Introduction
　　In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary， “anxiety” is defined as “the state of being nervous or worried that something bad is going to happen”. This article will mainly discuss the reasons why interpreters should keep at an appropriate anxiety level from a psychological and scientific perspective， what exactly give rise to interpreters’ anxiety， and how to tackle anxiety problems accordingly.
　　在牛津词典的解释里，焦虑被解释成“一种紧张，担忧一些不好之事即将发生的心理状态。”本文将主要讨论从科学角度来看口译员为何应当保持合适的焦虑水平，口译员焦虑的主要原因以及如何解决相关焦虑问题三个方面的内容。
　　Reasons Why Interpreters Should Keep at an Appropriate Anxiety Level When Interpreting

I. A Specific Observation of the Performances of Interpreters of CI

　　According to the theory of Chinese psychologists Chen Shunsen （陈顺森） and Tangdanhong （唐丹红）， anxiety has three different levels： higher anxiety， medium anxiety and lower anxiety. Based on this theory， an experiment was conducted by Tang Zhifeng （唐志峰）， and it at last turned out that participants （interpreters of CI） who were at the medium anxiety level reacted most swiftly and had least mistakes， while participants who were at higher anxiety or lower anxiety level had relatively worse performance （translated by Cao Jin）. It is evidently shown that anxiety has great impact on interpreters’ performances. So keeping at an appropriate anxiety level is essential for interpreters as far as their performances are concerned.

II. From a More General Psychological Perspective

　　Having finished the analysis of the influence that anxiety can exert on interpreters’ performances， we now need to figure out what more horrible consequences anxiety may bring about. As Michael R. Manning points out in his paper Occupational Stress： Its Causes and Consequences for Job Performance， anxiety may lead to less “interpersonal sensitivity” and make people less “altruism”， which are even detrimental to a person’s interpersonal relationships. In this sense， attention should be paid to an appropriate anxiety level.
　　Major Factors of Anxiety in Interpreting
　　An Integrated Survey of Anxiety in Interpreting
　　A present study aimed to design a new scientific scale for anxiety in interpreting is conducted by Dong Yanpin（董燕萍），Chen Huanpeng（陳焕鹏），Yu Zhibin（余志斌）. In order to test the construct validity of the scale， four criteria are concerned： self-efficacy， trait anxiety， foreign language listening anxiety and foreign language speaking anxiety. It turns out that among the four criteria， anxiety in interpreting has a high correlation with foreign language listening as well as speaking. Indeed， the correlation between anxiety in interpreting and foreign language listening is the highest， followed by that between anxiety in interpreting and foreign language speaking.

Solutions

　　1.Focus on Listening
　　From what have been demonstrated above， it is not difficult for us to find out that anxiety of listening plays a prominent role in anxiety of interpreting. To solve the anxiety problems in interpreting， we must focus on keeping the anxiety of listening at an appropriate level at first.
　　2.How to Reduce the Anxiety of Listening Theoretically
　　As the difficulty in respect of listening that most interpreters face is the higher anxiety instead of lower anxiety， so keeping the anxiety of listening at an appropriate level is approximately equal to reducing the anxiety of listening. In the survey conducted by Zhang Xian （张宪） and Zhao Guanyin （赵观音）， it concludes that anxiety of listening is a multi-dimensional problem. Listening anxiety， self-confidence in listening skills and students’ listening skills are closely related to each other. The anxiety level will dramatically decline with the improvement of students’ comprehension of the listening texts（translated by Cao Jin） This conclusion enlightens us that in order to reduce anxiety of listening when interpreting， interpreters need both build up their self-confidence of their own listening skills and make effort to improve their skills.
　　3.How to Reduce the Anxiety of Listening Practically
　　According to what we have analyzed above， special attention should be given to one’s confidence in his own listening as well as the improvement of his listening skills in practice.
　　（1）Improvement of Listening Skills： Expansion of vocabulary
　　Expansion of vocabulary is of vital importance for interpreting. As has been proved in Bi Xuefei（畢雪飞）’s paper Receptive Vocabulary Size and English Listening Comprehension of Tertiary — level Chinese Learners of English， receptive vocabulary size has much to do with one’s listening skills. It even shows that English listening relies more on the stock of one’s vocabulary than reading. So to expand vocabulary is undeniably essential.
　　（2）Method of Building One’s Self-Confidence
　　According to the findings of Zhang Xinyue（张馨月）， confidence counts on both the students themselves and other people’s evaluations. In this sense， students should encourage each other when they study together， and they can also turn to their teachers who can encourage them for help on their own initiative.
　　（3）Other Means： Special Classroom Atmosphere
　　For students who major in interpreting， there is another way to deal with anxiety problem. Teachers can divide the classroom into different parts and let students choose their favored parts， which is beneficial for students’ reduction of anxiety in interpreting according to a study by Hua Liang（花亮） and Dai Huiping（戴惠萍）.
　　References：
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　　[2]董燕萍，陈焕鹏，余志斌.口译焦虑量表的研制[J].外语界，2013（6）.
　　[3]花亮，戴惠萍.分区教学对缓解口译专业学生听力焦虑的作用：一项干预研究[J].心理与行为研究，2016（2）.
　　[4]唐志峰.口译焦虑对交替传译的效应与影响[J].中国科技翻译，2012（1）.
　　[5]张宪，赵观音.外语听力焦虑量表的构造分析及校度检验[J].现代外语，2011（2）.
　　[6]张馨月.影响大学英语听力学习的因素[J].陕西师范大学学报， 2007（A2）.
　　[7]Michael R.Manning，Occupational Stress：Its Causes and Consequences for Job Performance，The American Psychological Association.
　　【作者简介】曹瑾，湖北省华中师范大学。