2013年考研英语二阅读 Text 3 原文翻译及答案解析

Scientists have found that although we are prone to snap overreactions, if we take a moment and think about how we are likely to react, we can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects of our quick, hard-wired responses.

科学家发现，尽管我们容易做出仓促的过度反应，但如果我们花点时间思考我们可能如何反应，就能减少甚至消除我们快速、固有反应的负面影响。

Snap decisions can be important defense mechanisms; if we are judging whether someone is dangerous, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to react very quickly, within milliseconds. But we need more time to assess other factors. To accurately tell whether someone is sociable, studies show, we need at least a minute, preferably five. It takes a while to judg e complex aspects of personality, like neuroticism or open -mindedness.

仓促决策可以是重要的防御机制；如果我们判断某人是否危险，我们的大脑和身体被硬接线为在毫秒内快速反应。但我们需要更多时间来评估其他因素。研究表明，要准确判断某人是否善于社交，我们至少需要一分钟，最好是五分钟。判断性格的复杂方面，如神经质或思想开放，需要一些时间。

But snap decisions in reaction to rapid stimuli aren't exclusive to the interpersonal realm. Psychologists at the University of Toronto found that viewing a fast-food logo for just a few milliseconds primes us to read 20 percent faster, even though reading has little to do with eating. We unconsciously associate fast food with speed and impatience and carry those impulses into whatever else we're doing, Subjects exposed to fast-food flashes also tend to think a musical piece lasts too long.

但对快速刺激的仓促决策并不局限于人际领域。多伦多大学的心理学家发现，仅看快餐标志几毫秒就能使我们阅读速度提高20%，尽管阅读与吃没什么关系。我们无意识地将快餐与速度和急躁联系起来，并将这些冲动带入我们所做的任何事情。暴露于快餐闪光灯下的受试者也倾向于认为一首音乐持续时间过长。

Yet we can reverse such influences. If we know we will overreact to consumer products or housing options when we see a happy face (one reason good sales representatives and real estate agents are always smiling), we can take a moment before buying. If we know female job screeners are more likely to reject attractive female applicants, we can help screeners understand their biases — or hire outside screeners.

然而，我们可以逆转这些影响。如果我们知道看到笑脸时会对消费品或住房选择过度反应（优秀的销售代表和房地产经纪人总是微笑的原因之一），我们可以在购买前花点时间思考。如果我们知道女性招聘筛选者更可能拒绝有吸引力的女性申请者，我们可以帮助筛选者理解他们的偏见——或者聘请外部筛选者。

John Gottman, the marriage expert, explains that we quickly "thin slice" information reliably only after we ground such snap reactions in "thick sliced" long term study. When Dr. Gottman really wants to assess whether a couple will stay together, he invites them to his island retreat for a much longer evaluation: two days, not two seconds.

婚姻专家约翰·戈特曼解释道，我们只有在将这种仓促反应基于“厚切”的长期研究后，才能可靠地快速“薄切”信息。当戈特曼博士真正想评估一对夫妇是否会在一起时，他会邀请他们到他的岛居进行更长的评估：两天，而不是两秒。

Our ability to mute our hard-wired reactions by pausing is what differentiates us from animals: dogs can think about the future only intermittently or for a few minutes. But historically we have spent about 12 percent of our days contemplating the longer term. Although technology might change the way we react, it hasn't changed our nature. We still have the imaginative capacity to rise above temptation and reverse the high-speed trend.

我们通过暂停来减弱固有反应的能力是区分我们与动物的关键：狗只能间歇性地思考未来或思考几分钟。但历史上，我们大约花12%的时间来思考长期问题。尽管技术可能改变我们的反应方式，但它没有改变我们的本性。我们仍然有能力超越诱惑，逆转高速趋势。

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