异类之不一样的成功启示录 第114期:"荣誉文化"假说

 　　I realize that we are often wary¹ of making these kinds of broad generalizations² about different culture groups, and with good reason.

　　我知道，我们常常对这些不同文化群体的进行各种区分一向很警惕--出于良好的用心，

　　This is the form that racial and ethnic³ stereotypes⁴ take.

　　这就是为了避免种族歧视和种族偏见。

　　We want to believe that we are not prisoners of our ethnic histories.

　　但我们要相信，我们不是自己种族历史的囚徒。

　　But the simple truth is if you want to understand what happened in those small towns in Kentucky in the nineteenth century, you have to go back into the past,

　　但简单的事实是，如果你想了解发生在19世纪肯塔基州的这些小城镇的事，你还必须回到过去

　　and not just one or two generations, you have to go back two or three or four hundred years to a country on the other side of the ocean

　　而且不仅仅一两个世纪。你必须到两三个或四个世纪以前，在一个大洋彼岸的国家里，

　　and look closely at what exactly the people in a very specific geographic⁵ area of that country did for a living.

　　密切关注那些来自特殊地理区域的人们到底是怎样生活的。

　　The "culture of honor" hypothesis says that it matters where you are from, not just in terms of where you grew up or where your parents grew up,

　　"荣誉文化"假说的关键是你来自哪里，而不只是你在哪里长大，是你的父母、

　　but in terms of where your great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents grew up and even where your-great-great-great-grandparents grew up.

　　祖父母甚至曾祖父母乃至辈分更高的先祖们长大的地方。

　　That is a strange and powerful fact.

　　这很奇怪，但无可厚非。

　　It's just the beginning, though, because upon closer examination, culture legacies⁶ turned out to be even stranger and more powerful than that.

　　而且这仅是开始，因为越接近考证，文化传承的影响反而更显陌生和更强大。

　　In the early 1990s, two psychologists at the University of Michigan, Dov Cohen and Richard Nisbett, decided⁷ to conduct an experiment on the culture of honor.

　　在90年代初期，密歇根大学的两位心理学家--多夫·科恩和理查德·尼斯贝特决定进行一项荣誉文化的实验。

　　They knew that what happened in places like Harlan in the nineteenth century was, in all likelihood, a product of patterns laid down in the English borderlands centuries before.

　　他们知道上文中的哈兰事件，也许是英国边境争端的世纪遗留下来的产物。

　　But their interest was in the present day.

　　但他们对现在更感兴趣，

　　Was is possible to find remnants of the culture of honor in the modern ear?

　　如今是否还能寻获到荣誉文化遗留下来的痕迹？

　　So they decided to gather together a group of young men and insult them.

　　所以，他们召集一群年轻的男子进行实验。

1 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

2 generalizations   

一般化( generalization的名词复数 )； 普通化； 归纳； 概论

参考例句：

• But Pearlson cautions that the findings are simply generalizations. 但是波尔森提醒人们，这些发现是简单的综合资料。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 大脑与疾病
• They were of great service in correcting my jejune generalizations. 他们纠正了我不成熟的泛泛之论，帮了我大忙。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。