经济学人:社会媒体会危害民主?(2)

 The use of social media does not cause division so much as amplify¹ it. 社会媒体的运用与其说是制造分歧，不如说是放大分歧。

The financial crisis of 2007-08 stoked popular anger at a wealthy elite² that had left everyone else behind. 2007-08年的金融危机激起了对把其他人全都甩在身后的富人精英的公愤。

The culture wars have split voters by identity rather than class. 这场文化战争根据认同而不是阶层分裂了选民。

Nor are social media alone in their power to polarise—just look at cable TV and talk radio. 在它们造成两极分化的力量方面，社会媒体并非孤家寡人——只要看看的有线电视和电台脱口秀节目即可。

But, whereas Fox News is familiar, social media platforms are new and still poorly understood. 但是，福克斯新闻是人所熟悉的，而社会媒体平台却是全新的，仍然未被充分了解的。

And, because of how they work, they wield³ extraordinary influence. 同时，由于它们的运作方式，社会媒体握有格外的影响力。

They make their money by putting photos, personal posts, news stories and ads in front of you. 它们靠把照片、个人的帖子、各种新闻故事和广告推送到你面前来赚钱。

Because they can measure how you react, they know just how to get under your skin. 由于能够评估你如何反应，它们懂得怎么激怒你。

They collect data about you in order to have algorithms to determine what will catch your eye,  它们收集关于你的数据，让算法去决定什么会抓住你的注意力

in an "attention economy" that keeps users scrolling⁴, clicking and sharing again and again and again. 通过让用户参与“眼球经济”——一遍又一遍地翻页、点击并分享。

Anyone setting out to shape opinion can produce dozens of ads, analyse them and see which is hardest to resist. 任何打算左右舆论的人都能生产几十广告，分析并从中发现哪一个最难让人拒绝。

The result is compelling: one study found that users in rich countries touch their phones 2,600 times a day. 结果触目惊心：一项研究发现，在富裕国家，用户每天触摸手机2600次。

It would be wonderful if such a system helped wisdom and truth rise to the surface. 如果这样一种体系有助于展示智慧披露真相，那就太好了。

But, whatever Keats said, truth is not beauty so much as it is hard work—especially when you disagree with it. 但是，无论济慈是怎么说的，真相更多的是艰苦的工作，而不是美好之物——尤其是在人们对真相有异议的时候。

Everyone who has scrolled⁵ through Facebook knows how, instead of imparting wisdom, the system dishes out compulsive stuff that tends to reinforce people's biases⁶. 每一个浏览过脸书的人都很清楚，这种体系是如何推出往往是强化人们偏见的偏执性内容的，而不是传授智慧的。

This aggravates⁷ the politics of contempt that took hold, in the United States at least, in the 1990s. 这放大了在上世纪90年代至少是在美国已经成气候的蔑视政治。

 

1 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

2 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

3 wield   

vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等)

参考例句：

• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。
• People may wield the power in a democracy.在民主国家里，人民可以行使权力。

4 scrolling   

n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Another important detail required by auto-scrolling is a time delay. 自动滚屏需要的另一个重要细节是时间延迟。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In 2D visualization and drawing applications, vertical and horizontal scrolling are common. 在二维的可视化及绘图应用中，垂直和水平滚动非常普遍。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

5 scrolled   

adj.具有涡卷装饰的v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的过去式和过去分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Wherever the drop target can possibly be scrolled offscreen, the program needs to auto-scroll. 无论拖放的目标对象是否在屏幕之外，程序都需要自动滚动。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• If It'still is then you've not scrolled up enough lines. 如果还在说明你向上滚动的行数不够。 来自互联网

6 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

7 aggravates   

使恶化( aggravate的第三人称单数 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火

参考例句：

• If he aggravates me any more I shall punish him. 如果他再惹我生气，我就要惩罚他。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each pther. 没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。