Linda Hale Bucklin, a 63-year-old writer, signed up on the spot when she saw a new “gym for the brain” in her neighborhood here. She now works out three times a week and credits a computer “visual processing” program for helping her find her car keys faster and sharpen her tennis skills.
现年63岁的作家琳达?巴克林看见自己所在的社区新开了一家“健脑倶乐部”，当场办了张 卡。现在,她每周去那里3次，通过电脑学习一个“视觉处理”课程，从而可以帮助她更快地找到汽车 钥匙，并能提髙自己的网球技巧。
Vibrant Brains, the business that drew her in, has attracted about 200 members since December 2007, according to its owners. Patrons pay $ 60 a month to work out on 20 computer stations loaded with “mental fitness” software, including a “neurobics circuit” that purports to stretch the brain. Ms. Bucklin says she，s addicted to an art-auction game that displays a dozen Monets for purchase. “Then they’ll intersperse them with other Monets, and you have to tell them apart,” she says. “I minored in art history, and I still find it difficult.”
她加入的是活力大脑健脑俱乐部。据老板讲，从2007年12月起，俱乐部已吸引了约200名会员。会员每月支付60美元,就可以使用由20个电脑工作站构成的设施。电 脑上安装了 “脑部锻炼”软件,包括一个据说可以锻炼大脑的“神经 操”程序。琳达说,她迷上了一个艺术品拍卖游戏。这款游戏先展示十 几张将要拍卖的莫奈名画，然后插人其他一些莫奈的画,让你分出哪 些是要拍卖的。她说广我大学辅修艺术史，但仍觉得这个游戏很难。”
Thousands of Americans are choosing to join a small, but growing number of “brain gyms” springing up around the country. Similar brain-teaser programs are available on home computers, sometimes free of charge. The scientific jury is still out on the efficacy of such software.
成千上万的美国人正在选择加入“健脑俱乐部”。这些俱乐部的 规模较小,但正如雨后春笋般在美国各地涌现出来。类似的脑部锻 炼软件在家庭电脑上也有，有时甚至是免费的。而科学界对于此类 软件的效果还没有一个定论。
Sparks of Genius, in Boca Raton, is a Florida start-up drawing older adults with “scientific-based brain-fitness workouts.” In southern California, a dozen “Nifty after Fifty” fitness clubs are combining traditional exercise with time in front of computer screens, claiming mental calisthenics work best after physical exercise.
佛罗里达州博卡拉顿市的新兴企业天才火花公司面向老年人 提供“科学的健脑运动”。在南加州，十几所“老当益壮”健身俱乐部 正在把传统健身项目与坐在电脑前的脑部保健项目结合起来，声称 在健身后进行健脑最为有效。
Brain exercise is spreading beyond gym walls, too. In Chicago, “Marbles: The Brain Store” offers classes on improving mental health. The New England Cognitive Center, a nonprofit group in Hartford, Conn., is teaching trainers to take its program to community centers around the country. More than 700 retirement communities have added computerized brain-fitness centers in the past three years, according to Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder of Sharp Brains Inc., a firm that surveys the brain-fitness software market.
脑部锻炼也正在健身房外流行开来。芝加哥有一家“健脑店”,提 供各种改善脑部健康的课程。康涅狄格州哈特福德市一家非盈利组 织“新英格兰认知中心”正在培训健脑教练，目的是将其健脑项目推 广到全国的社区中心。据专门调查脑部锻炼软件市场的脑筋灵公司 的创始人之一阿尔瓦罗弗尔南德斯说,过去3年来，已有700多个 退休工人社区引进了电脑化的脑部保健中心。
The industry pins its claims for brain exercise on a relatively new scientific discovery: neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself throughout life by creating neural connections in response to mental activity. In a study published in 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a clinical trial involving 2,832 older adults concluded that “cognitive training”-such as identifying patterns in a series of letters or words—helped improve memory and reasoning skills.
脑部保健行业的建立基础是一个相对较新的科学发现:脑部可 塑性，即在人的一生中，感官刺激会促进脑部神经的相互联系，从而使其重新焕发活力。《美国医学会杂志》于2006年发表了一项研究结果,对2832名老年人进饤的 一项临床试验表明,“认知训练”——如识别一组字母或单词有何规律——有助于改善记忆力和提 高推理能力。
A more recent study, of 487 adults aged 65 and older, found that people who trained on brain-fitness software for 40 hours over eight weeks noted significant improvement with memory and attention skills.
最近一项对487名65岁以上的老年人进行的研究发现,在8周时间内通过脑部锻炼软件进行40 小时训练的人在记忆力和注意力方面有显著提高。
That said, “mental fitness” is still a squishy concept. Some scientists consider brain gyms simply the latest gimmick to trade on the public’s fear of age-related dementia. An estimated 5.3 million Americans already have Alzheimer's disease. And as the huge baby-boom generation continues to gray, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts that, by 2010，nearly a half-million new cases will develop every year-a trend that will last for decades.
这份研究报告说，“脑部保健”仍是一个模糊的概念。一些科学家认为健脑俱乐部只是商人想 从大众对老年痴呆症的恐惧感中谋利的最新手段。据估计，全美已有530万人患上“阿尔两海默氏 症”。阿尔茨海默氏症协会预测，随着婴儿潮一代开始步入老年,到2010年,美国每年将出现50万老 年痴呆症患者,这一趋势将持续数10年。
Some neuroscientists say it’s simply too early to tell whether a specific form of brain exercise will result in lasting benefits or a lower incidence of dementia.
一些神经学家称，现在说某种特殊形式的脑部锻炼能否带来持续良好的作用或者降低老年痴 呆症的发病率，都还为时过早。
But the Worried well” and people already in the early stages of dementia aren’t waiting for research findings. More than 5.5 million copies of Nintendo Co.’s Brain Age games have been sold in the US since 2006，the company says, jumpstarting awareness of the brain-exercise field.
但老年痴呆症恐惧人群和那些已进人老年痴呆症早期的患者不会坐等研究成果出炉。任天堂 (Nintendo. Co.)公司表示，自2006年以来,公司开发的电子游戏《头脑时代》已经在美国卖出550 万份以上,从而极大地提高了人们对脑部锻炼的认知度。
By playing computer games or work out in a gym，you can get your brain exercised. Do you feel tempted? After all，it is just an exercise, what harms could it done to you?
玩着电脑游戏或在健身房里健身就能锻炼大脑，你有没有动心呢？毕竟，这只是锻炼而巳，哪 能有什么害处？