【英语语言学习】我不知道

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

 

You know, we live in a culture that prizes self-confidence. We are encouraged to believe in ourselves and act like we belong, even when we don't have the slightest idea what's going on. Probably nobody else knows what they're doing, either. It's good advice for life, as far as it goes, but it can also lead to disaster.

 

The writer Leah Hager Cohen argues that it takes a special kind of self-confidence to express doubt, to admit you have something to learn. She's written a book called "I Don't Know," and she gives the famous example of an airline pilot preparing to take off from Washington in 1982. The plane crashed, killing¹ 78 people, because the pilot did not know the plane was in no shape to take off and did not want to admit it. He dismissed the warning of the co-pilot sitting beside him.

 

LEAH HAGER COHEN: Deicing had gone on, but by the time the plane was actually given the thumbs-up to get in line to taxi to the runway, more ice had built up. And the co-pilot could see on the aircraft in front of the one that they were in, that there was build-up on the wings.

 

INSKEEP: And we should tell people, this is National Airport in Washington, D.C., which means you have even less of a second chance than other airports. The runway's like an aircraft carrier. It's on the edge of the Potomac, and if you don't take off, you're in the water. So that's the situation these guys are facing.

 

COHEN: And so it sounds as though the co-pilot did try to warn - but perhaps in a somewhat subservient² way, you know, cognizant of the fact that he was the co-pilot, not the captain - that maybe they'd better go back and get the wings deiced again. And the captain seems to brush off the warning. It seems to be an instance where he didn't want to know what the co-pilot was pointing out to him.

 

INSKEEP: There's a transcript³ reprinted in your book here that I'm now looking at, and the co-pilot actually says, as he's looking at the instruments: That doesn't seem right, does it? That's not right.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF FLIGHT RECORDING)

 

UNIDENTIFIED CO-PILOT: No, that's not right.

 

INSKEEP: And the captain says, yeah, it's fine.

 

UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: Yes, it is (unintelligible).

 

INSKEEP: And the co-pilot actually allows himself to be convinced against his own warning. He says: I don't think that's right.

 

UNIDENTIFIED CO-PILOT: I don't think it's right.

 

INSKEEP: Then he thinks, and he says: Oh, maybe it is.

 

UNIDENTIFIED CO-PILOT: Maybe it is.

 

INSKEEP: And they go ahead and take off.

 

COHEN: The co-pilot was in a less-powerful position than the pilot. He seems to have allowed the pilot's dismissal to, you know, make him also kind of drop this knowledge that he was trying to communicate.

 

INSKEEP: When you talk about these dynamics⁴ - the pilot and the co-pilot, the person in the position of authority, the person who may know something more than the person in the position of authority - now, we have something that begins to apply to other walks of life, I suppose.

 

COHEN: Yes. And it also raises a really important element in this whole conversation - which is fear, fear of losing face. There's also fear of what might happen should you claim knowledge and then turn out to be wrong. It's a very uncomfortable, squirmy situation.

 

INSKEEP: Why did you define that squirmy situation by titling your book "I Don't Know"?

 

COHEN: (Laughter) Because I think those words can be so incredibly liberating⁵. They can just make your shoulders drop with relief. You know, once you finally own up to what you don't know, then you can begin to have honest interactions with the people around you.

 

INSKEEP: Have you had to learn this lesson the hard way in your own life?

 

COHEN: (Laughter) Yeah. I mean, I think most of us have, at some point, experienced a situation where we're with someone who assumes that we know something. You know, you're having a conversation; the other person mentions a name - or the name of a book, the name of a person you ought to know, the name of a theory, you know, you should have heard of - that's the implication. And there's that moment of decision. You could either speak up and say, oh, I don't know who you're making reference to, or what you're talking about...

 

INSKEEP: Yeah.

 

COHEN: ...or you just kind of - you could fake it.

 

INSKEEP: You know, I am thinking of a fellow journalist who years ago covered - of all things - plane crashes; who would begin conversations with technical officials about plane crashes by saying, talk to me like I'm 4 years old - and consequently, would end up learning a great deal.

 

COHEN: That's a position of power, to be able to say honestly to someone: I don't know. Teach me.

 

INSKEEP: How would this notion affect the way that people learn?

 

COHEN: Well, this year's graduating high school class will be the first generation to have grown up entirely⁶ under the No Child Left Behind Act. And so this is an entire generation of kids that's been raised in an educational environment where there's a premium⁷ on knowing the right answer - right? - being able to fill in the correct oval on a test. And I worry that we may not be teaching enough the value of experimentation⁸ and failure and risk-taking, and the process of inquiry⁹.

 

INSKEEP: Leah Hager Cohen is the author of "I Don't Know" - or, I mean, there are different ways to say that. "I don't know!"

 

COHEN: (Laughter)

 

INSKEEP: You tell me. You tell me the way I should say it. Go ahead.

 

COHEN: I just - I say it with a big shrug¹⁰. "I Don't Know."

 

INSKEEP: That's the book. Thank you very much.

 

COHEN: Thank you.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 subservient   

adj.卑屈的，阿谀的

参考例句：

• He was subservient and servile.他低声下气、卑躬屈膝。
• It was horrible to have to be affable and subservient.不得不强作欢颜卖弄风骚，真是太可怕了。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

5 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

8 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

9 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

10 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。