【英语时差8,16】聪明的马的故事

In 1904, a retired¹ mathematics teacher named Mr. von Osten had a horse named Clever Hans. One fine morning, von Osten decided² to teach his horse to add. “What is three plus four?” he would call to his pupil, and Clever Hans would paw the ground seven times, no more, no less. Was Hans indeed Clever, or was von Osten some kind of clever con³ artist? The Case of the Clever Horse was investigated by psychologist Oskar Pfungst. He found that if Hans could see von Osten while doing his sums, the horse always got the right answer, but if von Osten was out of sight, three plus four might equal five, or eight, or twelve. Von Osten swore, however, that he wasn’t playing some kind of trick. What was going on? As it turned out, von Osten was giving Hans subtle visual cues without even realizing it. As he asked a question, he leaned forward ever so slightly, starting the horse a tapping. When the answer was reached, von Osten stood somewhat taller, naturally proud of his pupil. Hans relied on these unintentional cues, not his brains, to produce the right answer. Clever Hans illustrates⁴ an important concept in psychology⁵, the concept of “double blind” testing procedures. This means that the person asking questions in a psychological test shouldn’t even know what the test is about, or what the “right” answers are. Examiners in the know can bias⁶ a test to give the results they want, not only for clever horses, but for humans as well. An inadvertent smile or frown can easily persuade someone to answer in a certain way.

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

4 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

6 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。