TED演讲：暗喻言说(3)

 　　If you are like 98 percent of other people, 如果你象其余百分之九十八的人一样，

　　you will identify the round, amoeboid shape as Bouba, and the sharp, spiky¹ one as Kiki. 你会把这个圆圆的，变形虫形状的叫做Bouba，把尖尖的，刺猬状的叫做Kiki。

　　Can we do a quick show of hands? Does that correspond? 是这样的请举手？是不是象我说的那样？

　　Okay, I think 99.9 would about cover it. Why do we do that? 好，我想大概99.9%是那样。这是为什么？

　　Because we instinctively² find, or create, a pattern between the round shape and the round sound of Bouba, 因为我们本能地去找寻，或者创造一个模式，把圆的图形与Bouba这个圆的声音联系起来。

　　and the spiky shape and the spiky sound of Kiki. 对尖的图形和尖的声音Kiki也是如此。

　　And many of the metaphors⁴ we use everyday are synesthetic. Silence is sweet. 我们日常生活中的暗喻多是联觉性的：沉默是甜的（抑或沉默是金）。

　　Neckties are loud. Sexually attractive people are hot. 领结是花骚的。性感的人是火辣的。

　　Sexually unattractive people leave us cold. 而不性感的人让我们觉得冷冰冰的。

　　Metaphor³ creates a kind of conceptual synesthesia, 暗喻构筑了一个概念联觉的空间，

　　in which we understand one concept in the context of another. 我们在其中用一种概念的情境来理解另一种概念。

　　Third step is cognitive⁵ dissonance. This is the Stroop test. 第三步是认知失调。这是Stroop测试。

　　What you need to do here is identify as quickly as possible 请你尽快指出构成这些词的字母

　　the color of the ink in which these words are printed. You can take the test now. 在图片中实际的颜色。就从现在开始。

　　If you're like most people, 如果你和大多数人一样，

　　you will experience a moment of cognitive dissonance when the name of the color is printed in a differently colored ink. 颜色的名称和图片中实际的颜色不符，会使你暂时地认知失调。

　　The test shows that we cannot ignore the literal meaning of words 这个测试表明我们无法忽视这些词的字面意义，

　　even when the literal meaning gives the wrong answer. 尽管字面意义上的答案是错误的。

　　Stroop tests have been done with metaphor as well. Stroop测试也曾被用于暗喻上，

　　The participants had to identify, as quickly as possible, the literally⁶ false sentences. 受试者需要尽快地辨识那些字面上错误的句子，其中包括暗喻。

　　They took longer to reject metaphors as false than they did to reject literally false sentences. 他们要花更长的时间才能把包含暗喻的句子从中挑出来。

1 spiky   

adj.长而尖的，大钉似的

参考例句：

• Your hairbrush is too spiky for me.你的发刷，我觉得太尖了。
• The spiky handwriting on the airmail envelope from London was obviously hers.发自伦敦的航空信封上的尖长字迹分明是她的。

2 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

4 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

5 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。