Think like a Freak

 

Think like a Freak

《像个怪人一样思考》

sound track：链接: https://pan.baidu.com/s/1Z2JdTSK1PRO8n3rSWJO7Eg 提取码: ihww

Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt

The Three Hardest Words in the English Language
英语中最难的三个词

Imagine you are asked to listen to a simple story and then answer a few questions about it. Here*s the story: A little girl named Mary goes to the beach with her mother and brother. They drive there in a red car. At the beach they swim, eat some ice cream, play in the sand, and have sandwiches for lunch.

想象你被要求听一个简单的故事，然后回答一些有关它的问 题。故事是这样的：一个名叫玛丽的小女孩和她的母亲，兄弟 一起开着一辆红色汽车去沙滩玩。他们在沙滩上游泳、吃冰淇 淋、玩耍，并在午餐时吃三明治。

Now the questions:

1. What color was the car?
2. Did they have fish and chips for lunch?
3. Did they listen to music in the car?
4. Did they drink lemonade with lunch?

现在的问题：

1. 汽车是什么颜色的？
2. 他们午餐吃鱼和薯条吗？
3. 他们在车上听音乐吗？
4. 他们在午餐时喝柠檬水吗？

All right, how’d you do? Let’s compare your answers to those of a bunch of British schoolchildren, aged five to nine, who were given this quiz by academic researchers. Nearly all the children got the first two questions right （”red” and “no”], But the children did much worse with questions 3 and 4. Why? Those questions were unanswerable—there simply wasn’t enough information given in the story. And yet a whopping 76 percent of the children answered these questions either yes or no.

好吧，你做得怎么样？让我们将你的答案与五到九岁英国学 童给科研人员的答案进行比较。几乎所有的孩子都正确回答 了前两个问题（“红色”和“否”）。但是孩子们在第3和第4 个问题上表现不是很好。为什么？这些问题无法回答一一故 事中给出的信息根本不够。然而，高达76{ba86a898e1a568e005973d7259e8f4e7dacbc57cdedd66933716059b26d673dc}的孩子对这些问题 回答了是或不是。

Kids who try to bluff their way through a simple quiz like this are right on track for careers in business and politics, where almost no one ever admits to not knowing anything, it has long been said that the three hardest words to say in the English language are I love you, we heartily disagree! For most people, it is much harder to say I don’t know. That¹ s a shame, for until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.

那些试图通过这样一个简单的小测验来虚张声势的孩子们正 走上商业和政治生涯的轨道，在那里几乎没有人承认自己什 么都不知道。一直以来，人们都说英语中最难说的三个字是 “我爱你”，我们完全不同意！对大多数人来说，说我不知道 要困难得多。很遗憾，在你承认你还不知道的事情之前，你几 乎不可能知道你需要什么。

Before we get into the reasons for all this fakery—and the costs, and the solutions—let’s clarify what we mean when we talk about what we “know.”

在我们弄清所有这些伪造的原因以及成本和解决方案之前, 让我们先澄清一下我们“知道”的内容。

There are of course different levels and categories of knowledge. At the top of this hierarchy are what might be called “known facts/¹ things that can be scientifically verified. （As Daniel Patrick Moynihan was famous for saying: “‘Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion but not to their own facts.”） If you insist that the chemical composition of water is H0₂, instead of H₂0, you will eventually be proved wrong.

当然，知识的水平和类别不同。在此层次结构的顶部是可以被 科学证实的“已知事实”。（正如丹尼尔■帕特里克-莫伊 尼汉所说：“每个人都有权发表自己的意见，但无权获得自己 的事实。”）如果你坚持认为水的化学成分是HO?而不是H₂0, 那么最终将被证明是错误的。

Then there are “beliefs,” things we hold to be true, but which may not be easily verified. On such topics, there is more room for disagreement. For instance: Does the devil really exist?

然后是“信念”，我们认为这是正确的，但可能难以轻易验证。 在此类主题上，存在更多分歧的空间。

Think about some of the hard issues that politicians and business leaders face every day. What’s the best way to stop mass shootings? Are the benefits of fracking worth the environmental costs? What happens if we allow Middle Eastern dictator who hates us to stay in power?

例如：魔鬼真的存在吗？想想政治家和商业领袖每天都面临 的一些难题。阻止大规模枪击的最佳方法是什么？水力压裂 的好处值不值得环境成本？如果我们让讨厌我们的中东独裁 者继续掌权,会发生什么？

Questions like these can’t be answered merely by assembling a cluster of facts; they require judgment, intuition, and a guess as to how things will ultimately play out. Furthermore, these are multidimensional cause-and-effect questions, which means their outcomes are both distant and nuanced, with complex issues, it can be ridiculously hard to pin a particular cause on a given effect. Did the assault-weapon ban really cut crime一or was it one of ten other factors? Did the economy stall because tax rates were too high一or were the real villains all those Chinese exports and a spike in oil prices?

诸如此类的问题不能仅仅通过汇总事实来回答。而是需要判 断、直觉以及对事情最终结果的猜测。此外，这些是多方面因 果问题，这意味着它们的结果既遥远又细微。对于复杂的问题, 很难将特定的原因与结果联系起来。

禁止攻击性武器真的减少了犯罪还是其它十个因素之一？是 因为税率太高导致经济停滞，还是因为中国出口和油价飙升 才是真正的原因？

这篇文章有趣又有用的短语和句子:

1. All right, how ‘ d you do?=好啦，你做的怎么样？

场景应用(scenario applications):非正式场合/与同伴 衍対话，例如在运动比塞，考试后。

A: I just finished my exam.

我刚结束了我的考试。

B: All right, how’d you do?

哦是吗，你考的怎么样？

A: Yesterday was my first time on stage.

昨天是我糸一次上台表演。

B: All right, how’d you do? 是吗，你做的怎么样？

类似的短语:How did you get on?

2. There simply wasn t enough information =根本就不够

例句:

There simply wasn’t enough salt in this dish.

这道菜根本没有足够的盐。

There simply wasn’t enough evidence in this report. 这份报告中没有足够的证据。

3. Whopping =巨大地/极大地

例句：

The company made a whopping 20 million pounds gain. 该公司又获得了高达2000万英镑的收益。

Whop （击打）：

she got so angry, she whopped Sam with her handbag. 她很生气，她用手提包击打了山姆。

4. Bluff their way through =蒙混过关/靠吹牛哄骗

例句:

How did Lily manage to bluff her way into that job? 丽莉是如何蒙混过关得到这份工作的？

He is kind and friendly despite his rather bluff manner. 尽管他的态度有些虚张声势，但他还是很善良和友善的。

5. Heartily disagree =衷心地不同意

例句:

Simon laughed heartily at the joke.

西蒙听了玩笑后，开怀大笑。

I’m heartily tired of your endless complaints.

你无休止地抱怨，让我由衷地厌倦。

6. Everyone ‘ s entitled to their own opinion=每个人都有自 己见解的权利

Entitled =资格/给某人见解/给某物提名

例句:

Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocent until they are provided to be guilty.

在没有被判有罪之前，人人都有权利被推定为无罪。

After a great long thought, he entitled the book ‘New Beginnings*.

经过湿思贏息,他将这本书命名为“新起点”。

7. Merely =只不过，仅仅

例句：

I haven’ t spoken to Tom since we left school, he is now merely a good friend.

自从我们离开学校以来，我没有和汤姆说过话，他现在仅是一 个朋友。

The brain accounts for merely three per cent of body weight.

这个大脑仅占体重的3{ba86a898e1a568e005973d7259e8f4e7dacbc57cdedd66933716059b26d673dc}.

8. A cluster of facts = —*系列的事实/一串儿/一群儿

应用：一组相似的对象在一起时

例句：

A cluster of children stood around the ice cream van. 一群孩子站在冰淇淋车的周围。

A cluster of tourists was surrounding the Buckingham Palace as everyone was very interested in the royal family. 白金汉宫周围有一群游客，因为每个人都对皇室非常感兴趣。

9. Multidimensional =多维度，多面性

例句:

A multidimensional approach is adopted to solve climate change.

我们釆用了多维的方法来解决气候变化。

This is a difficult issue, we must evaluate the situation in a multidimensional manner.

这是一个棘手的问题，我们必须从多方面来评估局势。

10. Spike in oil prices =油价飙升

Spike意思有很多,如:

a） 长钉

There were large spikes on top of the fences to stop people climbing over them.

栅栏上有很多粗大的尖钉，为了防止人们攀越它。

b） 非常高的数量

Price spikes continue, people will not be able to afford the new houses they want.

如果价格上涨的超势继续，人们将无力购买新的房子。

c） 拒绝：

The story was deemed too controversial and so they spiked it.

他们认为这篇报导争议太大而拒绝刊登。

d） 混入烈酒

She claimed that someone had spiked her drink with whisky.

她声称有人在她的饮料里加了威士忌。