托福口语练习 研究人员认为婴儿可能会感到同情

Using the points from the lecture explain why researchers think that babies may feel empathy.

请用课上的观点解释为什么研究人员认为婴儿可能会感到同情。

Listen to part of a lecture in a Psychology¹ class.

请听心理学课上的部分内容。

Ok, we generally assume² that babies can feel only very basic emotions like happiness or anger,

我们通常认为婴儿只能感受到非常基本的情绪，比如幸福或者愤怒，

that is, the babies just react to things that happen directly to them.

也就是说，婴儿只会对直接发生在他们身上的事情做出反应。

However, some new research's suggesting that babies may be able to feel concern for others, to have empathy for others.

然而，某项新的研究表明，婴儿可能会为别人感到担忧，对他人感到同情。

Now, empathy is a complex emotion.

同情是一种复杂的情绪，

It involves a baby relating to someone else's emotions, not just reacting to things happening directly to them.

它涉及到婴儿与别人的情绪有所关联，而不只是对直接发生在他们身上的事情做出反应。

Let's talk about an experiment that may show that babies could be capable³ of feeling empathy.

下面我们来聊聊一个实验，这个实验可能显示了婴儿是能够感到同情的。

Ok, for the first part of the experiment, well, um,

实验的第一部分就是...

we've always known that babies start to cry when they hear other babies crying, right?

我们都知道当婴儿听到别的孩子在哭的时候，也会开始哭，对吗？

One baby in a room starts crying and all the rest join in.

房间里的一个婴儿哭了，其他所有的婴儿也会跟着哭。

We've always assumed⁴ that the other babies cry because they were reacting to the noise of crying,

我们一直以为其他婴儿之所以会哭是因为他们在对“哭声”这种噪音做出反应，

that the noise itself was distressing⁵.

因为这个噪音本身就很烦人。

So, in the experiment researchers play tape recording⁶, a tape of baby's crying, to another baby.

于是，实验中的研究人员播放了一段录音给婴儿听，录音内容是另一个婴儿的哭声。

And sure enough, the baby started crying when he heard the sound of other baby's crying.

正如预料的一样，这个婴儿听见其他婴儿的哭声后也开始哭了。

This was no surprise, of course. And the researchers assumed that the baby cried because of the noise.

这当然并不令人意外。而研究人员猜想婴儿会哭是因为噪音。

But the next part of the experiment was surprising.

但是接下来一部分的实验结果却令人大为震惊。

The researchers played the baby a tape of his own crying.

研究人员给婴儿播放了一段他自己的哭声的录音。

Now it was just as noisy, so the researchers expected him to cry.

这段录音和上一段一样都很吵，所以研究人员预想婴儿同样会哭。

However, this time the baby did not cry.

但是，这一次婴儿并没有哭。

He wasn't upset by the sound of his own crying.

他并没有因为自己的哭声而感到难过。

Why not? Well, maybe it wasn't the noise that made him cry before when he heard other baby's crying.

为什么呢？也许之前这个婴儿听到其他婴儿的哭声时也跟着哭并不是因为噪音。

In fact, maybe noise has nothing to do with it.

事实上，也许噪音跟这件事一点关系也没有。

It could be that the baby felt empathy for the other babies.

很可能是这个婴儿对其他的婴儿感到同情。

And that was why he got upset when he heard them crying.

这也就是他在听到他们哭的时候觉得难过的原因。

Researchers concluded that it is indeed possible that babies feel empathy, concern for others.

研究人员总结认为婴儿的确有可能会感到同情，会为他人担忧。

1 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。

2 assume   

vt.假装；假定，设想；承担；呈现，采取

参考例句：

• I assume that he won't cheat you.想来他是不会骗你的。
• We can't assume anything in this case.在这种情况下我们不可能做出假设。

3 capable   

adj.有能力的，有才能的

参考例句：

• The new woman secretary was extremely clever and capable.这位新来的女秘书很是精明强干。
• Jim is capable at sports.吉姆擅长运动。

4 assumed   

adj.假定的, 假装的 动词assume的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The assumed linearity of these equations can be related to the uniformity of space and time.所假定的这些方程的线性，可归因于空间和时间的均匀性。

5 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。