How can we avoid forgetting what we have learned? Now I would like to give you four suggestions. Then I'll give you a bit explanation on each of them.
Suggestions
First, we need to learn words repeatedly with increasing intervals between learning sessions. Here, the most important term “increasing” intervals, 就是說這個間隔的時間要恰當。I will explain it later. （按照適當的時間間隔來溫習新學的單詞。）
The second we should have the words. We have the words we want to learn with us whenever we go. So if we want to learn these words, we should have these words with us. So we can make full use of our time learning these words. （時時刻刻，利用邊邊角角的時間去復習生詞。）
The third is set aside a regular time for vocabulary learning. （留出專門的時間用于單詞學習。）
The last one, spend more time on the words you find difficult. All these suggestions are not new to you, I guess. But you might find something new later. （對疑難詞匯進行重點攻關。）
Suggestion One
Ok. The first one. Increasing intervals. Now research in psychology shows that we do not forget things gradually. You see a psychologist did research. Most of our forgetting occurs within 20 minutes after we have first learned something. More is forgotten with one hour. Still more within 8 hours. After 8 hours, the rate of forgetting stays surprisingly steady. You see, we do not forget things gradually, bit by bit. Bit by bit. It’s not the case. So we forget more in the first 8 hours. （心理學研究者做過一個測試：我們最易遺忘的時間段是我們接觸新知識后的頭20分鐘。之后的1個小時我們又會忘記一些，然后8小時內又忘記一些。過了8小時，我們的遺忘速度就會趨于穩定。也就是說，遺忘是一點一點發生的，前8個小時忘得最快。）
So what should we do? What should we do? And actually, I will suggest you should do revision everyday when you first learn the new words. And then you may spend some time review the words once in a week. Then later on, once in a month. So increasing intervals, I mean you learn frequently at the very beginning. Then gradually, you can delay a little bit. The interval is longer and longer. But still you have to review them. Now this is the first suggestion. Increasing intervals. （針對這種遺忘規律，文教授提議：接觸新單詞之后，起初反復記憶，然后逐步拉長復習的時間間隔。）
Suggestion Two
The second suggestion is make full use of “dead” time. Dead. Why I use the word in the quotation marks? The “dead” time. Now when I say “dead” time, I mean those time is not useful any more. You know, when you are walking on the way, when you are in a bus, when you are, let me see, when you are lying on the bed before you sleep. All these time can’t be used for very important things. But you can make full use of “dead” time to learn some words. And you can use your vocabulary notebook, you can use your electronic dictionary, just very small, learn few words every day. Every day. Try to use this kind of time learning words, eventually your vocabulary will be expanding quickly. （利用一切可以利用的時間。行走中，公車上，睡覺前......這些相對來說不能做重要事情的時間段，你就可以分心用來背單詞。一天記幾個，積少成多，你就會發現自己的單詞量突飛猛進。）
You do not need whole day learning vocabulary. Don’t do in this way. And you may use just small amount of time every day. Let’s say, in the morning, 20 minutes, in the afternoon, 20 minutes, in the evening, 20 minutes. Suppose you want to spend one hour, you’d better separate it into three sessions, 20 minutes each. Suppose you want to learn vocabulary half an hour a day, maybe you’d better divide them into two sections, 15 minutes a section. Don’t put them together. （不要成天成宿地背單詞，花費大段大段的時間記單詞會降低學習效率。如果你每天計劃利用1個小時背單詞，那么就把這1個小時拆分成早、中、晚三部分，每次安排20分鐘背單詞。）
And then every day you learn a little bit. Then eventually, at the end of the week, you have spent about half an hour putting all these words together, go over them. Later I will mention, don’t go over all the words. You have to select some of them to focus your attention. Now electronic dictionary also is a good way to learn words, because there is a sort of file for you to put those difficult words, right? Just put in your pocket. You can learn them anytime you can do it. （一天記一點，周末抽出半小時有側重點地鞏固一周的學習成果。可以利用電子辭典的歸檔功能篩選出疑難詞匯，然后放在身邊隨時翻閱。）
Suggestion Three
And suggestion 3. And my suggestion is daily revision. Ten minutes a day. Weekly revision. One hour a week. Monthly revision. One hour a month. So that intervals, the first is a week, the next is a month. （除了學習新單詞，還要注意復習這些單詞。一天十分鐘，一周一小時，一個月一小時——以這種頻率不斷溫習這些單詞，必能收到良好的效果。）
Suggestion Four
And the final suggestion is to spend more time on the words you find difficult. I found some students would like to go down a list from the first to the last, trying to memorize each one. You’ve got a vocabulary list. From first to the end. From the first to the end. Every day, they follow the same pattern. （重點記憶自己認為比較難的單詞。不要年復一年地拿著詞匯大綱從頭看到尾。）
Now there are two problems for this kind of practice. The words at the top of the list tend to be remembered better. Then the words further down. Right? Time is wasted on the words that have been learned. What can be done? I’ll give you an example. This example is given by a researcher. （不要把復習單詞的時間浪費在已經記住的單詞上面。）
Now I give you the footnote there. Suppose you have got these new words in one text: rewarding, frustrating, junior, positive, senior, opportunity, online, technology, participate, virtual, virtual classroom. Ok. You’ve got so many words. Suppose all these words you are asked to learn. And you remember them at the end of the day. Let’s say. In the evening, you remember them. And tomorrow you go over them again. You found you forgot many of them. You only remember few of them. （舉例來說，粗體部分是你要學習的新單詞。頭天你學習完畢，第二天復習的時候你發現只記住了其中的幾個，卻忘記了大多數。）
So what should you do tomorrow? Should you go over them from the beginning to the end again? No. So this is the suggestion. If you, suppose you remember these words, junior, positive, senior, online, virtual, if you remember these words, put these words in another column. And then you only focus on, next day, you only focus your attention on the remaining five words. Don’t go over ten words again. Focus on five words. Ok. （那么，你不必再復習已經掌握的部分【比如說粗體標出的單詞】，你只需復習你沒有記住的另5個單詞。）
So you classify these words into three types. If you are familiar with them, you review them once. And then you review them once in a week. If you review them once in a week, no problem at all. You put them in a monthly column. So you review them once for a month. （你可以做一張三列的表，三列的標題分別為：daily， weekly 和monthly。起初，所有的單詞都放在daily這列，第二天復習的時候，記住的單詞就可以挪到weekly這列，如果周復習的時候你仍然記得它們，就可以將之挪到monthly這列。）
But for those words, if you can not remember daily, you have to review them again and again. But the words become fewer and fewer. Not so many. So you can focus your attention on those things which are very difficult for you. This work makes learning more efficient. （如果放在daily欄中的單詞始終記不住，那么就讓它們始終呆在daily欄中，天天強化記憶。堅持使用這種方法，你會始終關注你最需要關注的單詞，提高效率不說，你也會發現daily欄中的單詞最終全部挪到monthly欄中，并永遠刻在你的腦海中，一輩子無法遺忘。）
