2023年考研英语二阅读 Text 4 原文翻译及答案解析

Teenagers are paradoxical. That's a mild and detached way of saying something that parents often express with considerably stronger language. But the paradox is scientific as well as personal. In adolescence, helpless and dependent children who have relied on grown-ups for just about everything become independent people who can take care of themselves and help each other. At the same time, once cheerful and compliant children become rebellious teenage risk-takers.

青少年是充满矛盾的。这是一种温和而客观的表达方式，父母们通常用更强烈的语言来描述同一事物。但这种矛盾既是科学的，也是个人的。在青春期，原本无助、依赖成年人几乎做所有事情的儿童，变成了能够照顾自己、互相帮助的独立个体。同时，曾经开朗、顺从的孩子变成了叛逆的青少年冒险者。

A new study published in the journal Child Development, by Eveline Crone of the University of Leiden and colleagues, suggests that the positive and negative sides of teenagers go hand in hand. The study is part of a new wave of thinking about adolescence. For a long time, scientists and policy makers concentrated on the idea that teenagers were a problem that needed to be solved. The new work emphasizes that adolescence is a time of opportunity as well as risk.

发表在《儿童发展》杂志上的一项新研究，由莱顿大学的Eveline Crone及其同事进行，表明青少年的积极面和消极面是相辅相成的。这项研究是关于青春期新思潮的一部分。长期以来，科学家和政策制定者专注于青少年是一个需要解决的问题这一观念。这项新工作强调，青春期既是机遇期，也是风险期。

The researchers studied "prosocial" and rebellious traits in more than 200 children and young adults, ranging from 11 to 28 years old. The participants filled out questionnaires about how often they did things that were altruistic and positive, like sacrificing their own interests to help a friend, or rebellious and negative, like getting drunk or staying out late.

研究人员研究了超过200名儿童和年轻人的“亲社会”和叛逆特质，年龄从11岁到28岁不等。参与者填写了问卷，询问他们多久做一次利他和积极的事情，如牺牲自己的利益帮助朋友，或叛逆和消极的事情，如喝醉或深夜不归。

Other studies have shown that rebellious behavior increases as you become a teenager and then fades away as you grow older. But the new study shows that, interestingly, the same pattern holds for prosocial behavior. Teenagers were more likely than younger children or adults to report that they did things like unselfishly help a friend.

其他研究表明，叛逆行为在青少年时期增加，然后随着年龄增长而消退。但这项新研究表明，有趣的是，同样的模式也适用于亲社会行为。青少年比更年幼的儿童或成年人更有可能报告他们做了无私帮助朋友之类的事情。

Most significantly, there was a positive correlation between prosociality and rebelliousness. The teenagers who were more rebellious were also more likely to help others. The good and bad sides of adolescence seem to develop together.

最重要的是，亲社会性和叛逆性之间存在正相关关系。更叛逆的青少年也更有可能帮助他人。青春期的积极面和消极面似乎共同发展。

Is there some common factor that underlies these apparently contradictory developments? One idea is that teenage behavior is related to what researchers call "reward sensitivity." Decision-making always involves balancing rewards and risks, benefits and costs. "Reward sensitivity" measures how much reward it takes to outweigh risk.

是否存在某种共同因素支撑这些看似矛盾的发展？一种观点是，青少年行为与研究人员所说的“奖励敏感性”有关。决策总是涉及权衡奖励与风险、收益与成本。“奖励敏感性”衡量需要多少奖励才能超过风险。

Teenagers are particularly sensitive to social rewards-winning the game, impressing a new friend, getting that boy to notice you. Reward sensitivity, like prosocial behavior and risk-taking, seems to go up in adolescence and then down again as we age. Somehow, when you hit 30, the chance that something exciting and new will happen at that party just doesn't seem to outweigh the effort of getting up off the couch.

青少年对社交奖励特别敏感——赢得比赛、给新朋友留下深刻印象、让那个男孩注意到你。奖励敏感性，就像亲社会行为和冒险行为一样，似乎在青春期上升，然后随着年龄增长而下降。不知何故，当你到了30岁时，聚会上会发生一些令人兴奋的新事情的可能性，似乎不再值得你从沙发上站起来的努力。