TED演讲： 你存钱的能力跟你用的语言有关?(2)

 　　Holding down the right flank of the OECD, all the way on the other side, is Greece. 在图右侧的这些国家，最右边的是希腊，

　　And what you can see is that over the last 25 years, 我们看到在过去25年

　　Greece has barely managed to save more than 10 percent of their GDP. 希腊的国民储蓄率刚超过10%。

　　It should be noted¹, of course, that the United States and the U.K. are the next in line. 需要注意美国和英国紧随其后。

　　Now that we see these huge differences in savings² rates, 现在我们看到存储比率的巨大差别，

　　how is it possible that language might have something to do with these differences? 但是语言跟这种差异有什么关系呢？

　　Let me tell you a little bit about how languages fundamentally differ. 让我告诉你语言之间的本质差异所在。

　　Linguists³ and cognitive⁴ scientists have been exploring this question for many years now. 语言学家和认知科学家已经研究这个问题很多年了，

　　And then I'll draw the connection between these two behaviors. 而我今天将会将这两种行为联系起来。

　　Many of you have probably already noticed that I'm Chinese. 你们可能注意到了我是华裔。

　　I grew up in the Midwest of the United States. 我在美国中西部长大。

　　And something I realized quite early on 我很小的时候就意识到了

　　was that the Chinese language forced me to speak about and -- in fact, more fundamentally than that 中文在家庭关系的叫法--实际上更本质的

　　ever so slightly forced me to think about family in very different ways. 甚至在思维方式上都（跟英文）有很大的不同。

　　Now, how might that be? Let me give you an example. 怎么解释呢，我举个例子。

　　Suppose I were talking with you and I was introducing you to my uncle. 假设你我在聊天，提到了我的叔叔（uncle）。

　　You understood exactly what I just said in English. 你完全理解这个英文的意思。

　　If we were speaking Mandarin⁵ Chinese with each other, though, I wouldn't have that luxury. 但是如果我们用普通话聊天，我就头疼了。

　　I wouldn't have been able to convey so little information. 这里面传递的信息如此之多。

　　What my language would have forced me to do, instead of just telling you, "This is my uncle," 我无法用中文告诉你这是我的“叔叔”，

　　is to tell you a tremendous amount of additional information. 而是会附加上更多的（家庭关系）信息。

　　My language would force me to tell you whether or not this was an uncle on my mother's side or my father's side, 如果用中文，我就要一并告诉你这个人是我爸爸这边的还是妈妈这边的

　　whether this was an uncle by marriage or by birth, and if this man was my father's brother, 是婚姻关系还是血缘关系；如果是我爸爸的兄弟，

　　whether he was older than or younger than my father. 年纪比我爸爸大还是比我爸爸小。

　　All of this information is obligatory⁶. Chinese doesn't let me ignore it. 这些都是必须的，中文无法省略这些信息。

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

4 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

5 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

6 obligatory   

adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的

参考例句：

• It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.我们必须守法。
• It is obligatory on every citizen to safeguard our great motherland.保卫我们伟大的祖国是每一个公民应尽的义务。