We've all been there: you hear a catchy song and for days - or even weeks - on end you just can't get it out of your head.
我們都遇到過這種狀況：你聽完一首口水歌后，連續數日甚至數周你都沒辦法將其擺脫掉——這首歌就是在你腦中陰魂不散。

Known as an earworm or brainworm, the effect has been studied before - but its cause, and how to get rid of it, is poorly understood.
這就是俗稱的“耳朵蟲”，先前曾經對“耳朵蟲效應”進行過研究，但是“耳朵蟲”的起源、如何擺脫“耳朵蟲”，卻一直令人費解。

Now researchers say they have an answer; chewing gum after hearing a catchy song will help you think about it less often.
如今研究人員宣稱他們找到了答案：聽完口水歌后嚼一嚼口香糖，你就不會那么頻繁地想起這首歌。

The study was carried out by scientists at the University of Reading.
雷丁大學的科學家們開展了這項研究。

In the research 98 volunteers were played the ‘catchy tunes' Play Hard by David Guetta and Payphone by Maroon 5.
在研究中，科學家們給98位志愿者播放大衛·庫塔的Play Hard和魔力紅樂隊的Payphone，這兩首歌的曲調都朗朗上口。

Over the next three minutes, they were then asked to hit a key every time they thought of the songs - while chewing gum, not chewing gum or tapping their finger.
三分鐘后，研究人員讓志愿者們——不論他們是在嚼口香糖，還是不嚼口香糖，或是在輕敲手指——每次想起這兩首歌就按一個鍵。

While chewing gum, volunteers reported thinking of the song less often than when they weren't chewing gum, or when they were told to tap their finger instead.
據志愿者報告，他們嚼口香糖時比不嚼口香糖和敲擊手指時想起歌的次數更少。

And chewing gum also reduced the amount they ‘heard' the song in their minds by a third.
嚼口香糖會使他們幻聽到這兩首歌的次數減少1/3。

The study is the first to examine the effects of chewing gum on earworms - and it suggests it could also be used to stop other unwanted or intrusive thoughts.
這是首次就嚼口香糖對耳朵蟲的影響進行研究。研究指出，嚼口香糖也可以被用來阻止討厭的念頭或想法入侵。

‘Interfering with our own “inner speech” through a more sophisticated version of the gum-chewing approach may work more widely,' said Dr Phil Beaman, from the University's School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, who led the study.
帶領此一研究的是該大學臨床心理學和語言科學學院的菲爾比曼博士，他說：“通過和嚼口香糖類似但更復雜的方法，對于阻斷‘內心的言語'也許能起到更大的作用。”

‘However more research is needed to see whether this will help counter symptoms of obsessive-compulsive and similar disorders.'
不過這種方法能否幫助對抗強迫癥和類似病癥，還有待進一步研究。

In a previous study by the University of Reading in 2009, it was found that almost any song can become an earworm.
早前在2009年雷丁大學的研究就發現，幾乎任何一首歌都可能成為耳朵蟲。

A recent poll suggested over 90 per cent of the population experience them at least once a week with 15 per cent classifying their earworms as ‘disturbing'.
最近的一項調查顯示，超過90%的人每周至少有一次耳朵蟲經歷，其中15%的人認為耳朵蟲讓自己“困擾”。

Vocabulary:

catchy: 容易記住的，朗朗上口的

obsessive-compulsive: 強迫癥

（譯者：白思雨，編輯：陳丹妮）