英语听力—环球英语 1022 The Milgram Experiment

 　　Voice 1

 

　　Hello, and welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Marina Santee.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　And I'm Ruby² Jones. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　A man and a woman sit in a small office. The man is wearing a white coat. He looks like a medical man - a scientist maybe. The woman clearly believes that he is. But in fact, he is not a medical man at all. He is an actor. He is part of an experiment testing people's attitude to authority³. And the whole experiment is being filmed as part of a television programme.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The false ‘scientist' tells the woman that she is about to do some important research. She is helping⁴ him to find out more about how human memory works⁵. The ‘scientist' tells the woman to read out a list of words. She must speak them into a microphone⁶ in front of her. A man in the next room will hear her voice. The man must remember the list of words. She will ask him a question about them. And he must give the right answer. If he gives the wrong answer, the woman must press a switch. The scientist tells her that the switch will send electric shocks to the man in the next room. The ‘scientist' shows the woman the room where the man sits. And he gives her an electric shock so she can feel it herself. It does not hurt her. So the woman is happy to start the experiment. She goes into the other room and closes the door. She asks the first question through the microphone. She hears the man's voice through speakers. His answer is wrong. The woman presses the switch.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　An electric shock runs through the man's body. But it is weak and does not cause pain. The woman continues with her questions. The man gives more wrong answers. The electric shocks become more intense⁷ - and more painful. The woman hears the man screaming with pain! She says to the "scientist" that she wants to stop. However, he tells her that the experiment requires her to continue! She does not want to obey - but she does. The man gives another wrong answer. So the woman presses the switch once more. More screams - and then silence. What has happened to the man, she wonders. Has she killed him?

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Clearly, she has not killed him. It was all part of the experiment. The screams and cries she heard were a recording⁸. The electric shocks never reached the man's body. The real experiment was testing the woman! It was designed to see how far the woman would go to obey a person in authority - the ‘scientist' - even if it meant harming another human being!

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　This experiment was part of a television programme called "How Violent Are You?" It was the idea of a man called Michael Portillo. Michael used to be a member of the British government. Now, he writes for radio, television and newspapers. Michael considers himself to be a man of peace. But he saw many conflicts around the world. And he began to think about the nature of violence. He decided⁹ to make a television programme about it. This is the subject of an earlier Spotlight programme called "How Violent are You?"

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Michael particularly wanted to know why a person would choose to kill another. To help answer this, Michael secretly watched the experiment with the woman and the electric shocks. The experiment came from the work of an expert in human behaviour - Stanley Milgram. He developed the "Milgram Experiments" in 1961. Milgram wanted to examine people's attitude to authority. How willing are they to obey orders without questioning them? World events of the time caused Milgram to think deeply about this. A German man was on trial in Jerusalem for war crimes. He was Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann served as a Nazi¹⁰ officer during the Second World War. He was one of men closest to Adolf Hitler. And he organised the death of millions of Jews. At the trial, Eichmann defended himself. He said that he had only obeyed orders. These words struck Milgram. And so he organised a series of experiments to see if there was any truth in them. Later he wrote:

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　"I set up a simple experiment... I tested how much pain a normal citizen would cause another person simply because a scientist ordered him to. Pure authority competed against people's belief that hurting other people was wrong. But even when the people heard the screams of their victims, authority was usually the winner. The main thing I found was that adults are willing to go to any lengths to obey a person in authority."

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Twelve people took part in the Milgram experiment on Michael's TV programme. And nine of them chose to continue obeying the ‘scientist' - even when they heard screams of pain. Michael was amazed¹¹ at this. But it confirmed what Milgram wrote years before:

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　"Normal people, simply doing their jobs... can become involved in a terrible process that destroys others. This is true even when they understand the effects of their work. It is true when what they are asked to do goes against their moral¹² system. Very few people have the resources to resist authority."

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　It seemed that people could persuade themselves that violence was acceptable¹³ in some situations. Stanley Milgram also wrote:

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　"Many people have an extremely strong natural urge to obey authority. This urge can be stronger than social training, sympathy, and moral behaviour."

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　But what about people being responsible for their own actions? Milgram believed his experiments showed that:

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　"The main point of obeying is that a person then thinks of himself as the instrument for doing another person's wishes. In that case, he is no longer responsible for his actions... But the moral system does not disappear. It just concentrates on a completely different thing. The person who obeys feels shame or he feels proud. This depends on how well he has performed the acts he was asked to do by authority."

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　At the end of his television programme, Michael Portillo discussed what he had observed. He now believed that every human being has the power inside them to perform violent acts - even him! But the important thing was to control this power - and to learn to live in peace with other people.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The writer and producer of today's programme was Ruby Jones. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can hear this, and other, Spotlight programmes on our website: http://www.radio.english.net.  This programme is called "The Milgram Experiment". You can tell us your opinions about humans and violence on our website. Or, e-mail us at radio @ english . net.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

3 authority   

n.当局，官方；权力，权威，威信；当权者

参考例句：

• He is recognized internationally as an authority in this field.国际上承认他是这方面的一个权威。
• Professor White is looked upon as an authority on mathematics.怀特教授被看成数学权威。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 microphone   

n.扩音器，麦克风，话筒

参考例句：

• He gave a tap at the microphone before speaking.他在讲话前先轻叩了一下扩音器。
• She behaved naturally before the microphone.她在话筒前表现自然。

7 intense   

adj.认真的，专注的；强烈的；紧张的；热情的

参考例句：

• Susan was an intense young lady.苏珊是一个热情的年轻姑娘。
• The quarrel caused her intense unhappiness.争吵令她极其不快。

8 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

9 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。

10 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

11 amazed   

adj.吃惊的，惊奇的v.使大为吃惊，使惊奇( amaze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Just the size of the place amazed her. 仅仅地方之大就使她十分惊奇。
• I was amazed at her knowledge of French literature. 她的法国文学知识之丰富使我大为惊奇。

12 moral   

adj.道德(上)的，有道德的；n.品行，寓意，道德

参考例句：

• Moral beauty ought to be ranked above all other beauty.品德之美应列于其他美之上。
• He deceived us into believing that he could give us moral support.他骗得我们相信他能给我们道义上的支持。

13 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。