"Watching" Doesn't Make Perfect

　　“看”不能生巧

 

　　"I'm going to learn at least one dish each week. You just need to sit back and watch."

　　“我将至少一周学习一道菜。你只需要坐着看就行了。”

 

　　On a jovial note, I got off the phone with my mom and clicked on the TV-box-shaped icon of YouTube.

　　带着愉悦的语调，我挂断了和母亲的通话，然后点开了YouTube像电视盒子的图标。

 

　　We were just having a bet about whether I would ever be able to teach myself to cook without her in-person, step-by-step guidance.

　　我们打了个赌，赌我是否能在没有她亲自一步步指导的情况下自学做菜。

 

　　She wasn't entirely convinced of my potential.

　　她并没有完全相信我的潜力。

 

　　However, with a massive collection of YouTube videos on how beginners can make tasty meals in my toolbox, I was eager to show my mom that her daughter was an emerging master chef in the making.

　　然而，因为我的“工具箱”里有大量关于初学者如何做出美味料理的YouTube视频合集，我急于想向母亲展示她女儿有资质成为冉冉升起的厨艺新星。

 

　　Technology has revolutionized the way we learn. That was what I believed then.

　　技术彻底变革了我们学习的方式。当时我这样相信着。

 

　　However, after two weeks of binge-watching those instructional and "hugely helpful" videos, the reality of my barely improved cooking punched me in the face.

　　然而，在两周狂热观看那种“非常有用”的教学视频之后，我的厨艺几乎没有任何提高的现实给了我当头一棒。

 

　　To be honest, the result didn't come off as too much of a shock.

　　说实话，这样的结果并没有多么令人震惊。

 

　　Deep down, I had always known that perfection relies in no small part on endless hours of meaningful practice.

　　在内心深处，我一直都知道，完美在很大程度上依赖于无止境的有目的的训练。

 

　　It's commonsensical that watching an expert chef giving you a tutorial doesn't make you an expert.

　　观看专业大厨为你指导的视频并不会使你成为一名专家，这是符合常识的。

 

　　I just didn't fully espouse it when I made the bet.

　　当我立下赌约的时候，我只是并不完全支持这种说法。

 

　　But what truly intrigued me was how much more confident I felt about myself after watching those experts' videos when in actuality there was little change in my skill.

　　但真正让我好奇的是，在看过专家的视频之后，虽然实际上我的技术并没有什么改变，但却对自己如此信心倍增。

 

　　I was pumped and even thinking to myself that if they could pull that off so effortlessly, then I could do it, too.

　　我很兴奋，甚至暗自想如果他们可以毫不费力地做成，那么我也可以做到。

 

　　In another word, watching those videos for days on end injected in me an illusion that I was getting better.

　　换句话说，几天连续不断地观看那些视频向我注入了一种自己正在进步的假想。

 

　　So you can imagine how frustrated I was when that bubble of illusion broke and my expectation fell through.

　　所以你可以想象当幻想的泡沫破灭，我的期待落空时，我有多么沮丧。

 

　　Dejected and demotivated, I never bothered to watch those videos again.

　　垂头丧气，动力全无，我再也懒得看那些视频了。

 

　　I am not alone in experiencing this type of failure.

　　我并不是唯一经历这种失败的人。

 

　　With an impressive variety of online resources at our fingertips, it is natural that we use them to our advantage and learn new skills through "watching" them.

　　我们动动指尖就能获取种类丰富的在线资源，我们善用它们，并通过“观看”它们学习新的技术是很自然的。

 

　　There's nothing ineffective about this kind of learning in itself.

　　这种类型的学习本身没有什么无效的地方。

 

　　However, a recent study published in Psychological Science shows that if you watch an expert performing a skill unknown to you for too long, it will raise your self-confidence in a way that it arouses your unrealistic expectations of yourself.

　　然而，最近在《心理学》杂志上发表的一项研究显示，如果你太长时间观看专家展示一项你不熟悉的技能，这将会提升你的自信，也会提升你对自己不切实际的期待。

 

　　The dissonance between your true ability and your inflated view of it can have a negative influence on your learning outcome.

　　你真正的实力和你对自己实力夸大的幻想之间的不一致，将会对你的学习成果产生负面影响。

 

　　You might become as frustrated as I was.

　　你可能会变得和我一样沮丧。

 

　　And if your resolution isn't strong enough, you might just give up halfway.

　　而且如果你的决心不够坚定的话，你可能会半途放弃。

 

　　If right now you are considering learning something new through watching online videos, be it juggling pins, ice-skating, or even Michael Jackson's timeless moonwalk, don't forget to mix it up with the tried-and-true method of practicing and repeating.

　　如果现在你在考虑通过观看在线视频学习新东西的话，不论是抛接杂耍、滑冰或者甚至是迈克尔·杰克逊永不过时的太空步，别忘了加上行之有效的反复练习。

 

　　And most importantly, try not to get caught up in the feel-good act of watching.

　　而且最重要的是，尽量不要陷入自我感觉良好的观看中。