2. Learn before you sleep

　　睡前學(xué)習(xí)

　　One of the many benefits we get from sleep is that it helps to clear out the brain’s “inbox” – the temporary storage of new information and memories from our time awake. We need sleep (even just a nap) to move anything we’ve recently learned into our brain’s long term storage. Once it’s safely stored, spaced repetition will help to strengthen the connection so we can recall the information faster and more accurately。

　　睡眠的一個(gè)好處就是它能清除大腦的“收件箱”——也就是我們?cè)谇逍褧r(shí)臨時(shí)儲(chǔ)存的新信息和記憶。我們需要睡眠(哪怕只是打盹)將最新學(xué)習(xí)的東西轉(zhuǎn)換到大腦的長(zhǎng)期儲(chǔ)存中。一旦儲(chǔ)存固定，“間隔重復(fù)”將強(qiáng)化之間的聯(lián)系，這樣我們便能更快更準(zhǔn)確地記住信息了。

　　3. Study content, not the language

　　學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言內(nèi)容，而非語(yǔ)言本身。

　　Although most language learning classes and progams focus on purely learning the language, a study of high school students studying French found that when they studied another subject taught in French instead of a class purely to teach French, the students tested better for listening and were more motivated to learn. Students in the standard French class scored better on reading and writing tests, so both methods clearly have merit。

　　盡管多數(shù)語(yǔ)言教學(xué)課程重點(diǎn)強(qiáng)調(diào)單純學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言本身，但一項(xiàng)有關(guān)高中生學(xué)法語(yǔ)的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)某個(gè)用法語(yǔ)教學(xué)的課程，而非單純的法語(yǔ)課，那么學(xué)生的法語(yǔ)聽力成績(jī)更出色，而且學(xué)生也更有動(dòng)力去學(xué)。不過，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)法語(yǔ)班的學(xué)生在閱讀和寫作上的成績(jī)更高。顯然，兩種方法各具優(yōu)勢(shì)吧。

　　Once you’ve mastered the basics of a new language, try including some content on a topic you’re interested in to improve your understanding. You could have conversations with friends learning the same language, read articles online or listen to a podcast to test your comprehension。

　　當(dāng)你掌握某個(gè)語(yǔ)言的基本知識(shí)后，請(qǐng)嘗試了解自己關(guān)心的話題內(nèi)容，這樣可以提高理解能力。你可以跟學(xué)這門語(yǔ)言的同伴交談，閱讀網(wǎng)絡(luò)文章，或者通過聽播客來(lái)測(cè)試自己的理解力。

　　4. Practice a little everyday

　　每天都練習(xí)一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)。

　　If you’re busy, you might be tempted to put off your studying and cram in a big chunk of learning once every week or two. However, studying a little every day is actually more effective. Because your brain’s “inbox” has limited space and only sleep can clear it out, you’ll hit the limit of how much you can take in pretty quickly if you study for hours at a time。

　　如果你很忙，可能會(huì)拖延學(xué)習(xí)，然后每個(gè)一兩個(gè)星期再集中填鴨式地學(xué)一會(huì)兒。但實(shí)際上，每天堅(jiān)持學(xué)一點(diǎn)的方法更有效率。因?yàn)槟愦竽X“收件箱”的空間是有限的，只能在睡覺時(shí)清空，所以如果你選擇一次性快速學(xué)一堆知識(shí)的話，最終能夠掌握的也很有限。

　　5. Mix new and old

　　溫故知新。

　　The brain craves novelty but attempting to learn lots of new words or phrases at once can be overwhelming. Novel concepts work best when they’re mixed in with familiar information。

　　大腦渴望新鮮知識(shí)，但如果一次性學(xué)習(xí)太多生詞短語(yǔ)的話，則會(huì)欲速不達(dá)。只有結(jié)合已經(jīng)熟悉的知識(shí)，才能更好地掌握新知識(shí)。

　　When you add new words to your vocabulary, try spacing them in-between words you’re already familiar with so they’ll stand out—your brain will latch onto them more easily。

　　當(dāng)你學(xué)習(xí)新詞匯時(shí)，請(qǐng)把它與已經(jīng)掌握的、意義接近的詞匯區(qū)分開來(lái)——這樣大腦才能更容易地記住生詞。