Suppose you are listening to a program in English and hear the word “borrow.” You have heard this word many times but forget its meaning. So, you look up the equivalent word in your own language. Ahh, yes, now you remember! A few days later, you see the word again, but again cannot remember its meaning. Why?
假设您正在收听英语节目并听到“借用”一词。这个词你听过很多次，但忘记了它的意思。因此，您可以在自己的语言中查找对应的单词。啊，是的，现在你想起来了！几天后，你再次看到这个词，但又记不起它的意思了。为什么？
It is easy to blame yourself or think, “I have a terrible memory!” But your memory is not the problem.
人们很容易责怪自己或想：“我的记忆力很糟糕！”但你的记忆力不是问题。
The problem is that translating a word to its equivalent word in your language is not an effective way to learn vocabulary . This is because it does not create strong connections in the brain, something critical for remembering information.
问题在于，将单词翻译成您语言中的对应单词并不是学习词汇的有效方法。这是因为它不会在大脑中建立牢固的连接，而这对于记忆信息至关重要。
To really learn words, you have to bring attention to them and connect them with mental images or your existing knowledge. This helps your brain recall words quickly and easily when you need them. On today’s Education Tips, we will discuss three methods that use images to retain vocabulary.
要真正学习单词，您必须集中注意力并将它们与心理图像或现有知识联系起来。这可以帮助您的大脑在需要时快速轻松地回忆起单词。在今天的教育技巧中，我们将讨论三种使用图像来保留词汇的方法。
1-Use pictures
1-使用图片
First, let’s discuss the most straightforward method: Using pictures as visual aids.
首先，我们讨论最直接的方法：使用图片作为视觉辅助工具。
Danielle Zelin is an English teacher and teacher trainer. She has taught for nearly 25 years, including in South Africa, Latvia and Mauritius, her homeland.
Danielle Zelin 是一名英语教师和教师培训师。她已教书近 25 年，足迹遍及南非、拉脱维亚和她的祖国毛里求斯。
Zelin says visual aids are important for language learners because humans think in images.
泽林说，视觉教具对于语言学习者来说很重要，因为人类以图像方式思考。
“When we hear a sentence...[when] somebody is talking to us, we see the pictures. We don’t see the words. We don’t see the sentence in our brain. Like ‘Yesterday, I went to the beach.’ If I tell you that, you will see me on the beach. You will not see the sentence in written form.” She uses pictures or images with her beginning students and some of her mid-level students.
“当我们听到一句话……有人对我们说话时，我们会看到图片。我们看不到文字。我们大脑中看不到句子。就像‘昨天，我去了海滩。’如果我告诉你，你会在海滩上看到我。你不会看到书面形式的句子。”她使用初级学生和一些中级学生的图片或图像。
Cristiane Galvão has used pictures to teach vocabulary to students of every level, from grade school to the university level.
Cristiane Galvão 使用图片向从小学到大学各个级别的学生教授词汇。
Galvão, who is based in California, has taught English for 20 years, including in the United States and Brazil.
Galvão 居住在加利福尼亚州，拥有 20 年的英语教学经验，曾在美国和巴西任教。
She suggests learners make visual dictionaries with pictures from the internet, for example. This would involve writing an English word next to its image. Before you make the dictionary, think about your goals, she says. If the goal is to reinforce what you already learned about, put the words in alphabetical order. And organize them into related groups. But if the goal is to write a sentence using each new word, then you probably do not need to put the words into groups.
例如，她建议学习者用互联网上的图片制作视觉词典。这需要在其图像旁边写一个英文单词。她说，在编写词典之前，请考虑一下您的目标。如果目标是巩固您已经学到的内容，请将单词按字母顺序排列。并将他们组织成相关的组。但如果目标是使用每个新单词写一个句子，那么您可能不需要将单词分组。
2-Use mnemonics tools
2-使用助记工具
Next, let’s talk about mnemonics.
接下来，我们来谈谈助记符。
These are mental tools you can use to recall information better. Most mnemonics tools involve creating mental imagery to trigger your memory. Some of you have probably already done this without realizing there is a name for it.
这些是你可以用来更好地回忆信息的心理工具。大多数助记工具都涉及创建心理意象来触发你的记忆。你们中的一些人可能已经这样做了，但没有意识到它有一个名字。
One great mnemonics tool is keywords. This involves making a mental image that ties two similar-sounding words together.
关键字是一种很好的助记工具。这涉及到制作一个将两个发音相似的单词联系在一起的心理图像。
Take the word “bald” as an example. It means having little or no hair. The word “ball” sounds like “bald” and can help us remember the target word. In your mind, make a mental picture of a ball with a face on it. Then, picture it with no hair on top, maybe a little on the sides. Keep this image in your mind for maybe 15 seconds. The next time you try to recall “bald,” it will be easier because of the keyword and connected imagery.
以“秃头”一词为例。这意味着头发很少或没有。 “球”这个词听起来像“秃头”，可以帮助我们记住目标词。在脑海中想象一个上面有脸的球。然后，想象一下它的顶部没有头发，侧面可能有一点。将这个图像留在你的脑海中大约 15 秒。下次你尝试回忆“秃头”时，由于关键词和相关的图像，它会更容易。
Alex Mullen is a biomedical engineer and one of the world’s top memory competitors. In 2016, he was the USA Memory Champion. Mullen calls the mnemonics keywords tool “the art of memory” because your mind makes a kind of picture stories.
亚历克斯·马伦 (Alex Mullen) 是一名生物医学工程师，也是世界顶尖的内存竞争者之一。 2016年，他获得美国记忆冠军。马伦将助记关键字工具称为“记忆的艺术”，因为你的大脑会创造出一种图画故事。
In his video on mnemonics keywords, he talks about remembering the target word “ corral ” by joining its imagery with an image of a sea coral . He draws a group of stick figures trapped -- or corralled – in a coral. In real life, you would probably make a mental image rather than a drawing. But Mullen’s drawing demonstrates the idea of connecting a mental image of the target word with its keyword.
在他的助记关键词视频中，他谈到通过将目标单词“corral”与海珊瑚的图像结合起来来记住目标单词“corral”。他画了一组被困在珊瑚中的简笔画。在现实生活中，您可能会制作一个心理图像而不是一幅画。但马伦的画展示了将目标词的心理图像与其关键词联系起来的想法。
3-Use word maps
3-使用单词图
One final method for today is word maps, also known as semantic maps or word webs.
今天的最后一种方法是词图，也称为语义图或词网。
In a word map, you write a central word or idea in the middle and connect it with lines to related words. This helps to build mental associations between related ideas.
在单词地图中，您在中间写下中心单词或想法，然后用线条将其与相关单词连接起来。这有助于在相关想法之间建立心理联系。
Danielle Zelin gives the example of the word “sharp.” If you center that word, you can connect it to words of things that are sharp, such as knife, paper and scissors.
Danielle Zelin 举了“sharp”这个词的例子。如果你将这个词居中，你可以将它与锋利的事物的词联系起来，比如刀、纸和剪刀。
Zelin says words are much easier to remember when they have meaning in your own life. For instance, one of her French students has an English-speaking dentist. So, she learned words that she needed for her recent dental visit.
泽林说，当单词对你自己的生活有意义时，它们会更容易记住。例如，她的一位法国学生有一位会说英语的牙医。因此，她学会了最近看牙医所需的单词。
Cristiane Galvão also says that context is important. She uses word maps in the classroom only after she has already discussed a subject and shown pictures. This makes the words meaningful before putting them into map form. Otherwise, she says, you are just reading and memorizing words, which is a bad idea.
Cristiane Galvão 还表示，背景很重要。只有在讨论了某个主题并展示了图片后，她才会在课堂上使用单词图。这使得这些词在变成地图形式之前变得有意义。否则，她说，你只是在阅读和记忆单词，这是一个坏主意。
“Vocabulary is a big part of language learning. So, the more meaningful it is, the easier it is for the student to absorb .”
“词汇是语言学习的重要组成部分。因此，词汇越有意义，学生就越容易吸收。”
Galvão says not every student will learn through a word map. But the maps can help you visualize and create a method that works for you.
加尔旺说，并不是每个学生都会通过单词图来学习。但这些地图可以帮助您可视化并创建适合您的方法。