为什么我们在洗澡时会灵感乍现？
Why Do We Have Our Best Ideas in the Shower?
王淑怡 供稿
You are in the shower. The water sounds like a gentle, rainy static. Suddenly, you're hit with a flash of brilliance. Maybe it's the answer to a vexing problem at work, the location of your lost USB drive, or perhaps it's just a random, inconsequential (yet totally satisfying) insight.
你站在花洒下，听着淅淅沥沥的水声，突然间，你灵光闪现。也许是工作上遇到的难题有了好的解决办法，或者你突然想起了U盘忘在了哪里，又或者你随机想到了一个无关紧要但令人十分满意的新点子。
But, by the time you towel off, the idea already has spiraled away down the drain. We all get these kinds of thoughts, and they don't just happen in the shower. Long drives, short walks, even something like pulling weeds, all seem to have the right mix of monotony and engagement to trigger a revelation. They also happen to be activities where it's difficult to take notes. Once you realize them, introducing a pen and paper can sterilize the effort.
但是，等你洗完澡、擦干身子，这些想法已经随着水流一起消失了。我们都曾有过这样的天降灵感，它们不仅仅诞生于淋浴间。长途驾车、饭后散步，甚至是除草时——这些时刻都有些单调乏味，但又需要一定的专注力，刚好适合灵感的诞生。而且出现这些灵感时，你手边没有任何东西可以将之付诸笔端。一旦你意识到灵感来了，准备好纸笔也无济于事了。
Why do we get these random insights? Psychologists have a theory that describes a mental state that seems to foment these kinds of thoughts. It's called the default mode network. "You become less aware of your environment and more aware of your internal thoughts,” said John Kounios, a psychologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
那我们为什么会灵感乍现？心理学家将产生这种灵感的精神状态称为大脑的默认模式网络（DMN）。“在这种状态下，你对周遭环境的敏感度减弱了，内心的想法会变得清晰活跃起来。”美国费城德雷塞尔大学的心理学家约翰·库尼奥斯说。
Kounios explains that our brains typically catalog things by their context: Windows are parts of buildings, and the stars belong in the night sky. When we’re focused on a specific task our thinking tends to be linear. He uses the example of a railway. You walk by them every day with hardly a second thought. But when your brain starts to roam, your thoughts will go off the rails. As ideas become untethered, they are free to bump up against other ideas they've never had the chance to encounter, increasing the likelihood of creative webs.
库尼奥斯解释道，大脑是按事物所属环境来分类的。比如说，窗户属于建筑，星星属于夜空。当我们思考某个特定事件时，大脑会呈现单一线性的思路。他以地铁为例。你每天都步行经过地铁，不假思索。但一旦你中途走了神，思绪就会天马行空。当这些想法挣脱了束缚，就可能与原本不可能接触的其他想法相互碰撞，这时，就更可能诞生创意。
“Not having an explicit task is the main ingredient for random insights,” Kounios said. “Once you have a pen and paper there, it’s not really your mind wandering.”
“产生随机灵感最重要的一点是，不能有明确的任务，”库尼奥斯表示，“一旦你拿了纸笔，大脑就停止漫游了。”
That doesn’t mean your eureka moments are doomed to be flushed away. Kounios says if you keep your recording method out of sight (yet within reach), your mind won’t be waylaid by external pressure on its way to free association. This could be a water-proof notepad for your shower, or a voice-activated recording app for the car.
但这并不意味着，我们只能眼看这些欣喜的时刻化为泡影。库尼奥斯建议，把你的记录工具放在看不到又触手可及的地方，这样，你的思绪就能轻松地自由碰撞，而不会被半路拦截了。可以试试在淋浴间放个防水笔记本，或在汽车里安装一个声控录音应用。
【VOCABULARY】
1. vexing adj. 令人烦恼的
2. inconsequential adj. 不重要的，微不足道的
3. towel off 擦干，揩干
4. spiral v. 螺旋式移动
5. monotony n. 单调乏味，千篇一律
6. revelation n. 令人惊喜的发现；被揭示的真相
7. sterilize v. 使…不起作用
8. foment v. 引发；煽动
9. untethered adj. 不被绳索捆缚的
10. bump up against 触碰到
11. eureka int. （因找到某物，尤指问题的答案而高兴）我发现了，我找到了
12. waylay v. 拦截；伏击
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