等公交車15分鐘，等電梯3分鐘，約會等人20分鐘，我們一天的時間有不少都花在了等待上。如果把這些等待的時間都用來學習，那估計很多人都能成為學霸了吧！

Wait-learning refers to learning that takes place while a person is awaiting the completion of some other task, for example, learn some new words while waiting for the elevator.
“邊等邊學”指利用等待其他事情完成的時間來學習的行為，比如，等電梯的時候學幾個新單詞。

The average person spends 10 to 15 minutes a day waiting for texts and instant-message (IM) replies, according to an analysis by Carrie Cai, a PhD student at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL).
據麻省理工學院計算機科學與人工智能實驗室的一位博士研究生Carrie Cai調查發(fā)現，人們每天等待短信息回復的平均時間為10到15分鐘。

What if you could be more productive during those idle moments? Cai is on the case.
如果能將這些閑散的時間利用起來做一些事情，會怎么樣呢？Carrie Cai就在研究這個。

A CSAIL team led by Cai recently developed "WaitChatter," a Google Chat extension that delivers foreign-language vocab quizzes right to your chatbox any time the system detects that you are waiting for an instant message.
Carrie Cai帶領的計算機科學與人工智能實驗室研究團隊最近研發(fā)了一個基于谷歌聊天的擴展程序，能夠在你等待聊天信息回復的時候，直接在你的聊天會話框中發(fā)送外語詞匯小測驗。

"Given all the time that is wasted due to waiting, we wanted to explore how to use these moments as opportunities for learning," says Cai, who presented a related paper at the Association of Computing Machinery's Computer Human Interaction Conference (CHI 2015) in Seoul in April. "This integrated approach, which we call 'wait-learning', is far less likely to be perceived as time-consuming or intrusive compared to using a separate learning app."
Carrie Cai表示：“我們想要把那些等待的時間充分利用起來，讓大家有更多學習的時間。我們把這種組合的學習方式稱為‘邊等邊學’，這種學習方式不怎么耗費時間，與其他獨立的學習應用相比，使用起來也不繁瑣。今年4月，Carrie Cai在計算機協(xié)會在首爾舉辦的人機交互大會上宣讀了與該項目有關的論文。

"People who say they want to learn a language often try an app like Duolingo and end up feeling that they have to 'make time' or invest extra effort for it," she says. "Users generally don't want to have to close a window or switch apps, which means it's important to incorporate the learning tool right into the programs they use."
Carrie Cai表示，想要學外語的人通常會試用Duolingo等應用程序，結果發(fā)現他們得專門找時間用這個程序學習。用戶通常都不愿意關閉窗口或者在不同的程序之間切換，也就是說，把學習工具嵌入到他們使用的程序里面很重要。

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）