When you were at school, were you ever told to stop daydreaming and concentrate? It was easy for your mind to wander if you weren’t interested in what you were learning or if you had better things to think about. Staying focused can still be a challenge in adult life, but understanding how to do it, and knowing what is distracting you, can help.

Scientists have looked at what makes us delay and found a number of ways to help us stay in the zone. One of the most obvious things is removing noise. Research by Science Focus magazine found silence is best for concentration, or a gentle background hum and coffee shop noise is great! It also found turning off notifications on your phone, or switching it off altogether, removes a major distraction and helps us focus on the task at hand.

Another possible cure for a short attention span is brain training. Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly interested in our ability to get down to it and have looked at what we can change inside our head to make us concentrate. An article for BBC Future by Caroline Williams says that “Attention Researcher NilliLavie of University College London has found that making a task more visually demanding takes up more processing power and leaves the brain nothing left to process distractions.” So, keeping your mind busy might be the answer.

There are more practical tips to keeping your mind focused. These include making a list or timetable of the tasks you have to do, finding a workspace where you’re not tempted to do other things, or chewing some gum! It’s possible that the movement in your mouth occupies parts of the brain that might otherwise get distracted.

But according to Science Focus magazine, distraction isn’t all bad. “If we were always so focused that we never got distracted, we’d miss potential changes, such as threats, in our environment. Distraction is vital for survival.”

【小题1】Which of the following distracts people easily according to the scientists?

A．Task.

B．Science.

C．Zone.

D．Noise.

【小题2】What do we know according to Caroline Williams?

A．Attention is paid to his articles.	B．Distraction is not easy to settle.
C．Challenging tasks make people concentrate.	D．A noisy background helps cure distraction.

【小题3】What is the writer’s attitude toward distraction?

A．Dissatisfied.

B．Objective.

C．Subjective.

D．Curious.

【小题4】What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Dealing with distraction.	B．Ways distracting people.
C．Things interesting people.	D．Learning skills.