第六步：突破 “一英里跑四分钟”的极限，发挥自己的最佳水平
导语：
我认为信念可左右你的决定以及在面对艰巨的目标时的态度，并最终影响你在重大赛事（或考试）中的表现。所以不妨问问自己“阻挡我前进的‘一英里跑四分钟’极限是什么？”，可能大有裨益。
Lead:
Your beliefs will influence the decisions youmake, your attitude towards a challenging objective, and ultimatelyyour performance in important events like a race (or a test). So itcan be useful to ask yourself what are the “four minute mile”barriers that are holding you back?
第六步：突破“一英里跑四分钟”的极限，发挥自己的最佳水平
1945年时一英里（1609米）跑的世界纪录为四分零一秒。当时人们普遍认为，很快便可有人超越这一秒之差，突破四分钟大关。然而这一纪录却保持了近十年。直至1954年初，在希拉里(Hillary)与诺尔盖(Norgay)成功登上珠穆朗玛峰后，许多人开始认为在四分钟内跑完一英里超出了人类的生理极限，会导致心脏不堪负荷而爆炸。
曾试图打破这一纪录的顶级跑步运动员甚至也开始相信这是不可能完成的任务。当时的世界一流运动员约翰·兰迪(JohnLandy)说：“这就好比试图穿越一堵墙，四分钟跑完一英里已非我能力所及。”然而1954年5月6日，在英格兰的一次竞技赛上，英国医学院学生罗杰·班尼斯特(RogerBannister)仅用3分59.4秒便跑完了一英里，而兰迪名列第二。
班尼斯特成功了！他创造的纪录不仅被载入史册，更向世人证明了这一速度并非无法实现。
更加令人称奇的是，仅在时隔六周之后，约翰·兰迪再次刷新了这一纪录。兰迪在自己此前的基础上提高了整整4秒，仅用时3分57.9秒便跑完全程，堪称奇迹。在此后的三年中，又有16位运动员先后突破了曾一度被认为“无法逾越”的四分钟大关。
运动员的成绩突然纷纷提高要归功于班尼斯特打破了“一英里跑四分钟”的心理障碍。他证明四分钟内跑完一英里完全有可能，而人们所说的障碍往往仅存在于我们的头脑中。兰迪和其他运动员此前正是被自己的观念羁绊住了奔跑的脚步。
需要说明的是，我并非认为只要信念足够坚定，就无所不能。恰恰相反，在第二篇博客中，我们已从莫里斯·威尔森的反面教材中了解到这种思想可能导致灾难性的后果。但是我认为信念可左右你的决定以及在面对艰巨的目标时的态度，并最终影响你在重大赛事（或考试）中的表现。所以不妨问问自己“阻挡我前进的‘一英里跑四分钟’极限是什么？”，可能大有裨益。
人们尽管尚未完全了解思维与身体间的关系，但普遍认为一流运动员已几乎用尽所有身体及心理技巧以提高成绩。然而这些技巧尚未被应用于竞技体育以外的领域。许多学生还不晓得其表现还可能受到身体及心理状态等外部因素的影响。许多学生似乎认为自己的表现仅与用于学习的时间有直接联系，仅此而已。
名言：人生最大乐事莫过于实现人们认为我们无法完成的事情。
——华特‧贝基哈特(WalterBagehot)
以下是我就如何提高雅思考试成绩提出的几点建议：
- 创造一个井井有条的学习环境
设定一个仅供学习，而不受电视、广播、家人和朋友等干扰的场所。将字典、书籍和学习方案等全部学习辅助工具放在手边，并把所有常用网站放在收藏夹或专门的文件夹内。这样你不仅可以更加专注，大脑还可将这个区域自然地与学习联系起来，从而提高学习效率。
你的书房是什么样子？
书桌上应仅摆放当天使用的学习材料，有助于聚精会神。记得定时休息（每小时五分钟左右）并起身活动，同样可保持精神高度集中。
在考前两周内，你最好暂时控制可能分散注意力的其它活动，如兴趣或社交活动等。
- 避免考场紧张情绪
记住，每个人在面临重要的考试时都会略感紧张——这是一种正常反应，同时表明你的态度严肃认真。实际上，运动员都知道赛前适度的紧张情绪有助于他们集中精力完成比赛，并提高成绩。
然而过度紧张可能导致焦虑、身体紧绷和精神压力。在考场上，这些情绪可能使你无法自如表达，发挥失常，或者无法在答题时全神贯注，导致未能按照要求作答或回答考官的问题。因此你应掌握控制紧张情绪的技巧。
首先，不要考前“临阵磨枪”——这是一个常见的错误。如果你在考试前一晚八点仍未掌握某项知识，此时再死记硬背已为时过晚，还会因此而坐立难安。此时不如早点休息，第二天精力充沛地前往考场。
睡觉有益 (漫画来自www.xkcd.com)
在考试当天早上应尽量放松，不要继续学习。可以安静地散步、听舒缓柔和的音乐，或是与家人和朋友谈论考试以外的话题。
许多运动员在重要的赛事前都会在脑海中想象比赛现场的情景。你越熟悉当时的情景，便可越好地控制局面，压力也会随之减轻，因此有备而战可有效地避免紧张情绪。确保你知晓考场的位置并提前规划交通路线。切记预留些时间，以防交通出现问题。详细了解各类注意事项、考试必备用具及考场禁限带物品。
- 保持身体健康
许多人错误地认为思维完全独立于身体，因此忽视身体健康。学生在备战重要的考试前通常熬夜学习，睡眠不足，缺乏锻炼，又不注意饮食，却仍然希望可以保持思维敏捷。
定期适当锻炼有助于身体释放压力，可避免压力过大及过度紧张对考试表现造成的负面影响，因此在学习计划中至关重要。
同理，合理饮食亦很重要。尽量少吃高糖和含有大量碳水化合物的垃圾食品，并大量饮水。在考试当天不要饮用大量咖啡或过量吸烟，避免神经过度兴奋。
- 坦然面对错误，顺利完成任务是关键
担心犯错是语言学习者常见的心理，然而出现错误正是学习的必经之路——不妨联想一下小孩子在学习母语时会出现多少语法和词汇错误。
记住，“人谁无过”(格里格·毕谢供图)
没有人要求你在考试中尽善尽美。所以一旦在考试中出现错误，重要的是要接受错误，并迅速调整心态，继续作答。消除负面想法的一个技巧就是将精神集中在正在回答的题目以及如何顺利完成考试上。分别针对每项考试准备一系列关键技巧非常重要（例如：“听清问题”，“写下重点”，或是“答完全部问题后检查答案”。）
切忌在每场考试后与其他考生核对答案——你可能因答案不同而怀疑自己，纠结于已经出现的错误，而影响你考虑下面一项任务。
做最好的自己！
最后顺便说一下，现在一英里跑的记录为3分43.13秒，由摩洛哥选手西卡姆·艾尔·奎罗伊(Hicham ElGuerrouj)于1999年7月7日创造。
Step 6: Breaking Your “FourMinute Mile” - Achieving your BestPerformance.
In 1945 the world record for running a mile (1609meters) was 4 minutes 1 second – so close to the 4-minute barrierthat everyone was expecting it to be broken quickly. But the recordremained unbroken for the rest of the decade andby the beginning of 1954, after Hillary and Norgay hadreached the top of Mount Everest, many people started to think that it wasphysically impossible to run a mile in less than 4 minutes withoutyour heart exploding!
Even some of the elite runners who were trying tobreak the record believed that the task was impossible. “It’s liketrying to break through a brick wall,” said John Landy one of thebest runners of the day. “I think the 4 minute mile is beyond mycapabilities.” Then on the 6th of May 1954, at anathletic competition in England, the English medical student RogerBannister ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Landy camesecond.
Bannister had done it! He had not only runhimself into the history books but he had proved everyone whothought it was impossible wrong.
The amazing part of the story is that six weekslater, John Landy broke the record again and ran an incredible 4seconds faster than he had ever run before to finish in 3 minutes57.9 seconds! Over the next three years, another 16 athletes hadalso crashed through that “impossible” 4-minute mile brickwall.
The reason for this sudden improvement inperformance was that Bannister had broken through the four-minutemile psychologicalbarrier. He had shown that running a four-minute mile was possibleand that the barriers we perceive are sometimes only barriers inour own minds. Landy and the other runners had been held back bytheir own beliefs.
Just to be clear, I am not the sort of person whothinks that you can achieve absolutely anything as long as youbelieve it in strongly enough. In fact, as we saw with MauriceWilson’s story in blog 2 that kind of philosophy can be disastrous.But I do think that your beliefs will influence the decisions youmake, your attitude towards a challenging objective, and ultimatelyyour performance in important events like a race (or a test). So itcan be useful to ask yourself what are the “four minute mile”barriers that are holding you back?
The relationship between mind and body is notfully understood but it is generally accepted and mental techniquesfor improving performance are now almost universally used by topathletes. Unfortunately these have not been adopted that widelyoutside of sports and many students in academic contexts are notaware that their performance can also be influenced by externalfactors such as their physical and mental state. Many students seemto believe that their performance is directly related to the amountof time spent studying and nothing else.
Quote: “The greatest pleasure in life is doing thethings people say we cannot do.” WalterBagehot
These are my Top Tips for improving yourperformance in the IELTS test:
- Create a organised studyenvironment
Create anarea which is just for study and where there are no otherdistractions from the TV, radio, family or friends. You should haveall your study aids (dictionaries, books, study plan etc) close athand, and all your websites saved in a folder or in favourites. Notonly can you concentrate better in such an environment but yourmind will associate this area with study and your productivity willincrease.
What does your study area looklike?
To help you focus on your work, clear your deskof everything except the study materials that you are working onthat day. To keep your concentration high don’t forget to takeregular breaks (about 5 minutes every hour) and get up and moveabout.
In the last few weeks before the test, you mayalso want to temporarily limit other activities that aredistractions such as hobbies or socialevents.
- Dealing with test daynerves
It is important to remember that everyone will bea little nervous – this is a normal reaction to an important testand shows that you take the situation seriously. In fact, athletesknow that some pre-race nerves also help them to focus on what theyneed to do and can improve performance.
However, excessive nervousness can cause anxiety,physical tension and mental stress. During the test these canaffect performance by causing you to produce language that is tootentative and below your actual capabilities, you may find it hardto focus on task and fail to follow the instructions or answer theexaminer’s question. So you will need strategies to control yournervousness.
Firstly,don’t make the very common mistake of last minute cramming for thetest. If you don’t know something by 8 pm the night before it istoo late to learn it and you may start to panic about what youdon’t know. It is much better toget some rest and arrive at the test venue fresh andrelaxed.
It’s good to sleep(comic: www.xkcd.com)
On the morning of the exam don’t study and try torelax, maybe go for a quiet walk, listen to soothing music, or talkto your friends or family about other things not related to thetest.
Good preparation is a great way to prevent nervessince the more familiar the situation is the more you will feelmore in control and the less stressful it will be. Many athletesprepare for an important competition by “walking through” the eventin their mind. So make sure you know where thetest centre is, how you plan to get there, and remember to leavesome extra time for traffic problems. Make sure you know all thepractical details of exactly what you have to do and what youshould or should not take with you to the testvenue.
- Look after yourself
Many people make the mistake of thinking that themind is a completely separate entity from the body and so neglectto take good care of it. Students who are focussed on passingimportant examinations often deprive themselves of sufficientsleep, exercise or a proper diet and yet still expect their mind toperform at its best.
A little regular exercise is an extremelyimportant part of your study programme as it allows your body torelease stress and so prevents the negative consequence of too muchtension and nervousness on exam performance.
For the same reasons, it is equally important toeat well, avoid junk food with lots of sugar and carbohydrates andto drink lots of water. On test day don’t drink too much coffee orsmoke too much as this can also over stimulate your nervoussystem.
- Accept mistakes and focus on successfullyfinishing the task.
Fear of making mistakes isvery common in language learners but errors are actually a normalpart of learning – just think about how children make grammar andvocabulary errors while learning their own mothertongue!
Don’t forget “everyone makesmistakes” (image: Greg Biche)
No one is expecting you to be perfect in the test.So when you make a mistake in the test the important thing is toaccept it and quickly move on. A technique to help you to removethese negative thoughts is to focus your mind on the task athand and what you need to do to finish that taskwell. To help you do this it is useful to have prepared a listof key techniques for success in each paper (like ‘listen to thequestions’, ‘write down the key points’ or ‘check your answers atthe end’).
Anddefinitely don’t fall into the temptation of comparing answers withother candidates after each paper – this self-comparison can makeyou doubt yourself and will only focusyou on past mistakes when you need to be thinking about the nexttask.
Ohh…and by the way, the current world record forthe mile is 3:43.13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco on July7, 1999.