In the early 1950s, researchers found that people scored lower on intelligence tests if they spoke more than one language. 
上世纪五十年代早期，研究人员发现那些会说一种以上语言的人在智力测试中得分较低。

Research in the 60s found the opposite.
但六十年代的研究得出的结论却刚好相反。

Bilingual people scored higher than monolinguals -- people who speak only one language.
“双语者”比只懂一种语言的“单语者”得分更高。

So which is it?
哪一种说法是正确的呢？

Researchers presented their newest studies last month at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
在上个月的美国科学促进会（AAAS）会议上，研究人员展示了他们最新的科研成果。

The latest evidence shows that being bilingual does not necessarily make people smarter. 
最新的证据表明，具备双语能力的人不一定更聪明，

But researcher Ellen Bialystock says it probably does make you better at certain skills.
但研究员埃伦·比亚韦斯托克称，通晓两种语言的人很可能更擅长某些技能。

Imagine driving down the highway. 
设想一下你在高速公路上开车。

There's many things that could capture your attention and you really need to be able to monitor all of them. 
有很多东西会分散你的注意力，你要能够监控所有东西。

Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?
那为什么你通晓双语就能更好地监控它们呢？

And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention -- a function called the executive control system.
答案就是：通晓两种语言的人常能更有效地控制他们的注意力——这种活动叫做执行控制力。

It's quite possibly the most important cognitive system we have because it's where all of your decisions about what to attend to, what to ignore, what to process are made.
这很可能是我们的最重要的认知系统，因为这涉及到我们决定关注什么、忽略什么、执行什么。

Ms. Bialystock is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. 
比亚韦斯托克是加拿大多伦多市约克大学的心理学教授。

She says the best method to measure the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. 
她表示，斯特鲁测验是测量人们执行控制系统的最佳方法。

A person is shown words in different colors. 
即给被测试者看以不同色彩显示的单词，

The person has to ignore the word but say the color. 
被测试者要忽略单词，仅说出其颜色。

The problem is that the words are all names of colors.
问题是那些单词都是些颜色名词。

So you would have the word blue written in red, but you have to say red. 
即你会看到蓝色一词被涂上了红色，但你得说红色。

But blue is so salient, it's just lighting up all these circuits in your brain, and you really want to say blue. 
但蓝色太突出了，你大脑的所有电路都被点亮了，你非常想说这是蓝色。

So you need a mechanism to override that so that you can say red. 
所以你需要一种控制机制，这样才能说出这是红色。

That's the executive control system.
这种机制就是执行控制系统。

Her work shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. 
她的研究显示，通晓双语的人在持续进行该活动。

They have to, because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. 
他们不得不如此，因为两种语言同时活跃在他们的大脑中。

They need to suppress one to be able to speak in the other.
他们需要压制一个以便表达出另一个。

This mental exercise might help in other ways, too. 
这种精神活动还可能对其它方面有所帮助。

Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning, and more likely to have friends from different cultures. 
研究人员表示，会说两种语言的儿童能更好地把一个单词同其意思分开，而且更有可能跟来自不同文化背景的人交朋友。

Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease.
会说两种语言的成年人患老年痴呆的时间要比其他人晚上四五年。

Foreign language study has increased in the United States. 
美国学习外语的人越来越多。

But linguist Alison Mackey at Georgetown University points out that English-speaking countries are still far behind the rest of the world.
但乔治敦大学语言学家艾莉森·麦基指出，英语国家在这方面仍远远落后于世界上其它地区。

In England, like in the United States, bilingualism is seen as something special and unique and something to be commented on and perhaps work towards, whereas in many other parts of the world being bilingual is just seen as a natural part of life.
英国和美国一样，双语被看作特殊的，惹人评论的东西，也可能是努力的方向。而在世界上许多其他地方，双语只是生活中很自然的一部分。