很多人都說他們學英語的時候最大的障礙就是單詞記不住。經常記住了前面的，忘了后面的；要不就是單詞字母記錯了順序。有人研究發現，單詞的開頭和結尾比中間部分更容易被記住。你有這個體會嗎？

The 'bathtub effect' is perhaps the most commonly reported finding in the literature on memory for words. People remember the beginnings and ends of words better than the middles, as if the word were a person lying in a bathtub, with their head out of the water at one end and their feet out at the other. And, just as in a bathtub the head is further out of the water and more prominent than the feet, so the beginnings of words are, on average, better remembered than the ends.

“浴缸效應”大概是與背單詞有關的文獻記錄中最常見的一個現象了。人們記單詞的時候，對詞的頭和尾往往比中間部分記得更牢。這就好像單詞是躺在浴缸里的一個人，頭和腳都露出水面。而同時，頭露出水面的部分往往比腳要多，而且比腳更加顯眼。因此，單詞的開頭部分一般都比結尾部分更容易被記住。

For example:

His name is long and rarely seen. I can only recall it begins with “Ja” and end with “son”. Caught by the bathtub effect again.

他的名字有點長而且很少見。我只記得是以Ja開頭，以son結尾的。“浴缸效應”又犯了。

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）

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