This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

    Some students get so nervous before a test, they do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers.
    一些学生在考前会非常紧张。即使他们了解相关知识,也会考得不好。伊利诺伊州芝加哥大学的心理学教授沙恩·贝洛克(Sian Beilock)对这些考前高度紧张的考生进行了研究。

    SIAN BEILOCK: "They start worrying about the consequences. They might even start worrying about whether this exam is going to prevent them from getting into the college they want. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources. I talk about it as your cognitive horsepower that you could otherwise be using to focus on the exam."
    贝洛克:“他们开始为考试结果担心,他们甚至开始担心这次考试是否会妨碍他们进入自己想去的大学。当我们担忧时,实际上会消耗注意力和记忆力这些脑力资源,你本可使用这些脑力资源在考试中集中精力。”

    Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.
    贝洛克教授和另一位研究者赫拉尔·拉米雷斯(Gerardo Ramirez)已经探索出一种可能的解决方案。考试前夕,高度紧张的考生可以花十来分钟写下他们对考试的担忧。

    SIAN BEILOCK: "What we think happens is when students put it down on paper, they think about the worst that could happen and they reappraise the situation. They might realize it's not as bad as they might think it was before and, in essence, it prevents these thoughts from popping up -- from ruminating -- when they're actually taking a test."
    贝洛克:“我们认为,当学生将它们写到纸上,他们考虑到了最坏的情况并重新做出评估。他们可能意识到,情况并没有他们之前想的那么糟糕。一言以蔽之,通过仔细考虑,当他们开始考试时可以防止那些焦虑的想法跳出来。”

    The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
    研究人员就该设想在20名紧张的大学生身上进行了测试。他们对这些学生进行了2次简短的数学测试。第一次测试过后,他们要求这些学生要么静坐,要么写下对即将进行的第2次测试的感受。

    The researchers added to the pressure. They told the students that those who did well on the second test would get money. They also told them that their performance would affect other students as part of a team effort.
    研究人员还增加了学生们的压力。他们告诉学生们,在第2次测试中成绩更好的学生将获得奖学金。同时作为团队的一部分,学生个人的表现还将影响到同组的其他学生。

    Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of twelve percent worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of five percent.
    贝洛克教授称,在第2场测试中,那些静静坐着的学生们的平均成绩降低了12%,而那些写下担忧的学生们的平均成绩提高了5%。

    Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test.
    接下来,研究人员选用了一些上生物课的年轻学生。他们告诉这些学生们,期末考试之前,他们要么写下自己(对即将进行的考试)的感受,要么想一些和考试无关的东西。

    Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B- for those who did not.
    贝洛克教授表示,在那些高度紧张的学生中,将自己的感受写下来的学生们的平均成绩是B+,而没有写的学生们的平均成绩是B-。

    SIAN BEILOCK: "What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who'd done our writing intervention, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance. Those students most prone to worry were performing just as well as their classmates who don't normally get nervous in these testing situations."
    贝洛克:“我们发现,对高度紧张的考生来说,进行了写作干预后,考试焦虑和表现之间的联系突然消失。这样,这些倾向于考前焦虑的学生的表现便和正常考生一样了。”

    But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam or presentation? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.
    但是,如果考生们在考试或演讲之前没有机会将自己的担忧写下来呢?贝洛克教授说,学生们可以在家中或图书馆中自己进行,这样仍然可以改善表现。

    The researchers wrote about their findings in the journal Science.
    研究人员在《科学》杂志上发表了他的研究结果。