2023年12月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 1 原文翻译及答案解析

Having a rival can keep you committed to achieving your goals and enhance your overall performance. But before you go out and find an entrepreneur to outcompete, it's important to understand and avoid the traps that often come with rivalry. After all, competitive rivalry can also hinder effective decision-making and increase your willingness to take risks, behaviors that can ultimately hurt your venture's success.

拥有竞争对手可以使你专注于实现目标，并提升整体表现。然而，在寻找竞争对手之前，理解并避免竞争中常见的陷阱很重要。毕竟，竞争性对抗也可能阻碍有效的决策制定，并增加冒险倾向，这些行为最终可能损害你的企业成功。

Finding someone you're committed to outcompeting can be a great way to stay focused on your goals and push your venture to the next level. But when you're intently focused on outperforming your rivals, you may begin to develop a "win-at-all-costs" mentality that causes you to ignore how you achieve success. One group of researchers, for example, examined the link between rivalry and unethical behavior. They found that when people compete against their rivals, they are more willing to behave unethically to win. But such behavior may stain your reputation and strain relationships important to your success. One way to avoid this trap is to stop and reflect on what's important. While outperforming your rivals may provide short-term benefits, the loss of your integrity will have long-term consequences.

找到一个你致力于超越的对象，是保持目标专注并推动企业更上一层楼的好方法。但当你过于专注于超越竞争对手时，可能会形成一种“不惜一切代价获胜”的心态，导致你忽视如何取得成功。例如，一组研究人员研究了竞争与不道德行为之间的联系。他们发现，当人们与竞争对手竞争时，更愿意为了获胜而采取不道德行为。但这种行为可能玷污你的声誉，并损害对成功至关重要的关系。避免这个陷阱的一个方法是停下来反思什么是重要的。虽然超越竞争对手可能带来短期利益，但失去诚信将产生长期后果。

One reason having a rival can enhance your venture's performance is that it creates a level of excitement that drives you to work harder. But this eagerness to win may also hurt your venture's success, particularly when it causes you to make impulsive, insensible decisions. But it's possible to avoid such costly mistakes by making a habit of engaging in critical thinking, such as considering opposing viewpoints and conducting cost-benefit analyses, especially for those decisions that are complex and can determine the future of your venture.

拥有竞争对手能提升企业表现的一个原因是，它创造出一种兴奋感，驱使你更努力工作。但这种获胜的渴望也可能损害企业成功，尤其是当它导致你做出冲动、不明智的决策时。但通过养成批判性思维的习惯，可以避免这类代价高昂的错误，例如考虑对立观点并进行成本效益分析，尤其是对于那些复杂且能决定企业未来的决策。

The sense of eagerness that comes with having a rival can not only cause you to make poorer decisions, but it can also lead you to take greater risks that put your venture in peril. One way you can overcome the risk inducing effects of rivalry that stand to endanger your venture's success is to remain attentive to your emotional state and actively monitor how such feelings are affecting your decision-making.

拥有竞争对手带来的渴望感不仅可能导致你做出更差的决策，还可能引导你承担更大风险，使企业陷入危险。你可以克服竞争带来的风险诱发效应（这些效应可能危及企业成功）的一种方法是，保持对你情绪状态的关注，并积极监控这些感受如何影响你的决策。