TED演讲：去怀疑的勇气(4)

 　　She worked with a statistician named George Kneale, and George was pretty much everything that Alice wasn't.  她当时与一位名叫George Kneale的统计学家合作，而George刚好与Alice互补。

　　So, Alice was very outgoing and sociable¹, and George was a recluse².  Alice非常外向和社交化，而George是个隐居者。

　　Alice was very warm, very empathetic with her patients.  Alice很热情，与她的病人有很多互动。

　　George frankly³ preferred numbers to people. But he said this fantastic thing about their working relationship. He said, 而George相比之下更喜欢数字，而不是与人打交道。不过他提到，这对他们的工作关系而言非常有好处。他说：

　　"My job is to prove Dr. Stewart wrong." He actively⁴ sought disconfirmation.  “我的工作就是证明Stewart博士是错的。” 他积极地寻找证明错误的证据。

　　Different ways of looking at her models, at her statistics, different ways of crunching⁵ the data in order to disprove her.  以不同方式研究她的模型，她的数据，以及不同方式，去利用数据来证明她是错的。

　　He saw his job as creating conflict around her theories.  他把他自己的工作当作为Alice的理论创造矛盾。

　　Because it was only by not being able to prove that she was wrong, that George could give Alice the confidence she needed to know that she was right. 因为只有他无法证明Alice是错的时候，George才可以带来Alice所需要的自信，让她相信她是正确的。

　　It's a fantastic model of collaboration⁶ -- thinking partners who aren't echo chambers⁷.  这是完美的合作模式，伙伴之间形成互补。

　　I wonder how many of us have, or dare to have, such collaborators.  我想知道有多少人有过，或者敢有过这样的合作伙伴。

　　Alice and George were very good at conflict. They saw it as thinking. Alice和George对于处理矛盾相当擅长。他们认为这就是在思考。

1 sociable   

adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的

参考例句：

• Roger is a very sociable person.罗杰是个非常好交际的人。
• Some children have more sociable personalities than others.有些孩子比其他孩子更善于交际。

2 recluse   

n.隐居者

参考例句：

• The old recluse secluded himself from the outside world.这位老隐士与外面的世界隔绝了。
• His widow became a virtual recluse for the remainder of her life.他的寡妻孤寂地度过了余生。

3 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

4 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

5 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网