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StevenPinker_2003-_在白板上写下论题_
A year ago, I spoke to you about a book that I was just in the process of completing, that has come out in the interim , and I would like to talk to you today about some of the controversies that that book inspired . 一年前,我跟你们谈起 一本就快写完的书, 在这期间它出版了。今天我想跟你们谈谈 这本书引发的一些争议。
in the process of:在…的过程中; interim:adj.临时的,暂时的;中间的;间歇的;n.过渡时期,中间时期;暂定; controversies:n.争论;辩论(controversy的复数); inspired:adj.受到启发的; v.鼓舞; (inspire的过去分词和过去式)
The book is called "The Blank Slate ," 这本书名叫《空白的石板》,
Slate:n.石板;板岩;候选人名单;v.批评;抨击;预定;计划;安排;选定;
based on the popular idea that the human mind is a blank slate, and that all of its structure comes from socialization , culture, parenting, experience. 它基于一个流行的观点 即人类的思想是一块空白的石板, 它所有的构造都来自于 社交,文化,养育,经验。
structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造; socialization:n.社会化,社会主义化;
The "blank slate" was an influential idea in the 20th century. 在二十世纪里,“空白的石板”是很有影响的观点。
influential:adj.有影响的;有势力的;n.有影响力的人物;
Here are a few quotes indicating that: "Man has no nature," from the historian 下面有几条表达这个意思的语录: “人无天性”,来自历史学家
quotes:n.引用,引号;报价(quote的复数);v.报价(quote的第三人称单数);引用;复述; indicating:v.表明;显示;象征;暗示;(indicate的现在分词)
Jose Ortega y Gasset; "Man has no instincts ," from the anthropologist Ashley Montagu; "The human brain is capable of a full range of behaviors and predisposed to none," from the late scientist Stephen Jay Gould. Jose Ortega y Gasset; “人无本能”,来自 人类学家Ashley Montagu; “人的大脑有能力做各种行为 但没有任何预先的倾向”,来自已故科学家史蒂芬·古尔德。
instincts:n.本能;天性;直觉;(instinct的复数) anthropologist:n.人类学家;人类学者; capable:adj.能干的,能胜任的;有才华的; predisposed:adj.先有倾向的,先有意向的; v.预先有倾向的;
There are a number of reasons to doubt that the human mind is a blank slate, and some of them just come from common sense . 有几条理由来怀疑人的思想 是一块空白的石板, 其中一些只不过来自于常识。
common sense:adj.常识的;有生活经验得来的;
As many people have told me over the years, anyone who's had more than one child knows that kids come into the world with certain temperaments and talents; it doesn't all come from the outside. 正如这些年里许多人告诉我的那样, 任何有几个小孩的人 孩子带着特定的性情和天赋 来到这个世界; 这些并非都来自外界。
temperaments:n.气质,性情,性格;急躁;
Oh, and anyone who has both a child and a house pet has surely noticed that the child, exposed to speech, will acquire a human language, whereas the house pet won't, presumably because of some innate different between them. 噢,任何人要是既有孩子 又有宠物, 一定会注意到,接触到言语的儿童 会习得人类语言, 而宠物则不会, 想必是由于他们之间有些先天的差异。
exposed:adj.无遮蔽的; v.暴露; (expose的过去分词和过去式) acquire:v.获得;取得;学到;捕获; whereas:conj.然而;鉴于;反之; presumably:adv.大概;推测起来;可假定; innate:adj.先天的;固有的;与生俱来的;
And anyone who's been in a heterosexual relationship knows that the minds of men and the minds of women are not indistinguishable . 任何曾跟异性交往过的人 都知道,男人的思想 跟女人的思想并非难以区分。
heterosexual:adj.异性的;异性恋的;n.异性恋的人; indistinguishable:adj.不能区别的,不能辨别的;不易察觉的;
There are also, I think, increasing results from the scientific study of humans that, indeed, we're not born blank slates . 我认为在对人的科学研究中 也有越来越多的 结果表明 我们并非生而为白板。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; slates:n.[地质]石板(slate的复数形式); vt.用石板瓦盖…;
One of them, from anthropology , is the study of human universals . 其中之一是来自人类学 对人类共性的研究。
anthropology:n.人类学;人类学家; universals:n.共性;一般概念(universal的复数);
If you've ever taken anthropology, you know that it's a -- kind of an occupational pleasure of anthropologists to show how exotic other cultures can be, 如果你学过人类学, 你就会知道它是 人类学家的一种职业乐趣, 用来展现其他的文明能有多么奇特,
occupational:adj.职业的;占领的; anthropologists:[人类]人类学家; exotic:adj.异国的;外来的;异国情调的;
and that there are places out there where, supposedly , everything is the opposite to the way it is here. 据说有些地方 所有事都跟这儿相反。
supposedly:adv.据说;据信;据传;
But if you instead look at what is common to the world's cultures, you find that there is an enormously rich set of behaviors and emotions and ways of construing the world that can be found in all of the world's 6,000-odd cultures. 但如果你去审视一下 世界上的文明有何共同点, 你会发现有大量的 行为和情绪, 以及解释世界的方式, 都能在世界上的6000多个文化中找到。
enormously:adv.巨大地,庞大地;非常地,在极大程度上; emotions:n.强烈的感情;激情;情感;(emotion的复数)
The anthropologist Donald Brown has tried to list them all, and they range from aesthetics , affection and age statuses all the way down to weaning , weapons, weather, attempts to control, the color white and a world view . 人类学家Donald Brown试着把它们全部罗列出来, 从审美, 感情,年龄待遇, 一直到断奶,武器,天气, 尝试控制,白色, 以及世界观。
aesthetics:n.美学;美的哲学; statuses:n.地位;状态;情形;重要身分; weaning:n.断奶;v.断奶(wean的ing形式);使断绝;adj.断奶的; attempts:n.企图,试图;尝试(attempt的复数);v.试图;努力去做(attempt的三单形式); world view:n.世界观;
Also, genetics and neuroscience are increasingly showing that the brain is intricately structured . 此外,遗传学和神经科学 日益表明大脑 是错综复杂地构造起来的。
genetics:n.遗传学; neuroscience:n.神经系统科学(指神经病学,神经化学等); increasingly:adv.越来越多地;渐增地; intricately:adv.杂乱地; structured:adj.有结构的;有组织的;v.组织;构成(structure的过去分词);建造;
This is a recent study by the neurobiologist Paul Thompson and his colleagues in which they -- using MRI -- measured the distribution of gray matter -- that is, the outer layer of the cortex -- in a large sample of pairs of people. 这是神经生物学家Paul Thompson和他的同事 最近的一项研究, 在研究中他们使用磁共振造像 测量了灰质—— ——即脑皮层的外层—— 在一个两两成对的人的庞大样本中的分布。
neurobiologist:神经生物学家; colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); measured:adj.缓慢谨慎的; v.测量; (measure的过去分词和过去式) distribution:n.分布;分配;分发;分销; outer:adj.外面的,外部的;远离中心的;n.环外命中; layer:n.层,层次; vt.把…分层堆放; vi.形成或分成层次; cortex:n.[解剖]皮质;树皮;果皮;
They coded correlations in the thickness of gray matter in different parts of the brain using a false color scheme , in which in which no difference is coded as purple , and any color other than purple indicates a statistically significant correlation. 他们用一种人为的色彩方案 对大脑的不同部分的 灰质厚度的相互关系进行编码, 没有区别的被编码为紫色, 除紫色外的其他颜色表示 统计显著的相关性。
coded:adj.[计]编码的;电码的;译成电码的;v.译成密码(code的过去式和过去分词); correlations:n.统计,[数]相关(correlation复数形式);相互关系; thickness:n.厚度;层;浓度;含混不清; scheme:n.计划;方案;体系;体制;阴谋;v.密谋;图谋;想;认为; purple:n.紫色;紫袍;v.变紫;使成紫色;adj.紫色的;华丽的文辞; indicates:v.表明指示,显示;(indicate的第三人称单数) statistically:adv.统计地;统计学上; significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物;
Well, this is what happens when you pair people up at random . 好了,这是随机把两个人配对的结果。
random:adj.[数]随机的;任意的;胡乱的;n.随意;adv.胡乱地;
By definition , two people picked at random can't have correlations in the distribution of gray matter in the cortex. 根据定义,两个随机选出的人 在脑皮层的灰质分布上 是不会有关联的。
definition:n.定义;清晰度;(尤指词典里的词或短语的)释义;解释;
This is what happens in people who share half of their DNA -- fraternal twins. 这是两个有一半相同基因的人 ——异卵双胞胎的结果。
fraternal:adj.兄弟般的;友好的;
As you can see , large amounts of the brain are not purple, showing that if one person has a thicker bit of cortex in that region , so does his fraternal twin . 你可以看到,大脑的许多部分 不是紫色的,说明如果一个人 在那个区域的脑皮层较厚, 那他的异卵双胞胎也一样。
As you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的; region:n.地区;范围;部位; fraternal twin:n.二卵双生;异卵双生;
And here's what happens if you get a pair of people who share all their DNA -- namely , clones or identical twins. 这是一对DNA完全相同的人 即克隆或者同卵双胞胎 的结果。
namely:adv.也就是;即是;换句话说; clones:n.无性繁殖系个体; v.复制(clone的单三形式); identical:adj.同一的;完全相同的;n.完全相同的事物;
And you can see huge areas of cortex where there are massive correlations in the distribution of gray matter. 你能看到皮层的大片大片区域中 的灰质分布都显著相关。
massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的;
Now, these aren't just differences in anatomy , like the shape of your ear lobes , but they have consequences in thought and behavior that are well illustrated in this famous cartoon by Charles Addams: "Separated at birth, the Mallifert twins meet accidentally ." 其实,不止 解剖结构上有差异, 类似于你耳垂的形状, 它们对思想和行为会产生重大影响, 正如在Charles Addams的这幅著名的漫画中很好地展示得那样: “出生时分离,Mallifert双胞胎意外相遇。”
anatomy:n.解剖;解剖学;剖析;解析; lobes:n.耳垂;脑叶(lobe的复数形式); consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数); illustrated:v.加插图于;给(书等)做图表;说明,解释;(illustrate的过去分词和过去式) accidentally:adv.意外地:偶然,偶然地;
As you can see, there are two inventors with identical contraptions in their lap, and they're meeting in the waiting room of a patent attorney . 你可以看到,两个发明家 膝上有相同的玩意儿, 他们在专利律师的休息室里相遇。
contraptions:n.奇妙的装置;精巧的设计; waiting room:na.候车室; patent:vt.授予专利; adj.专利的; n.专利权; attorney:n.律师(尤指代表当事人出庭者);(业务或法律事务上的)代理人;
Now, the cartoon is not such an exaggeration , because studies of identical twins who were separated at birth and then tested in adulthood show that they have astonishing similarities . 其实,这幅漫画并没有很夸张,因为 对出生时分离, 成年时测试的同卵双胞胎 的研究表明他们有惊人的相似性。
exaggeration:n.夸张;夸大之词;夸张的手法; adulthood:n.成年;成人期; astonishing:adj.令人十分惊讶的;v.使十分惊讶;使吃惊;(astonish的现在分词) similarities:n.相仿性;类似性;相像处;(similarity的复数)
And this happens in every pair of identical twins separated at birth ever studied -- but much less so with fraternal twins separated at birth. 并且每一对被研究的 出生时分离的同卵双胞胎都是这样—— 但出生时分离的异卵双胞胎就远非如此。
My favorite example is of a pair of twins, one of whom was brought up as a Catholic in a Nazi family in Germany, the other brought up in a Jewish family in Trinidad. 我偏爱的一个例子中有一对双胞胎, 一个在德国的一个纳粹家庭里 被养育成一个天主教徒, 另一个在特立尼达的一个犹太家庭中长大。
Catholic:adj.天主教的;宽宏大量的;n.天主教徒;罗马天主教; Jewish:adj.犹太人的;犹太族的;
When they walked into the lab in Minnesota , they were wearing identical navy blue shirts with epaulettes , both of them liked to dip buttered toast in coffee, 当他们走进明尼苏达的实验室时, 他们都穿着相同的有肩章的海军蓝衬衫, 他们都喜欢把奶油面包浸在咖啡里,
Minnesota:n.明尼苏达州(美国中北部洲); navy blue:adj.深蓝色的; epaulettes:n.(军服上的)肩章;肩纤毛带(epaulette的复数形式,等于epaulets); dip:n.游一游; v.蘸; toast:n.干杯; v.为…干杯;
both of them kept rubber bands around their wrists , both of them flushed the toilet before using it as well as after, and both of them liked to surprise people by sneezing in crowded elevators to watch them jump. 他们都在手腕上戴着橡皮筋, 他们都要在使用抽水马桶的前后各冲一次水, 他们都喜欢在拥挤的电梯里 打喷嚏来吓人一跳。
rubber:n.橡胶;橡皮;v.涂橡胶于…; bands:n.乐队;法官; wrists:n.手腕(wrist的复数); flushed:adj.脸红的;v.发红;脸红;(用水)冲洗净,冲洗;(flush的过去分词和过去式) as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且; sneezing:n.打喷嚏;v.打喷嚏(sneeze的ing形式); elevators:n.电梯(elevator的复数形式);升降机;
Now -- the story might seem to good to be true, but when you administer batteries of psychological tests, you get the same results -- namely, identical twins separated at birth show quite astonishing similarities. 好了—— 这个故事看似异想天开, 但当你进行 各种心理测试时, 你会得到相同的结果——那就是, 出生时失散的同卵双胞胎显示出 相当惊人的相似之处。
administer:v.管理;施行;执行;给予;提供; batteries:n.电池;炮组;炮列;[法]殴打;(batteries是battery的复数) psychological:adj.心理的;心理学的;精神上的;
Now, given both the common sense and scientific data calling the doctrine of the blank slate into question, why should it have been such an appealing notion ? 好了,既然常识 和科学数据 都质疑白板的教条, 为何它会是个那么有吸引力的主张？
doctrine:n.主义;学说;教义;信条; appealing:adj.吸引人的; v.呼吁; (appeal的现在分词) notion:n.观念;信念;理解;
Well, there are a number of political reasons why people have found it congenial . 好吧,人们之所以觉得它合意,其中有几个政治原因。
congenial:adj.意气相投的;性格相似的;适意的;一致的;
The foremost is that if we're blank slates, then, by definition, we are equal, because zero equals zero equals zero equals zero. 最根本的是,如果我们是空白的石板, 那么根据定义,我们就是平等的, 因为零等于零等于零等于零。
foremost:adj.最重要的;最先的;adv.首先;居于首位地;
But if something is written on the slate, then some people could have more of it than others, and according to this line of thinking, that would justify discrimination and inequality. 但如果白板上写了东西, 那么有些人的就可能比别人写得多, 根据这种思路,就会证明 歧视和不平等是有理的。
according to:根据,据说; justify:v.证明合法;整理版面;替…辩护; discrimination:n.歧视;区别,辨别;识别力;
Another political fear of human nature is that if we are blank slates, we can perfect mankind -- the age-old dream of the perfectibility of our species through social engineering . 另一种对于人性的政治担忧是, 如果我们是空白的石板, 我们就能使人类完美—— 通过社会工程来使我们的物种 臻于完美的古老梦想。
human nature:n.人性; mankind:n.人类;男性; age-old:adj.古老的;由来已久的; perfectibility:n.完全性;可改善性;可完美性; species:n.[生物]物种;种类; social engineering:n.社会工程(根据政治信念改造社会);
Whereas if we're born with certain instincts, then perhaps some of them might condemn us to selfishness , prejudice and violence . 而如果我们有某些与生俱来的本能, 那么也许其中有些会把我们 驱入自私,偏见和暴力。
condemn:v.谴责;判刑,定罪;声讨; selfishness:n.自私自利;自我中心;任性; prejudice:n.偏见;侵害;vt.损害;使有偏见; violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
Well, in the book, I argue that these are in fact non sequiturs . 好了,在书中,我主张这些其实都是不当结论。
sequiturs:n.推断,结论(自前提演变的);
Just to make a long story short : first of all , the concept of fairness is not the same as the concept of sameness . 长话短说吧: 首先,公平的概念 跟相同的概念是不同的。
make a long story short:长话短说,简而言之;总之; first of all:adv.首先; sameness:n.相同;千篇一律;单调;
And so when Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence , "We hold these truths to be self-evident , that all men are created equal," 因此,当托马斯·杰斐逊 在独立宣言中写道, “我们认为这些真理是不言自明的: 所有人生而平等,”
Declaration of Independence:n.[美史]独立宣言: self-evident:adj.不言而喻的;不证自明的;
he did not mean "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are clones." 他的意思并不是“我们认为这些真理是不言自明的: 所有人都是克隆体。”
Rather, that all men are equal in terms of their rights, and that every person ought to be treated as an individual , and not prejudged by the statistics of particular groups that they may belong to. 而是所有人在权利方面是平等的, 每个人应当被作为 个人来对待,而不是根据 他们所属的特定群体的 统计数据来做预判。
treated:v.以…态度对待;把…看作;(treat的过去分词和过去式) individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; prejudged:v.预先判断;过早判断(prejudge的过去分词和过去式) statistics:n.统计数字;统计资料;统计学;(statistic的复数)
Also, even if we were born with certain ignoble motives , they don't automatically lead to ignoble behavior. 此外,即使我们生来 有某些卑劣的动机, 它们并不会自动导致卑劣的行为。
ignoble:adj.不光彩的;卑鄙的;卑贱的; motives:n.动机;目的;运动(motive的复数);v.使有动机;促动(motive的三单形式); automatically:adv.自动地;机械地;无意识地;adj.不经思索的;
That is because the human mind is a complex system with many parts, and some of them can inhibit others. 这是因为人的头脑 是一个有许多组成部分的复杂系统, 其中有些可以抑制其他部分。
complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施; inhibit:vt.抑制;禁止;
For example, there's excellent reason to believe that virtually all humans are born with a moral sense, and that we have cognitive abilities that allow us to profit from the lessons of history. 例如,我们有很好的理由相信 几乎所有人生而具有道德感, 并且我们有 从历史的经验教训中获益的认知能力。
virtually:adv.事实上,几乎;实质上; moral:n.寓意;品行;教益;adj.道德的;道义上的;道德上的;品行端正的; cognitive:adj.认知的,认识的; profit:n.利润;利益;v.获利;有益;
So even if people did have impulses towards selfishness or greed , that's not the only thing in the skull , and there are other parts of the mind that can counteract them. 因此,即使人们 对自私或贪婪有冲动, 那也不是头颅中仅有的东西, 头脑中还有其他部分可以抵消它们。
impulses:n.[心理]冲动; v.推动(impulse的第三人称单数); greed:n.贪婪,贪心; skull:n.头盖骨,脑壳; counteract:vt.抵消;中和;阻碍;
In the book, I go over controversies such as this one, and a number of other hot buttons, hot zones, Chernobyls, third rails, and so on, including the arts, cloning , crime, free will , education, evolution , gender differences, God, homosexuality , infanticide , inequality, Marxism , morality , 在书中,我 审视了诸如此类的争论, 以及其他一些敏感问题, 敏感区域,切尔诺贝利,第三条轨道等等, 包括艺术,克隆,犯罪, 自由意志,教育,进化, 性别差异,上帝,同性恋, 杀婴,不平等,马克思主义,道德,
cloning:n.克隆;v.无性繁殖(clone的现在分词); free will:n.自由意志; evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; gender:n.性别; homosexuality:n.同性恋; infanticide:n.杀婴,杀婴者;杀婴犯;杀婴罪; Marxism:n.马克思主义;adj.马克思的;马克思主义的; morality:n.道德;品行,美德;
Nazism , parenting, politics , race, religion, resource depletion , social engineering, technological risk and war. 纳粹主义,养育子女,政治, 种族,宗教,资源枯竭, 社会工程,技术风险和战争。
Nazism:n.纳粹主义; 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) resource:n.资源;资料;才智;财力;v.向…提供资金(或设备); depletion:n.消耗;损耗;放血; technological:adj.技术[工程](上)的;因工艺技术高度发展而引起的;
And needless to say, there were certain risks in taking on these subjects. 不用说,讨论这些主题 是有一定风险的。
needless:adj.不必要的,不需要的;多余的,无用的;
When I wrote a first draft of the book, 当我写了书的初稿时,
draft:n.草案; v.起草; adj.供役使的;
I circulated it to a number of colleagues for comments, and here are some of the reactions that I got: "Better get a security camera for your house." 我分发给一些同事征求意见, 这里是我得到的 一些反应: “最好给你的房子装个保安摄像头。”
circulated:v.(液体或气体)环流,循环;传播;流传;散布;(circulate的过去式和过去分词) reactions:n.反应;回应;抗拒;生理反应;副作用(reaction的复数)
'"Don't expect to get any more awards, job offers or positions in scholarly societies." “你别指望还能得到什么奖项、工作机会 或在学术社团里的位置。”
scholarly:adj.博学的;学者风度的;学者派头的;
'"Tell your publisher not to list your hometown in your author bio." “告诉你的出版商别在你的个人小传里 列出你的家乡。”
publisher:n.出版者,出版商;发行人;
'"Do you have tenure ?" “你有终身教职了吗？”
tenure:n.任期;占有;vt.授予…终身职位;
(Laughter) (笑声)
Well, the book came out in October, and nothing terrible has happened. 唔,这本书在10月份出版了, 还没有发生什么可怕的事。
I -- I like -- 我——我喜欢——
There was indeed reason to be nervous, and there were moments in which I did feel nervous, knowing the history of what has happened to people who've taken controversial stands or discovered disquieting findings in the behavioral sciences. 的确有理由紧张, 在某些时刻我确实也感到紧张了, 因为我知道 那些在行为科学中 持争议立场 或有令人不安的发现的人 的下场的历史。
controversial:adj.有争议的;有争论的; disquieting:adj.令人不安的;使人忧虑的;v.使担心;使焦急;(disquiet的现在分词) findings:n.调查发现;判决;裁决;(finding的复数) behavioral:adj.行为的;
There are many cases, some of which I talk about in the book, of people who have been slandered , called Nazis, physically assaulted , threatened with criminal prosecution for stumbling across or arguing about controversial findings. 有很多这样的事例,有些我在书中谈到了, 关于人们因为偶然发现 或者争论有争议的发现, 而被诽谤,被称为纳粹, 殴打,胁以刑事起诉。
slandered:vt.诽谤;造谣中伤;n.诽谤;中伤; assaulted:v.猛烈攻击,袭击,侵犯人身;使(感官)难受;(assault的过去分词和过去式) prosecution:n.起诉,检举;进行;经营; stumbling:v.绊脚;蹒跚而行;(不顺畅地)说,读,演奏(stumble的现在分词)
And you never know when you're going to come across one of these booby traps . 你永远不知道你何时 会踏入这样的一个陷阱。
you never know:(非正式)很难说,不可预知; come across:偶然遇见;给人以…的印象; booby:n.呆子;傻瓜;塘鹅;(在比赛或游戏中)成绩最差的人; traps:n.陷阱,捕捉器; v.使落入险境; (trap的第三人称单数和复数)
My favorite example is a pair of psychologists who did research on left-handers, and published some data showing that left-handers are, on average, more susceptible to disease , more prone to accidents and have a shorter lifespan . 我最喜欢的例子 是两个研究左撇子的心理学家, 他们发表了一些数据,表明平均而言, 左撇子更容易受到疾病的侵害,更容易发生意外, 寿命也更短。
psychologists:n.[心理]心理学家(psychologist的复数形式); susceptible:adj.易受影响的;易感动的;容许…的;n.易得病的人; disease:n.病,[医]疾病;弊病;vt.传染;使…有病; prone:adj.俯卧的;有…倾向的,易于…的; lifespan:n.寿命;预期生命期限;预期使用期限;
It's not clear, by the way , since then, whether that is an accurate generalization , but the data at the time seemed to support that. 顺便说一句,从那以后 还不清楚这是否是准确的概括, 但当时的数据似乎支持这个说法。
by the way:顺便说一下; accurate:adj.精确的; generalization:n.概括;普遍化;一般化;
Well, pretty soon they were barraged with enraged letters, death threats, ban on the topic in a number of scientific journals , coming from irate left-handers and their advocates , and they were literally afraid to open their mail because of the venom and vituperation that they had inadvertently inspired. 好了,他们很快受到了猛烈攻击 包括愤怒的信件, 死亡威胁, 禁止在一些科学期刊上讨论这个主题, 来自愤怒的左撇子 和他们的拥护者, 他们简直不敢拆开信件, 由于他们无意中 激起的怨恨和谩骂。
barraged:n.弹幕; vt.以密集炮火进攻; vi.以密集火力阻击; enraged:v.使异常愤怒;激怒;触怒;(enrage的过去分词和过去式) journals:n.学术期刊(journal的复数);日记;日记账; irate:adj.生气的;发怒的; advocates:n.拥护者; vt.主张(advocate的第三人称单数); literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地: venom:n.毒液;恶意;vt.使有毒;放毒; inadvertently:adj.非故意地,无心地;
Well, the night is young, but the book has been out for half a year, and nothing terrible has happened. 嗯, 黑夜未央,但这本书已经 出版半年了, 并没有发生什么可怕的事。
None of the dire professional consequences has taken place -- 那些可怕的职业后果 一个都没发生——
dire:adj.可怕的;悲惨的;极端的; professional:adj.专业的;职业的;职业性的;n.专业人员;职业运动员;
I haven't been exiled from the city of Cambridge . 我还没被 驱逐出剑桥市。
exiled:v.流放;放逐;(exile的过去分词和过去式) Cambridge:n.剑桥(英国城市);坎布里奇(美国马萨诸塞州城市);
But what I wanted to talk about are two of these hot buttons that have aroused the strongest response in the 80-odd reviews that The Blank Slate has received. 但我想谈的是 在《空白的石板》收到的 80多篇评论里, 激起了最强烈的反应的 敏感问题中的两个。
aroused:v.激起,引起;激起性欲;使行动起来;激发(arouse的过去分词和过去式) response:n.响应;反应;回答; reviews:n.综述; v.回顾;
I'll just put that list up for a few seconds, and see if you can guess which two 我只把这个列表放上几秒钟, 看看你们能否猜出是哪两个
- I would estimate that probably two of these topics inspired probably 90 percent of the reaction in the various reviews and radio interviews . ——我估计这些主题中的两个 引起了各种评论 和电台采访中 百分之九十的反应。
estimate:v.估计;估算;估价;n.估价;(对大小、数量、成本等的)估计;估计的成本; interviews:n.面试; v.对(某人)进行面试(或面谈);
It's not violence and war, it's not race, it's not gender, it's not Marxism, it's not Nazism. 不是暴力和战争, 不是种族,不是性别, 不是马克思主义,也不是纳粹主义。
They are: the arts and parenting. 它们是:艺术和养育子女。
(Laughter) （笑声）
So let me tell you what aroused such irate responses , and I'll let you decide if whether they -- the claims are really that outrageous . 那么让我来告诉你们是什么 引起了这些愤怒的反应, 我会让你们决定—— 这些论点是否真的那么离谱。
responses:n.回答,答复;反应;响应;(response的复数) claims:v.宣称; n.声明; (claim的第三人称单数和复数) outrageous:adj.粗暴的;可恶的;令人吃惊的;
Let me start with the arts. 让我先从艺术开始。
I note that among the long list of human universals that I presented a few slides ago are art. 我注意到我在几张幻灯片前 提出的人类共性的列表中的 其中一项就是艺术。
There is no society ever discovered in the remotest corner of the world that has not had something that we would consider the arts. 在已发现的所有社会里, 即使在世界最偏远的角落,没有一个没有一些 我们会认为是艺术的东西。
remotest:adj.偏远的; (remote的最高级)
Visual arts -- decoration of surfaces and bodies -- appears to be a human universal. 视觉艺术——物体表面和身体的装饰—— 似乎是一个人类的共性。
Visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的; decoration:n.装饰,装潢;装饰品;奖章;
The telling of stories, music, dance, poetry -- found in all cultures, and many of the motifs and themes that -- are-- give us pleasure in the arts can be found in all human societies: a preference for symmetrical forms, the use of repetition and variation , even things as specific as the fact that in poetry all over the world, you have lines that are very close to three seconds long, separated by pauses. 讲故事,音乐, 舞蹈,诗歌在所有文化中被发现, 以及许多在艺术中 给我们愉悦的 主旨和主题 能在所有人类社会中被找到: 对于对称形式的偏好, 对重复和变异的使用, 甚至具体到这样一个事实: 世界各地的诗歌 每句句子都非常接近 3秒钟长,由停顿隔开。
poetry:n.诗;诗意,诗情;诗歌艺术; motifs:n.图案;动机(motif的复数); preference:n.偏爱;爱好;喜爱;偏爱的事物; symmetrical:adj.匀称的,对称的; repetition:n.重复;重做;重说;重做的事;重说的话; variation:n.变异;变体;变奏;变种; specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药;
Now, on the other hand , in the second half of the 20th century, the arts are frequently said to be in decline . 而在另一方面, 在20世纪下半叶, 艺术常被说成是在衰败。
on the other hand:另一方面; frequently:adv.频繁地,经常地;时常,屡次; decline:v.下降;衰退;减少;谢绝;n.下降;
And I have a collection, probably 10 or 15 headlines, from highbrow magazines deploring the fact that the arts are in decline in our time. 我从格调高雅的杂志上 收集了大概10到15条头条, 哀叹我们时代的 艺术在衰败这一事实。
highbrow:adj.不切实际的;自炫博学的;知识分子的;n.卖弄知识的人;知识分子;
I'll give you a couple of representative quotes: "We can assert with some confidence that our own period is one of decline, that the standards of culture are lower 我给你们一些代表性的引述: “我们可以有信心地断言,我们的时代 是个衰败的时代,文化的标准
representative:n.代表; adj.典型的; assert:vt.维护,坚持;断言;主张;声称; confidence:n.信心;信任;秘密;adj.(美)诈骗的;骗得信任的; standards:n.标准,水平,规格(standard的复数)
than they were 50 years ago, and that the evidences of this decline are visible in every department of human activity." 比50年前要低,这一衰败的证据 在人类活动的方方面面都显而易见。”
evidences:n.凭证(evidence复数形式);v.使明显;证实(evidence的第三人称单数形式); visible:adj.明显的;看得见的;现有的;可得到的;n.可见物;进出口贸易中的有形项目;
That's a quote from T. S. Eliot, little more than 50 years ago. 这是50多年前艾略特的一段话。
And a more recent one: "The possibility of sustaining high culture in our time is becoming increasing problematical . 近一点的一条: “在我们这个时代保持高雅文化的可能性 已经越来越成问题。
sustaining:adj.持续的;支持的;v.维持(sustain的现在分词);支持;承受; problematical:adj.有疑问的;成问题的;
Serious book stores are losing their franchise , nonprofit theaters are surviving primarily by commercializing their repertory , symphony orchestras are diluting their programs, public television is increasing its dependence on reruns of British sitcoms , classical radio stations are dwindling , museums are resorting to blockbuster shows, dance is dying." 严肃的书店正在失去他们的专营权, 非盈利性剧院主要依靠 把他们的轮演剧目商业化来生存, 交响乐团在稀释他们的节目单, 公共电视台越来越依赖于 英国情景喜剧的重播, 古典电台在减少, 博物馆诉诸于轰动性展览,舞蹈在死亡。“
franchise:n.特权;公民权;经销权;v.给…以特许(或特权);赋予公民权; nonprofit:adj.非赢利的;不以赢利为目的的; theaters:n.影剧院,剧院(theater复数); primarily:adv.首先;主要地,根本上; commercializing:商业化;商业化的; repertory:n.储备;仓库;全部剧目; symphony:n.交响乐;谐声,和声; orchestras:n.管弦乐队;乐队演奏处; diluting:adj.稀释的;v.稀释(dilute的ing形式);冲淡; public television:n.大众文化教育电视(由政府、公众以及某些公司赞助); reruns:v.重演;重播;重放;重映;重做,再次进行;(rerun的第三人称单数) sitcoms:情景喜剧(sitcom的名词复数); classical:adj.古典的;经典的;传统的;第一流的;n.古典音乐; dwindling:减少;变小;退化;使减少(dwindle的现在分词); resorting:v.求助,诉诸;常去;(resort的现在分词) blockbuster:n.轰动;巨型炸弹;一鸣惊人者;
That's from Robert Brustein, the famous drama critic and director, in The New Republic about five years ago. 这是著名的戏剧评论家和导演 Robert Brustein大约5年前 写在《新共和国》杂志里的一段话。
drama:n.戏剧;戏剧艺术;戏剧文学;戏剧性事件; critic:n.评论家;反对者;批评者;
Well, in fact, the arts are not in decline. 好了,事实上,艺术并没有衰败。
I don't think this will as a surprise to anyone in this room, but by any standard they have never been flourishing to a greater extent . 我不认为这间房子里的任何人会感到惊讶, 但以任何标准衡量, 它们从没有更大规模地 蓬勃发展。
flourishing:adj.繁荣的;繁茂的;v.繁荣;兴旺;茁壮成长;(flourish的现在分词) extent:n.程度;范围;长度;
There are, of course, entirely new art forms and new media , many of which you've heard over these few days. 当然有些全新的艺术形式 和新媒体,其中许多 你们在这几天里都听说了。
media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉;
By any economic standard, the demand for art of all forms is skyrocketing , as you can tell from the price of opera tickets, by the number of books sold, by the number of books published, the number of musical titles released , the number of new albums and so on. 按任何经济标准, 对所有形式的艺术的需求 正在飞涨, 从歌剧票价, 图书销售量, 出版的图书数量, 发行的音乐剧数量, 以及新专辑的数量等等都能看得出来。
economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; skyrocketing:n.价格飞涨;突涨,飞升;v.火箭式地上升;鲁莽行事(skyrocket的ing形式); opera:n.歌剧;歌剧院;歌剧艺术;歌剧剧本; released:v.释放;使免除;已发布;(release的过去分词和过去式)
The only grain of truth to this complaint that the arts are in decline come from three spheres . 有关艺术在衰败这句抱怨的 唯一一点儿真实性 来自于三个方面。
grain:n.粮食; v.把…作成细粒; complaint:n.抱怨;投诉;控告;不满; spheres:n.[数]球体(sphere的复数); v.把…放在球体内(sphere的第三人称单数形式);
One of them is in elite art since the 1930s -- say, the kinds of works performed by major symphony orchestras, where most of the repertory is before 1930, or the works shown in major galleries and prestigious museums. 其中之一是来自于20世纪30年代以来的精英艺术—— 比如,著名的交响乐团 演出的那些作品, 他们的大部分保留剧目出自1930年之前, 或是著名的画廊和博物馆 展出的那些作品。
elite:n.精英;精华;杰出人物; performed:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好)(perform的过去分词和过去式) galleries:n.美术馆(gallery的复数);图表种类; prestigious:adj.有名望的;享有声望的;
In literary criticism and analysis , probably 40 or 50 years ago, literary critics were kind of cultural hero; now they're kind of a national joke. 还有来自于文学批评和分析, 大概在40年或50年前, 文学评论家有点像是文化英雄, 现在他们有点像是全国性玩笑。
literary:adj.文学的;书面的;精通文学的; criticism:n.批评;批判;评论;指责; analysis:n.分析;分解;验定; critics:n.评论家;批评者;吹毛求疵的人(critic的复数); cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的;
And the humanities and arts programs in the universities, which by many measures, indeed are in decline. 还有大学中的人文和艺术课程 按很多衡量标准, 都确实在下降。
humanities:n.人文学科(humanity的复数);
Students are staying away in droves, universities are disinvesting in the arts and humanities. 学生们纷纷敬而远之, 大学则从艺术和人文领域 和人文领域撤资。
disinvesting:vi.投资缩减;减资;
Well, here's a diagnosis . 好了,这儿有个诊断。
diagnosis:n.诊断;
They didn't ask me, but by their own admission , they need all the help that they can get. 他们没有要求我,但是他们自己也承认, 他们需要他们可以得到的所有帮助。
admission:n.入场费;进入权;招供;门票费;
And I would like to suggest that it's not a coincidence that this supposed decline in the elite arts and criticism occurred in the same point in history in which there was a widespread denial of human nature. 我想指出,精英艺术和批评的 被信以为真的衰败, 与对人性的普遍否认, 在历史上的同一点发生, 这并不是一个巧合。
coincidence:n.巧合,巧事;同时存在;并存;相同; occurred:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在;(occur的过去分词和过去式) widespread:adj.普遍的,广泛的;分布广的; denial:n.否认;否定;剥夺(应有的权利);拒不承认(令人不快、痛苦的事);
A famous quotation can be found -- if you look on the web, you can find it in literally scores of English core syllabuses -- "On or about, December 1910, human nature changed." 如果你上网搜索, 就能在大量的 英语教学大纲里 找到这样一句名言－ “大约在1910年12月, 人性改变了。”
quotation:n.报价;引用;引文;引语; core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核;
A paraphrase of a quote by Virginia Wolff , and there's some debate as to what she actually meant by that. 这是弗吉尼亚·沃尔夫的一句引言的另述, 而对她到底是什么意思 还有一些争论。
paraphrase:n.释义;解释;意译;vt.释义; Virginia:adj.弗吉尼亚州的; Wolff:沃尔夫; debate:n.辩论;争论;考虑;v.辩论;争论;考虑;
But it's very clear, looking at these syllabuses, that the -- it's used now as a way of saying that all of the forms of appreciation of art that were in place for centuries, or millennia , in the 20th century were discarded . 但是看这些教学大纲是很清楚的, ——现在它被 用来表示, 存在了几百、几千年的 所有艺术欣赏形式, 在20世纪时被抛弃了。
appreciation:n.升值;欣赏;感谢;增值; millennia:n.千年期(millennium的复数);一千年;千年庆典;太平盛世; discarded:v.丢弃;抛弃;垫(牌);打出(无用的牌);(discard的过去式和过去分词)
The beauty and pleasure in art -- probably a human universal -- were -- began to be considered saccharine , or kitsch , or commercial. 艺术中的美与乐—— 可能是一种人类共性—— 开始被认为是甜稠的、 媚俗的、商业的。
saccharine:adj.含糖的;极甜的;和颜悦色的;n.(美)糖精; kitsch:n.粗劣作品;迎合低级趣味的作品;
Barnett Newman had a famous quote that the impulse of modern art is the desire to destroy beauty, which was considered bourgeois or tacky . 巴内特·纽曼有一句名言,现代艺术的冲动 是想要毁灭美, 它被认为是资产阶级的或是俗气的。
bourgeois:n.资本家; adj.资产阶级的; tacky:adj.俗气的;发黏的;缺乏教养或风度的;
And here's just one example. 这里有个例子。
I mean, this is perhaps a representative example of visual depiction of the female form in the 15th century; here is a representative example of the depiction of the female form in the 20th century. 我的意思是,这也许是对 15世纪女性形态的视觉描绘的 典型示例; 而这里是对20世纪女性形态的 描绘的典型示例。
depiction:n.描写,叙述; female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物;
And, as you can see, there -- something has changed in the way the elite arts appeal to the senses. 如你所见,精英艺术 迎合感官的方式 已经改变了。
in the way:妨碍;挡道;
Indeed, in movements of modernism and post-modernism , there was visual art without beauty, literature without narrative and plot , poetry without meter and rhyme , architecture and planning without ornament , human scale , green space and natural light, music without melody and rhythm , and criticism without clarity , attention to aesthetics and insight into the human condition. 确实,在现代主义 和后现代主义运动里, 有着无美感的视觉艺术, 没有叙述和情节的文学, 没有韵律的诗歌, 没有装饰、人性化、绿色空间 和自然光的建筑和规划, 没有旋律和节奏的音乐, 不明晰、不注意美学、 对人类处境毫无洞察的批评。
post-modernism:n.后现代主义;后现代派; literature:n.文学;文献;文艺;著作; narrative:n.叙述;故事;讲述;adj.叙事的,叙述的;叙事体的; plot:n.情节;阴谋;布局;小块土地;v.密谋;暗中策划;(在地图上)标出;绘制(图表); rhyme:韵律 architecture:n.建筑学;建筑风格;建筑式样;架构; ornament:n.装饰品;首饰;v.装饰;点缀;美化; scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢; melody:n.旋律;歌曲;美妙的音乐; rhythm:n.节奏;韵律; clarity:n.清楚,明晰;透明; insight:n.洞察力;洞悉;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Let me give just you an example to back up that last statement . 让我举一个例子来支持最后一个说法。
statement:n.声明;陈述,叙述;报表,清单;
But here, there -- one of the most famous literary 我们时代最著名的
English scholars of our time is the Berkeley professor, 文学英语学者之一 是伯克利的教授
scholars:n.学者们(scholar的复数);
Judith Butler. 朱迪思·巴特勒。
And here is an example of one of her analyses : "The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways 这里她的分析 的一个例子: “从资本被认为 以一种同权力关系 注定重复、合流、重新表达的
analyses:n.分析;解析;分解;梗概(analysis的复数形式); relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; homologous:adj.相应的;[生物]同源的;类似的;一致的;
to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, 霸权比较类似的方式构建社会关系的 结构主义诠释的转出, 将临时性的问题带到了对结构的思考中,
hegemony:n.霸权;领导权;盟主权; convergence:n.[数]收敛;会聚,集合;
and marked a shift from the form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects ..." 并标志着从把结构整体性作为理论对象的 阿尔都塞理论的形式的转变……“
shift:n.移动;变化;手段;轮班;v.移动;转变;转换; structural:adj.结构的;建筑的; totalities:n.[天]全食;全体;总数; theoretical:adj.理论的;理论上的;假设的;推理的;
Well, you get the idea. 好了,你明白我的意思了。
By the way, this is one sentence -- you can actually parse it. 顺便说一下,这只是一句句子—— 你其实可以解析它。
parse:vt.解析;从语法上分析;vi.理解;从语法上分析;n.从语法上分析;分列;
Well, the argument in The Blank Slate was that elite art and criticism in the 20th century, although not the arts in general , have disdained beauty, pleasure, clarity, insight and style. 唔,在《空白的石板》中的论点是, 精英艺术 与20世纪的批评, 而不是总体上的艺术, 鄙弃了美丽、快乐、 清晰、洞察和风格。
in general:总之,通常;一般而言; disdained:v.鄙视;蔑视;鄙弃;不屑(做某事);(disdain的过去分词和过去式)
People are staying away from elite art and criticism. 人们正在远离精英艺术和批评。
What a puzzle -- I wonder why? 多么让人困惑——这到底是为什么呢？
puzzle:n.谜;疑问;智力游戏;不解之谜;v.迷惑;使困惑;
Well, this turned out to be probably the most controversial claim in the book. 唔,结果这变成了书中 可能最有争议的论点。
Someone asked me whether I stuck it in in order to deflect ire from discussions of gender and Nazism and race and so on. I won't comment on that. 有人问我,我是不是为了转移 来自性别、纳粹主义 和种族等的讨论中的愤怒, 才把它插进来。对此我无可奉告。
deflect:v.偏转,转移;偏斜,转向;引开;阻止; comment on:对…评论;
But it certainly inspired an energetic reaction from many university professors. 但它肯定激起了 许多大学教授的 热烈反应。
energetic:adj.精力充沛的;充满活力的;需要能量的;积极的;
Well, the other hot button is parenting. 好了,另一个敏感问题是养育子女。
hot button:热点问题;
And the starting point is the -- for that discussion was the fact that we have all been subject to the advice of the parenting industrial complex. 该讨论的出发点是—— 我们都经常收到 来自于养育子女 产业联合体的建议。
starting point:n.出发点;基础; industrial:adj.工业的,产业的; n.工业股票;
Now, here is -- here is a representative quote from a besieged mother: "I'm overwhelmed with parenting advice. 唔,这儿有一条 来自一位倍感烦恼的母亲的代表性语录: “我被抚养子女的意见所淹没。
besieged:v.被包围;被困扰(besiege的过去分词); overwhelmed:v.受打击,压倒;淹没;(overwhelm的过去分词和过去式)
I'm supposed to do lots of physical activity with my kids so I can instill in them a physical fitness habit so that they'll grow up to be healthy adults. 我应该跟我的孩子做很多身体活动, 来给他们灌输一个身体健康的习惯, 这样他们就会成长为健康的成年人。
physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查; instill:vt.徐徐滴入;逐渐灌输; fitness:n.健康;适当;适合性;
And I'm supposed to do all kinds of intellectual play so they'll grow up smart. 我应该做各种智力游戏, 这样他们就会成长为聪明的人。
intellectual:n.知识分子;脑力劳动者;adj.智力的;脑力的;理智的;有才智的;
And there are all kinds of play -- clay for finger dexterity , word games for reading success, large motor play, small motor play. I feel like I could devote my life to figuring out what to play with my kids." 还有各种各样的游戏——玩黏土以锻炼手指灵活性, 玩文字游戏以达到阅读成功,大幅度运动游戏, 小幅度运动游戏。我觉得我可以为了 搞清楚要跟孩子玩什么而献出我的生活。”
clay:n.黏土;陶土; dexterity:n.灵巧;敏捷;机敏; devote:v.贡献;把…专用于;听任;
I think anyone who's recently been a parent can sympathize with this mother. 我想最近为人父母者 都能与这位母亲产生共鸣。
recently:adv.最近;新近; sympathize with:同情…;与…产生共鸣;
Well, here's some sobering facts about parenting. 唔,这里有些发人深省的关于养育子女的事实。
sobering:adj.令人警醒的;使人冷静的;v.(使)变得持重,变得冷静;(sober的现在分词)
Most studies of parenting on which this advice is based are useless. They're useless because they don't control for heritability . They measure some correlation 这条建议所基于的关于养育子女的研究中的大部分 都是毫无用处的。它们没用是因为它们没有控制 遗传性。它们衡量了父母做什么
heritability:n.遗传可能性;
between what the parents do, how the children turn out and assume a causal relation: that the parenting shaped the child. 与子女变得如何之间的一些相关性, 并假定一个因果关系: 即父母的养育塑造了子女。
assume:v.承担;假定;采取;呈现; causal:adj.因果关系的;有原因的;n.表示原因的连词;
Parents who talk a lot to their kids have kids who grow up to be articulate , parents who spank their kids have kids who grow up to be violent and so on. 父母对孩子说得很多, 孩子长大就能说会道, 父母打孩子,孩子长大 就很暴力,诸如此类。
articulate:vt.清晰地发(音); vi.发音; adj.发音清晰的; spank:v.用手打;打(小孩的)屁股;n.一掴; violent:adj.暴力的;猛烈的;
And very few of them control for the possibility that parents pass on genes for -- that increase the chances a child will be articulate or violent and so on. 其中很少控制了 父母遗传给孩子 增加其善言或暴力概率 的基因的可能性。
genes:n.基因;(gene的复数)
Until the studies are redone with adoptive children, who provide an environment but not genes to their kids, we have no way of knowing whether these conclusions are valid . 在这些研究在提供环境而非基因的 被收养的孩子的身上 重做之前, 我们无法知道这些结论是否有效。
redone:v.重做(redo的过去分词); adoptive:adj.采用的;有收养关系的; conclusions:n.结论,总结;决定;(conclusion的复数) valid:adj.有效的;有根据的;合法的;正当的;
The genetically controlled studies have some sobering results. 控制了遗传性的研究 有一些发人深省的结果。
genetically:adv.从遗传学角度;从基因方面;
Remember the Mallifert twins: separated at birth, then they meet in the patent office -- remarkably similar. 还记得Mallifert双胞胎吧: 出生时失散,他们在专利局相遇—— 两人非常相似。
remarkably:adv.非常;极为;格外;出乎意料地
Well, what would have happened if the Mallifert twins had grown up together? 唔,要是Mallifert双胞胎一起长大会怎么样呢？
You might think, well, then they'd be even more similar, because not only would they share their genes, but they would also share their environment. 你可能会想,他们会更相似, 因为他们不仅共享了基因, 也共享了环境。
That would make them super-similar, right? 这将会使他们超级相似,对吗？
Wrong. Identical twins, or any siblings , who are separated at birth are no less similar than if they had grown up together. 错了。在出生时失散的同卵双胞胎或任何兄弟姐妹, 即使一起长大, 也不会更加相似。
siblings:n.兄;弟;姐;妹;(sibling的复数)
Everything that happens to you in a given home over all of those years appears to leave no permanent stamp on your personality or intellect. 在一个特定家庭里 这么多年发生在你身上的所有事, 似乎都没在你的个性或智力上 留下任何永久的印记。
permanent:adj.永久的,永恒的;n.烫发; personality:n.性格;个性;人格;魅力;气质;名人;特色;
A complementary finding, from a completely different methodology , is that adopted siblings reared together -- the mirror image of identical twins reared apart, they share their parents, their home, their neighborhood , don't share their genes -- end up not similar at all. 采用完全不同的方法找到的补充性发现, 显示了与同卵双胞胎相对的 被收养的兄弟姐妹, 他们共享了父母、家庭、邻里, 但没共享基因—— 结果成长为了毫不相似的人。
complementary:adj.补足的,补充的; methodology:n.方法学,方法论; adopted:adj.被收养的;被采用的;v.采用;接受;(adopt的过去式和过去分词); reared:v.抚养;培养;饲养;用后腿直立;(rear的过去分词和过去式) mirror image:n.镜像;映像;反像; neighborhood:n.附近;地区;街坊;adj.附近的;
OK -- two different bodies of research with a similar finding. 好了,两个不同的研究体获得了相似的发现。
What it suggests is that children are shaped not by their parents over the long run, but in part -- only in part -- by their genes, in part by their culture -- the culture of the country at large 这表示,长期来看 孩子并不是由父母塑造的, 而是部分地——仅仅是部分地——由基因塑造, 部分由文化塑造—— 该国总体的文化,
and the children's own culture, namely their peer group -- as we heard from Jill Sobule earlier today, that's what kids care about -- and, to a very large extent, larger than most people are prepared to acknowledge, 和孩子自己的文化,即他们的同伴—— 正如今天早些时候Jill Sobule所言, 那才是孩子们关心的—— 并且,在很大程度上,超出大多数人愿意承认的程度,
peer group:n.同龄群体;社会地位相同的群体;
by chance : chance events in the wiring of the brain in utero; chance events as you live your life. 由偶然所塑造:在子宫中大脑连接时发生的偶然事件; 你漫步人生中的偶然事件。
by chance:偶然;意外地;
So let me conclude with a just a remark to bring it back to the theme of choices. 那就让我用一句话 来回到选择的主题 以作为结尾。
conclude:v.断定:得出结论:终止:达成:缔结(协定)
I think that the sciences of human nature -- behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology , neuroscience, cognitive science -- are going to, increasingly in the years to come, upset various dogmas , careers and deeply-held political belief systems. 我认为,人性的科学—— 行为遗传学,进化心理学, 神经科学,认知科学—— 将在未来的岁月里, 日益扰乱各种教条、 事业和深入人心的政治信仰体系。
evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; psychology:n.心理学;心理状态; upset:adj.沮丧; v.打乱; n.苦恼; (意外的)混乱; dogmas:n.教条(定理;武断的意见); careers:n.职业(career的复数);事业;职业生涯;v.全速前进(career的三单形式);
And that presents us with a choice. 这把一个选择放在了我们面前。
The choice is whether certain facts about humans, or topics, are to be considered taboos , forbidden knowledge, where we shouldn't go there because no good can come from it, or whether we should explore them honestly. 这个选择是,关于人类的某些事实 或议题,是否要被认为是禁忌、 被禁止的知识,我们不该去探讨, 因为毫无益处, 或者我们是否应该诚实地探索它们。
taboos:n.禁忌(taboo的复数形式);v.禁忌(taboo的第三人称单数形式); forbidden:adj.禁止的; v.禁止; (forbid的过去分词和过去式) explore:v.探索:探测:探险:
I have my own answer to that question, which comes from a great artist of the 19th century, 对这个问题, 我有我自己的答案, 来自于19世纪伟大的艺术家
Anton Chekhov, who said, "Man will become better when you show him what he is like." 安东·契诃夫,他说道: “当你向一个人展示他是什么样的人时, 他会变得更好。”
And I think the argument can't be put any more eloquently than that. 我认为,这个论点 没法说得更有力了。
eloquently:adv.善辩地;富于表现力地;
Thank you very much. 非常感谢。
(Applause) （掌声）