经济学人338:年龄与智慧 姜是老的辣?

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　Age and wisdom

　　年龄与智慧

　　Older and wiser?

　　姜是老的辣？

　　Americans get wiser with age. Japanese are wise from the start

　　美国人年龄越大越聪明。日本人从小就聪明

　　ONE stereotype¹ of wisdom is a wizened² Zen-master smiling benevolently³ at the antics of his pupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers⁵ or some such affectation, safe in the knowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizened masterhood.

　　提到智慧的时候，人们脑海里总会出现这样一个老套的画面：一个削瘦的禅宗大师面容慈祥的对他的弟子微笑着，一边叫他们小不点，心中十分确定他们迟早会走上这条通往智慧的禅宗之道。

　　But is it true that age brings wisdom?

　　但是智慧真的与年龄有关吗？

　　年龄与智慧_副本.jpg

　　A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, suggested that it is.

　　两年前，加拿大滑铁卢大学Igor Grossmann博士的研究显示情况的确如此。

　　In as much as it is possible to quantify wisdom, Dr Grossmann found that elderly Americans had more of it than youngsters.

　　由于智慧可以标准量化，他发现年长的美国人的确比年轻人要聪明。

　　He has, however, now extended his investigation⁶ to Asia—the land of the wizened Zen-master—and, in particular, to Japan.

　　但是，如今他将调查扩展至整个亚洲—这个拥有禅宗大师的神奇土地—特别是日本。

　　There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters' equals almost from the beginning.

　　在那里他发现，与西方相比，几乎从一开始，这些弟子与大师在智力方面难分伯仲 。

　　Dr Grossmann's study, just published in Psychological Science, recruited 186 Japanese from various walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans.

　　Grossmann博士研究结果刚发表在《心理科学》。他招募了186个来自各行各业的日本人并且与225个美国人做对比研究。

　　Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles.

　　他要求参与者阅读一些假装在报纸上发表的文章。

　　Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of an impoverished⁷ Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate there following the discovery of petroleum⁸.

　　其中一半描述了一些团体斗争，比如太平洋小岛上当地居民关于是否允许外国石油公司开发刚发现的石油资源。

　　The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals: siblings⁹, friends and spouses¹⁰.

　　另一半文章以专栏的方式提供兄弟姐妹、朋友、配偶之间的个人斗争解决建议。

　　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 and transcribed¹¹.

　　在阅读完文章之后，研究人员会问参与者两个问题，分别是此事发生后，你认为事态将会如何发展？？和为什么你认为事态会这样发展？然后研究人员会记录他们的答案。

　　Dr Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the transcripts¹², and also any clues to participants' nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group of assessors.

　　Grossmann博士和同事们会在记录中剔除与他们年龄和国籍相关的信息，然后将处理过的记录版本交给经过培训的一组评委，他们都对答案的有一致的评分标准。

　　These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had been tested to show that their ratings were statistically¹³ comparable with one another.

　　这些评估成员经过训练，能够始终以相同标准对纸上答案进行评分；并且已通过测试表明其评出的分数在统计方面相互具有可比性。

　　The assessors scored participants' responses on a scale of one to three. This attempted to capture the degree to which they discussed what psychologists consider five crucial aspects of wise reasoning: willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness to search for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness¹⁴ that more than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation¹⁵ of the fact that things may get worse before they get better.

　　评委将参与者的答案按1至3分进行评分。他们想通过这种方法把握心理学家认为的五个有关于智慧方面的重要程度，分别是：寻求解决争端机会的意愿；寻求折中方法的意愿；对个人知识有限的认识度；对问题存在多个方面的意识程度；和对事情在往好的方向发展前的趋坏倾向的估计程度。

　　A score of one on any aspect indicated a participant gave no consideration to it.

　　1分代表参与者根本就没有考虑过，

　　A score of two indicated some consideration.

　　2分代表参与者有了些思考但并不深入，

　　A score of three indicated a great deal of consideration.

　　3分代表参与者对这些问题有深入的思考。

　　Each participant's scores were then added up and mathematically transformed to create an overall value within a range of zero to 100 for both interpersonal and intergroup wisdom.

　　将参与者的每个问题的得分相加，再把总分从人际关系及团体关系两方面分别转换为百分制。

　　The upshot was that, as Dr Grossmann had found before, Americans do get wiser with age.

　　与Grossmann博士以前的结果一样，美国人随着年龄的增长智慧增加。

　　Their intergroup wisdom score averaged 45 at the age of 25 and 55 at 75.

　　25岁的美国人社会群体的判断力平均数是45而75岁的美国人平均数是55。

　　Their interpersonal score similarly climbed from 46 to 50.

　　他们人际关系的判断力平均数同样随年龄由46攀升至50。

　　Japanese scores, by contrast, hardly varied¹⁶ with age.

　　但是与美国人的结果相反，日本人的分数与年龄并无太大关系。

　　Both 25-year-olds and 75-year-olds had an average intergroup wisdom of 51.

　　25岁和75岁的人的社会群体的判断力平均数都是51；

　　For interpersonal wisdom, it was 53 and 52.

　　对于人际关系判断力反而是25岁的是53,75岁的人是52.

　　Taken at face value, these results suggest Japanese learn wisdom faster than Americans.

　　这些结果显示日本人比美国人更早变聪明一些。

　　One up, then, to the wizened Zen-masters. But they also suggest a paradox¹⁷.

　　年轻人以一分的优势险胜那些削瘦的禅宗大师们。但是却有一个悖论：

　　Generally, America is seen as an individualistic society, whereas Japan is quite collectivist.

　　通常说来美国被视为是一个充满了个人主义的社会，然而日本则更推崇集体主义。

　　Yet Japanese have higher scores than Americans for the sort of interpersonal wisdom you might think would be useful in an individualistic society.

　　但是日本人在人际关系能力这一项上的得分却比美国人要高，而人际关系判断力是大多数人认为在个人主义社会中十分受用的能力。

　　Americans, by contrast—at least in the maturity¹⁸ of old age—have more intergroup wisdom than the purportedly¹⁹ collectivist Japanese.

　　相反，美国人—至少在年龄比较高的那一组中—在群体判断力的得分上比据称崇尚集体主义的日本人要高。

　　Perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when it is individualistic.

　　也许，当社会推崇集体主义的时候你也需要人际关系技巧，在推崇个人主义的社会里你同样需要社交技巧。

　　All of which goes to show that the real root of wisdom is this: do not assume, little grasshopper⁴, that your prejudices are correct.

　　所有的这一切都表明，智慧的真正根源是：别事先假定你的成见是正确的，也别轻看了那些小不点。

1 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

2 wizened   

adj.凋谢的；枯槁的

参考例句：

• That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
• Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人，头发鬈曲灰白。

3 benevolently   

adv.仁慈地，行善地

参考例句：

• She looked on benevolently. 她亲切地站在一边看着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

5 grasshoppers   

n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的

参考例句：

• Grasshoppers die in fall. 蚱蜢在秋天死去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are usually a lot of grasshoppers in the rice fields. 稻田里通常有许多蚱蜢。 来自辞典例句

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

9 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

10 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

11 transcribed   

（用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )； 改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）； 抄写； 用音标标出（声音）

参考例句：

• He transcribed two paragraphs from the book into his notebook. 他把书中的两段抄在笔记本上。
• Every telephone conversation will be recorded and transcribed. 所有电话交谈都将被录音并作全文转写。

12 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

13 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

14 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

15 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

16 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

17 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

18 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

19 purportedly   

adv.据称

参考例句：

• This is purportedly the oldest tree in the world. 据称这是世界上最古老的一棵树。 来自互联网
• Mayor Oh Se-Hoon launched the campaign last year, purportedly to improve efficiency. 据悉，首尔市市长吴世勋于去年提出了这项旨在提高工作效率的计划。 来自互联网