2020年经济学人 武装力量(1)

It goes without saying that to be a marine¹ you have to be tough, both physically² and mentally.

不用说，要成为一名海军陆战队员，你必须有强健的身体上和坚强的意志。

But which is more important? And, more specifically, which is the bigger obstacle to successful training?

但哪一个更重要？更具体地说，成功训练的最大障碍是什么？

Working on behalf of America's marine corps³, Leslie Saxon,

为美国海军陆战队工作的

of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, has been trying to find out.

南加州大学凯克医学院的Leslie Saxon一直在努力寻找答案。

The elite⁴ of the marine corps is a group called Force Reconnaissance.

海军陆战队的精英组成的部队被称为陆战远征军直属侦察部队。

These troops are employed in special operations, both "green" (in which having had to engage the enemy is deemed a failure)

此类部队会参加特别行动——绿色行动（行动中，若出现必须与敌人交战的情况，则任务被视为失败）

and "black" (where such engagement is the whole point).

以及黑色行动（在此行动中，交战是重点）。

Initial training to join the force, open only to those already marines or naval⁵ doctors, lasts 25 days.

加入这支部队的最初训练（只对那些已经是海军陆战队员或海军医生开放）要持续25天。

Among other things it requires volunteers to tread water for nearly an hour,

此外，还要求参与者踩水近一小时

to run eight miles (12km) while carrying more than 50lb (about 23kg) of equipment,

负重超过50磅（约23公斤）的设备跑8英里（12公里）

and to swim 100 yards (90 metres) with their hands and feet bound.

并且将双手和双脚绑起来游100码（90米）。

Only half of those who volunteer for this training complete it.

只有一半的参与者完成训练。

Of those who do not, roughly half are failed by the judges for posing a safety risk

没能完成的参与者中，有大概一半的人因为构成安全风险而被裁判判为不合格

or for having a medical problem that stops them completing the course. The other half, though, drop out of their own volition⁶.

或者因为身体上的问题而无法结业。而另一半则是自愿退出。

That high drop-out rate is both expensive and vexing⁷ for Force Reconnaissance's recruiters.

如此高的退出率对侦察部队的招聘者而言既费钱又费力。

They therefore turned to Dr Saxon to find out what is happening, so that they can take steps to reduce the losses.

因此，他们求助Saxon博士查明原因，以便采取措施减少损失。

To gather the relevant data she picked 121 trainees⁸ and provided each of them with two devices: an iPhone and an Apple Watch

为了收集相关数据，她挑选了121名学员，并为他们每人提供了两套设备：一部苹果手机和一块苹果表

(a wrist band that both tells the time like a conventional watch and watches what the wearer gets up to).

（这款腕带表既能像传统手表那样显示时间，又能观察佩戴者的行为）。

She loaded the phones with an app that asked participants a range of demographic

她给手机安装了一款应用，在培训开始时

and psychological questions at the start of their training.

向参与者询问一系列人口和心理问题。

From the answers to these she generated, for each volunteer,

从这些问题的答案中，她为每个志愿者

scores for the five main personality traits recognised by psychologists—

生成了心理学家认可的五种主要人格特征的得分——

openness, conscientiousness⁹, extroversion¹⁰, agreeableness and neuroticism—

开朗性、责任性、外向性、亲和性、神经质性——

and also for ego¹¹ resilience (ability to control anger and to control impulses when stressed),

以及自我适应力（在压力下控制愤怒和冲动的能力），

positive affect (a person's tendency to experience positive emotions when facing challenges),

积极影响（一个人在面对挑战时倾向于体验积极的情绪），

satisfaction with life and level of psychopathy. The watch, meanwhile, monitored the number of steps its wearer took,

和对生活的满意度和精神变态程度的得分。与此同时，这款手表会监测佩戴者的步数，

and kept track of both heart rate and calorie expenditure¹².

并记录他们的心率和卡路里消耗。

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

3 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

6 volition   

n.意志；决意

参考例句：

• We like to think that everything we do and everything we think is a product of our volition.我们常常认为我们所做和所想的一切都出自自己的意愿。
• Makin said Mr Coombes had gone to the police of his own volition.梅金说库姆斯先生是主动去投案的。

7 vexing   

adj.使人烦恼的，使人恼火的v.使烦恼( vex的现在分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论

参考例句：

• It is vexing to have to wait a long time for him. 长时间地等他真使人厌烦。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Lately a vexing problem had grown infuriatingly worse. 最近发生了一个讨厌的问题，而且严重到令人发指的地步。 来自辞典例句

8 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

9 conscientiousness   

责任心

参考例句：

• Conscientiousness is expected of a student. 学生要诚实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Only has the conscientiousness, diligently works, can make a more splendid result! 只有脚踏实地，努力工作，才能做出更出色的成绩！ 来自互联网

10 extroversion   

n. [心理]外向，[医]外翻 =extraversion

参考例句：

• The contrast between extroversion and introversion is entirely superficial. 在外向和内向之间所作的对比完全是表面的。
• The oft-drawn contrast extroversion and introversion is entirely superficial. 在外向和内向之间通常所作的对比完全是表面的。

11 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

12 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。