Most people will agree they cannot remember much, if anything, prior to around age four. 大部分人都很难回忆起四岁以前的事情。

What is remembered often comes in "spot" images, floating in an otherwise gray area of uncertainty.

能记得东西都是来自于一些影像点，漂浮在不确定的灰色区域里。

Yet when we look at a two or three year-old,perception and basic cognition appear to be in place and to have been functioning for a good long while. Why are those years lost to us?

但是当我们看一个两，三岁的小孩子时，感觉和基本认知都已经形成并且发挥作用有一段时间了。为什么我们那些年的记忆却消失了呢？

One possibility is that memory in humans requires a narrative context. "Narrative context" means that it isn't enough to provide, say, a random visual image to the brain in order for it to form a working memory:

一种可能性是人类的记忆需要一个叙事语境。但“叙事语境”也不是什么都能提供，或者说，大脑中的任意的一个片段都能产生一个流动的记忆：

the image needs to be put in place alongside a number of other images, with which it helps to establish a pattern.

这种影像需要被置于一系列的影像中，这样才足以建立一个图景。

The very first time you see a tree, your brain can't do anything with it yet ---the information may simply be stored until it can be connected to other things, such as the back yard where you saw it, its size and color, or events of significance that occurred at the same time.

你第一次看见大树的时候，你的大脑可能不会做出任何反应——但到你下次再看见类似的东西的时候，这种印象又会蹦出来。例如，你曾经见过的后院，随之后院的面积，颜色，还有一切相关的事物都会同时出现。

Once enough relationships are in place, it then becomes possible to remember -- not just "tree" as an abstraction, but "the big green tree I saw when I was walking this morning behind the house."

一旦足够的关系是到位时，它就变成了可能记住——不仅仅是“树”作为一种抽象概念，而是“大青翠树我走路的时候我看到今天早上在他的房子后面。”

Learning words probably aids in this process, but is not strictly necessary. Still, the brain may provide context for memories by telling itself miniature stories, complete with setting, characters, and relationships.

在这个过程中可能会学到东西，但并不一定是必须。尽管如此，大脑可以联系前后关系进行记忆，从而完成与背景，人物，和人际关系的缩影。

According to this idea, early childhood events occur at a time before we have developed enough narrative skills to tell the stories necessary for the formation of memories.

由此看来，早期无法回忆的童年往事，往往发生在我们还不具备充分的、能够阐述情节以构成记忆的技能之前。

No narrative context, no long-term memory -- end of story.

没有叙事背景，没有长期记忆——故事结束。