英语听力文摘 English Digest 732 关于人类同情心的研究

Learning Sympathy

A big part of being human is feeling sympathy, but just how early on in our lives we learn this is something that scientists would like to know.

From Self-Awareness To Other-Awareness

Behavioral scientists know that newborns respond to the emotional states of other people, by crying when other babies cry. However, babies can’t distinguish¹ between themselves and others — shown by recognizing themselves in a mirror — until they’re eighteen to twenty months old. Toddlers also start to show concern for others around this time.

Kids also begin to do things like comfort other people at about this age. By the time they’re three, most children will try to protect a victim from a bully² in a fight. But how do kids go from the infant stage, crying when others cry, to the protecting stage of later childhood?

Blue Ball Vs. Yellow Cube

To find out, researchers from Kyoto University, and Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan, designed a program to test for signs of sympathy in ten-month olds. In the video, a blue ball chases a yellow cube around the screen, repeatedly pushing and hitting it.

After the babies watched the video, they tended to reach out and try to touch the yellow cube victim, a sign of sympathy. When the bully became the victim, babies still reached out for the object that got hurt.

However, some researchers think that babies might just be attracted to an object that moves differently in videos such as these. So the matter of exactly when sympathy may develop is still up for debate.

作为一个人，很大一部分是感受到同情，但在我们生活的早期，我们了解到这一点是科学家们想知道的。

从自我意识到其他意识

行为科学家知道，新生儿对其他人的情绪状态做出反应，就是在其他婴儿哭泣时哭泣。然而，婴儿在18到20个月大之前，无法区分自己和他人——通过在镜子中认出自己来表现出来。幼儿也会在这个时候开始关心他人。

孩子们在这个年龄也开始做一些事情，比如安慰别人。到他们三岁时，大多数孩子都会试图保护受害者免受欺负。但是，孩子们是如何从婴儿阶段，别人哭的时候哭，到后来的童年保护阶段的呢？

蓝球Vs黄方块

为了找到答案，京都大学和日本丰桥理工大学的研究人员设计了一个程序，测试十个月大的孩子是否有同情的迹象。在视频中，一个蓝色的球在屏幕上追逐着一个黄色的立方体，不断地推动并击打它。

婴儿观看视频后，他们倾向于伸手触摸黄色立方体受害者，以示同情。当欺凌者成为受害者时，婴儿仍然伸手去抓受伤的物体。

然而，一些研究人员认为，婴儿可能只是被这样的视频中移动不同的物体所吸引。因此，同情的确切发展时间仍有待讨论。

1 distinguish   

vt.区别，辩明，识别，辨认出；vi.区别，辨别，识别

参考例句：

• It is not easy to distinguish cultured pearls from genuine pearls.辨别真正的珍珠与养殖的珍珠不容易。
• Some people find it difficult to distinguish right from wrong.一些人认为很难辨对与错。

2 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。