美国人为了更快地学外语，居然要改造大脑？_公共英语阅读理解

美国人为了更快地学外语，居然要改造大脑？

It's not easy being a soldier or a spy: you have to immerse yourself in dangerous situations, assess intelligence in the field, speak foreign languages, and handle all kinds of technical equipment and weaponry.

当个士兵或者间谍可并不容易：你得把自己置身于危险的环境中、在前线收集情报、讲外语，还得操弄各种技术装备和武器。

Learning how to do all of that takes a lot of training, which is why the research wing of the US Department of Defence wants to figure out ways to make its workers learn these vital skills quicker – even if they have to zap them to do it.

要学会这些，你得接受大量的训练；而因为这个原因，美国国防部的研究团队打算找出一个方法，好让他们的雇员能够更快地学会这些至关重要的技能——就算得把他们折腾死也在所不惜。

美国人为了更快地学外语，居然要改造大脑？1

To explore these possibilities, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has just awarded more than an estimated US$50 million in funding to eight teams looking into how electrical stimulation of the nervous system can help facilitate learning.

为了探索这些可能性，国防高级研究设计局刚刚给8个团队提供了预估相当于50,000美金的资金，这8个团队正在研究如何通过对神经系统进行电刺激来提高学习能力。

The four-year program, called Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (TNT), aims to identify safe and optimal neurostimulation methods that can activate what's called synaptic plasticity – the ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken, and by doing so, learn how to do new things and make memories.