wordbrain攻略
篇一：外语学习基本攻略：记性不好如何记单词？
To “get by” in a language it takes a vocabulary of about 120 basic words. Anne Merritt explains how to learn them.
若想把一门外语说得“凑合得过去”，至少需要掌握120个基本单词。语言学家
Anne Merritt 向我们解释该如何学习这些单词。
When trying to learn a foreign language, most of us have the same complaint: “I’m just not good at memorising.” Learning new vocabulary can be daunting, especially for busy adults whose minds are already occupied with work, family, and other responsibilities.
我们中的绝大部分人，对于学习一门新语言都有相同的抱怨：“我记性不好。”的确，学习新词汇是挺让人望而生畏的，尤其对于那些已经被工作、家庭和其他责任占领了全部心思的成年人来说。
A comfort? Linguists say that to “get by” in a language, such as directing a taxi or asking for a phone number, it takes a vocabulary of about 120 basic words. It’s a manageable goal, and a firm foundation for beginners. Here are eight tips for getting there:
令人安慰的消息来了：语言学家表示，想把一门语言说得勉强能凑合着用，比如能基本满足跟出租车司机指路、问别人要电话号码这样的事，只需要掌握120个基本词汇就行。这是个可以达到的目标，同时对于初学者而言，也是坚实的基础。若想达到以下目标，我们提供了8个小贴士：
1. Set realistic goals
确定比较现实的目标
Forget the long vocabulary study sheets, or reading the dictionary. Experts say that learners are capable or retaining 10-20 words per study hour. If you do 15 minutes of self-study per day, set a weekly vocabulary goal of 20-25 words and phrases. That’s only six weeks until the 120-word “survival kit” is learned and memorised.
把词汇书、厚字典先扔到一边儿去吧。专家认为，每人每小时能够掌握10-20个单词。如果你每天都学习15分钟，那么可以把每周计划单词量设置为20-25个生词及词组。这样一来，只需要6个礼拜，你就能学会并牢记住那120个“生存必备单词”啦。
2. Cluster
使用分组记忆法
Those one-word-a-day language learning apps may feel convenient, but them
atically, they’re all over the place, delivering a chain of uelated words: envelope, tired, January, receive, onion. Focus on a single theme each week. The mind naturally clusters connected words together, so learning, say, types of weather in one lesson, and parts of the body the next, works in tune with your brain’s natural system for classifying information.
有些“一日一词”之类的语言学习类应用可能看着挺方便，但实际上呢，他们杂乱无章地把一堆毫无联系的词汇摆到你面前，比如：信封、疲惫、一月、接受、洋葱等等。不如一周只学习一个主题。这样就可以把相关的词汇连起来，一起记忆。比如，第一节课，你可以只学习与“天气”有关的单词；下一次课呢，学习“身体部位”……如此这般，你的大脑会自然而然地将信息分类。
3. Avoid opposites
不要用“反义词法”来记忆
It might seem logical to study opposites together: hot/cold, expensive/cheap. It isn't. A learning hiccup called 'cross association' can occur, when you learn two words so closely together you end up mixing them up. If a Spanish student learns 'always' (siempre) and 'never' (nunca) together, they might later draw on one word when they mean to use the other. Instead, study the more common word first (eg: deep) and, once it’s retained, learn its opposite (shallow).
看上去，似乎记忆反义词是挺不错的学习方法：冷/热、昂贵/便宜。其实不然，它会导致“联想混淆”，让你把两个总是一起记忆的单词混到一块儿去了。假如一个西班牙学生学英语，把”always永远”（西语：siempre）和”never从不”(西语：nunca)放在一起记忆，他很可能会在对话中使用与其本意相反的那个词。我们应该先学习常用的词汇，比如“deep”（深）；等掌握了它，再学反义词“shallow”（浅）。
4. Dissect new words
剖析生词
When encountering a new word, take a look at its structure. Many words consist of prefixes and suffixes, and an understanding of these parts of speech is advantageous. The French word désagréable, for example, contains the negating prefix dés- and the adjective-forming suffix ?able. Studying these affixes can help you to understand conjugation and structure, and make educated guesses when encountering new vocabulary.
看到一个生词，就该先琢磨它的结构。很多词汇都有前缀/后缀，一旦掌握了这些前后缀，对辨识词义的帮助极大。比如法语词汇“désagréable”中含有否定义的前缀“dés-”和表形容词属性的后缀“-able”。学会这些缀词能帮你理解词形、结构，以及正确推测出生词的含义。
5. Read, read, read
要阅读，阅读，再阅读
Reading helps you revisit learned vocabulary, and see those words in new sentences and contexts. One excellent source of foreign language exposure is through graded readers, which are designed specifically for language learners. Another good source is advertisements or menus, which tend to use short, colloquial text.
因为阅读能使你重逢学过的单词，并用全新的句子和语境展现出来。分阶读本是很棒的选择，因为它们专为语言学习者设计。广告和菜单也很不错，因为它们都使用了简短而通俗的词句。
6. Visualise
可视化
One mnemonic learning trick for new vocabulary is the Keyword Method. Drawing on a similar-sounding word in your native language, visualise a picture or scene to go with the new vocabulary. For example, on a trip to Moscow, I remembered the Russian formal hello, “Zdravstvujtye” (Здравствуйте) with the mental image of a stressed vulture. These visualisations are often abstract, ridiculous, and embarrassing to admit, but they work, especially for longer words.
生词的记忆方法中，有一个叫“关键词记忆法”。把你的母语中发音相近的单词写下来，然后想象其代表的形象，从而记忆生词。举个例子，我去莫斯科旅行的时候，学会了俄罗斯语的“你好”-“Zdravstvujtye” (Здравствуйте)，因为英语中的“vulture”（秃鹰）跟它发音很像，我只需把重音放在后面就可以了。这些可视化的记忆方法通常很抽象、也很无厘头，甚至有点让人羞于承认，但确实很有效果，尤其对于冗长的生词来说。
7. Focus on phrases
注重短语学习
Linguist Michael Lewis encourages language learning in lexical chunks, rather than on a word-by-word basis. A good portion of daily communication involves predictable common phrases: “turn left,” “just a minute,” “nice to meet you.” When studying a new language, memorise these phrases and you'll have a ready arsenal of dialogue, without the stress of having to build and conjugate your sentences from scratch.
语言学家Michael Lewis 鼓励学生们用词块学语言，而不是一个词儿一个词儿地学。日常对话中，有极大一部分都是常用短语，比如“向左转”、“等一下”、“很高兴见到你”。学新语
言也要牢记常用短语，很快你便能组建自己的对话短语库来，这样和人交流的时候便无需磕磕巴巴、一个词一个词地拼凑了。
8. Review often
经常复习
In a vocabulary class, yesterday’s vocabulary is more important than today’s. The goal is to transfer the short-term knowledge of new vocabulary into your long-term memory. Review is essential ? in the first few days or weeks after learning new vocabulary, recycle those words and you'll entrench them in your memory. A good language textbook or online program will be organised in a way that reviews and applies learned vocabulary in later lessons.
学习词汇需注意，今天的生词永远没有复习昨天已学会的旧词来得重要。我们的目标是：将生词灌输到你的长期记忆中。学会新词的头几天头几周，多多复习，以牢固记忆。你可以选择一本好的教材或是一个在线学习网站，以有组织地回顾、应用之前学会的东西。
篇二：外语控学习攻略：如何在90天内学会一门语言
外语控学习攻略：如何在90天内学会一门语言
Becoming bilingual opens up a whole new world—a world of different people, of different cultures, of different emotions.
学会一门外语、拥有双语能力会为你展开一个全新的世界：不同的人，不同的文化，不同的情感。
Learning a second language has many cognitive benefits. For example, learning a new language has been shown to delay Alzheimer’s, boost brainpower, reduce cognitive biases, and even increase concentration and the ability to tune out distractions. Your ability to build better habits will improve by learning a new language.
从认知的角度来说，学一门第二外语有很多益处。比方说，有研究显示学习一门新语言可以延缓老年痴呆症，可以提高大脑能力，可以减少认知偏差，甚至还可以增强注意力避免分心。学会一门新语言，可以培养很多好习惯。
But, more so than cognitive effects, the ability to speak a second language has a ton of social benefits. There’s bliss in having the ability to order food in the waiter’s native language, to eavesdrop on people in an elevator, to impress natives by speaking with and understanding them.
不过学一门新语言的好处可不仅仅是认知效果。学会一门第二语言还有很多的社会效益。在国外的餐厅你可以使用服务员的母语点餐，你可以偷听电梯里人们的外语交谈。和当地人交流时，你会说他们的语言能听懂他们的意思，也会给他们留下深刻的印象。这些想想是不是就觉得很开心？
The coolest thing about learning your second language is that it makes learning a third, fourth, or fifth language much easier. The challenge isn’t in learning a new language, but rather learning how to learn a language. Once you know the techniques, you’ll be able to apply the same grammatical patterns and language techniques in every new language you learn.
我觉得学第二语言最酷的事情是：学会了它会让你学第三、第四甚至第五语言的过程更容易。你所面临的挑战不是学会一门新语言，而是学会如何学语言。一旦你掌握了技巧，你就可以把同样的语法模式和语言技巧应用到你想学的任何一种新语言上。
Why most people are wrong about language learning
大部分人对语言学习的误区
I studied spanish for several years in high school, and even got good grades on national exams. But one day, when I actually tried to speak the language, I suddenly realized. Four years of studying Spanish in school, and I couldn’t even order a burrito.
我在高中的时候学过几年的西班牙语，还在全国性的考试中拿到了挺高的分数，但有一天，当我想说西班牙语的时候，我突然意识到：在学校学了四年西班牙语的我，连点份玉米煎饼都不会。
So what went wrong? According to official standardized tests, I was an expert in Spanish. But I couldn’t even do the most basic of tasks!
到底哪里出问题了？根据官方标准测试的结果，我可是西班牙语的专家呀！但我却无法用西班牙语来进行最基本的交流。
The fact is that we not taught languages in the ideal way. Students study languages in huge groups and think that a few worksheets and grammar exercises will be enough to learn a language. Yet almost no one actually learns to speak.
事实是在学校老师教我们语言的方式并不是理想的学习方法。大部分的学生都是在班级里一大群人一起学语言，我们以为做一些语法练习题，就够我们学会一门语言。其实我们基本没有学习如果去说这门语言。
In actuality, by doing worksheets, we are practicing for just that—for worksheets. But if you want to learn to speak, well, you actually have to practice by speaking.
实际上，做练习题的方法，只是让我们完成练习。但如果你想要学会开口说，你其实需要通过讲话的方式来练习。
So when people try to learn to speak a language out of a book, I try to show them that they won’t achieve their goals that way. If you want to speak, you have to practice speaking. And if you want to speak a language rapidly, well, you have to start speaking. A lot.
所以每次我遇到想通过一本书学会一门语言的人，我通常都会告诉他们：这种方法无法让他们实现语言学习的目标。如果你想要说，你就要通过口语练习。如果你想让自己说得非常流利，那你就要开始做大量的口语练习。
The Basic Strategy Of Rapid Language Learning
快速语言学习的基本策略
Learning a language can seem daunting, so I’m going to provide an overview of the general strategy, before we get into the specifics.
学习一门语言似乎让人畏惧，所以我们先来看看基本策略，然后再详细说明。
1. Get the right resources for learning: A grammar book, memorization software, and films/books.
找到学习的正确资源：一本语法书，一个记忆软件，若干电影或书籍
2. Get a private tutor. You want one for at least a month. I recommend four hours/day.
请一位私人教师。你至少需要私人教师陪练一个月时间，我建议每天四小时。
3. Attempt to speak and think only in the new language. Every time you can’t remember a word, put that word into your memorization software. Practice your vocabulary daily.
试着只用这门新的语言说话和思考。每当你想不起一个单词的时候，把那个词输入你的记忆软件。每天进行词汇练习。
4. Find friends, language partners, and other speakers of the language. Once you can have basic conversations with your private tutor, you need to find other partners. If you haven’t already, think about moving to the country where the language is spoken. Consider a group class. Practice continuously.
寻找朋友、语言学习搭档或者其他说这门语言的人。一旦你可以和私人教师进行基本会话，你就需要寻找其他的搭档。如果你还没有准备好，考虑一下搬去说那门语言的国家。也可以参加集体授课班级。要不停地练习。
That’s the basic strategy. Again, this strategy is intensive, because learning a language in three months is a difficult task. If you’d prefer to learn the language more slowly or you don’t have the ability to move to a new country and practice 4-8 hours a day, then you can modify the plan. It is extremely important that you practice every day, however—20 minutes a day is much better than once or twice a week.
这就是基本策略。这些策略执行起来非常有强度，因为在三个月内学会一门语言并非易事。如果你想要慢点学或者你没法搬去另一个国家，或者你不能保证每天学习4-8小时，你也可以调整计划。最重要的是你要每天练习，每天20分钟总比一周才练一两次要好。
The Resources You Need To Learn A Language
学习一门语言需要的资源
A good grammar book. This is essential if you want to learn a language. 一本好的语法书。如果你想要学习一门语言，这是必备的。
A phrase book. This is similar to a dictionary, but for phrases. You can start memorizing full sentences and phrases, and you’ll naturally learn the individual words.
一本短语手册。这和字典类似，但是内容是关于短语的。你可以从记忆完整的句子和短语开始，之后自然会学会单独的词语。
An online dictionary. For most romance langauges, I recommend http://wordreference.com. Google Translate can be useful, but it easily becomes a crutch. Use it sparingly.
一本在线字典。对于大部分由拉丁语演变而成的语言，我推荐wordreference网站。谷歌翻译可以很有用，但也容易产生依赖性，要适度使用。
A memorization app. You have to memorize vocabulary. I always put new words in my app, and practice them every night.
一款记忆应用程序。你必须要记单词。我总是把新单词输入记忆程序，然后每晚练习。
The 90 Day Plan to Learning a Language
学会一门语言的90天计划
It’s possible to achieve fluency, or at least a high speaking level, in just 90 days, but it requires intense focus.
在90天内达到流利、至少是较高的口语标准是可能的，但是要求高度集中的练习。
If you don’t have the freedom to focus fulltime on learning a language, that’s okay, but the process will take longer than 90 days. Just make sure that you continue to practice every day, or else you’ll lose your knowledge rapidly.
如果你可以自由支配的时间还不允许你完全专注于学习一门语言，也没关系，但学习过程会长于90天。你只需要保证每天都持续练习，否则你会很快忘记你所学的内容。
Days 1-30
第1-30天
The first thirty days are critical to learning a new language. You need to immerse yourself as fully as possible.
最初的30天对于学习一门新的语言非常关键。你需要尽可能地完全投入到学习中去。
I highly recommend moving to a country where the language is spoken if you want to learn a language in 90 days. This will help you get into the language learning mindset, and will allow you to surround yourself with the new language. If you are able to move to a new country, try to live with a host family. You’ll learn a lot by eating meals with a family that hosts you.
如果你想在90天内学会一门语言，我强烈建议你搬去说那个语言的国家。这会有助于你进入语言学习的状态，让你被这门新的语言所包围。如果你能搬去一个新的国家，试着住进一个寄宿家庭。你和这家人一起吃饭时就可以学到很多。
In any case, during the first month, work one on one with a private tutor—not group classes. Group classes allow you to sit back and be lazy, while a private tutor forces you to learn.
无论如何，在第一个月，和私人教师一起一步步学习，不要去集体课堂。集体课堂会让你坐在后排偷懒，而私人教师会强迫你学习。
This is important: you must be an active learner. Most people allow themselves to be taught to, but you have to take an active role in asking questions.
还有一点很重要：你必须做一个积极的学习者。大多数人在被动接受，而你必须提出问题，扮演主动的角色。
You’re going to start encountering a lot of words and phrases that you don’t know, both with your private tutor, and when you practice languages on your own. Enter these words in your memorization software.
在和私人教师学习或者自己练习的时候，你都会开始遇到很多不认识的单词和词组。把这些词汇输入你的记忆软件。
You want to start memorizing 30 words and phrases per day. Why 30? Because in 90 days, you’ll have learned 80% of the language.
你可以开始尝试每天记忆30个单词和词组。为什么是30个呢？因为在90天内，你将会掌握这门语言的80%。
As you can see, you need to learn around 3000 to hit 80% of the words … probably enough before you can(来自:WwW.CssYq.com 书业 网:wordbrain攻略) start learning words easily by context. At 30 words/day, you’ll have learned almost 3000 in 90 days.
想要学会一门语言，你需要学习大约3000个单词来掌握80%的词汇，这应该已经足够让你
篇三：外语学习攻略
And if you’re thinking of traveling or studying abroad, learning a new language is imperative.
如果你想出国旅游或留学，学习一种新语言是势在必行的。
Actually speaking a foreign language fluently takes a lot of hard work and practice. Even if you study every day, it can take years to master some languages. Meanwhile, you start to get frustrated at your lack of progress and you want to give up.
事实上讲一门流利的外语需要很多的辛勤努力和实践。即使你每天学习，掌握某一门语言也要花数年的时间。与此同时，你开始因进步迟缓而变得沮丧，你想放弃了。
Don’t.
千万不要！
There are all kinds of rewards associated with speaking a second language. Not just intangible rewards, like being able to chat with locals when you travel, but psychological and health rewards as well. Studies show that being able to speak a second language may help you multitask and prevent dementia.
讲第二门语言，有各种各样的回报。不仅仅是无形的回报，比如旅行时你能够与当地人交流，而且还有心理和健康方面的回报。研究表明，能说第二门语言可以帮助你培养一心多用以及预防老年痴呆。
So if you want to reap all of the benefits of speaking a second language, how can you continue working on your language skills without getting burnt out? Here are 6 tips to simplify your language learning.
所以如果想收获说第二外语的种种好处，在你抓狂以前，在语言技能训练上你要怎样继续努力？这里有6个技巧可以简化你的语言学习。
1. Have a Word of the Day.
今日一词
Trying to learn everything at once and getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of words in your new language can be overwhelming. Sometimes, even if you do learn new words, you forget them quickly because you haven’t heard them enough in context.
马上着手学习和面对学习新语言的大量词汇要承受的巨大压力，这真的让人感到不知所措。有时候，即使你确实学到了新单词，你很快就会忘记它们，因为你在语境中听得还不够多。 One way to get around this problem is to keep a few new words in your vocabulary by using them on a daily basis. Since it takes an adult an average of 150 times to learn to use a new word properly, having a Word of the Day or several words can help build your vocabulary.
一种解决这类问题的方法是通过每天使用新词汇来记忆它们。成年人平均要150次才学会合理地使用一个新词，一天学一个或几个新词可以帮助你积累词汇量。
You can do this one of two ways. One, you can keep a running list of words you’d like to learn and designate one to be the word of the day. Or, two, you can wait for new words to come up organically in conversation, and then try to use the new word several times. 有两种方法可以做到。一是把你想学的单词做成单词列表，并指定一个单词为?今日一词‖。另一种是你可以等候出现在谈话里的新单词，然后试着用上几次新单词。
2. Speak the language as much as you can (especially with native speakers).
尽可能多地讲这种语言（特别是与母语人士）
It goes without saying that the best way to learn how to speak a language is to actually speak it. Reading and studying grammar books will only get you so far.
不用说，学习如何说一门语言的最好方式是说这门语言。阅读和学习语法只会让你远离语言的实质。
And yet, it’s so easy to get trapped in the ?not-good-enough‖ mindset, where you don’t speak because you think you don’t speak well enough. And then your speaking doesn’t get better.
除此之外，你还很容易陷进?不够好‖的心理模式，有了这种心理之后你就不会开口说，因为你认为自己讲得不够好。于是你的口语就得不到提升。
So make an effort to communicate with native speakers of your language. You’ll learn a lot more in a 5 minute conversation with a native Spanish speaker than you will from another English speaker who’s had 2 years of college Spanish. Try to spend 80% of your time speaking with those who speak the language better than you.
所以努力与你所学英语的母语人士交流。与本土西班牙人聊5分钟对话，比起和那些来自英语国家在大学里学了两年的西班牙语的人交流，你学到的会更多。试着把80%的时间花在和比你讲得好的人交谈。
3. Listen to foreign language radio or TV, even as background noise.
听外语之声或看外语电视，即使是作为背景音也好。
Part of learning to speak a foreign language properly is learning the intonations and rhythms of the words. In French, for example, you can’t put the emphasis on different words in a sentence to vary what you mean (like you can do in English). And it’s easy to distinguish beginner students from near-native speakers by listening for the ones who pronounce French like it’s English.
正确地学习讲外语，其中一部分是学习语调和单词的节拍。例如在法语里，你不能和学习英语一样，把重点放在句子里的不同单词上来改变你的意思。而且初级学习者和本土母语人士很容易区分开来，因为有些人的法语是英语形式的。
The remedy to that is to listen to the language as much as possible.
补救的办法是尽可能地多听。
Try to hear the pacing of the words, how they’re pronounced in different contexts, and what the different intonations are. How does the language sound when the speaker is excited, or angry, or asking an accusatory question? Even listening to the language in the background will help you to pick up information on how the language is spoken.
试着听话语的速度，它们在不同的语境中是如何发音的，又有哪些不同的语调。当说话人兴奋、或愤怒、或是指责时，语言又会是怎么样的呢？即使是听当作背景音的语言，也会帮助你感知到语言的特点。
4. Look up words you don’t know in a monolingual dictionary.
在单语词典里查找你不认识的词
Figuring out the meaning of words can be tricky in a foreign language, since direct and accurate translations don’t always exist. While getting the word for physical objects, like milk or desk, might be straightforward, translating concepts can be a lot harder.
对于一门外语，找出单词意义可能是件棘手的事，因为直接和准确的翻译并不总是存在。用直观物体对应这个词，如牛奶或书桌，可能简单明了，但翻译概念是难上加难。
By looking words up in a monolingual dictionary, you can make sure that the word or phrase you choose actually means what you think it does.
通过在单语词典里查找单词，你能保证你选择的单词或短语实际上表达了你想的意思。
5. When you make a mistake, immediately try to correct yourself.
当你犯了错误时，试着立即纠正自己。
Lifehack recently published an article stating that if you mistype a word, you should delete the whole word before retyping it correctly to reprogram your brain to do it properly the
next time. The same goes for learning a language.
Lifehack上最近发表了一篇文章，文章指出如果你打错了一个字，在重打之前你应该删除整个词，这样下次你才正确。对于学习一门语言是同样道理。
If you misspeak, and catch your mistake, immediately correct yourself by repeating the sentence correctly. It will help you program your brain to avoid making the same mistake again, and solidify the grammar rules in your mind.
如果你说错了，逮住你的错误，立即纠正自己的错误，把这个句子正确地再说一遍。它将帮助你的大脑避免再犯同样的错误，并将语法规则扎根在你的脑海里。
6. Carry around a notebook and write down new words you learn.
随身携带一个笔记本，写下你学习到的新单词
If you’re in the beginning stages of learning a language, this process might be too overwhelming, since you’re learning new words all the time. But once you get to an
intermediate or advanced level, your learning process slows down. In the beginning, you progressed easily because you were learning simple verb tenses and lists of super useful vocabulary that you use every day ? hello, ?How are you?‖, ?Can I have a pen, please?‖ ? and when you get past that stage, the learning suddenly gets more difficult.
如果你处在学习一门语言的开始阶段，这个过程可能很有压力，因为你总是在学习新单词。但是一旦你达到了中级或高级水平，学习过程将会减慢。刚开始，你很容易就有进步，因为你在学习简单的动词时态以及每天使用到的超级有用的一系列词汇，像?你好‖、?你好吗？‖、?请问，我可以借支钢笔吗？‖——当你过了这个阶段，学习突然间变得困难了。
When you’re advanced, keeping a record of the words you learn can also help you from getting frustrated and thinking that you aren’t learning anything new. As long as you use the language, you’ll always be progressing.
当你到了高级水平，记录好你学习的单词，你就不会沮丧，更不会说自己没学习到新东西。只要你在使用这门语言，你就永远都在进步。
篇四：BBC总结天才养成6条攻略
BBC总结天才养成6条攻略
BBC总结天才养成6条攻略
Lesson one: New challenges require new ways of thinking1.面对新挑战，要有新思路 Part car, part jet fighter, part spaceship, Bloodhound SSC aims to be the first land vehicle to break the 1,000mph barrier. One of the key challenges has been to design the wheels. How do you create the fastest wheels in history, make them stable and reliable at supersonic speeds, and with limited resources?部分汽车、部分喷气式飞机、部分宇宙飞船，猎犬号超级汽车的目标是做世界上第一辆时速突破1000英里的汽车。而这面临的一项关键挑战是车轮的设计。如果换做是你，你会如何在有限的资源下发明出超音速汽车上用的轮子呢？
After much deliberation, and devising ideas that pushed the boundaries of material technology, Mark Chapman, chief engineer of the Bloodhound project said the team decided to take a step back and change the way they were trying to solve problems. “There’s very little we’ve actually developed that’s new,” he says, “what’s unique is how we apply technologies。” 猎犬号项目的总工程师马克·查普曼思来想去，觉得材料还是不够好。最后他和他的团队决定退回一步、换个角度看有没有别的办法。“我们实际创新的东西并不多”，马克说：“我们的独特之处在于应用技术的方式别具一格。” They adopted an approach called the design of experiments ? a mathematical technique of problem solving through doing lots of little experiments and then looking at the statistics all glued together. “All of a sudden, where we’d been knocking our head against the wall for maybe two, three, four months, we came up with a wheel design that would hold together and was strong enough,” he says。他们采用实验设计的方法做了很多的小实验，综合所得的数据再得出精确设计。“花了三四个月绞尽脑汁做尽各种实验之后，很突然地我们做出了一个大胆的设计：把各种可用的(飞机、飞船所用的)技术都融合在一辆车上，从而使它足够强大。”马克说。
Lesson two: Let evidence shape your opinion2.观点要用证据来证明
Like his peers, geophysicist Steven Jacobsen from Northwestern University believed that water on Earth originated
from comets. But by studying rocks, which allow scientists to peer back in time, he discovered water hidden inside ringwoodite, which lies in the Earth’s mantle, and which suggests that the oceans gradually made its way out of the planet’s interior many centuries ago。美国西北大学地球物理学家史蒂文·雅各布森曾认为，地球上的水源于彗星。但通过对岩石的研究，他发现地幔的林伍德石里面也藏有水，这一发现表明或许在N个世纪之前，海洋是从地球内部自己慢慢溢出来的。
“I had a pretty hard time convincing others,” he admits. Yet two key pieces of evidence uncovered this year seem to support his point of view. Time will tell whether the new theories are true, and there may be further twists to the tale. “But thinking about the fact that you may be the first person to see something for the first time doesn’t happen very often,” he says. “When it does it’s thrilling。” “那时候我难说服别的学者相信这个。”史蒂文说。但是今年新发现的两个关键证据似乎支持了他的理论。所以，一个新理论的正确与否可能需要时间来慢慢印证，在被世人接受前可能会经历很多曲折。“但是如果你发现你是第一个发现这个规律的人，且时间又证明你是对的之后，你会倍受鼓舞的。”史蒂文说。
Lesson three: It really is 99% perspiration3.天才的99%确实是汗水
Sheila Nirenberg at Cornell University is trying to develop a new prosthetic device for treating blindness. Key to this was cracking the code that transmits information from the eye to the brain. “Once I realised this, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep ? all I wanted to do was work,” says Nirenberg。康奈尔大学希拉·尼伦伯格正在研究治疗失明的新型假体，其中破解眼睛与大脑的信息交流密码是最关键的。“我意识到这一点之后，就吃不下饭、睡不着觉，只想全身心投入工作。”尼伦伯格说。
“Sometimes I’m exhausted and I get burnt out,” she adds. “But then I get an email from somebody in crisis or somebody who’s getting macular degeneration, and they can’t see their own children’s faces, and it is like, ‘How can I possibly complain?’ It gives me the energy to just go back and keep doing it。” “每次觉得筋疲力尽、江郎才尽的时候，我都会收到一些到正处于危险状态马上要失明的、或是患有黄斑部退化症的病人的邮件，这些人将没办法看清自己孩子的长相、无法看这五颜六色的世界。每当这个时候，我就跟自己说‘我怎么能够抱怨呢’，然后就又动力十足的继续工作。”
Lesson four: The answer isn’t always what you expect4.结果并不总是和预想的一样 Sylvia Earle has spent decades trying to see the ocean with new eyes. Her “dream machine” is a submarine that could take scientists all the way to the bottom of the deepest ocean floor. What sort of material could best withstand the types of pressure you would encounter thousands of miles below the ocean surface? “It could be steel, it could be titanium, it could be some sort of ceramic, or some kind of aluminium system,” says Earle. “But glass is the ultimate material。” By her
estimates, a glass sphere about four-to-six inches (10-15cm) thick should be able safely explore the ocean depths she dreams of exploring。西尔维亚·厄尔花了几十年的时间试图让人们用新的方式亲近海底，她的“梦想号”潜艇可以让科学家潜入到最深的海底。那种材料才能够承受住深海的巨大压力呢？厄尔说：“我想过用钢、钛、陶瓷等，但最终发现其实玻璃才是终极王者。”根据她的预计，一块10-15厘米厚的玻璃板就能让她进入梦寐以求的那片深海世界。
Glass is the oldest material known to man and one of the least understood, says Tony Lawson, Earle’s engineering director at Deep Ocean and Exploration Research Marine. “It has a higgledy-piggledy molecular structure a bit like a liquid, rather than the ordered lattices often found in other solids. As a result, when glass is evenly squeezed from all sides ? as it would be under the ocean ? the molecules cram closer together and form a tighter structure. 厄尔的项目技术总监称，虽然玻璃是人类已知的最古老材料，但是我们对它的了解却甚少。“玻璃的分子结构有点像是液体，排列方式没有一般固体的有规律。因此，当玻璃被海洋里的压力从四面八方压迫时，它的分子会被压在一起，形成更紧密的结构。”
Lesson five: A little luck goes a long way5.偶尔的一点好运也可以维持很久 It was hailed as one of the biggest success stories in the history of space
exploration ? 20 years of planning ended earlier this year with the Philae lander rendezvousing with Comet 67P over 300 million miles (480 million kilometres) away from Earth。菲莱探测器被誉为太空探索史上最大跨越之一，历经20年的策划期终于在年初发射并成功在离地球四亿八千万公里的67P彗星上着陆。
The biggest challenge, says Stephan Ulamec, manager of the Philae lander programme, was how to design a probe to land on a body whose makeup they had little knowledge about. “We had no idea of the size, we had no idea of the day-night cycle, which influences the thermal design, we had no idea of the gravity, so how fast would the lander impact, we had no idea how the surface looked,” he says。据菲莱项目的负责人斯蒂芬介绍，在这20年里遇到的最大挑战是对彗星构造了解较少，不知道该如何设计这个探测器。“我们不知道彗星的昼夜循环情况会影响保热设计，不知道彗星的重力也无法预测探测器着陆后对转速的影响，甚至不清楚彗星表面的样子。”
They needed to create design parameters that could cope with an extremely wide range of possible comet structures ? but banked on the comet being a relatively even potato shape with enough flat surfaces for the probe to land on. Even then, not everything went to plan, and two decades of meticulous planning could have failed within minutes at touchdown. Philae's anchoring harpoons didn't fire as planned, and it bounced off the comet before settling onto its icy surface and successfully beaming data back to its relieved creators。科学家们需要建立尽可能符合多种彗星结构的设计参数，但是还是得寄希望于彗星的表面要够平坦。可即便是花了20年设计、缜密计划过的菲莱还是在着陆的几分钟里有点小失败：“鱼叉”系统未如计划打开，无法准确钉入彗星表面。不过幸运的是，菲莱还是成功地把数据发回了地球。
Lesson six: Genius is indefinable6.“天才”定义不明
“It’s a funny word: the word ‘genius’,” says Nirenberg. “I just sort of ignore it and just go on with life. You just do what you do independent of whatever label’s attached to you. I don’t know really how else to explain it。” “天才这个词很有趣”，尼伦伯格说，“我常常忽略这个标签继续走自己的路。只需要抛掉别人在你身上贴的各种标签做自己想做到的事就好了。因为所谓天才真是判断标准不一、无法解释的事情。”