“脑袋短路”用英语怎么说？

forumaster

在一篇文章里看到下面这句话：

Jen George, a community-college teacher from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, told me she is losing her train of thought in the middle of a sentence more and more often.

这里train of thought的意思是a series of thoughts or ideas that someone is having，也就是人头脑中“连贯的想法”，简单说就是人的“思路”。

这个形象的短语，据说是托马斯·霍布斯在1651年创造的，他在代表作《利维坦》中这样写到：train of thoughts, I understand that succession of one thought to another, which is called (to distinguish it from discourse in words) mental discourse

lose one’s train of thought就表示“思路突然中断”，用来形容人一时间忘了自己在想什么或者想要说什么。在适当的语境下，和“脑袋短路”的意思几乎是一样的，比如：

Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Where were we?

不好意思，我脑袋短路了，咱们说到哪儿了？

train of thought还可以说成chain of thought，同样也表示“思路”。有人认为chain of thought可能是由train of thought误传而来，因为chain和train两个词发音十分相似。现在两个表达都是习惯用语，相比之下，train of thought更常见一些。

brain fart/brain hiccup

Dictionary.com这样定义brain fart：a brief mental lapse, especially an instance of forgetfulness or confusion。作为俚语，brain fart主要在非正式场合使用。如果觉得fart这个词不太好说出口，可以换成brain hiccup：

I had a brief brain fart/hiccup and introduced him by the wrong name.

我脑袋突然短路，把他的名字介绍错了。

hiccup也可以用作动词，所以上面的句子还可以说成：My brain hiccupped and I introduced him by the wrong name.

其实定义中的mental lapse也是一个不错的选择，只不过听起来比较正式。

senior moment

senior moment诞生于九十年代中期，算是一个新词，这里的senior指senior citizen（老年人）。随着年龄的增长，人的记忆力往往会有所下降，senior moment就是用来形容老年人犯糊涂、爱忘事的情形：

Biden frequently seems to have senior moments in the middle of his sentences.

拜登讲话时似乎经常语无伦次。

年轻人也会用到这个短语，主要是为了自嘲或者调侃别人：

Please excuse me, I’m having a senior moment!

我上年纪了，记性不太好，请多包含。

最后分享一个笑话，见识一下什么才是真正的senior moment。

A True Senior Moment

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple’s house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen.

The two elderly gentlemen were talking, and one said, ‘Last night we went out to a new restaurant, and it was really great. I’d recommend it very highly.’

The other man said, ‘What’s the name of the restaurant?’

The first man thought and thought and finally said, ‘What’s the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know … the one that’s red and has thorns.’

‘Do you mean a rose?’

‘Yes,’ the man said, then he turned toward the kitchen and yelled, ‘Rose, what’s the name of that restaurant we went to last night?’