There are many theories and ideas about improving memory, but there is one mnemonic method that has been around since ancient times.

　　提升记忆力的理论和方法多种多样，但有一个记忆术从古代流传至今。

　　Ancient accounts show that early Greek and Roman orators used the "loci" method of remembering long speeches and lists. You may be able to use this method to enhance your memory at test time.

　　历史记载，古希腊和古罗马演说家会使用地点记忆法(the "loci" method)来帮助他们记忆篇幅较长的讲稿。你也可以使用这种方法来提升记忆力应付考试。

　　The term loci refers to places or locations.To use the loci system, you will first need to thing of a place or route that you can picture in your head very clearly.It can be your house, your school bus route, or any place that contains clear landmarks or rooms.

　　“loci”指的是“地点或位置”。要想使用地点记忆法，首先你要在头脑中清晰地将事物绘制一张地图。这地图可以是你家、校车路线图、或是其他任意的有清晰地标或空间的地方。

　　For this example, we will use the thirteen original colonies as a list that we want to remember and your house as the method for remembering.

　　让我们以举个例子，比如你要记住13个原先的殖民地，我们用你的家来帮助你记忆。

　　The list of colonies includes：

　　殖民州包括：

　　North Carolina

　　北卡罗来纳

　　South Carolina

　　南卡罗来纳

　　Maryland

　　马里兰

　　Virginia

　　弗吉尼亚

　　Delaware

　　特拉华

　　New Hampshire

　　新罕布什尔

　　New Jersey

　　新泽西

　　Pennsylvania

　　宾夕法尼亚

　　Massachusetts

　　马萨诸塞

　　Connecticut

　　康涅狄格

　　New York

　　纽约

　　Rhode Island

　　罗得岛

　　Georgia

　　佐治亚

　　Now, picture yourself standing outside your house and begin to make connections with words on your memory list. In this case, you could make a mental note that the front of your house faces north and the back faces south. We have our beginning!

　　现在想象你身处自家房门外，开始把这些词与你的记忆联系起来吧。想象你的房子正面朝北，背面朝南。

　　North = North Carolina

　　南=南卡罗来纳

　　South = South Carolina

　　北=北卡罗来纳

　　Your tour continues.

　　继续你的旅程

　　Imagine that you enter your house and see the coat closet. Open the closet door and note the smell. (It helps to invoke all the senses you can in this method). There you see the coat that Aunt Mary gave your mother (Maryland).The next room in this imaginary house tour is the kitchen. In this tour, you are suddenly hungry, so you go to the cupboard. All you can find is some virgin olive oil (Virginia). That won't do.

　　想象你走进家看到了衣柜，打开柜门，记下这种气味。(这种方法可以动用你的全部感官)。你看到了马里阿姨(Aunt Mary→Maryland)送给妈妈的外套。幻想中的住宅之旅的下一站是厨房。在行程中，你突然感到饥饿，所以你走向橱柜。你只找到了一些初榨橄榄油(virgin olive oil →Virginia)。这可不管饱。

　　You turn to the refrigerator and look inside. You know your mom just bought some new ham(New Hampshire) from the deli—but where is it? (Delaware).You manage to locate the items and assemble a sandwich. You carry it to your bedroom, because you want to change into your new football jersey (New Jersey).

　　你打开冰箱。你记得妈妈刚从熟食店(deli→Delaware)里买了一些新火腿(new ham→New Hampshire)，但是它们哪儿去了?你试着找了几样食物做了一个三明治。带着三明治回到卧室，因为你想换上新的足球衫。(new football jersey →New Jersey)。

　　You open the closet door and a pen falls on your head from the top shelf (Pennsylvania).

　　你打开衣柜，一支笔(pen箭头Pennsylvania)从顶层的柜子中滚落到你头上。

　　"What's that doing there?" you think. You turn to put the pen in your desk drawer. When you open the drawer, you see a giant mass of paper clips (Massachusetts).

　　“笔怎么会在这儿?”你心想。你把笔放入书桌抽屉。打开抽屉，你看到一大堆(a giant mass of→Massachusetts)回形针。

　　You grab a handful, sit down on your bed, and begin to connect them together to form a long chain (Connecticut).

　　你抓了一把，坐在床上，想把它们串(connect→Connecticut)成一长条。

　　You realize you're still hungry. You decide you are ready for some dessert. You go back to the kitchen and look in the refrigerator again. You know you'll find some leftover New York cheescake from yesterday (New York).

　　你发现自己实在是饿极了。你决定吃些点心，返回厨房，再次打开了冰箱，你知道昨天还剩了点纽约芝士饼(New York cheescake→New York)

　　It's gone! Your little brother must have finished it off! (Note the shock and anger.)

　　但是它不见了!肯定是弟弟把它吃完了!(记住这种震惊与愤怒。)

　　You turn to the freezer.

　　你打开冷藏室。

　　There are two types of ice cream. Rocky Road (Rhode Island) or Georgia Peach (Georgia). You eat both.

　　里面有两种冰激凌，石板街(Rocky Road →Rhode Island)和佐治亚蜜桃(Georgia Peach →Georgia)。你吃了两种。

　　Now look over the list of states again, and think about the place association for each one. It won't be long before you can recite the list of states easily.

　　现在回头看各殖民州，想象联想的事物。这样再记忆这些州名就不会花费很长时间了。

　　This method can be used for remembering a list of objects or a list of events. All you need is key words and associations for them.

　　这种方法可以用来记忆一连串的事物。你需要的只有关键词和联想。

　　It may help you to come up with funny things that occur along your path.

　　它可以帮你记住生活中有趣的事。

　　Emotion and sensory experiences will reinforce the information and enhance the exercise.

　　感官体验可以加强信息的记忆程度以及提升锻炼效果。

（编辑：何莹莹）