在线英语听力室

VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-11-14 Wealth May Affect How You Feel About Others

时间:2013-11-16 11:44:40

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

 

AS IT IS 2013-11-14 Wealth May Affect How You Feel About Others

Greetings!  And welcome to another edition of As It Is, a program designed to help you learn and improve your English.  I’m Jim Tedder1 in Washington.  Today we have information about a study from the west coast of the United States that deals with the “haves” and the “have nots.”   It is all about money and power, and how those with it feel about those without it.  You may be surprised by what you learn. 

Then we’ll hear about scientists who are studying climate change.  And they are asking for your help. Stay with us, because a nice prize is involved.  We are happy that you decided2 to spend some time with us today …As It Is!

A new study has shown that the more power and money some people have, the less they care about others. Steve Ember has studied the findings, and has details of the story.

Paul Piff works in the psychology3 department at the University of California at Berkeley. He wanted to test his observations that people with more money or social position behave rudely, that their behavior shows less concern for the feelings of others. 

“I got really interested in the question of how do different levels of privilege and different levels of wealth between people in everyday life shape how they behave toward others and how they see the world.”

Paul Piff designed an experiment to study the behavior of strangers who were meeting for the first time. During these meetings, volunteers who had described themselves as wealthier did not seem interested in getting to know the other person. People who had identified themselves as not wealthy were more likely to listen to and look at the stranger.  They laughed more. They seemed to enjoy the get-together4

Working with other Berkeley researchers, Paul Piff designed more than thirty experiments to study how wealth and social position affect behavior. One experiment studied the actions of drivers on a busy street.

The researchers found that people driving pricey cars were less likely to stop for people trying to walk across the street. These drivers ignored traffic laws more often than drivers of older or less costly5 cars.    Mr. Piff says this field of social science helps in understanding the causes of corruption7 among the powerful.

“It’s not just our work, but that of others that finds it is the more powerful individuals in society, the more privileged, the wealthier individuals in society that are more likely to break the rules.”

He says the research suggests that for many people power and money can have a corrupting8 influence on social behavior. He is concerned that as wealth inequality increases in society, there is a strong pressure for people who care about fairness and equality to violate their own rules of good behavior.

“Who are the people that don’t do that?”

He is interested in learning about people who resist the corrupting influence of power or wealth -- those who do not cheat or lie to get more for themselves.

“And the question I want to answer is, what are the effects of social class on everyday life?”

He says the experiments do not show that some people are good and some people are bad. 

“It’s not the case that if you are wealthy you are necessarily anti-social, selfish or corrupt6, at all.  That’s not what we document.” 

Paul Piff says it does show that for some people, increased wealth and power and status can change their behavior. He says the attention to self at the expense of others can be costly to society.

The research at Berkeley has been done with North Americans from many ethnic9 groups and all races.  Paul Piff says he and his colleagues are interested in working with researchers in other countries. They want to try to understand how wealth affects human behavior around the world.

“I’m always interested in creating collaborations with interested and curious investigators10.

Would You Like To Be A Scientist?

Next, an American researcher is making an appeal to what he calls “citizen scientists.” Would you like to participate?

These scientists are seeking more information about gasses that traps heat in the atmosphere. They have launched a project in an effort to better understand how one such gas, carbon dioxide, affects climate change. The project will depend on people just like you providing information about all of the world’s power plants. June Simms joins us with the details.

Kevin Gurney is an atmospheric11 scientist at Arizona State University. He is making a map of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions12. Power plants are major producers of those gases. They are believed to cause more than 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

Kevin Gurney says there is good information about emissions in the United States, Canada, India and the European Union. But, he says, estimates for the rest of the world are not complete.

“And if fact, it’s so inaccurate13 that is really insufficient14 for the type of science that we’re trying to do.” 

Kevin Gurney’s project is called Ventus, a word that means ‘wind’ in Latin. He has set up a website where people around the world can provide information about power stations.

“We need two pieces of information. We need the amount of electricity generated at a power plant, which if you live near one or you know somebody that works there, that information is pretty readily available.  Most people will know that. We also just need to know the primary fuel. And with those two things we can actually create a better estimate of CO2 emissions than we do right now.” 

The Ventus project database currently lists about 25,000 power plants. Mr. Gurney says there are plants missing from the list. He is asking others to provide the missing information. One of the project’s goals is to create a regularly updated map of carbon dioxide emissions everywhere in the world.

“We will produce the emissions on a map, every hour, every year. We will use that within models of climate change to more accurately15 characterize emissions, greenhouse gas concentration and the projections16 of those concentrations into the future.” 

The Arizona researcher wants citizen scientists to register on the website. The person who provides the most usable information will be named Supreme17 Power Plant Emissions Guru. That honor comes with an award and recognition as a co-author on a scientific paper about the project. I’m June Simms.

Thanks, June.  By the way, you can see the map on the Ventus website.  The scientists change it as new information comes in. Kevin Gurney says he hopes it will help better inform policy makers18 and the public. He also expects citizens engaged with the project to become activists19 for change.

It’s time for us to make room for more Learning English programs, and then world news at the beginning of the hour.  We’ll leave you with the wonderful music of American composer Aaron Copland, who was born on this day 113 years ago! 


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
2 decided lvqzZd     
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。
3 psychology U0Wze     
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。
4 get-together 1sWzOV     
n.(使)聚集;(使)集合
参考例句:
  • Well,Miss Huang,we are planning to have a casual get-together.嗯,黄小姐,我们打算大家小聚一番。
  • Will you help me prepare for the get- together of the old classmates?你能否帮我为这次老同学聚会做好准备工作?
5 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
6 corrupt 4zTxn     
v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的
参考例句:
  • The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
  • This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。
7 corruption TzCxn     
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
参考例句:
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
8 corrupting e31caa462603f9a59dd15b756f3d82a9     
(使)败坏( corrupt的现在分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏
参考例句:
  • It would be corrupting discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏风纪。
  • It would be corrupting military discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏军纪。
9 ethnic jiAz3     
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
参考例句:
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
10 investigators e970f9140785518a87fc81641b7c89f7     
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
  • The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 atmospheric 6eayR     
adj.大气的,空气的;大气层的;大气所引起的
参考例句:
  • Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
  • Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。
12 emissions 1a87f8769eb755734e056efecb5e2da9     
排放物( emission的名词复数 ); 散发物(尤指气体)
参考例句:
  • Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
  • Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。
13 inaccurate D9qx7     
adj.错误的,不正确的,不准确的
参考例句:
  • The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确,而且夸大其词。
  • She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。
14 insufficient L5vxu     
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的
参考例句:
  • There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
  • In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代,科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。
15 accurately oJHyf     
adv.准确地,精确地
参考例句:
  • It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
  • Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。
16 projections 7275a1e8ba6325ecfc03ebb61a4b9192     
预测( projection的名词复数 ); 投影; 投掷; 突起物
参考例句:
  • Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
  • The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。
17 supreme PHqzc     
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
参考例句:
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
18 makers 22a4efff03ac42c1785d09a48313d352     
n.制造者,制造商(maker的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
  • The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
19 activists 90fd83cc3f53a40df93866d9c91bcca4     
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
  • Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。