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JamesFlynn_2013-_为什么我们的智商比我们的祖先高_
We are going to take a quick voyage over the cognitive history of the 20th century, because during that century, our minds have altered dramatically . 让我们一起浏览一下 20 世纪的认知历史吧。 因为在这个世纪里, 我们的思想发生了极大的改变。
voyage:v.航行;远行;(尤指)远航;n.航行;(尤指)航海; cognitive:adj.认知的,认识的; altered:adj.改变了的:v.(使)改变,更改,改动:(alter的过去分词和过去式) dramatically:adv.戏剧地;引人注目地;adv.显著地,剧烈地;
As you all know, the cars that people drove in 1900 have altered because the roads are better and because of technology . 大家都知道,1900 年人们所驾驶的汽车已经因为 道路状况的改善和 科技的进步而彻底改变了。
technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
And our minds have altered, too. 我们的思想也改变了。
We've gone from people who confronted a concrete world and analyzed that world primarily in terms of how much it would benefit them to people who confront a very complex world, and it's a world where we've had to develop new mental habits, new habits of mind. 我们已经从面对具象的世界 来分析如何 从中受益的人, 变成面对非常复杂的世界的人。 这个世界让我们需要有 新的心理习惯、 新的思维习惯。
confronted:v.使…无法回避;降临于;处理;面对;对抗;(confront的过去分词和过去式) concrete:n.混凝土;adj.混凝土制的;确实的,具体的;vt.用混凝土覆盖 analyzed:v.分析(analyze的过去式和过去分词);检讨; primarily:adv.首先;主要地,根本上; complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施; mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者;
And these include things like clothing that concrete world with classification , introducing abstractions that we try to make logically consistent , and also taking the hypothetical seriously, that is, wondering about what might have been rather than what is. 其中包括 面对这个具象我们需要分类 需要抽象分析以保持 逻辑上的一致。 我们也需要做假设分析。 就是说,我们想知道这世界的演变过程, 而不仅仅是知道这世界现在是怎么样。
classification:n.分类;分级;分类法;归类; abstractions:n.抽象;出神;心神专注;提取;分离;(abstraction的复数) logically:adv.逻辑上;合乎逻辑; consistent:adj.始终如一的,一致的;坚持的; hypothetical:adj.假设的;爱猜想的;
Now, this dramatic change was drawn to my attention through massive I.Q. gains over time, and these have been truly massive. 这一重大变化引起了我的注意。 人们的智商随时间的推移而不断增高, 这种改变可以说是个剧变。
massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的;
That is, we don't just get a few more questions right on I.Q. tests. 就是说,我们不是只答对几个 智商测试题。
We get far more questions right on I.Q. tests than each succeeding generation back to the time that they were invented. 我们答对的智商测试题比 我们之前的每一代答对得都多得多, 甚至是追溯回智商测试刚发明的时代。
Indeed, if you score the people a century ago against modern norms , they would have an average I.Q. of 70. 事实上,如果你按照现代标准给 一个世纪前的人们的智商打分, 他们的平均智商只能达到70分。
norms:n.[标准]标准,规范;基准(norm复数形式);
If you score us against their norms, we would have an average I.Q. of 130. 如果你按照他们那个时代的标准给我们打分, 我们的平均智商会达到130分。
Now this has raised all sorts of questions. 当然这就会有很多问题出来了。
Were our immediate ancestors on the verge of mental retardation ? 我们的祖先是不是 到了智力障碍的边缘？
on the verge of:濒临于;接近于; retardation:n.阻滞;迟延;妨碍;
Because 70 is normally the score for mental retardation. 因为 70 分通常是智障的分数。
normally:adv.正常地;通常地,一般地;
Or are we on the verge of all being gifted ? 还有,我们现代人算不算是天才呀?
gifted:adj.有天赋的;有才华的;
Because 130 is the cutting line for giftedness. 因为130分是天才的分割线。
Now I'm going to try and argue for a third alternative that's much more illuminating than either of those, and to put this into perspective , let's imagine that a Martian came down to Earth and found a ruined civilization . 现在我给你们讲讲第三种可能性。 这种可能性比前面的两个提问会更有启发性。 让我们换个角度, 想象一个火星人来到地球 并发现了一个被破坏的文明。
argue for:赞成;支持;论证; alternative:adj.供选择的;选择性的;交替的;n.二中择一;供替代的选择; illuminating:adj.照明的;有启发性的;v.照明,解释;(illuminate的现在分词) perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的; Martian:adj.火星的;n.火星人; down to Earth:实际的; ruined:adj.毁灭的;荒废的;v.毁坏;破坏;糟蹋;(ruin的过去分词和过去式) civilization:n.文明;文明社会;文明世界;(特定时期和地区的)社会文明;
And this Martian was an archaeologist , and they found scores, target scores, that people had used for shooting. 恰好这个火星人是一个考古学家, 他们发现了一些靶环, 人们这个来计算射击分数。
archaeologist:n.考古学家;
And first they looked at 1865, and they found that in a minute, people had only put one bullet in the bullseye . 首先他们看到的是1865 年的, 他们发现,在一分钟内, 只有一颗子弹被射中了靶心。
bullet:n.子弹;只选某党全部候选人的投票;豆子;vi.射出;迅速行进; bullseye:n.靶眼;圆心;牛眼灯;
And then they found, in 1898, that they'd put about five bullets in the bullseye in a minute. 然后他们发现,在 1898 年, 一分钟约有五发子弹被射中靶心。
bullets:n.子弹;弹丸;(bullet的复数)
And then about 1918 they put a hundred bullets in the bullseye. 到了1918年的时候,就有100 颗子弹射中靶心了。
And initially , that archaeologist would be baffled . 最初,那（火星）考古学家会困惑。
initially:adv.最初,首先;开头; baffled:adj.带有挡板的;v.阻碍;使迷惑(baffle的过去式);
They would say, look, these tests were designed to find out how much people were steady of hand, how keen their eyesight was, whether they had control of their weapon. 他们会说,你看,这些测试旨在 测试人们的手法如何稳健, 视力是如何敏锐, 以及是否有对武器的控制力的。
steady:adj.稳定的; v.使稳定; v.稳定地; n.关系固定的情侣; keen:adj.敏锐的,敏捷的;渴望的;强烈的;热心的;锐利的;n.痛哭,挽歌; eyesight:n.视力;目力;
How could these performances have escalated to this enormous degree? 这些射击成绩怎么会提升得 如此迅速？
performances:n.演出;[法]履行(performance的复数形式); escalated:v.(使)逐步扩大,不断恶化,加剧;(escalate的过去分词和过去式) enormous:adj.庞大的,巨大的;凶暴的,极恶的;
Well we now know, of course, the answer. 我们现在当然知道答案。
If that Martian looked at battlefields , they would find that people had only muskets at the time of the Civil War and that they had repeating rifles at the time of the Spanish-American War, and then they had machine guns by the time of World War I. 而如果那火星人去看看战场, 他们会找到在内战期间 只带着步枪的战士; 在美西战争期间 用连发猎枪的战士; 还有在一次世界大战期间 用机关枪的战士。
battlefields:n.杀戮战场(BBC的纪录片); muskets:n.步枪;滑膛枪,毛瑟枪; rifles:n.[军]步枪(rifle复数);来福枪;卡宾枪;
And, in other words, it was the equipment that was in the hands of the average soldier that was responsible , not greater keenness of eye or steadiness of hand. 换句话说,是 普通士兵手中的武器装备不同了, 而不是视力够不够敏锐, 或者手法够不够稳健。
in the hands of:由…掌握;在…掌握中; responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; keenness:n.敏锐;锐利; steadiness:n.稳定;稳健;不变;稳固;
Now what we have to imagine is the mental artillery that we have picked up over those hundred years, and I think again that another thinker will help us here, and that's Luria. 现在我们应该理解 这几百年来的心智上的飞跃。 另一位思想家将帮助我们理解这一问题, 他叫罗瑞亚。
artillery:n.火炮;大炮;炮队;炮术;
Luria looked at people just before they entered the scientific age, and he found that these people were resistant to classifying the concrete world. 罗瑞亚早在进入科学时代之前 就开始观察 并发现人们往往 拒绝对具象世界进行分类分析。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; resistant:adj.抵抗的,反抗的;顽固的;n.抵抗者; classifying:v.将…分类;将…归类;划分;界定;(classify的现在分词)
They wanted to break it up into little bits that they could use. 他们想把这世界细分 他们想把这世界细分
He found that they were resistant to deducing the hypothetical, to speculating about what might be, and he found finally that they didn't deal well with abstractions or using logic on those abstractions. 他发现人们拒绝 去推导假说, 去猜测可能性。 他发现人们不擅于 抽象分析或逻辑思考。
deducing:v.推论;推断;演绎;(deduce的现在分词) speculating:v.推测;猜测;推断;投机;(speculate的现在分词) finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
Now let me give you a sample of some of his interviews . 现在我给你们讲讲他的一些调研。
interviews:n.面试; v.对(某人)进行面试(或面谈);
He talked to the head man of a person in rural Russia. 他采访了俄罗斯农村的 一位首领。
rural:adj.农村的,乡下的;田园的,有乡村风味的;
They'd only had, as people had in 1900, about four years of schooling. 在1900 年,人们 大约受四年的学校教育。
And he asked that particular person, what do crows and fish have in common? 他问那位首领, 乌鸦和鱼有什么共同点？
crows:n.[鸟]乌鸦(crow的复数形式);望风者;v.啼叫;吹嘘(crow的三单形式);
And the fellow said, " Absolutely nothing. 那人说: 绝对没有。
Absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
You know, I can eat a fish. I can't eat a crow . 你当然知道,我可以吃一条鱼,但我不能吃一只乌鸦。
eat a crow:做了丑事;
A crow can peck at a fish. 一只乌鸦可以啄食一条鱼。
peck:vi.啄食; vt.啄食; n.许多;
A fish can't do anything to a crow." 但一条鱼可对付不了乌鸦 。
And Luria said, "But aren't they both animals?" 罗瑞亚说, 但这两者不都是动物吗?
And he said, "Of course not. 首领说, 当然不是。
One's a fish. 其中一个是鱼。
The other is a bird." 另外一个是鸟呀。
And he was interested, effectively, in what he could do with those concrete objects. 这位首领真的对 怎么利用这些具体的事物感兴趣。
And then Luria went to another person, and he said to them, "There are no camels in Germany. 罗瑞亚又去采访了另一个人。 他对他们说, 在德国没有骆驼。
Hamburg is a city in Germany. 汉堡是德国的一个城市。
Are there camels in Hamburg?" 那汉堡有骆驼吗?
And the fellow said, "Well, if it's large enough, there ought to be camels there." 这个人回答道, 这个人回答道,
And Luria said, "But what do my words imply ?" 罗瑞亚说, 可是我问的是汉堡呀？
imply:v.意味;暗示;隐含;
And he said, "Well, maybe it's a small village, and there's no room for camels." 那人回答说, 嗯,也许汉堡是一个小村庄, 没有足够的地方留给骆驼呢 。
In other words, he was unwilling to treat this as anything but a concrete problem, and he was used to camels being in villages, and he was quite unable to use the hypothetical, to ask himself what if there were no camels in Germany. 换句话说,他只愿意将这个问题 当成一个具体的问题来回答。 他习惯于骆驼是豢养在村庄里的, 他自己真的无法假设 德国真的就没有骆驼。
unwilling:adj.不愿意的;不情愿的;勉强的; treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣; what if:如果…怎么办?
A third interview was conducted with someone about the North Pole . 第三次采访是 有关北极的问题。
conducted:v.组织;安排;实施;执行;指挥;带领;引导;(conduct的过去分词和过去式) North Pole:n.北极;
And Luria said, "At the North Pole, there is always snow. 罗瑞亚说, 北极呢,总是有雪的。
Wherever there is always snow, the bears are white. 只要哪里一直有雪,那儿的熊就是白色的。
What color are the bears at the North Pole?" 那么在北极的熊是什么颜色?
And the response was, "Such a thing is to be settled by testimony . 被采访者的回答是, 这种事 只能由证据来说话。
response:n.响应;反应;回答; settled:adj.稳定的; v.结束; (settle的过去分词和过去式) testimony:n.[法]证词,证言;证据;
If a wise person came from the North Pole and told me the bears were white, 如果一个智者从北极来 告诉我熊是白色的
I might believe him, but every bear that I have seen is a brown bear." 我可能会相信他。 但我见过的每一只熊都是棕色的呀。”
Now you see again, this person has rejected going beyond the concrete world and analyzing it through everyday experience, and it was important to that person what color bears were -- that is, they had to hunt bears. 这回你又看到,这个人也拒绝 超越具象世界, 拒绝通过平常的经验来分析。 对那个人来说,重要的是 熊是什么颜色 — — 就是说,他们需要捕获这样的熊（来生存）。
rejected:adj.被拒的;不合格的;v.拒绝,驳回;(reject的过去式和过去分词) analyzing:adj.分析的;v.分析(analyze的现在分词);
They weren't willing to engage in this. 他们不愿意进一步分析。
engage:v.吸引,占用;使参加;雇佣;使订婚;预定;
One of them said to Luria, "How can we solve things that aren't real problems? 其中一个人对罗瑞亚说: 我们怎么能解决不是真问题的问题呢？
None of these problems are real. 所有这些问题都不是真正的问题呀。
How can we address them?" 我们怎么能知道呢?
Now, these three categories -- classification, using logic on abstractions, taking the hypothetical seriously -- how much difference do they make in the real world beyond the testing room? 现在,有三种分析方法— — 分类分析, 使用抽象逻辑, 和认真假设 — — 这些分析方法对认识采访室以外的 世界会有影响吗？
categories:n.(人或事物的)类别,种类(category的复数)
And let me give you a few illustrations . 让我给你几个例子。
illustrations:n.[印刷]插图;插画(illustration的复数);
First, almost all of us today get a high school diploma . 第一,今天在场的几乎所有人都有高中毕业文凭。
high school diploma:高中文凭;
That is, we've gone from four to eight years of education to 12 years of formal education, and 52 percent of Americans have actually experienced some type of tertiary education. 就是说,我们已经从4至8年的教育 进步到 12 年的正规教育, 52%的美国人 接受了专科以上的高等教育。
formal:adj.适合正式场合的; n.(美)须穿礼服的社交集会; (口)夜礼服; tertiary:n.第三纪;第三修道会会员;第三级教士;adj.第三的;第三位的;三代的;
Now, not only do we have much more education, and much of that education is scientific, and you can't do science without classifying the world. 现在,我们不仅接受更多的教育, 而且接受更多科学知识的教育。 不会对世界进行分类分析就不能搞科研;
You can't do science without proposing hypotheses . 提不出假说也不能搞科研;
proposing:v.提议;建议;打算;计划;求婚;(propose的现在分词) hypotheses:n.假定;臆测(hypothesis的复数);
You can't do science without making it logically consistent. 没有逻辑上的一致性也没法搞科研。
And even down in grade school , things have changed. 甚至在小学阶段,分析问题的方法也已经发生了变化。
grade school:na.(美)小学;
In 1910, they looked at the examinations that the state of Ohio gave to 14-year-olds, and they found that they were all for socially valued concrete information. 人们研究1910 年的 俄亥俄州针对 14 岁儿童的考题。 他们发现考题 全部是针对具体事物的社会价值的。
They were things like, what are the capitals of the 44 or 45 states that existed at that time? 考试的内容是这样的, 考试的内容是这样的, 首府是什么？
When they looked at the exams that the state of Ohio gave in 1990, they were all about abstractions. 而他们研究的 1990 年俄亥俄州的考题 则全部是些抽象问题。
They were things like, why is the largest city of a state rarely the capital? 比如说, 为什么是一个州的最大城市往往不是首府？
rarely:adv.很少地;难得;罕有地;
And you were supposed to think, well, the state legislature was rural-controlled, and they hated the big city, so rather than putting the capital in a big city, they put it in a county seat. 你可能会想,嗯, 国家立法机关由农村控制的, 他们不喜欢大城市 所以比起在大城市建首府, 他们更愿意把它放在小镇。
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式) legislature:n.立法机关;立法机构; county:n.郡,县;
They put it in Albany rather than New York. 他们把首府建在奥尔巴尼,而不是纽约。
They put it in Harrisburg rather than Philadelphia . 他们把首府建在哈里斯堡,而不是费城。
Philadelphia:n.费城(美国宾夕法尼亚州东南部港市);
And so forth. 等等。
So the tenor of education has changed. 所以说,教育的进程已经改变。
tenor:n.男高音;要旨,大意;票据的限期;稳定的进程;adj.男高音的;
We are educating people to take the hypothetical seriously, to use abstractions, and to link them logically. 我们正教育人们要认真地假设, 要使用抽象思维,然后把它和逻辑思维结合起来。
What about employment ? 那么就业情况呢？
employment:n.使用;职业;雇用;
Well, in 1900, three percent of Americans practiced professions that were cognitively demanding. 在 1900 年,美国人中只有3% 是专业从业者。
professions:n.行业,职业;业内人士;同行;(profession的复数) cognitively:adv.认知地;
Only three percent were lawyers or doctors or teachers. 只有3％的人是律师、医生和教师。
Today, 35 percent of Americans practice cognitively demanding professions, not only to the professions proper like lawyer or doctor or scientist or lecturer, but many, many sub-professions having to do with being a technician , a computer programmer. 而今天,35%的美国人 是专业从业者。 不仅有像律师这样的专门职业, 或者医生,科学家,讲师, 而且有很多很多细分的专业 需要技术员, 计算机程序员来做。
technician:n.技术员;技师;(艺术、体育等的)技巧精湛者;
A whole range of professions now make cognitive demands. 一系列的专业产生了一系列的专业需求。
And we can only meet the terms of employment in the modern world by being cognitively far more flexible . 在现代社会,我们只能满足某专业的就业条款, 而我们对知识的掌握 却灵活机动得多。
flexible:adj.灵活的;柔韧的;易弯曲的;
And it's not just that we have many more people in cognitively demanding professions. 这并不只是说我们有更多的人 从事有专业技能的职业。
The professions have been upgraded . 这些专业行业本身也已经升级换代。
upgraded:adj.提升的;更新的;加固的;v.升级;改善(upgrade的过去分词);
Compare the doctor in 1900, who really had only a few tricks up his sleeve , with the modern general practitioner or specialist, with years of scientific training. 我们比较一下,1900 年 只会几手的医生 和现代社会的医生和医学专家。 后者受过多年的科学培训。
Compare:v.比较;对比;n.比较; sleeve:n.袖子;套管;有…袖子的;唱片套;v.给…装袖子; general practitioner:n.普通医师;
Compare the banker in 1900, who really just needed a good accountant and to know who was trustworthy in the local community for paying back their mortgage . 再比较一下,1900 年 只需要是一个好会计的银行家 他们只需要知道当地社区谁是值得信赖的人 然后帮他们抵押贷款。
accountant:n.会计;会计师; trustworthy:adj.可靠的;可信赖的; community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体; mortgage:vt.抵押;n.抵押;房屋抵押贷款;
Well, the merchant bankers who brought the world to their knees may have been morally remiss , but they were cognitively very agile . 那么现在呢,整个世界都得臣服于银行家的脚下。 他们在道义上可能有所欠缺, 可是他们的专业技能却异常地敏锐。
merchant:n.商人;批发商;(尤指)进出口批发商;(某活动的)爱好者;adj.海上货运的; morally:adv.道德上;有道德地;确实地; remiss:adj.怠慢的;迟缓的;不小心的; agile:adj.敏捷的;机敏的;活泼的;
They went far beyond that 1900 banker. 现代银行家远远超出了1900年的银行家。
They had to look at computer projections for the housing market. 他们需要懂得房屋市场的 计算机预算。
projections:n.预测;设想;投影;投影图;(projection的复数)
They had to get complicated CDO-squared in order to bundle debt together and make debt look as if it were actually a profitable asset . 他们需要获得复杂的债务抵押债券 然后将所有的债务捆绑在一起 让客户觉得债务是一项有利可图的投资。
complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式) bundle:n.包; v.匆匆送走; (成群地)匆忙赶往; debt:n.债务;借款;罪过; profitable:adj.有利可图的;赚钱的;有益的; asset:n.资产;优点;有用的东西;有利条件;财产;有价值的人或物;
They had to prepare a case to get rating agencies to give it a AAA, though in many cases, they had virtually bribed the rating agencies. 他们需要向评级机构申请 获得3A级信用度（企业信用的最高等级）。 虽然在很多情况下,他们大多贿赂评级机构。
agencies:n.代理;代理处(agency的复数); virtually:adv.事实上,几乎;实质上; bribed:v.向(某人)行贿;贿赂;(bribe的过去分词和过去式)
And they also, of course, had to get people to accept these so-called assets and pay money for them even though they were highly vulnerable . 当然,他们还要让客户 接受所谓的“资产”, 为他们付钱, 即使知道客户其实是蒙受很大损失的。
so-called:adj.所谓的;号称的; assets:n.资产;宝贵的人材;(一项)财物;资产;(asset的名词复数) highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; vulnerable:adj.易受攻击的,易受…的攻击;易受伤害的;有弱点的;
Or take a farmer today. 拿现在的农夫为例。
I take the farm manager of today as very different from the farmer of 1900. 我觉得现在的农场主与 1900年的农夫相比非常不一样。
So it hasn't just been the spread of cognitively demanding professions. 虽然这个职业还没有被归类为 专业从业者,
It's also been the upgrading of tasks like lawyer and doctor and what have you that have made demands on our cognitive faculties . 但这个职业也升级成为 像律师、 医生之类 需要专业知识的从业者。
upgrading:v.升级;[矿业]提高品位(upgrade的现在分词);n.叠积作用,加积作用; faculties:n.系,学院;才能,能力;全体教员(faculty的复数形式);
But I've talked about education and employment. 我上面已经谈及教育和就业方面的例子。
Some of the habits of mind that we have developed over the 20th century have paid off in unexpected areas. 我们在20世纪 养成的一些思维习惯 已经在意想不到的领域收益颇丰。
unexpected:adj.意外的,想不到的;
I'm primarily a moral philosopher . 我是一个道德哲学家,
philosopher:n.哲学家;深思的人;善于思考的人;
I merely have a holiday in psychology , and what interests me in general is moral debate . 对心理学不感兴趣。 一般吸引我的话题都是道德辩论。
merely:adv.仅仅,只不过;只是; psychology:n.心理学;心理状态; in general:总之,通常;一般而言; debate:n.辩论;争论;考虑;v.辩论;争论;考虑;
Now over the last century, in developed nations like America, moral debate has escalated because we take the hypothetical seriously, and we also take universals seriously and look for logical connections. 自上一世纪开始, 在和美国一样的发达国家, 道德辩论有大幅增加的趋势。 因为我们认真地做出假设, 我们也认真地对待事物的共性, 并找出合乎逻辑的共同处。
universals:n.共性;一般概念(universal的复数);
When I came home in 1955 from university at the time of Martin Luther King, a lot of people came home at that time and started having arguments with their parents and grandparents. 马丁路德金时代的1955年 当我从大学回到家。 那时有很多学生都从学校回家 与他们的父母和祖父母进行辩论。
My father was born in 1885, and he was mildly racially biased . 我的父亲出生于 1885 年, 他有轻度种族偏见。
mildly:adv.温和地,和善地;适度地; racially:adv.人种上;按人种; biased:adj.有偏见的;结果偏倚的,有偏的;
As an Irishman, he hated the English so much he didn't have much emotion for anyone else. 作为一个爱尔兰人,他十分讨厌英国。 而对其他人没有什么讨厌的想法。
emotion:n.强烈的感情;激情;情感;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But he did have a sense that black people were inferior . 但他确实觉得黑人是劣等的。
inferior:adj.较差的; n.不如别人的人;
And when we said to our parents and grandparents, "How would you feel if tomorrow morning you woke up black?" 当我们问我们的父母和祖父母, 如果明早一起床你发现自己是黑人了你会怎么想?
they said that is the dumbest thing you've ever said. 他们说,这就是你说过的最愚蠢的话。
dumbest:哑的;蠢的(dumb的最高级);
Who have you ever known who woke up in the morning -- 你见过谁一早上醒来－
(Laughter) -- that turned black? （笑声）- 就一下子变成黑人了？
In other words, they were fixed in the concrete mores and attitudes they had inherited . 换句话说,他们固执于一些具体的 习俗和固有的态度上。
mores:n.风俗习惯;传统; attitudes:n.态度,看法(attitude复数); inherited:v.继承(金钱、财产等);接替(责任等);继任;(inherit的过去式和过去分词)
They would not take the hypothetical seriously, and without the hypothetical, it's very difficult to get moral argument off the ground . 他们不会认真地假设。 可是没有假设, 就很难把道德上的争论进行下去。
off the ground:已开始的;在进行中;
You have to say, imagine you were in Iran, and imagine that your relatives all suffered from collateral damage even though they had done no wrong. 那你要说了,试想你 在伊朗,试想你的亲戚 所遭受的摧残 其实他们什么都没做错。
relatives:n.亲戚;亲属;同类事物;(relative的复数) collateral:adj.并行的;旁系的;附属的;n.抵押品;[法]担保品;旁系亲属;
How would you feel about that? 你会怎么想？
And if someone of the older generation says, well, our government takes care of us, and it's up to their government to take care of them, they're just not willing to take the hypothetical seriously. 老一辈的人会回答说, 嗯,我们的政府关照我们, 他们的政府关照他们。 他们真的不愿意认真地对待假设。
Or take an Islamic father whose daughter has been raped , and he feels he's honor-bound to kill her. 还有一个例子,一个伊斯兰的父亲,他的女儿被强奸了, 他会觉得自己有权杀了她。
Islamic:adj.穆斯林的; raped:v.强奸;强暴(rape的过去分词和过去式) honor-bound:adj.正义感的,受道义驱使的;为了荣誉必须做的,荣誉攸关的;
Well, he's treating his mores as if they were sticks and stones and rocks that he had inherited, and they're unmovable in any way by logic. 是的,他就是在按照习俗办事, 这些习俗就像他所继承的石头和棍子一样, 是很难被改变的。
treating:v.以…态度对待;把…看作;处理;讨论;(treat的现在分词)
They're just inherited mores. 他们只是机械地继承习俗。
Today we would say something like, well, imagine you were knocked unconscious and sodomized . 今天我们会说, 嗯,想象一下你被撞昏迷或被摧残了。
unconscious:adj.无意识的;失去知觉的;未发觉的; sodomized:vt.对…兽奸;对…鸡奸;
Would you deserve to be killed? 你就该被杀吗?
deserve:vi.应受,应得;
And he would say, well that's not in the Koran . 他会说,古兰经没有记载那些东西,
Koran:n.《可兰经》,《古兰经》(伊斯兰教);
That's not one of the principles I've got. 那不是我信奉的信条之一。
principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数)
Well you, today, universalize your principles. 那么今天,你应该把信条广义化。
universalize:vt.使普遍化,使一般化;
You state them as abstractions and you use logic on them. 用抽象思维来说明它,用逻辑思维来实践它。
If you have a principle such as, people shouldn't suffer unless they're guilty of something, then to exclude black people you've got to make exceptions, don't you? 如果你有一项信条是, 除非有罪,人就不应该被摧残。 然后再排除黑人。 你是不是一定要弄出个例外来？
guilty:adj.有罪的;内疚的; exclude:v.不包括;不放在考虑之列;防止…进入;阻止…参加;
You have to say, well, blackness of skin, you couldn't suffer just for that. 你不得不说,嗯,肤色黑, 你不能只是为肤色黑就该受苦。
blackness:n.黑色;阴险;
It must be that blacks are somehow tainted . 一定是是黑人某些方面是脏的坏的。
somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地; tainted:v.使腐坏;污染;玷污,败坏(名声);(taint的过去分词和过去式)
And then we can bring empirical evidence to bear, can't we, and say, well how can you consider all blacks tainted when St. Augustine was black and Thomas Sowell is black. 然后我们需要举出实例来,我们能吗？ 那么,你怎么可以觉得所有黑人都是脏的坏的呢？ 圣奥古斯汀是黑人和托马斯·索威尔是黑人。
empirical:adj.经验主义的,完全根据经验的;实证的; evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; all blacks:n.全黑队(指新西兰国家橄榄球队);
And you can get moral argument off the ground, then, because you're not treating moral principles as concrete entities . 你无法在道德辩论中取胜, 因为你不再把道德原则当做具体的个例,
entities:n.实体;存在(entity的复数形式);字符实体;
You're treating them as universals, to be rendered consistent by logic. 你把这些原则广义化, 让这些原则符合逻辑。
rendered:v.使成为;给予;提供;回报;递交;(render的过去分词和过去式)
Now how did all of this arise out of I.Q. tests? 那么,这一切都是如何提高我们的智商的呢？
arise out of:起于…;
That's what initially got me going on cognitive history. 这就是为什么我一开始就痴迷研究认知历史。
If you look at the I.Q. test, you find the gains have been greatest in certain areas. 看看智商测试, 你会发现它在某种特定领域中得到极大的提高。
The similarities subtest of the Wechsler is about classification, and we have made enormous gains on that classification subtest. 相似还有韦氏子测试, 那是关于分类分析的。 在分类分析的测试终, 我们也取得了巨大的进步。
similarities:n.相仿性;类似性;相像处;(similarity的复数)
There are other parts of the I.Q. test battery that are about using logic on abstractions. 智商测试的其他部分 是关于对抽象事物运用逻辑思维的。
battery:n.[电]电池,蓄电池;n.[法]殴打;n.[军]炮台,炮位;
Some of you may have taken Raven's Progressive Matrices , and it's all about analogies . 你们中也许有人已经做过瑞文渐进矩阵, 是关于类比分析的。
Progressive:adj.进步的;先进的;开明的;稳步的;n.进步人士;开明人士;改革派; Matrices:n.[数]矩阵;模型;[生物][地质]基质;母岩(matrix的复数); analogies:n.类比;类推法;
And in 1900, people could do simple analogies. 在 1900 年,人们能做简单的类比分析。
That is, if you said to them, cats are like wildcats . 也就是说,如果你对他们说,猫是象野猫一样。
wildcats:n.野猫(wildcat的复数形式);野猫队;
What are dogs like? 那狗像什么？
They would say wolves. 他们会说象狼。
But by 1960, people could attack Raven's on a much more sophisticated level. 但到 1960 年,人们可以在瑞文渐进矩阵上 更进一步。
sophisticated:adj.复杂的;老练的;见多识广的;水平高的;
If you said, we've got two squares followed by a triangle , what follows two circles? 如果你说,我们有两个正方形在一个三角形后面, 那两个圆后面跟着什么？
triangle:n.三角形;三角形物体;三角铁(打击乐器);三角关系;
They could say a semicircle . 他们会说是一个半圆。
semicircle:n.半圆,半圆形;
Just as a triangle is half of a square, a semicircle is half of a circle. 就象说三角形是一个正方形的一半一样, 半圆是一个圆形的一半。
By 2010, college graduates, if you said two circles followed by a semicircle, two sixteens followed by what, they would say eight, because eight is half of 16. 到 2010 年,如果你问大学毕业生, 两个圆排在一个半圆之后, 两个十六岁跟在什么之后呢？ 他们说8,因为8是 16 的一半。
That is, they had moved so far from the concrete world that they could even ignore the appearance of the symbols that were involved in the question. 这就是,他们已经可以脱离具象世界 更深远地思考问题了。他们甚至可以忽略 智商题中那些符号的外观。
ignore:v.驳回诉讼;忽视;不理睬; appearance:n.外貌;外观;外表; symbols:n.符号;象征;标志;符号表(symbol的复数); involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词)
Now, I should say one thing that's very disheartening . 但现在我还应该说一件非常令人沮丧的事。
disheartening:adj.令人灰心的;令人气馁的;
We haven't made progress on all fronts. 那就是我们还没有在所有的方面上都取得进步。
One of the ways in which we would like to deal with the sophistication of the modern world is through politics , and sadly you can have humane moral principles, 处理现代社会 复杂问题的方法之一, 就是通过政治。 可悲的是,你可以有人性的道德原则,
sophistication:n.复杂;诡辩;老于世故;有教养; politics:n.政治;钩心斗角;政治观点;v.(贬)从事政治活动;(politic的第三人称单数) humane:adj.仁慈的,人道的;高尚的;
you can classify, you can use logic on abstractions, and if you're ignorant of history and of other countries, you can't do politics. 你可以分类分析,你可以在抽象问题上运用逻辑, 如果你是无视历史和其他国家, 你就不能搞好政治活动。
ignorant:adj.无知的;愚昧的;
We've noticed, in a trend among young Americans, that they read less history and less literature and less material about foreign lands, and they're essentially ahistorical. 我们注意到,年轻的美国人有这样一个趋势, 他们很少读历史和文学 更不要提外国的历史和文学。 这些年轻人基本上与历史无关。
trend:n.趋势;动向;趋向;动态;v.走向;趋向; literature:n.文学;文献;文艺;著作; essentially:adv.本质上;本来;
They live in the bubble of the present. 他们活在当下的泡沫里。
bubble:n.泡;气泡;肥皂泡;一点感情;v.起泡;冒泡;洋溢着(某种感情);
They don't know the Korean War from the war in Vietnam. 他们不知道朝鲜战争也不知道越南战争。
Korean:n.朝鲜族;韩国人;朝鲜话;adj.朝鲜的;朝鲜族的;朝鲜话的;
They don't know who was an ally of America in World War II. 他们不知道谁是第二次世界大战中的美国盟友。
Think how different America would be if every American knew that this is the fifth time 想象一下,美国会将是如何的不同吧。 如果每个美国人都知道这已经是第五次
Western armies have gone to Afghanistan to put its house in order, and if they had some idea of exactly what had happened on those four previous occasions. 西方军队进驻阿富汗了, 如果每个美国人都知道 前面的四次都发生了什么。
Afghanistan:n.阿富汗(国家名称,位于亚洲); previous:adj.以前的;早先的;过早的;adv.在先;在…以前;
(Laughter) （笑声）
And that is, they had barely left, and there wasn't a trace in the sand. 但是,他们（美国的年轻人）几乎从来没有离开 他们生活的小圈子。
barely:adv.仅仅,勉强;几乎不;公开地;贫乏地; trace:追溯,追踪
Or imagine how different things would be if most Americans knew that we had been lied into four of our last six wars. 再想象一下,事情会如何不同吧！ 如果大多数美国人都知道我们一直被欺骗着 参加了六场战争中的四场。
You know, the Spanish didn't sink the battleship Maine , the Lusitania was not an innocent vessel but was loaded with munitions , the North Vietnamese did not attack the Seventh Fleet , and, of course, Saddam Hussein hated al Qaeda and had nothing to do with it, 你知道吗？西班牙没有击沉缅因战舰, 卢西塔尼亚号也不是无辜的。 它载满武器弹药。 北越没有根本攻击第七舰队, 并且,当然,萨达姆 · 侯赛因痛恨基地组织, 跟他们一点儿关系也没有。
battleship:n.(美)战舰; Maine:n.缅因州(美国州名); innocent:adj.无辜的;无罪的;无知的;n.天真的人;笨蛋; vessel:n.器皿;轮船;脉管;大船; munitions:n.[军]军需品(尤指武器弹药); v.供应…军需品; Vietnamese:n.越南人;越南语;adj.越南的;越南人的; Fleet:n.舰队; v.浅; v.掠过; adj.跑得快的; Saddam:n.萨达姆(伊拉克前总统); had nothing to do with:与…无关;
and yet the administration convinced 45 percent of the people that they were brothers in arms, when he would hang one from the nearest lamppost . 然而,政府当局却能让45%的美国人相信 萨达姆和基地组织关系紧密。 这样他（领导者）就找到了理由（去打仗）。
convinced:adj.坚信; v.使确信; (convince的过去分词和过去式) lamppost:n.街灯柱;路灯柱;
But I don't want to end on a pessimistic note. 但,我不想用悲观的基调做结语。
pessimistic:adj.悲观的,厌世的;悲观主义的;
The 20th century has shown enormous cognitive reserves in ordinary people that we have now realized, and the aristocracy was convinced that the average person couldn't make it, that they could never share their mindset or their cognitive abilities. 在20 世纪,我们普通人呈现出巨大认知潜力。 我们自己已经充分认识到这一点。 以往的贵族相信 普通人永远不会 拥有象他们那样的思维 和认知能力。
reserves:n.[油气]储量; v.储备; aristocracy:n.贵族;贵族统治;上层社会;贵族政治; mindset:n.心态;倾向;习惯;精神状态;
Lord Curzon once said he saw people bathing in the North Sea, and he said, "Why did no one tell me what white bodies the lower orders have?" 柯曾爵士曾经说过: 他看见人们在北海沐浴, 他问, 为什么没有人告诉我 白人怎么这么没有秩序?
Lord:n.(英国)贵族,大人,大臣;v.使成贵族;作威作福; bathing:n.游泳,畅游;v.给…洗澡;洗澡;(bath的现在分词) lower orders:n.下层社会;
As if they were a reptile . 就好像他们是爬虫。”
reptile:adj.爬虫类的;卑鄙的;n.爬行动物;卑鄙的人;
Well, Dickens was right and he was wrong. [Correction: Rudyard Kipling] 其实呢,狄更斯是对和他是错的。[更正: 拉迪亚德 · 吉卜林]
Dickens:n.魔鬼(等于devil);
[Kipling] said, "The colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady are sisters underneath the skin." [吉卜林] 说: 上校的夫人和茱蒂奥格雷迪 在皮肤以下是姐妹呢 。
underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的;
(Applause) （掌声）