英国卫报:群众的力量(5)

It wasn't until the 19th century, as industrialising cities exploded in size,

直到19世纪，随着工业化城市的扩张，

that the formal study of crowd psychology¹ and herd² behaviour emerged.

人群心理学和从众行为的正式研究才出现。

Reflecting on the French Revolution a century earlier, thinkers such as Gustave Le Bon helped promote the idea that a crowd is always on the verge³ of becoming a mob.

在反思一个世纪前的法国大革命时，古斯塔夫·勒庞等思想家帮助发扬了这样一种观点：人群总是处于成为暴徒的边缘。

Stirred up by agitators⁴, crowds could quickly turn to violence, sweeping⁵ up even good, upstanding citizens in their collective madness.

在煽动者的鼓动下，人群可能会迅速诉诸暴力，甚至在集体疯狂中扫除善良、正直的公民。

"By the mere⁶ fact that he forms part of an organised crowd," Le Bon wrote, "a man descends⁷ several rungs in the ladder of civilisation⁸."

勒庞写道：“仅仅因为他是一个有组织的群体的一部分，一个人就在文明的阶梯上下降了好几级。”

While the discipline of crowd psychology has moved on considerably⁹ since the days of Le Bon,

尽管从勒庞时代开始群众心理学的学科已经有了长足的发展，

these early theories still retain their hold, says Clifford Stott, a professor of social psychology at Keele University.

这些早期的理论至今仍有其影响力，基尔大学的社会心理学教授克利福德·斯托特表示。

Much of the media coverage¹⁰ of the riots that broke out across England in 2011 echoed the explanations of the 19th-century pioneers of crowd psychology:

2011年，英国各地爆发了骚乱，很多媒体报道都在重复19世纪众心理学先驱的观点：

they were a pathological intrusion into civilised society, a contagion¹¹, spread by agitators, of the normally stable and contented¹² body politic¹³.

它们是对文明社会的病态入侵，是通常稳定而满足的国家的一种传染病，由煽动者传播开来。

Focus fell, in particular, on ill-defined "criminal gangs" stirring things up, possibly coordinating¹⁴ things via BlackBerry Messenger.

人们的注意力尤其集中在不明确的挑起事端的“犯罪团伙”，他们可能通过黑莓信使应用进行协作。

The foot soldiers – 30,000 people were thought to have participated – were depicted¹⁵ as feral thugs. Hordes¹⁶. Animals.

据称有3万普通人参加了游行，他们被描绘成野蛮的暴徒。成群结队。动物。

The frontpage headlines were clear: "Rule of the mob", "Yob rule", "Flaming morons¹⁷".

头版的标题很清楚：“暴民统治”、“暴徒统治”、“愤怒的白痴”。

Purportedly¹⁸ liberal voices clamoured for David Cameron to send in the army. Shoot looters on sight. Wheel in the water cannon¹⁹.

据称，自由主义者呼吁戴维·卡梅伦派兵。看到抢劫者就开枪。使用带轮子的水炮。

"What we need to recognise is that from a scientific perspective, classical [crowd] theory has no validity," says Stott.

“我们需要知道，从科学的角度看，经典的群众理论是不对的，”斯科特表示。

"It doesn't explain or predict the behaviours it purports²⁰ to explain and predict. And yet everywhere you look, the narrative²¹ is still there."

“它不能解释或预测它声称要解释和预测的行为。然而，无论去哪里看，这种论述仍然存在。”

The reason, he argues, is straightforward²²: "It's very, very convenient for dominant²³ and powerful groups," Stott says.

斯托特认为，原因很简单：“这对占主导地位的强大集团来说非常、非常方便。”

"It pathologises, decontextualises and renders meaningless crowd violence, and therefore legitimises its repression²⁴."

“它是病态化，去文本化的，并使群众暴力变得毫无意义，因此使其镇压合法化。”

As Stott notes, by shifting the blame to the madness of crowds, it also conveniently allows the powerful to avoid scrutinising their own responsibility for the violence.

正如斯托特所指出的，通过将责任转移到群众的疯狂上，当权者也可以方便地避免审视自己对暴力事件的责任。

Last week, when the US attorney general blamed "outside agitators" for stirring up violence,

上周，当美国司法部长指责“外部煽动者”煽动暴力时，

and Donald Trump²⁵ referred to "professionally managed" "thugs", they were drawing on exactly the ideas that Le Bon sketched²⁶ out in the 19th century.

唐纳德·特朗普提到了“专业管理的”“暴徒”，他们的想法完全是勒庞在19世纪提出的。

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 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

3 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

4 agitators   

n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机

参考例句：

• The mud is too viscous, you must have all the agitators run. 泥浆太稠，你们得让所有的搅拌机都开着。 来自辞典例句
• Agitators urged the peasants to revolt/revolution. 煽动者怂恿农民叛变（革命）。 来自辞典例句

5 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 descends   

v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜

参考例句：

• This festival descends from a religious rite. 这个节日起源于宗教仪式。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The path descends steeply to the village. 小路陡直而下直到村子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

9 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 contagion   

n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延

参考例句：

• A contagion of fear swept through the crowd.一种恐惧感在人群中迅速蔓延开。
• The product contagion effect has numerous implications for marketing managers and retailers.产品传染效应对市场营销管理者和零售商都有很多的启示。

12 contented   

adj.满意的，安心的，知足的

参考例句：

• He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
• The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。

13 politic   

adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政

参考例句：

• He was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage.他很聪明，不会与这么重要的人争吵。
• The politic man tried not to offend people.那个精明的人尽量不得罪人。

14 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

15 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

16 hordes   

n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落

参考例句：

• There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer. 夏天这里总有成群结队的游客。
• Hordes of journalists jostled for position outside the conference hall. 大群记者在会堂外争抢位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 morons   

傻子( moron的名词复数 )； 痴愚者（指心理年龄在8至12岁的成年人）

参考例句：

• They're a bunch of morons. 他们是一群蠢货。
• They're a load of morons. 他们是一群笨蛋。

18 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

19 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

20 purports   

v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She purports to represent the whole group. 她自称代表整个团体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The document purports to be official but is really private. 那份文件据称是官方的，但实际上是私人的。 来自辞典例句

21 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

22 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

23 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

24 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

25 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

26 sketched   

v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The historical article sketched the major events of the decade. 这篇有关历史的文章概述了这十年中的重大事件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He sketched the situation in a few vivid words. 他用几句生动的语言简述了局势。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》