年齡與智慧
2023復(fù)習(xí)正是強(qiáng)化復(fù)習(xí)階段，在考研英語(yǔ)中占了40分，所以考研英語(yǔ)閱讀是英語(yǔ)科目中重要的一項(xiàng)。名師老師曾建議過(guò)考研生需要堅(jiān)持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強(qiáng)烈推薦了雜志《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語(yǔ)的主要材料來(lái)源.希望考研考生認(rèn)真閱讀，快速提高考研英語(yǔ)閱讀水平。 Age and wisdom 年齡與智慧 Older and wiser? 姜是老的辣? Americans get wiser with age. Japanese are wisefrom the start 美國(guó)人年齡越大越聰明。日本人從小就聰明 ONE stereotype of wisdom is a wizened Zen-master smiling benevolently at the antics of hispupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers or some such affectation, safe in theknowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizenedmasterhood. 提到智慧的時(shí)候，人們腦海里總會(huì)出現(xiàn)這樣一個(gè)老套的畫(huà)面：一個(gè)削瘦的禪宗大師面容慈祥的對(duì)他的弟子微笑著，一邊叫他們小不點(diǎn)，心中十分確定他們遲早會(huì)走上這條通往智慧的禪宗之道。 But is it true that age brings wisdom? 但是智慧真的與年齡有關(guān)嗎? A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, inCanada, suggested that it is. 兩年前，加拿大滑鐵盧大學(xué)Igor Grossmann博士的研究顯示情況的確如此。 In as much as it is possible to quantify wisdom, Dr Grossmann found that elderly Americanshad more of it than youngsters. 由于智慧可以標(biāo)準(zhǔn)量化，他發(fā)現(xiàn)年長(zhǎng)的美國(guó)人的確比年輕人要聰明。 He has, however, now extended his investigation to Asiathe land of the wizenedZen-masterand, in particular, to Japan. 但是，如今他將調(diào)查擴(kuò)展至整個(gè)亞洲這個(gè)擁有禪宗大師的神奇土地特別是日本。 There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters equalsalmost from the beginning. 在那里他發(fā)現(xiàn)，與西方相比，幾乎從一開(kāi)始，這些弟子與大師在智力方面難分伯仲 。 Dr Grossmann s study, just published in Psychological Science, recruited 186 Japanese fromvarious walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans. Grossmann博士研究結(jié)果剛發(fā)表在《心理科學(xué)》。他招募了186個(gè)來(lái)自各行各業(yè)的日本人并且與225個(gè)美國(guó)人做對(duì)比研究。 Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles. 他要求參與者閱讀一些假裝在報(bào)紙上發(fā)表的文章。 Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of animpoverished Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate therefollowing the discovery of petroleum. 其中一半描述了一些團(tuán)體斗爭(zhēng)，比如太平洋小島上當(dāng)?shù)鼐用耜P(guān)于是否允許外國(guó)石油公司開(kāi)發(fā)剛發(fā)現(xiàn)的石油資源。 The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals:siblings, friends and spouses. 另一半文章以專(zhuān)欄的方式提供兄弟姐妹、朋友、配偶之間的個(gè)人斗爭(zhēng)解決建議。 After reading each article, participants were asked What do you think will happen after that?and Why do you think it will happen this way? Their responses were recorded andtranscribed. 在閱讀完文章之后，研究人員會(huì)問(wèn)參與者兩個(gè)問(wèn)題，分別是此事發(fā)生后，你認(rèn)為事態(tài)將會(huì)如何發(fā)展??和為什么你認(rèn)為事態(tài)會(huì)這樣發(fā)展?然后研究人員會(huì)記錄他們的答案。 Dr Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the transcripts, andalso any clues to participants nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group ofassessors. Grossmann博士和同事們會(huì)在記錄中剔除與他們年齡和國(guó)籍相關(guān)的信息，然后將處理過(guò)的記錄版本交給經(jīng)過(guò)培訓(xùn)的一組評(píng)委，他們都對(duì)答案的有一致的評(píng)分標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。 These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had beentested to show that their ratings were statistically comparable with one another. 這些評(píng)估成員經(jīng)過(guò)訓(xùn)練，能夠始終以相同標(biāo)準(zhǔn)對(duì)紙上答案進(jìn)行評(píng)分;并且已通過(guò)測(cè)試表明其評(píng)出的分?jǐn)?shù)在統(tǒng)計(jì)方面相互具有可比性。 The assessors scored participants responses on a scale of one to three. This attempted tocapture the degree to which they discussed what psychologists consider five crucial aspectsof wise reasoning: willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness tosearch for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness thatmore than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation of the fact that thingsmay get worse before they get better. 評(píng)委將參與者的答案按1至3分進(jìn)行評(píng)分。他們想通過(guò)這種方法把握心理學(xué)家認(rèn)為的五個(gè)有關(guān)于智慧方面的重要程度，分別是：尋求解決爭(zhēng)端機(jī)會(huì)的意愿;尋求折中方法的意愿;對(duì)個(gè)人知識(shí)有限的認(rèn)識(shí)度;對(duì)問(wèn)題存在多個(gè)方面的意識(shí)程度;和對(duì)事情在往好的方向發(fā)展前的趨壞傾向的估計(jì)程度。 A score of one on any aspect indicated a participant gave no consideration to it. 1分代表參與者根本就沒(méi)有考慮過(guò)， A score of two indicated some consideration. 2分代表參與者有了些思考但并不深入， A score of three indicated a great deal of consideration. 3分代表參與者對(duì)這些問(wèn)題有深入的思考。 Each participant s scores were then added up and mathematically transformed to create anoverall value within a range of zero to 100 for both interpersonal and intergroup wisdom. 將參與者的每個(gè)問(wèn)題的得分相加，再把總分從人際關(guān)系及團(tuán)體關(guān)系兩方面分別轉(zhuǎn)換為百分制。 The upshot was that, as Dr Grossmann had found before, Americans do get wiser with age. 與Grossmann博士以前的結(jié)果一樣，美國(guó)人隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)智慧增加。 Their intergroup wisdom score averaged 45 at the age of 25 and 55 at 75. 25歲的美國(guó)人社會(huì)群體的判斷力平均數(shù)是45而75歲的美國(guó)人平均數(shù)是55。 Their interpersonal score similarly climbed from 46 to 50. 他們?nèi)穗H關(guān)系的判斷力平均數(shù)同樣隨年齡由46攀升至50。 Japanese scores, by contrast, hardly varied with age. 但是與美國(guó)人的結(jié)果相反，日本人的分?jǐn)?shù)與年齡并無(wú)太大關(guān)系。 Both 25-year-olds and 75-year-olds had an average intergroup wisdom of 51. 25歲和75歲的人的社會(huì)群體的判斷力平均數(shù)都是51; For interpersonal wisdom, it was 53 and 52. 對(duì)于人際關(guān)系判斷力反而是25歲的是53,75歲的人是52. Taken at face value, these results suggest Japanese learn wisdom faster than Americans. 這些結(jié)果顯示日本人比美國(guó)人更早變聰明一些。 One up, then, to the wizened Zen-masters. But they also suggest a paradox. 年輕人以一分的優(yōu)勢(shì)險(xiǎn)勝那些削瘦的禪宗大師們。但是卻有一個(gè)悖論： Generally, America is seen as an individualistic society, whereas Japan is quite collectivist. 通常說(shuō)來(lái)美國(guó)被視為是一個(gè)充滿(mǎn)了個(gè)人主義的社會(huì)，然而日本則更推崇集體主義。 Yet Japanese have higher scores than Americans for the sort of interpersonal wisdom youmight think would be useful in an individualistic society. 但是日本人在人際關(guān)系能力這一項(xiàng)上的得分卻比美國(guó)人要高，而人際關(guān)系判斷力是大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為在個(gè)人主義社會(huì)中十分受用的能力。 Americans, by contrastat least in the maturity of old agehave more intergroup wisdomthan the purportedly collectivist Japanese. 相反，美國(guó)人至少在年齡比較高的那一組中在群體判斷力的得分上比據(jù)稱(chēng)崇尚集體主義的日本人要高。 Perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when itis individualistic. 也許，當(dāng)社會(huì)推崇集體主義的時(shí)候你也需要人際關(guān)系技巧，在推崇個(gè)人主義的社會(huì)里你同樣需要社交技巧。 All of which goes to show that the real root of wisdom is this: do not assume, littlegrasshopper, that your prejudices are correct. 所有的這一切都表明，智慧的真正根源是：別事先假定你的成見(jiàn)是正確的，也別輕看了那些小不點(diǎn)。 詞語(yǔ)解釋 1.refer to 涉及;指的是 Symbols are signs that refer to the object by aconvention. 標(biāo)志是一種人們習(xí)慣性指代某種事物的符號(hào)。 Slowschools and slow education can refer todifferent aspects of education. 慢速學(xué)校和慢速教育可以指教育的不同方面。 2.set on 開(kāi)始，著手;唆使 In many ways india seems set on a promising path. 在許多方面印度似乎都在走向一條康莊大道。 But other nations are emerging, set on sharing influence and prestige. 不過(guò)，另外一些國(guó)家正在崛起，它們定將分享影響與威信。 3.in particular 尤其， 特別 Progress is needed in three areas in particular. 尤其需要在三個(gè)方面取得進(jìn)展。 Unemployment in particular has risen less than once seemed likely. 特別是失業(yè)率的增速似乎可能有所放緩。 4.in contrast to 相比之下 Overall, we think the non-manufacturing sector is doing fine, in contrast to themanufacturing sector. 我們認(rèn)為，相比制造業(yè)，中國(guó)非制造業(yè)的整體情況還是不錯(cuò)的。 The institute itself stands in contrast to the scruffy university. 這所學(xué)院本身就與破舊的大學(xué)形成鮮明的對(duì)比。
2023復(fù)習(xí)正是強(qiáng)化復(fù)習(xí)階段，在考研英語(yǔ)中占了40分，所以考研英語(yǔ)閱讀是英語(yǔ)科目中重要的一項(xiàng)。名師老師曾建議過(guò)考研生需要堅(jiān)持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強(qiáng)烈推薦了雜志《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語(yǔ)的主要材料來(lái)源.希望考研考生認(rèn)真閱讀，快速提高考研英語(yǔ)閱讀水平。 Age and wisdom 年齡與智慧 Older and wiser? 姜是老的辣? Americans get wiser with age. Japanese are wisefrom the start 美國(guó)人年齡越大越聰明。日本人從小就聰明 ONE stereotype of wisdom is a wizened Zen-master smiling benevolently at the antics of hispupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers or some such affectation, safe in theknowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizenedmasterhood. 提到智慧的時(shí)候，人們腦海里總會(huì)出現(xiàn)這樣一個(gè)老套的畫(huà)面：一個(gè)削瘦的禪宗大師面容慈祥的對(duì)他的弟子微笑著，一邊叫他們小不點(diǎn)，心中十分確定他們遲早會(huì)走上這條通往智慧的禪宗之道。 But is it true that age brings wisdom? 但是智慧真的與年齡有關(guān)嗎? A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, inCanada, suggested that it is. 兩年前，加拿大滑鐵盧大學(xué)Igor Grossmann博士的研究顯示情況的確如此。 In as much as it is possible to quantify wisdom, Dr Grossmann found that elderly Americanshad more of it than youngsters. 由于智慧可以標(biāo)準(zhǔn)量化，他發(fā)現(xiàn)年長(zhǎng)的美國(guó)人的確比年輕人要聰明。 He has, however, now extended his investigation to Asiathe land of the wizenedZen-masterand, in particular, to Japan. 但是，如今他將調(diào)查擴(kuò)展至整個(gè)亞洲這個(gè)擁有禪宗大師的神奇土地特別是日本。 There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters equalsalmost from the beginning. 在那里他發(fā)現(xiàn)，與西方相比，幾乎從一開(kāi)始，這些弟子與大師在智力方面難分伯仲 。 Dr Grossmann s study, just published in Psychological Science, recruited 186 Japanese fromvarious walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans. Grossmann博士研究結(jié)果剛發(fā)表在《心理科學(xué)》。他招募了186個(gè)來(lái)自各行各業(yè)的日本人并且與225個(gè)美國(guó)人做對(duì)比研究。 Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles. 他要求參與者閱讀一些假裝在報(bào)紙上發(fā)表的文章。 Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of animpoverished Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate therefollowing the discovery of petroleum. 其中一半描述了一些團(tuán)體斗爭(zhēng)，比如太平洋小島上當(dāng)?shù)鼐用耜P(guān)于是否允許外國(guó)石油公司開(kāi)發(fā)剛發(fā)現(xiàn)的石油資源。 The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals:siblings, friends and spouses. 另一半文章以專(zhuān)欄的方式提供兄弟姐妹、朋友、配偶之間的個(gè)人斗爭(zhēng)解決建議。 After reading each article, participants were asked What do you think will happen after that?and Why do you think it will happen this way? Their responses were recorded andtranscribed. 在閱讀完文章之后，研究人員會(huì)問(wèn)參與者兩個(gè)問(wèn)題，分別是此事發(fā)生后，你認(rèn)為事態(tài)將會(huì)如何發(fā)展??和為什么你認(rèn)為事態(tài)會(huì)這樣發(fā)展?然后研究人員會(huì)記錄他們的答案。 Dr Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the transcripts, andalso any clues to participants nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group ofassessors. Grossmann博士和同事們會(huì)在記錄中剔除與他們年齡和國(guó)籍相關(guān)的信息，然后將處理過(guò)的記錄版本交給經(jīng)過(guò)培訓(xùn)的一組評(píng)委，他們都對(duì)答案的有一致的評(píng)分標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。 These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had beentested to show that their ratings were statistically comparable with one another. 這些評(píng)估成員經(jīng)過(guò)訓(xùn)練，能夠始終以相同標(biāo)準(zhǔn)對(duì)紙上答案進(jìn)行評(píng)分;并且已通過(guò)測(cè)試表明其評(píng)出的分?jǐn)?shù)在統(tǒng)計(jì)方面相互具有可比性。 The assessors scored participants responses on a scale of one to three. This attempted tocapture the degree to which they discussed what psychologists consider five crucial aspectsof wise reasoning: willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness tosearch for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness thatmore than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation of the fact that thingsmay get worse before they get better. 評(píng)委將參與者的答案按1至3分進(jìn)行評(píng)分。他們想通過(guò)這種方法把握心理學(xué)家認(rèn)為的五個(gè)有關(guān)于智慧方面的重要程度，分別是：尋求解決爭(zhēng)端機(jī)會(huì)的意愿;尋求折中方法的意愿;對(duì)個(gè)人知識(shí)有限的認(rèn)識(shí)度;對(duì)問(wèn)題存在多個(gè)方面的意識(shí)程度;和對(duì)事情在往好的方向發(fā)展前的趨壞傾向的估計(jì)程度。 A score of one on any aspect indicated a participant gave no consideration to it. 1分代表參與者根本就沒(méi)有考慮過(guò)， A score of two indicated some consideration. 2分代表參與者有了些思考但并不深入， A score of three indicated a great deal of consideration. 3分代表參與者對(duì)這些問(wèn)題有深入的思考。 Each participant s scores were then added up and mathematically transformed to create anoverall value within a range of zero to 100 for both interpersonal and intergroup wisdom. 將參與者的每個(gè)問(wèn)題的得分相加，再把總分從人際關(guān)系及團(tuán)體關(guān)系兩方面分別轉(zhuǎn)換為百分制。 The upshot was that, as Dr Grossmann had found before, Americans do get wiser with age. 與Grossmann博士以前的結(jié)果一樣，美國(guó)人隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)智慧增加。 Their intergroup wisdom score averaged 45 at the age of 25 and 55 at 75. 25歲的美國(guó)人社會(huì)群體的判斷力平均數(shù)是45而75歲的美國(guó)人平均數(shù)是55。 Their interpersonal score similarly climbed from 46 to 50. 他們?nèi)穗H關(guān)系的判斷力平均數(shù)同樣隨年齡由46攀升至50。 Japanese scores, by contrast, hardly varied with age. 但是與美國(guó)人的結(jié)果相反，日本人的分?jǐn)?shù)與年齡并無(wú)太大關(guān)系。 Both 25-year-olds and 75-year-olds had an average intergroup wisdom of 51. 25歲和75歲的人的社會(huì)群體的判斷力平均數(shù)都是51; For interpersonal wisdom, it was 53 and 52. 對(duì)于人際關(guān)系判斷力反而是25歲的是53,75歲的人是52. Taken at face value, these results suggest Japanese learn wisdom faster than Americans. 這些結(jié)果顯示日本人比美國(guó)人更早變聰明一些。 One up, then, to the wizened Zen-masters. But they also suggest a paradox. 年輕人以一分的優(yōu)勢(shì)險(xiǎn)勝那些削瘦的禪宗大師們。但是卻有一個(gè)悖論： Generally, America is seen as an individualistic society, whereas Japan is quite collectivist. 通常說(shuō)來(lái)美國(guó)被視為是一個(gè)充滿(mǎn)了個(gè)人主義的社會(huì)，然而日本則更推崇集體主義。 Yet Japanese have higher scores than Americans for the sort of interpersonal wisdom youmight think would be useful in an individualistic society. 但是日本人在人際關(guān)系能力這一項(xiàng)上的得分卻比美國(guó)人要高，而人際關(guān)系判斷力是大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為在個(gè)人主義社會(huì)中十分受用的能力。 Americans, by contrastat least in the maturity of old agehave more intergroup wisdomthan the purportedly collectivist Japanese. 相反，美國(guó)人至少在年齡比較高的那一組中在群體判斷力的得分上比據(jù)稱(chēng)崇尚集體主義的日本人要高。 Perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when itis individualistic. 也許，當(dāng)社會(huì)推崇集體主義的時(shí)候你也需要人際關(guān)系技巧，在推崇個(gè)人主義的社會(huì)里你同樣需要社交技巧。 All of which goes to show that the real root of wisdom is this: do not assume, littlegrasshopper, that your prejudices are correct. 所有的這一切都表明，智慧的真正根源是：別事先假定你的成見(jiàn)是正確的，也別輕看了那些小不點(diǎn)。 詞語(yǔ)解釋 1.refer to 涉及;指的是 Symbols are signs that refer to the object by aconvention. 標(biāo)志是一種人們習(xí)慣性指代某種事物的符號(hào)。 Slowschools and slow education can refer todifferent aspects of education. 慢速學(xué)校和慢速教育可以指教育的不同方面。 2.set on 開(kāi)始，著手;唆使 In many ways india seems set on a promising path. 在許多方面印度似乎都在走向一條康莊大道。 But other nations are emerging, set on sharing influence and prestige. 不過(guò)，另外一些國(guó)家正在崛起，它們定將分享影響與威信。 3.in particular 尤其， 特別 Progress is needed in three areas in particular. 尤其需要在三個(gè)方面取得進(jìn)展。 Unemployment in particular has risen less than once seemed likely. 特別是失業(yè)率的增速似乎可能有所放緩。 4.in contrast to 相比之下 Overall, we think the non-manufacturing sector is doing fine, in contrast to themanufacturing sector. 我們認(rèn)為，相比制造業(yè)，中國(guó)非制造業(yè)的整體情況還是不錯(cuò)的。 The institute itself stands in contrast to the scruffy university. 這所學(xué)院本身就與破舊的大學(xué)形成鮮明的對(duì)比。
