怎樣成爲像福爾摩斯一樣思考的人(下)
Paint by numbers
按部就班
When it comes to remembering numbers or binary digits, each competitor has their own system for converting these items into images. Mullen, for instance, uses a "two-card" system for memorising a pack of cards. It involves converting suits and numbers in phonetic sounds. Take the seven of diamonds and the five of spades, for example. The diamond and the spade together create an 'm' sound, he says. The seven is converted to a 'k' sound and the five is an 'l'. Although it's not immediately obvious where each sound comes from, they are in fact based on a code that someone else thought up a long time ago, says Mullen. "Once you've got your m, k and l, you just make up an image which fits those letters - they reminded me of the word Michael, so when I see that pair of cards I think of Michael Jordan." He says he has another trick which halves the 2,704 possible pair combinations, but he didn't want to go into details.
要記住數字或二進制數字，參賽者各自都有將這些數字轉換爲影像的不同體系。例如，馬倫會利用"雙卡"系統記憶一副撲克牌。這需要按語音轉換牌面花色和數字。以方片 7 和黑桃 5 爲例。他說，方片（diamond）和黑桃（spade）一起會產生一個"m"音。7（seven）可轉換爲"k"音，而 5（five）可以轉換爲"l"音。馬倫表示，儘管每個音的來源並不是很明顯，但實際上它們都基於一種別人很早以前就想出來的代碼。"在得到 m、k 和 l 後，就能針對這些字母構思影像，它們會讓我想起 Michael（邁克爾）一詞，於是，在我看到一對撲克牌時，想到的就是邁克爾·喬丹。"他說，自己還有另一種技巧，可將 2,704 對可能的撲克牌組合分爲兩半，但他不願詳述這種技巧。
Mullen won the world title from Jonas Von Essen. Like Mullen, Von Essen also discovered a love of memorising things late in life. "I was wandering around a library and saw a book that said you can improve your memory and thought it sounded cool, because I really wanted a better memory so that I could be better at school and exams," he says.
馬倫在比賽中戰勝選手喬納斯·馮·埃森（Jonas Von Essen），贏得冠軍。與馬倫一樣，埃森發現自己的記憶愛好也很晚。他表示，"我在圖書館徘徊時發現了一本書，書上說，記憶力是能改善的，我覺得這會很不錯，因爲我真的需要改善記憶力，才能在學校考試中取得好成績"。
Almost immediately I realised I could memorise more things than I ever dreamed possible
我幾乎馬上就意識到，自己能記住的東西超出了夢寐以求的數量
Von Essen, a student at the University of Gothenburg, tried out a few of the techniques - the benefits were instantaneous: "Almost immediately I realised I could memorise more things than I ever dreamed possible," he says. His first competition was the Swedish memory Championship in 2012, which he won. He went on to become world memory champion in 2013 and 2014.
埃森是瑞典哥德堡大學的一名學生，他嘗試了幾種不同的記憶術，並且馬上就從中獲益：他表示，"我幾乎馬上就意識到，自己能記住的東西超出了夢寐以求的數量。"他先參加了 2012 年瑞典記憶力錦標賽，最終贏得冠軍。隨後，他又參加了 2013 年和 2014 年的世界記憶力錦標賽。
Von Essen uses a slightly different technique to remember cards. He has an image that he associates with each individual card, which he groups into sets of three, before placing them on a short walk through his house. "So I might start at the front door," he says. "Say it's the four of hearts, the nine of hearts and the eight of clubs - I'd open the front door and see an image of Sherlock Holmes playing the guitar and eating a hamburger. Then I'd walk into the hall and create a new scene with the next three cards."
埃森記憶撲克牌的方法與馬倫略有不同。他會將不同的撲克牌與某種影像聯繫起來，他還將這些牌分爲三組，然後他會在家裏隨意走動放置這些牌。他說："我會從前門開始，比如，紅心 4、紅心 9 和梅花 8，我打開前門，會看到福爾摩斯彈吉他和吃漢堡的情景。然後，我會走到客廳，用隨後的三張牌構思另一個情景"。
What's your favourite restaurant?
你最喜歡的餐廳是哪家？
Memory palaces can be anywhere - hotels, houses, routes to work, restaurants, a favourite holiday, a park or a train ride. "If you sit and think about it for a moment you can come up with hundreds of locations that you know pretty well," says Mullen.
記憶宮殿無處不在：酒店、家裏、上班路上、餐廳、喜歡的假日、公園或者乘火車途中。馬倫表示："只要坐下稍微想一下，你就能想起自己十分熟悉的成百上千個地點"。
Both of the world champions use specific mind palaces for things they want to remember in the short term - like a pack of cards - and things they want to remember forever. "So for the five-minute number competition I use the same two palaces, then re-use them the next time," says Mullen. "Because I don't want to remember a five-minute event I did two years ago. But when I'm learning things for school, say drugs that treat stomach disorders, I'll fill up a palace and not use it for anything other than related information."
兩名世界冠軍都使用了特殊的記憶宮殿，這幫助他們記住在短時間內要記住的東西（比如一副撲克牌）或記住永遠不會忘的東西。馬倫說，"五分鐘的數字記憶比賽中，我會使用同樣的兩個記憶宮殿，而下次我還會再用到它們，因爲我不想記住自己兩年前只要記住五分鐘的東西。但對於我在學校學到的東西，比如治療胃病的藥物，我會將它們填滿一個記憶宮殿，除過相關信息，其他東西不會都佔用這個宮殿。"
'Does it work every time? Doesn't your mind ever go blank?' I asked both competitors. No, was the answer. "If you've put it in your mind palace, it's always safe," says Von Essen.
"這樣做每次都管用嗎？難道你的大腦不會有一片空白的時候嗎？"我向兩名參賽者提出了同樣的問題。不會發生這樣的情況，他們都這樣回答。埃森表示，"在將什麼東西放在記憶宮殿後，它就一定是安全的"。
Another thing they agree on is that the gift of extraordinary memory is nothing special - anyone can learn how to do it to a fairly decent standard. Mullen trained just half-an-hour to an hour each day in preparation for the World Championships. Von Essen also trained for small amounts of time each day, before gearing up to five hours a day just before competitions.
還有一點兩人也一致贊同，即超凡的記憶力並沒有什麼特別，任何人通過學習都能達到相當高的水平。爲參加世界記憶力錦標賽，馬倫每天只抽出半小時到一小時時間訓練。埃森每天訓練的時間也很短，隨後也只是在參賽前將訓練延長到每天最多五個小時。
Von Essen has taken a break from competing, but he's hoping to break a world record next year for memorising pi. So far he's reached 10,000 digits, but by next year, he hopes to have increased that to 100,000 digits.
埃森暫時休賽，但他希望在來年的圓周率 π 記憶大賽上打破世界記錄。目前，他已經能記到 10,000 位數，他希望來年自己能記到 100,000 位數。
Mullen can't make a living out of his title. "There's prize money but not enough to live on," he says, so is instead concentrating on using his techniques to help him - and others - through school. "I do my best to promote the techniques to others because they are really useful for everyday life. I'm trying to show people how to use the techniques for learning more generally, rather than just for competitions," he says. "I like the whole competitive process, but I think there's a lot more you can gain from using these techniques in different areas of your life."
馬倫無法靠自己的冠軍名號謀生。他主要利用記憶術在學習中幫助自己或者他人。他表示："比賽會有獎金，但靠這個爲生是不夠的。我儘自己的努力推廣記憶術，因爲它們在日常生活中真的非常有用。我還會向人們示範在學習中一般要怎樣利用這些記憶術，而不是僅僅侷限在比賽當中。我的確喜歡比賽的過程，但我認爲，在生活中的不同方面利用這些記憶術都能從中受益。"
Von Essen agrees. It's like riding a bike, he says. It seems difficult and impressive if you haven't tried it, but with a bit of practice, anyone can do it. "You don't have to become a world champion to have a much better memory than normal," he says, "same as you don't have to win the Tour de France to get to the store faster than walking."
埃森對此表示贊同。他表示，這就像騎自行車。看起來似乎很難，但如果你嘗試去做，然後再多加練習，任何人都做得到。他表示："你並不是爲了獲得記憶力世界冠軍纔要有超常的記憶力，這就像你不是爲了獲得環法自行車賽冠軍才騎自行車一樣。你選擇騎自行車去商店是因爲它比走路要快"。
