CHAPTER II
第二章
ATTENTION
注意力
How do you rank in mental ability, and how effective are your mind's grasp and power? The answer that must be given to these questions will depend not more on your native endowment than on your skill in using attention.
你的心智能力如何，你的心智把握和力量有多有效？这些问题的答案更多地取决于你使用注意力的技能，而不是你的天赋。
1. NATURE OF ATTENTION
注意力的本质
It is by attention that we gather and mass our mental energy upon the critical and important points in our thinking. In the last chapter we saw that consciousness is not distributed evenly over the whole field, but "piled up," now on this object of thought, now on that, in obedience to interest or necessity. The concentration of the mind's energy on one object of thought is attention.
正是通过注意力，我们将精神能量聚集并集中在思维中的关键和重要点上。在最后一章中，我们看到意识并不是均匀地分布在整个领域，而是“堆积”起来的，服从于兴趣或必要性，一会儿在这个思想对象上，一会儿又在那个对象上。心智的能量集中在一个思想对象上就是注意力。
The Nature of Attention.—Everyone knows what it is to attend. The story so fascinating that we cannot leave it, the critical points in a game, the interesting sermon or lecture, the sparkling conversation—all these compel our attention. So completely is our mind's energy centered on them and withdrawn from other things that we are scarcely aware of what is going on about us.
注意力的本质--每个人都知道需要注意什么。一则让人无法摆脱的引人入胜的故事，游戏中的最让人兴奋的关键阶段，有趣的布道或讲座，精彩的对话——所有这些都吸引了我们的注意力。我们大脑的能量完全集中在它们身上，从其他事情中抽离出来，以至于我们几乎不知道自己周边正在发生什么。
We are also familiar with another kind of attention. For we all have read the dull story, watched the slow game, listened to the lecture or sermon that drags, and taken part in conversation that was a bore. We gave these things our attention, but only with effort. Our mind's energy seemed to center on anything rather than the matter in hand. A thousand objects from outside enticed us away, and it required the frequent "mental jerk" to bring us to the subject in hand. And when brought back to our thought problem we felt the constant "tug" of mind to be free again.
我们还熟悉另一种注意力。因为我们都读过无聊的故事，看过慢节奏的比赛，听过拖沓的讲座或布道，参加过无聊的对话。我们对这些事情同样给予注意，但只是付出了努力。我们大脑的能量似乎集中在其他事上，而不是当前的事。来自外部的各类事务引诱我们漂移注意力，这需要频繁的“精神冲动”才能把我们拉回到当前的主题。当我们用努力唤回注意的时候，我们感到不断的“拉扯”，注意力似乎想要再次获得自由。
Normal Consciousness Always in a State of Attention. —But this very effort of the mind to free itself from one object of thought that it may busy itself with another is because attention is solicited by this other. Some object in our field of consciousness is always exerting an appeal for attention; and to attend to one thing is always to attend away from a multitude of other things upon which the thought might rest. We may therefore say that attention is constantly selecting in our stream of thought those aspects that are to receive emphasis and consideration. From moment to moment it determines the points at which our mental energy shall be centered.
正常的意识总是处于关注状态--但是，心智将自己从一个可能忙于另一个思维对象中解放出来所要做出的努力，是因为注意力是由另一个引起的。我们意识领域中的某个物体总是在吸引注意力；关注一件事总是意味着远离思想可能对许多其他事情的停留。因此，我们可以说，注意力在我们的思想流中不断地选择那些需要强调和考虑的方面。它每时每刻都决定着我们精神能量的中心点。
2. THE EFFECTS OF ATTENTION
2.注意力的影响
Attention Makes Its Object Clear and Definite.—Whatever attention centers upon stands out sharp and clear in consciousness. Whether it be a bit of memory, an "air-castle," a sensation from an aching tooth, the reasoning on an algebraic formula, a choice which we are making, the setting of an emotion—whatever be the object to which we are attending, that object is illumined and made to stand out from its fellows as the one prominent thing in the mind's eye while the attention rests on it. It is like the one building which the searchlight picks out among a city full of buildings and lights up, while the remainder are left in the semilight or in darkness.
注意力使其对象清晰明确--无论注意力集中在什么地方，都会在意识中脱颖而出，清晰明了。无论是一点记忆，一座“空中城堡”，一颗疼痛的牙齿的感觉，代数公式的推理，我们正在做出的选择，一种情绪的设定——无论我们所关注的对象是什么，当注意力停留在它身上时，这个对象都会被照亮，并成为大脑眼中最突出的东西。这就像探照灯在一座充满建筑和灯光的城市中挑选出的一座建筑，而其余的建筑则被留在半亮或黑暗中。
Attention Measures Mental Efficiency.—In a state of attention the mind may be likened to the rays of the sun which have been passed through a burning glass. You may let all the rays which can pass through your window pane fall hour after hour upon the paper lying on your desk, and no marked effects follow. But let the same amount of sunlight be passed through a lens and converged to a point the size of your pencil point, and the paper will at once burst into flame. What the diffused rays could not do in hours or in ages is now accomplished in seconds. Likewise the mind, allowed to scatter over many objects, can accomplish but little. We may sit and dream away an hour or a day over a page or a problem without securing results. But let us call in our wits from their wool-gathering and "buckle down to it" with all our might, withdrawing our thoughts from everything else but this one thing, and concentrating our mind on it. More can now be accomplished in minutes than before in hours. Nay, things which could not be accomplished at all before now become possible.
注意力衡量心理效率--在一种专注的状态下，心灵可以被比作穿过燃烧的玻璃的阳光。你可以让所有可以穿过窗格的光线一小时又一小时地落在桌子上的纸上，不会产生明显的效果。但是，让同样多的阳光穿过透镜，汇聚到铅笔尖大小的点上，纸就会立刻燃烧起来。漫射光线在数小时或数年内无法完成的事情，现在只需几秒钟就能完成。同样，大脑被允许分散在许多物体上，所能完成的也很少。我们可能会坐着，为一页纸或一个问题做一个小时或一天的梦，却无法确保结果。但是，让我们从漫不经心中振作起来，竭尽全力“全力以赴”，把我们的思想从除这一件事之外的其他事情中抽离出来，集中精力做这件事。现在几分钟内可以完成的事情比以前几小时内完成的要多。不，以前根本不能完成的事情现在变成了可能。
Again, the mind may be compared to a steam engine which is constructed to run at a certain pressure of steam, say one hundred and fifty pounds to the square inch of boiler surface. Once I ran such an engine; and well I remember a morning during my early apprenticeship when the foreman called for power to run some of the lighter machinery, while my steam gauge registered but seventy-five pounds. "Surely," I thought, "if one hundred and fifty pounds will run all this machinery, seventy-five pounds should run half of it," so I opened the valve. But the powerful engine could do but little18 more than turn its own wheels, and refused to do the required work. Not until the pressure had risen above one hundred pounds could the engine perform half the work which it could at one hundred and fifty pounds. And so with our mind. If it is meant to do its best work under a certain degree of concentration, it cannot in a given time do half the work with half the attention. Further, there will be much which it cannot do at all unless working under full pressure. We shall not be overstating the case if we say that as attention increases in arithmetical ratio, mental efficiency increases in geometrical ratio. It is in large measure a difference in the power of attention which makes one man a master in thought and achievement and another his humble follower. One often hears it said that "genius is but the power of sustained attention," and this statement possesses a large element of truth.
同样，大脑可以被比作蒸汽机，它被构造成在一定的蒸汽压力下运行，比如说150磅/平方英寸的锅炉表面。有一次我运行了这样一台发动机。我还记得我学徒早期的一个早晨，工头叫人给一些较轻的机器供电，而我的蒸汽表显示只有75磅。“当然，” 我想，“如果150英镑能运行所有这些机器，那么75英镑应该能运行其中的一半，”于是我打开了阀门。但这台强大的发动机除了转动自己的车轮外，只能做很少的事情，而且拒绝做必要的工作。直到压力上升到100磅以上，发动机才能完成150磅时的一半功。我们的思想也是如此。如果它想在一定程度的专注下完成最好的工作，那么它不可能在给定的时间内以一半的注意力完成一半的工作。此外，除非在充分的压力下工作，否则它将有很多事情根本做不到。如果我们说，随着注意力在算术比例上的增加，心理效率在几何比例上的提高，我们就不会夸大这种情况。在很大程度上，正是注意力的力量的差异使一个人成为思想和成就的大师，而另一个人成为谦逊的追随者。人们经常听到有人说“天才只是持续关注的力量”，这句话包含了很大的真理成分。
3. HOW WE ATTEND
3.如何集中注意力
Someone has said that if our attention is properly trained we should be able "to look at the point of a cambric needle for half an hour without winking." But this is a false idea of attention. The ability to look at the point of a cambric needle for half an hour might indicate a very laudable power of concentration; but the process, instead of enlightening us concerning the point of the needle, would result in our passing into a hypnotic state. Voluntary attention to any one object can be sustained for but a brief time—a few seconds at best. It is essential that the object change, that we turn it over and over incessantly, and consider its various aspects and relations. Sustained voluntary attention is thus a repetition of successive efforts to bring back the object to the mind. Then the subject grows and develops—it is living, not dead.
有人说，如果我们的注意力得到了适当的训练，我们应该能够“看着细麻针的尖端半个小时而不眨眼”。但这是一种错误的注意力观念。能够盯着细麻针的尖端看半个小时，这可能表明了一种非常值得称赞的专注力；但这个过程非但没有启发我们关于针尖的问题，反而会导致我们进入催眠状态。对任何一个物体的自愿关注都可以持续很短的时间——最多几秒钟。至关重要的是，对象要改变，我们要不断地把它翻过来，并考虑它的各个方面和关系。因此，持续的自愿关注是不断努力将物体带回脑海的重复。然后该对象成长和发展——它是活的，而不是死的。
Attention a Relating Activity.—When we are attending strongly to one object of thought it does not mean that consciousness sits staring vacantly at this one object, but rather that it uses it as a central core of thought, and thinks into relation with this object the things which belong with it. In working out some mathematical solution the central core is the principle upon which the solution is based, and concentration in this case consists in thinking the various conditions of the problem in relation to this underlying principle. In the accompanying diagram (Fig. 4) let A be the central core of some object of thought, say a patch of cloud in a picture, and let a, b, c, d, etc., be the related facts, or the shape, size, color, etc., of the cloud. The arrows indicate the passing of our thought from cloud to related fact, or from related fact to cloud, and from related fact to related fact. As long as these related facts lead back to the cloud each time, that long we are attending to the cloud and thinking about it. It is when our thought fails to go back that we "wander" in our attention. Then we leave a, b, c, d, etc., which are related to the cloud, and, flying off to x, y, and z, finally bring up heaven knows where.
注意力是一种相关的活动--当我们强烈关注一个思想对象时，这并不意味着意识茫然地凝视着这个对象，而是将其作为思想的核心，并思考与其相关的事物之间的联系。在求解一些数学解时，核心是思考题解所基于的原理，在这种情况下，专注在于思考与这一基本原则相关的问题的各种条件。在附图中（图4），假设A是某个思想对象的核心，比如说图片中的一片云，假设A、b、c、d等是云的相关事实，或者云的形状、大小、颜色等。箭头表示我们的思想从云到相关事实，或者从相关事实到云，从相关事实再到相关事实。只要这些相关的事实每次都指向云，那么我们关注云并思考它的时间就很长。当我们的思想无法回头时，我们的注意力就会“漂移”。我们会漂移与云相关的a、b、c、d等，然后飞到x、y和z，最后不知道飞到哪里去了。
The Rhythms of Attention.—Attention works in rhythms. This is to say that it never maintains a constant level of concentration for any considerable length of time, but regularly ebbs and flows. The explanation of this rhythmic action would take us too far afield at this point. When we remember, however, that our entire organism works within a great system of rhythms—hunger, thirst, sleep, fatigue, and many others—it is easy to see that the same law may apply to attention. The rhythms of attention vary greatly, the fluctuations often being only a few seconds apart for certain simple sensations, and probably a much greater distance apart for the more complex process of thinking. The seeming variation in the sound of a distant waterfall, now loud and now faint, is caused by the rhythm of attention and easily allows us to measure the rhythm for this particular sensation.
注意力的节奏--注意力是有节奏的。也就是说，它从未在相当长的时间内保持恒定的浓度，而是有规律地起伏。在这一点上，对这种有节奏的动作的解释会让我们走得太远。然而，当我们记得我们的整个生物体在一个伟大的节奏系统中工作时——饥饿、口渴、睡眠、疲劳和许多其他——很容易看出，同样的规律也适用于注意力。注意力的节奏变化很大，对于某些简单的感觉，波动往往只有几秒钟的间隔，对于更复杂的思维过程，波动的间隔可能要大得多。远处瀑布声音的变化，一会儿很大，一会儿很微弱，是由注意力的节奏引起的，很容易帮助我们衡量这种特殊感觉的节奏。
4. POINTS OF FAILURE IN ATTENTION
4.注意的失败点
Lack of Concentration.—There are two chief types of inattention whose danger threatens every person. First, we may be thinking about the right things, but not thinking hard enough. We lack mental pressure. Outside thoughts which have no relation to the subject in hand may not trouble us much, but we do not attack our problem with vim. The current in our stream of consciousness is moving too slowly. We do not gather up all our mental forces and mass them on the subject before us in a way that means victory. Our thoughts may be sufficiently focused, but they fail to "set fire." It is like focusing the sun's rays while an eclipse is on. They lack energy. They will not kindle the paper after they have passed through the lens. This kind of attention means mental dawdling. It means inefficiency. For the individual it means defeat in life's battles; for the nation it means mediocrity and stagnation.
注意力不集中--注意力不集中主要有两种类型，其危险威胁着每个人。首先，我们可能在思考正确的事情，但思考不够努力。我们缺乏精神压力。与手头的主题无关的外部想法可能不会给我们带来太大麻烦，但我们不会用全部的精力来解决我们的问题。我们意识流中的电流移动得太慢了。我们不会集中所有的精神力量，以一种意味着胜利的方式把它们集中在我们面前的主题上。我们的思想可能足够集中，但它们没有“点燃”。这就像日食时想要聚焦太阳光线一样。它们缺乏能量。它们穿过透镜后不会点燃纸张。这种注意力状态意味着精神上的磨蹭。这意味着效率低下。对个人来说，这意味着在人生的战斗中失败；对一个国家来说，这意味着平庸和停滞。
A college professor said to his faithful but poorly prepared class, "Judging from your worn and tired appearance, young people, you are putting in twice too many hours on study." At this commendation the class brightened up visibly. "But," he continued, "judging from your preparation, you do not study quite half hard enough."
一位大学教授对他忠实但准备不足的同学们说：“年轻人，从你疲惫的外表来看，你花在学习上的时间是平时的两倍多。”在这次表彰中，同学们明显地兴奋起来。“但是，” 他继续说道，“从你的准备情况来看，你的学习还不够努力。”
Happy is the student who, starting in on his lesson rested and fresh, can study with such concentration that an hour of steady application will leave him mentally exhausted and limp. That is one hour of triumph for him, no matter what else he may have accomplished or failed to accomplish during the time. He can afford an occasional pause for rest, for difficulties will melt rapidly away before him. He possesses one key to successful achievement.
休息得很好，精力充沛的学生能够在上课的开始阶段全神贯注地学习，感受到快乐，持续一个小时的稳定学习后，就会精神疲惫。这对他来说是一个小时的胜利，无论他在这段时间里还完成了什么或没有完成什么。他可以偶尔停下来休息，因为困难会在他面前迅速消失。他拥有一把走向成功的钥匙。【译者：因此，我们做任何事情，要保持全神贯注，并且给自己设定时限。】
Mental Wandering.—Second, we may have good mental power and be able to think hard and efficiently on any one point, but lack the power to think in a straight line. Every stray thought that comes along is a "will-o'-the-wisp" to lead us away from the subject in hand and into lines of thought not relating to it. Who has not started in to think on some problem, and, after a few moments, been surprised to find himself miles away from the topic upon which he started! Or who has not read down a page and, turning to the next, found that he did not know a word on the preceding page, his thoughts having wandered away, his eyes only going through the process of reading! Instead of sticking to the a, b, c, d, etc., of our topic and relating them all up to A, thereby reaching a solution of the problem, we often jump at once to x, y, z, and find ourselves far afield with all possibility of a solution gone. We may have brilliant thoughts about x, y, z, but they are not related to anything in particular, and so they pass from us and are gone—lost in oblivion because they are not attached to something permanent.
精神漫游—其次，我们可能有很好的脑力，能够在任何一点上认真有效地思考，但缺乏直线思考的能力。随之而来的每一个零散的想法都是某种“难以捉摸的东西”，引导我们偏离手头的主题，进入与之无关的思路。还没有开始真正深入思考某个问题的人，要不了多久，就会惊讶地发现自己已经远远偏离开始要思考的主题！或者还没真正读懂这一页，却翻到下一页，然而忽然意识到不知刚才前一页到底写了些什么。其实，他的思想已经走神了，他的眼睛只是经历了阅读过程。我们不能围绕主题相关的a、b、c、d等，并将它们全部与A联系起来。相反，我们经常一下子跳到x、y、z，发现自己已经偏离得很远，发现不了任何解决方案。我们可能对x、y、z有很好的想法，但它们与当前特定的主题并没有关联，所以它们从我们意识中消失——消失在遗忘中，因为它们没有附着在某种永久的东西上。
Such a thinker is at the mercy of circumstances, following blindly the leadings of trains of thought which are his master instead of his servant, and which lead him anywhere or nowhere without let or hindrance from him. His consciousness moves rapidly enough and with enough force, but it is like a ship without a helm. Starting for the intellectual port A by way of a, b, c, d, he is mentally shipwrecked at last on the rocks x, y, z, and never reaches harbor. Fortunate is he who can shut out intruding thoughts and think in a straight line. Even with mediocre ability he may accomplish more by his thinking than the brilliant thinker who is constantly having his mental train wrecked by stray thoughts which slip in on his right of way.
这样的思考者受环境的摆布，盲目地遵循一些思路漫无边际的引导，这些思路是他的主人而不是仆人，不受思考者的主导。他的意识移动得足够快，有足够的力量，但它就像一艘没有舵的船。他从A、b、c、d开始前往知识港A，最终在x、y、z的岩石上遭遇了精神上的海难，再也没有到达港口。那些能把侵入的思路拒之门外，并直线思考与主题相关问题的人是幸运的。即使能力平平，他也可以通过自己的思考取得比聪明的思考者更多的成就，这些聪明的思考者的思路常常被他思考过程中的零散想法所破坏。
5. TYPES OF ATTENTION
5.注意力类型
The Three Types of Attention.—Attention may be secured in three ways: (1) It is demanded by some sudden or intense sensory stimulus or insistent idea, or (2) it follows interest, or (3) it is compelled by the will. If it comes in the first way, as from a thunderclap or a flash of light, or from the persistent attempt of some unsought idea to secure entrance into the mind, it is called involuntary attention. This form of attention is of so little importance, comparatively, in our mental life that we shall not discuss it further.
三种注意力--注意力可以通过三种方式获得：（1）一些突然或强烈的感官刺激或执着的想法引发注意，或者（2）追随着兴趣或者（3）受意志驱使。如果它是以第一种方式出现，比如来自一声霹雳或一道闪光，或者来自一些未经探索的想法持续试图进入大脑，那么它被称为非自愿注意力。相比之下，这种形式的注意力在我们的智力生活中并不重要，我们将不再进一步讨论它。【译者：日常生活中， 或者教学中，我们需要培养自己或者学生通过意志力调控注意力的能力。】
If attention comes in the second way, following interest, it is called nonvoluntary or spontaneous attention; if in the third, compelled by the will, voluntary or active attention. Nonvoluntary attention has its motive in some object external to consciousness, or else follows a more or less uncontrolled current of thought which interests us; voluntary attention is controlled from within—we decide what we shall attend to instead of letting interesting objects of thought determine it for us.
如果注意力以第二种方式出现，即跟随兴趣，则称为非自主或自发的注意力；如果在第三种情况下，出于自主或积极的意愿。非自愿注意力的动机是在意识之外的某个对象上，或者遵循我们感兴趣的或多或少不受控制的思潮；自主注意力是由内部控制的——我们决定要关注什么，而不是让有趣的认知对象来决定。
Interest and Nonvoluntary Attention.—In nonvoluntary attention the environment largely determines what we shall attend to. All that we have to do with directing this kind of attention is in developing certain lines of interest, and then the interesting things attract attention. The things we see and hear and touch and taste and smell, the things we like, the things we do and hope to do—these are the determining factors in our mental life so long as we are giving nonvoluntary attention. Our attention follows the beckoning of these things as the needle the magnet. It is no effort to attend to them, but rather the effort would be to keep from attending to them. Who does not remember reading a story, perhaps a forbidden one, so interesting that when mother called up the stairs for us to come down to attend to some duty, we replied, "Yes, in a minute," and then went on reading! We simply could not stop at that place. The minute lengthens into ten, and another call startles us. "Yes, I'm coming;" we turn just one more leaf, and are lost again. At last comes a third call in tones so imperative that it cannot be longer ignored, and we lay the book down, but open to the place where we left off, and where we hope soon to begin further to unravel the delightful mystery. Was it an effort to attend to the reading? Ah, no! it took the combined force of our will and of mother's authority to drag the attention away. This is nonvoluntary attention.
注意和非自主注意--在非自主注意力中，环境在很大程度上决定了我们应该关注什么。我们所要做的就是引导这种注意力发展某些兴趣线，然后有趣的事情占用着我们的注意力。只要我们给予非自主的关注，我们所看到、听到、触摸、品尝和闻到的东西，我们所喜欢的事情，我们所做和希望做的事情，这些都是我们心理生活中的决定因素。我们的注意力跟随着这些东西的召唤，就像针和磁铁一样。关注这些毫不费力，费力的是如何把注意力从其中抽离出来。大家都熟悉这样的场景：在阅读一个有趣的故事，或是一本禁书的时候，注意力完全投入，以至于当母亲叫我们下楼去做些事时，我们回答说：“好的，过一分钟”，然后继续阅读！我们根本无法停下来。一分钟变为十分钟，母亲突然又来叫我们，以至于我们吓了一跳。“好的，我来了。”我们只翻了一页，又沉迷进去了。最后，母亲第三次来叫，我们实在没有办法，才放下了这本书，但我们不愿意合上书，希望很快进一步解开这个令人愉快的谜团。这是为专心阅读付出的努力吗？不！我们的意志和母亲的权威共同作用才把注意力转移开。这是非自主的关注，是完全受内容的吸引而给予了注意力。（译者：从另一方面看，精选课堂教学素材，通过有趣的内容激发学生的非自主关注，减少学生意志努力的消耗，是提高教学效率的一种方式。）
Left to itself, then, attention simply obeys natural laws and follows the line of least resistance. By far the larger portion of our attention is of this type. Thought often runs on hour after hour when we are not conscious of effort or struggle to compel us to cease thinking about this thing and begin thinking about that. Indeed, it may be doubted whether this is not the case with some persons for days at a time, instead of hours. The things that present themselves to the mind are the things which occupy it; the character of the thought is determined by the character of our interests. It is this fact which makes it vitally necessary that our interests shall be broad and pure if our thoughts are to be of this type. It is not enough that we have the strength to drive from our minds a wrong or impure thought which seeks entrance. To stand guard as a policeman over our thoughts to see that no unworthy one enters, requires too much time and energy. Our interests must be of such a nature as to lead us away from the field of unworthy thoughts if we are to be free from their tyranny.
那么，注意力就顺其自然了，只是遵循自然规律，遵循阻力最小的路线。到目前为止，我们大部分注意力都是这种类型的。当我们没有意识到强迫我们停止思考这件事并开始思考那件事的努力或挣扎时，思维往往会持续一个小时又一个小时。事实上，人们可能会怀疑，对于一些人来说，情况是否并非如此，他们的注意力可能会持续几天，而不是几个小时。呈现在脑海中的事物就是占据它的事物；思维的性质是由我们兴趣的性质决定的。正是这一事实使得如果我们的思维是这种类型的，我们的兴趣就必须是广泛和纯粹的。仅靠我们有意识地把一种错误或不纯洁的思想从我们的脑海中赶走是不够的。像“警察”一样保护我们的思想，确保没有无价值内容的进入，需要耗费太多的时间和精力。如果我们要摆脱它们的专政，我们的兴趣必须具有引导我们远离无价值思想领域的特质。
The Will and Voluntary Attention.—In voluntary attention there is a conflict either between the will and interest or between the will and the mental inertia or laziness, which has to be overcome before we can think with any degree of concentration. Interest says, "Follow this line, which is easy and attractive, or which requires but little effort—follow the line of least resistance." Will says, "Quit that line of dalliance and ease, and take this harder way which I direct—cease the line of least resistance and take the one of greatest resistance." When day dreams and "castles in Spain" attempt to lure you from your lessons, refuse to follow; shut out these vagabond thoughts and stick to your task. When intellectual inertia deadens your thought and clogs your mental stream, throw it off and court forceful effort. If wrong or impure thoughts seek entrance to your mind, close and lock your mental doors to them. If thoughts of desire try to drive out thoughts of duty, be heroic and insist that thoughts of duty shall have right of way. In short, see that you are the master of your thinking, and do not let it always be directed without your consent by influences outside of yourself.
意志与自主注意力——在自主注意力中，存在一种冲突，要么是意志与兴趣之间的冲突，要么是意志与心理惰性或懒惰之间的冲突，这种冲突需要被克服，我们才能全力以赴集中思考。兴趣说：“跟随这条线路，它既简单又吸引人，或者只需很少的努力——跟随最小阻力的线路。”意志说：“放弃那条嬉戏和轻松的线路，按照我指示的这条更艰难的路线前进——停止最小阻力的线路，选择最大阻力的线路。”当白日梦和“西班牙城堡”试图引诱你离开你的课程时，拒绝跟随；关闭这些流浪的思想，坚持你的任务。当智力惰性使你的思维迟钝、阻碍你的思维流动时，摆脱它，追求有力的努力。如果错误或不纯的思想试图进入你的头脑，对它们关闭并锁上你的心理之门。如果欲望的想法试图赶走责任的想法，要勇敢，坚持责任的想法应有优先权。简言之，确保你是你自己思维的主人，不要让它在未经你同意的情况下总是被外部影响所引导。
It is just at this point that the strong will wins victory and the weak will breaks down. Between the ability to control one's thoughts and the inability to control them lies all the difference between right actions and wrong actions; between withstanding temptation and yielding to it; between an inefficient purposeless life and a life of purpose and endeavor; between success and failure. For we act in accordance with those things which our thought rests upon. Suppose two lines of thought represented by A and B, respectively, lie before you; that A leads to a course of action difficult or unpleasant, but necessary to success or duty, and that B leads to a course of action easy or pleasant, but fatal to success or duty. Which course will you follow—the rugged path of duty or the easier one of pleasure? The answer depends almost wholly, if not entirely, on your power of attention. If your will is strong enough to pull your thoughts away from the fatal but attractive B and hold them resolutely on the less attractive A, then A will dictate your course of action, and you will respond to the call for endeavor, self-denial, and duty; but if your thoughts break away from the domination of your will and allow the beckoning of your interests alone, then B will dictate your course of action, and you will follow the leading of ease and pleasure.For our actions are finally and irrevocably dictated by the things we think about.
正是在这一点上，坚强的意志取得胜利，而软弱的意志则崩溃。在控制自己思想的能力与无法控制之间，存在着正确行动与错误行动、抵抗诱惑与屈服于它、无效无目的的生活与有目标和努力的生活、成功与失败之间的所有差异。因为我们的行动是根据我们的思想所依据的事物来采取的。假设有两条思想线路分别由A和B代表，摆在你面前；A通向一条艰难或不愉快但通往成功或责任的行动道路，而B通向一条容易或愉快但对成功或责任有害的行动道路。你会跟随哪条道路——是责任的崎岖之路还是快乐的轻松之路？答案几乎完全，如果不是全部，取决于你的注意力力量。如果你的意志足够强大，能够将你的思想从致命但吸引人的B中拉出来，并坚定地保持在较不吸引人的A上，那么A将决定你的行动方向，你会响应努力、自我否定和责任的召唤；但如果你的思绪摆脱了你意志的控制，只允许你的兴趣召唤，那么B将决定你的行动方向，你将跟随轻松和快乐的引导。因为我们的行动最终且不可逆转地受到我们所思考事物的影响。
Not Really Different Kinds of Attention.—It is not to be understood, however, from what has been said, that there are really different kinds of attention. All attention denotes an active or dynamic phase of consciousness. The difference is rather in the way we secure attention; whether it is demanded by sudden stimulus, coaxed from us by interesting objects of thought without effort on our part, or compelled by force of will to desert the more interesting and take the direction which we dictate.
并非存在真正不同类型的注意力。---然而，这不应被理解为实际上存在不同类型的注意力。所有的注意力都表示意识的一种活跃或动态阶段。区别更多地在于我们如何获得注意力。它是由突然的刺激要求而来的，还是由有趣的思考对象在不费力的情况下诱导出来的，或者是通过意志力强迫自己放弃更有趣的事情，按照我们的指示给予注意。
6. IMPROVING THE POWER OF ATTENTION
6. 提高注意力的力量
While attention is no doubt partly a natural gift, yet there is probably no power of the mind more susceptible to training than is attention. And with attention, as with every other power of body and mind, the secret of its development lies in its use. Stated briefly, the only way to train attention is by attending. No amount of theorizing or resolving can take the place of practice in the actual process of attending.
虽然注意力无疑部分是天赋，但可能没有哪种心智力量比注意力更容易接受训练。对于注意力，就像身体和心智的其他所有能力一样，其发展的秘诀在于使用。简而言之，训练注意力的唯一方法就是通过关注来训练。无论多少理论化或决心都无法替代在实际关注过程中的练习。
Making Different Kinds of Attention Reënforce Each Other.—A very close relationship and interdependence exists between nonvoluntary and voluntary attention. It would be impossible to hold our attention by sheer force of will on objects which were forever devoid of interest; likewise the blind following of our interests and desires would finally lead to shipwreck in all our lives. Each kind of attention must support and reënforce the other. The lessons, the sermons, the lectures, and the books in which we are most interested, and hence to which we attend nonvoluntarily and with the least effort and fatigue, are the ones out of which, other things being equal, we get the most and remember the best and longest. On the other hand, there are sometimes lessons and lectures and books, and many things besides, which are not intensely interesting, but which should be attended to nevertheless. It is at this point that the will must step in and take command. If it has not the strength to do this, it is in so far a weak will, and steps should be taken to develop it. We are to "keep the faculty of effort alive in us by a little gratuitous exercise every day." We are to be systematically heroic in the little points of everyday life and experience. We are not to shrink from tasks because they are difficult or unpleasant. Then, when the test comes, we shall not find ourselves unnerved and untrained, but shall be able to stand in the evil day.
使不同类型的注意力相互加强。---非自主和自主注意之间存在非常紧密的联系和相互依赖关系。我们不可能仅凭意志力将注意力持久地保持在永远缺乏兴趣的对象上；同样，盲目追随我们的兴趣和欲望最终也会使我们所有人的生活陷入困境。每种注意力都必须支持和加强另一种。我们在其中最感兴趣，因此能够不费力、少疲劳地自然关注的课程、布道、讲座和书籍，是那些在其他条件相同的情况下，我们从中获得最多、记忆最深且最久的内容。另一方面，有时有些课程、讲座和书籍以及其他许多事物并不十分有趣，但我们仍然应该关注它们。此时，意志力必须介入并带领指挥。如果它没有这种力量，那它在某种程度上就是薄弱的，应该采取措施来发展它。我们要“通过每天一点无偿的练习来保持努力的能力在我们体内被激活。”我们要在日常生活和经验的小事中系统性地表现出英勇。我们不应该因为任务困难或不愉快就退缩。这样，当考验来临时，我们将发现自己不会感到紧张和未经训练，而是能够坚持度过逆境。
The Habit of Attention.—Finally, one of the chief things in training the attention is to form the habit of attending. This habit is to be formed only by attending whenever and wherever the proper thing to do is to attend, whether "in work, in play, in making fishing flies, in preparing for an examination, in courting a sweetheart, in reading a book." The lesson, or the sermon, or the lecture, may not be very interesting; but if they are to be attended to at all, our rule should be to attend to them completely and absolutely. Not by fits and starts, now drifting away and now jerking ourselves back, but all the time. And, furthermore, the one who will deliberately do this will often find the dull and uninteresting task become more interesting; but if it never becomes interesting, he is at least forming a habit which will be invaluable to him through life. On the other hand, the one who fails to attend except when his interest is captured, who never exerts effort to compel attention, is forming a habit which will be the bane of his thinking until his stream of thought shall end.
注意力的习惯。---最后，在训练注意力方面的主要事项之一是养成关注的习惯。这个习惯只能通过在适当的时候和地点关注来形成，无论是“在工作中、在玩耍时、在制作钓鱼飞蝇、在准备考试、在追求恋人、在阅读书籍时”。课程、布道、讲座可能不是特别有趣；但如果它们需要被关注，我们的原则应该是完全且绝对地关注它们。不是间歇性地，时而走神时而强行拉回自己的注意力，而是持续不断地。而且，进一步说，那些刻意这样做的人往往会发现枯燥无味的任务变得更有趣；但如果它从未变得有趣，他至少正在形成一种一生中对他无比宝贵的习惯。另一方面，那些只有在兴趣被吸引时才关注的人，那些从不努力强迫自己集中注意力的人，正在形成一种思维的祸根，这种不良习惯将让他失去积极思维的能力。
7. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION
7. 观察和内省的问题
1. Which fatigues you more, to give attention of the nonvoluntary type, or the voluntary? Which can you maintain longer? Which is the more pleasant and agreeable to give? Under which can you accomplish more? What bearing have these facts on teaching?
1. 非自主型的注意力和自主型的注意力，哪种更容易让你感到疲劳？你能维持哪种注意力更长时间？提供哪种注意力更加令人愉快和舒适？在哪种注意力下你能完成更多工作？这些事实对教学有何影响？
2. Try to follow for one or two minutes the "wave" in your consciousness, and then describe the course taken by your attention.
2. 尝试在你的意识中跟随“波浪”一到两分钟，然后描述你的注意力所采取的路径。
3. Have you observed one class alert in attention, and another lifeless and inattentive? Can you explain the causes lying back of this difference? Estimate the relative amount of work accomplished under the two conditions.
3. 你是否观察过一个班级中注意力集中，而另一个班级却无精打采、心不在焉？你能解释这种差异背后的原因吗？估计在这两种情况下完成的工作量的相对比例。
4. What distractions have you observed in the schoolroom tending to break up attention?
4. 在学校教室里，你观察到了哪些分散注意力的因素？
5. Have you seen pupils inattentive from lack of (1) change, (2) pure air, (3) enthusiasm on the part of the teacher, (4) fatigue, (5) ill health?
5. 你是否见过学生因为以下原因而注意力不集中：（1）缺乏变化，（2）空气不流通，（3）教师缺乏热情，（4）疲劳，（5）健康不佳？
6. Have you noticed a difference in the habit of attention in different pupils? Have you noticed the same thing for whole schools or rooms?
6. 你是否注意到不同学生在注意力习惯上的差异？你是否注意到整个学校或教室都有相同的情况？
7. Do you know of children too much given to daydreaming? Are you?
7. 你是否知道有些孩子过于沉迷于白日梦？你呢？
8. Have you seen a teacher rap the desk for attention? What type of attention was secured? Does it pay?
8. 你见过老师为了引起注意而敲击桌子吗？这样获得了哪种类型的注意力？这样做值得吗？
9. Have you observed any instance in which pupils' lack of attention should be blamed on the teacher? If so, what was the fault? The remedy?
9. 你是否观察到学生缺乏注意力应该归咎于老师的情况？如果有，问题出在哪里？解决办法是什么？
10. Visit a school room or a recitation, and then write an account of the types and degrees of attention you observed. Try to explain the factors responsible for any failures in attention, and also those responsible for the good attention shown.
10. 参观一个教室或听一堂课，然后写下你所观察到的注意力类型和程度。尝试解释注意力不集中的原因，以及表现出良好注意力的原因。
