2020年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--和冠状病毒有关的信息传达(2)

How can this inform effective communication over covid-19? It may be tempting¹ for governments to stress the negative: “If you go out you may get sick.” No one wants a bad thing—but neither do they want to be stuck at home with no food, toilet paper or fun. Faced with two bad options—one certain (no fun), the other (becoming ill) worse but only hypothetical—many people will take the risk. They might be pushed in the opposite direction by stressing the good thing they have in hand: “Stay safe” rather than “Stop coronavirus spreading”. Most countries seem to be using both tactics.

这如何影响covid-19的有效沟通？对政府来说，强调负面消息可能很有诱惑力:“如果出门，可能会得病。”没有人想要糟糕的事情——但他们也不想被困在家里，没有食物，没有卫生纸，没有娱乐活动。面对两种糟糕的选择——一种是肯定的(没有乐趣)，另一种(变得更糟)，但只是假设的——许多人会冒这个险。他们可能会被推向相反的方向，强调可控的益处:“保持安全”而不是“阻止冠状病毒传播”。 大多数国家似乎都在使用这两种策略。

Another research finding, tested in the real world, uses social psychology². Britain’s tax office added a single line to reminder³ notices telling overdue⁴ filers that most people pay their taxes on time, and that the recipient⁵ was one of the few who had not. That raised prompt filings by five percentage points. This kind of social shame might work for the virus, too.

另一项研究发现是在现实世界中使用社会心理学测试的。英国税务办公室在提醒申报人的通知上加了一行，提醒大多数人都按时交税，而收税人是少数没有按时交税的人之一。这使即时申报增加了5个百分点。这种社会羞耻感可能对病毒也有作用。

But good framing is not enough. Leaders must also be clear and firm. Denmark, which has imposed a lockdown, is a fine example. “Cancel Easter lunch,” its government told citizens in no uncertain terms. “Postpone family visits. Don’t go sightseeing around the country.” As the Local, a Swedish news website, noticed, that injunction contrasts starkly⁶ with the language in Sweden, which (so far) has taken a much softer approach to containing the disease. Its government said: “Ahead of the breaks and Easter, it is important to consider whether planned travel in Sweden is necessary.”

但良好的框架是不够的。领导人还必须明确和坚定。丹麦就是一个很好的例子，该国已经实施了隔离封锁。“取消复活节午餐，”政府明确告知市民。“推迟拜访亲友。不要到全国各地去观光。”正如瑞典新闻网站the Local所注意到的，这一禁令与瑞典的语言形成了鲜明的对比，瑞典(到目前为止)采取了温和得多的方式来遏制这种疾病。瑞典政府表示:“在假期和复活节之前，考虑是否有必要计划在瑞典旅行是很重要的。”

The Danish instructions seem to be working; police report few violations⁷ of the rules. As Orla Vigso, a Danish professor of language in Gothenburg, Sweden, says, the strictures are well-calibrated. Danes consider themselves “the anarchists⁸ of the Nordic countries”. To be made to comply they need to be told directly. But there is a wider lesson. Recommendations that sound more advisory⁹ than mandatory¹⁰ seem to presume rational adults will do the right thing with accurate information. The central insight of behavioural economics is that they do not, at least not reliably.

丹麦的指示似乎起作用了；警方报告很少有违反规则的行为。瑞典哥德堡的丹麦语言教授奥拉?维格索称，这些限制是经过精心校准的。丹麦人认为自己是“北欧国家的无政府主义者”。要使他们服从，就必须直接告诉他们。但还有一个更广泛的教训。那些听起来更像是建议而不是强制的建议，似乎是假定理性的成年人会用正确的信息做正确的事情。行为经济学的核心观点是，它们不会，至少不可靠。

Rule number one in crisis communications, says Mr Vigso, is coherence¹¹. Mixed messages allow people to follow their biases¹² and believe whatever they want. America is hobbled in two regards here. Its federal structure means a president, 50 governors and countless¹³ mayors are saying different things. And it has a president who said he wanted to see “packed” churches at Easter, then decided¹⁴ otherwise. You’re much more likely to tell people what they want to hear if you can’t make up your own mind.

维格索表示，危机沟通的首要原则是连贯性。混合信息让人们跟随自己的偏见，相信自己愿意相信的一切。美国在这两个方面步履蹒跚。美国的联邦结构意味着一位总统、50位州长和数不清的市长会说不同的话。还有一位总统说他想在复活节看到“拥挤”的教堂，然后又决定不去了。如果你不能自己做决定，你更有可能告诉别人他们想听的话。

1 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

2 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。

3 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

4 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

5 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

6 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

7 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

8 anarchists   

无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Anarchists demand the destruction of structures of oppression including the country itself. "无政府主义者要求摧毁包括国家本身在内的压迫人民的组织。
• Unsurprisingly, Ms Baburova had a soft spot for anarchists. 没什么奇怪的，巴布罗娃女士倾向于无政府主义。

9 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

10 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

11 coherence   

n.紧凑；连贯；一致性

参考例句：

• There was no coherence between the first and the second half of the film.这部电影的前半部和后半部没有连贯性。
• Environmental education is intended to give these topics more coherence.环境教育的目的是使这些课题更加息息相关。

12 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

13 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。