，這些信息年長一些的兒童和成人會忽視，但隨著他們在環境中獲得更多經驗，這種能力就會喪失。”此外，嬰兒可以“辨別全世界所有語言使用的發音和聲調，這使得他們能夠接納所有信息輸入，無論他們出生在什么樣的語言環境中”

WordBank

cognitive/'kpgn?tiv/adj.認知的；感知的 acquisition/，aekwi'zifn/n.獲得，得到 discriminate/dr'skrimineit/ v. 區別；辨別 Anumber of features discriminate this species from others.

Studies have found that，from birth to puberty，children are capable of learning language rapidly and effectively becauseofboth theirneuroplasticityand their“cognitiveflexibility\"，or theabilityto mentally switch between two different conceptsorideasrapidly，as wellas being able to clearly think about numerousconceptsatthesametime.

研究發現，從出生到青春期，兒童之所以能夠快速而有效地學習語言，既因為他們的神經可塑性和“認知靈活性”，也因為他們能夠迅速在兩個不同的概念或觀點之間進行心理轉換，而且還能同時清晰地思考無數概念。

Butwhat about skills other than language learning？Astudyinthe journal Current Biology suggests that children and adults exhibit differences in a brain messenger known as gammaaminobutyricacid（GABA），which the research suggests stabilizes newly learnedmaterial.

但是，除了語言學習之外的技能呢？一項發表在《當代生物學》雜志上的研究表明，兒童和成人在一種被稱為γ-氨基丁酸的大腦信使方面表現出差異。研究表明，這種物質能夠穩固新學習的內容。

The study found that children have a \"rapid boost of GABA\" when they participate in visual training and that this learning continues even once the training has concluded，whereas“theconcentrationof GABAinadultsremained unchanged，\"the researchers wrote in the study. The findings suggest that children's brains respond to training in a way that allows them to more quickly and efficiently stabilize new learning. Consequently， the research supportstheideathatchildren canacquire newknowledge and skillsmore rapidly than adults can.

研究發現，兒童在參加視覺訓練時“γ-氨基丁酸迅速增加”，即便在訓練結束后，該訓練效果仍持續存在。研究人員在這份研究報告中寫道，“成人的 γ -氨基丁酸濃度始終沒有改變”。這一發現表明，兒童的大腦對訓練的反應方式使他們能夠更快速和更有效穩固新學習的內容。因此，這項研究支持兒童能夠比成人更快速獲得新知識和新技能的觀點。

Birth to age 5 is a critical period for children. During these early years， a young child's brain is much busier than an adult'sbecause the child is continually learning and figuring out the best way to approach and navigate any given situation. A child's ability to learn and understand， therefore， is linkedtotheseinteractions.

從出生到5歲是兒童發展的關鍵期。在最初的這幾年，幼兒的大腦活躍度顯著高于成人，因為孩子在不斷學習并探索應對各類情境的最優策略。因此，兒童學習和理解的能力與這些互動相關。

Very young children may have difficulty inself-regulating their emotions;but this is typical behavior，as the social brain develops almost entirely postnatally， and doesnot begin to mature until toddlerhood. What is needed is time for children to process and accept new knowledge and learning. In an endeavor to speed up children's learning， we can be guilty of rushing，whereas an environment which fosters a child's pace of learning offersso much more opportunity for children to develop a love of interacting with people and places，and engaging in active learning.

非常年幼的兒童可能難以自我調節情緒，但這是常規行為，因為社會腦幾乎完全是出生后發育的，直到瞞跚學步才開始成熟。兒童需要時間消化和接受新知識并進行學習。為了加快兒童的學習速度，我們可能會犯下操之過急的錯誤。而促進兒童學習速度提高的環境則為兒童創造了多得多的機會，讓他們喜歡與人互動，探索不同的地方，并參與主動式學習。

WordBank

efficiently/r'fifntli/adv.高效地

navigate/'nevigeit/ v. 找到正確方法（對付困難 復雜的情況）

We had to navigate a complex network of committees.

endeavor/n'dev?（r）/n.（尤指新的或艱苦的） 努力，嘗試

Pleasemake everyendeavortoarriveon time. guilty/gilti/adj.有過失的