Paint by numbers

按部就班

When it comes to remembering numbers or binary digits, each competitor has their own system for converting these items into images. Mullen, for instance, uses a "two-card" system for memorising a pack of cards. It involves converting suits and numbers in phonetic sounds. Take the seven of diamonds and the five of spades, for example. The diamond and the spade together create an 'm' sound, he says. The seven is converted to a 'k' sound and the five is an 'l'. Although it's not immediately obvious where each sound comes from, they are in fact based on a code that someone else thought up a long time ago, says Mullen. "Once you've got your m, k and l, you just make up an image which fits those letters - they reminded me of the word Michael, so when I see that pair of cards I think of Michael Jordan." He says he has another trick which halves the 2,704 possible pair combinations, but he didn't want to go into details.

要记住数字或二进制数字，参赛者各自都有将这些数字转换为影像的不同体系。例如，马伦会利用"双卡"系统记忆一副扑克牌。这需要按语音转换牌面花色和数字。以方片 7 和黑桃 5 为例。他说，方片（diamond）和黑桃（spade）一起会产生一个"m"音。7（seven）可转换为"k"音，而 5（five）可以转换为"l"音。马伦表示，尽管每个音的来源并不是很明显，但实际上它们都基于一种别人很早以前就想出来的代码。"在得到 m、k 和 l 后，就能针对这些字母构思影像，它们会让我想起 Michael（迈克尔）一词，于是，在我看到一对扑克牌时，想到的就是迈克尔·乔丹。"他说，自己还有另一种技巧，可将 2,704 对可能的扑克牌组合分为两半，但他不愿详述这种技巧。

Mullen won the world title from Jonas Von Essen. Like Mullen, Von Essen also discovered a love of memorising things late in life. "I was wandering around a library and saw a book that said you can improve your memory and thought it sounded cool, because I really wanted a better memory so that I could be better at school and exams," he says.

马伦在比赛中战胜选手乔纳斯·冯·埃森（Jonas Von Essen），赢得冠军。与马伦一样，埃森发现自己的记忆爱好也很晚。他表示，"我在图书馆徘徊时发现了一本书，书上说，记忆力是能改善的，我觉得这会很不错，因为我真的需要改善记忆力，才能在学校考试中取得好成绩"。

Almost immediately I realised I could memorise more things than I ever dreamed possible

我几乎马上就意识到，自己能记住的东西超出了梦寐以求的数量

Von Essen, a student at the University of Gothenburg, tried out a few of the techniques - the benefits were instantaneous: "Almost immediately I realised I could memorise more things than I ever dreamed possible," he says. His first competition was the Swedish memory championship in 2012, which he won. He went on to become world memory champion in 2013 and 2014.

埃森是瑞典哥德堡大学的一名学生，他尝试了几种不同的记忆术，并且马上就从中获益：他表示，"我几乎马上就意识到，自己能记住的东西超出了梦寐以求的数量。"他先参加了 2012 年瑞典记忆力锦标赛，最终赢得冠军。随后，他又参加了 2013 年和 2014 年的世界记忆力锦标赛。

Von Essen uses a slightly different technique to remember cards. He has an image that he associates with each individual card, which he groups into sets of three, before placing them on a short walk through his house. "So I might start at the front door," he says. "Say it's the four of hearts, the nine of hearts and the eight of clubs - I'd open the front door and see an image of Sherlock Holmes playing the guitar and eating a hamburger. Then I'd walk into the hall and create a new scene with the next three cards."

埃森记忆扑克牌的方法与马伦略有不同。他会将不同的扑克牌与某种影像联系起来，他还将这些牌分为三组，然后他会在家里随意走动放置这些牌。他说："我会从前门开始，比如，红心 4、红心 9 和梅花 8，我打开前门，会看到福尔摩斯弹吉他和吃汉堡的情景。然后，我会走到客厅，用随后的三张牌构思另一个情景"。

What's your favourite restaurant?

你最喜欢的餐厅是哪家？

Memory palaces can be anywhere - hotels, houses, routes to work, restaurants, a favourite holiday, a park or a train ride. "If you sit and think about it for a moment you can come up with hundreds of locations that you know pretty well," says Mullen.

记忆宫殿无处不在：酒店、家里、上班路上、餐厅、喜欢的假日、公园或者乘火车途中。马伦表示："只要坐下稍微想一下，你就能想起自己十分熟悉的成百上千个地点"。

Both of the world champions use specific mind palaces for things they want to remember in the short term - like a pack of cards - and things they want to remember forever. "So for the five-minute number competition I use the same two palaces, then re-use them the next time," says Mullen. "Because I don't want to remember a five-minute event I did two years ago. But when I'm learning things for school, say drugs that treat stomach disorders, I'll fill up a palace and not use it for anything other than related information."

两名世界冠军都使用了特殊的记忆宫殿，这帮助他们记住在短时间内要记住的东西（比如一副扑克牌）或记住永远不会忘的东西。马伦说，"五分钟的数字记忆比赛中，我会使用同样的两个记忆宫殿，而下次我还会再用到它们，因为我不想记住自己两年前只要记住五分钟的东西。但对于我在学校学到的东西，比如治疗胃病的药物，我会将它们填满一个记忆宫殿，除过相关信息，其他东西不会都占用这个宫殿。"

'Does it work every time? Doesn't your mind ever go blank?' I asked both competitors. No, was the answer. "If you've put it in your mind palace, it's always safe," says Von Essen.

"这样做每次都管用吗？难道你的大脑不会有一片空白的时候吗？"我向两名参赛者提出了同样的问题。不会发生这样的情况，他们都这样回答。埃森表示，"在将什么东西放在记忆宫殿后，它就一定是安全的"。

Another thing they agree on is that the gift of extraordinary memory is nothing special - anyone can learn how to do it to a fairly decent standard. Mullen trained just half-an-hour to an hour each day in preparation for the World Championships. Von Essen also trained for small amounts of time each day, before gearing up to five hours a day just before competitions.

还有一点两人也一致赞同，即超凡的记忆力并没有什么特别，任何人通过学习都能达到相当高的水平。为参加世界记忆力锦标赛，马伦每天只抽出半小时到一小时时间训练。埃森每天训练的时间也很短，随后也只是在参赛前将训练延长到每天最多五个小时。

Von Essen has taken a break from competing, but he's hoping to break a world record next year for memorising pi. So far he's reached 10,000 digits, but by next year, he hopes to have increased that to 100,000 digits.

埃森暂时休赛，但他希望在来年的圆周率 π 记忆大赛上打破世界记录。目前，他已经能记到 10,000 位数，他希望来年自己能记到 100,000 位数。

Mullen can't make a living out of his title. "There's prize money but not enough to live on," he says, so is instead concentrating on using his techniques to help him - and others - through school. "I do my best to promote the techniques to others because they are really useful for everyday life. I'm trying to show people how to use the techniques for learning more generally, rather than just for competitions," he says. "I like the whole competitive process, but I think there's a lot more you can gain from using these techniques in different areas of your life."

马伦无法靠自己的冠军名号谋生。他主要利用记忆术在学习中帮助自己或者他人。他表示："比赛会有奖金，但靠这个为生是不够的。我尽自己的努力推广记忆术，因为它们在日常生活中真的非常有用。我还会向人们示范在学习中一般要怎样利用这些记忆术，而不是仅仅局限在比赛当中。我的确喜欢比赛的过程，但我认为，在生活中的不同方面利用这些记忆术都能从中受益。"

Von Essen agrees. It's like riding a bike, he says. It seems difficult and impressive if you haven't tried it, but with a bit of practice, anyone can do it. "You don't have to become a world champion to have a much better memory than normal," he says, "same as you don't have to win the Tour de France to get to the store faster than walking."

埃森对此表示赞同。他表示，这就像骑自行车。看起来似乎很难，但如果你尝试去做，然后再多加练习，任何人都做得到。他表示："你并不是为了获得记忆力世界冠军才要有超常的记忆力，这就像你不是为了获得环法自行车赛冠军才骑自行车一样。你选择骑自行车去商店是因为它比走路要快"。