纠结圣诞节送啥？科学家来支招 保证ta喜欢

 　　Choosing a Christmas gift is always a stressful time but scientists say it should be surprisingly easier than you think, claiming you should choose something you like rather than guessing what they want.

　　挑圣诞节礼物通常都会让人感到鸭梨山大。但科学家称挑礼物远比你想象得简单得多，科学家还说你应该挑你喜欢的东西而不是猜收礼物的人喜欢什么。

　　The research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology¹ focused on answering the longstanding question: What present should I buy for Christmas and will they actually like my choice of gift?

　　一项发表在《实验社会心理学杂志》上的研究回答了这个困扰人们很久的问题：圣诞节我应该要买什么礼物呢？他们会喜欢我挑的礼物吗？

　　纠结圣诞节送啥？科学家来支招 保证ta喜欢

　　The new advice may come as surprise for some long suffering shoppers with the study, carried out by psychologists and other researchers, suggesting you don't need to overthink your presents.

　　对于那些在这上面深受折磨的人来说，一项新的建议可能会出乎他们的意料。这项由心理学家和其他研究人员所作的意见指出，你没有必要在挑礼物上想太多。

　　It found that choosing a present which embodies² the 'true self' of the giver is more likely to be in tune³ with the gift receiver's enjoyment⁴ of the present.

　　研究发现，挑选一份体现送礼人“真实自我”的礼物更有可能会让收礼物的人开心。

　　Buying a present that you think someone will like often leads to disappointment for the receiver.

　　买一份你认为某人会喜欢的礼物通常会让收礼物的人感到失望。

　　'Does anyone receive a present they actually want to keep?' said Professor Adrian Furnham, University College London psychologist.

　　伦敦大学学院心理学家艾德里安·弗恩海姆教授说：“每个人都能收到自己想要的礼物吗？”

　　'There appears to be no relationship between the cost of a gift and the extent to which it is liked or preferred,' wrote Professor Furnham.

　　弗恩海姆教授写到：“事实证明，礼物的贵重与否与收礼物的人对礼物的喜欢或偏好程度没有联系。”

　　A study in September found that when 122 university students bought iTune songs as a gift for friends, the recipient⁵ tended to like the gift more if it reflected the buyer's personal favourite music.

　　九月份一项研究发现当122名大学生从iTune上买一首歌作为礼物送给朋友时，如果这首歌是购买人个人非常喜欢的歌曲，收礼物的人一般都会更加喜欢这份礼物。

　　Second guessing what someone wants for Christmas can often lead to a loss in understanding of what those closest to you actually value.

　　反复思量一个人想要什么圣诞礼物通常会让人意识不到那些跟你最亲密之人的真正价值。

　　Professor Furnham said that the 'subtlety⁶ of the exchange' can be most easily seen when the choice of gift turns out to be completely wrong.

　　弗恩海姆教授称，“礼物交换的微妙之处”通常在挑错礼物的时候最容易看出来。

　　SImilarly researcher found that people who receive a generous main present as well as a smaller, cheaper gift, tend to work out the average value of the set of gifts.

　　研究人员还发现，当人们收到比较贵重的礼物附带一些小的便宜的礼物时，通常会计算所有礼物的平均价值。

　　The cheaper present in the 'bundle gift' approach tends to devalue the price of the main gift.

　　在“一大捆”礼物当中，便宜的礼物会拉低贵重礼物的价值。

　　Researchers also gave some handy advice for couples, warning about the dangers of giving presents of great cost too early in the relationship, leading to over-hyped expectations.

　　研究人员还给情侣们提了一些很实用的建议，向他们指出过早送太贵重礼物的危险性，这通常会让对方（对以后将收到的礼物）表现出过于夸张的期望。

1 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

2 embodies   

v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This document embodies the concern of the government for the deformity. 这个文件体现了政府对残疾人的关怀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

5 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

6 subtlety   

n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别

参考例句：

• He has shown enormous strength,great intelligence and great subtlety.他表现出充沛的精力、极大的智慧和高度的灵活性。
• The subtlety of his remarks was unnoticed by most of his audience.大多数听众都没有觉察到他讲话的微妙之处。