- 注释版
- 纯净版
原文:
我们总说“为富不仁”。到底是为了发家致富，所以不得不巧取豪夺，不择手段？还是成为了富人之后，自然变得不仁不义了？不论怎样，贫富差距以及由此引发的问题和现象都不容忽视，这篇文章就来探讨一下这个问题
[1] Turning a blind eye. Giving someone the cold shoulder. Looking down on people. Seeing right through them.
turn a blind eye 对…故意视而不见
例：I have some experience with parents who turn a blind eye to their kids' shortcomings
我曾经遇见过对自己孩子的缺陷睁一只眼闭一只眼的父母。
give sb the cold shoulder 冷淡，轻视
例：I don't know why she gave me the cold shoulder.
我不知道为什麽她对我爱理不理。
look down on 看不起，蔑视
例：I wasn't successful, so they looked down on me.
我并不成功，所以他们瞧不起我。
see through 识破，看穿
例：We saw through him from the start.
一开始我们就识破了他。
[2] These metaphors for condescending or dismissive behavior are more than just descriptive. They suggest, to a surprisingly accurate extent, the social distance between those with greater power and those with less — a distance that goes beyond the realm of interpersonal interactions and may exacerbate the soaring inequality in the United States.
metaphor 隐喻，比喻
例：What is the meaning of this metaphor?
这个隐喻的含义是什么？
condescend 摆出高人一等的架子
例：Don't condescend to me.
不要对我摆出高人一等的样子。
dismissive 不屑一顾的
例：Mr. Jones was dismissive of the report.
琼斯先生对那份报告不屑一顾。
to an extent 在一定程度上
例：I agree with you to a certain extent.
我在一定程度上同意你的意见。
interpersonal 人际的，人与人之间的
例：Training in interpersonal skills is essential.
各种人际交往技巧的训练是非常必要的。
exacerbate 使...恶化，使...加剧
例：His aggressive reaction only exacerbated the situation.
他挑衅性的反应只能使情况更糟。
inequality 不平等; 不公平
例：People are concerned about corruption and social inequality.
人们对腐败和社会不公感到担忧。
[3] A growing body of recent research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power. This tuning out has been observed, for instance, with strangers in a mere five-minute get-acquainted session, where the more powerful person shows fewer signals of paying attention, like nodding or laughing. Higher-status people are also more likely to express disregard, through facial expressions, and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past the other speaker.
scant 少量的，不足的
例：I paid scant attention to what he was saying.
我没大注意他在说什么。
tune out 不听; 不注意
例：Rose heard the familiar voice, but tuned out the words.
罗斯听到了那熟悉的声音，但却没有注意说的是什么话。
disregard 对…置之不理
例：He disregarded the advice of his executives.
他对主管们的建议置之不理。
[4] Bringing the micropolitics of interpersonal attention to the understanding of social power, researchers are suggesting, has implications for public policy.
[5] Of course, in any society, social power is relative; any of us may be higher or lower in a given interaction, and the research shows the effect still prevails. Though the more powerful pay less attention to us than we do to them, in other situations we are relatively higher on the totem pole of status — and we, too, tend to pay less attention to those a rung or two down.
micropolitics 微观政治学
implication 含意，启示
例：All this has interesting implication for our future.
这些对我们的未来有着有趣的暗示。
prevail 盛行，普遍存在
例：A similar situation prevails in Canada.
同样的情况在加拿大也普遍存在。
totem 图腾标志
例：This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilization.
这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志之一。
[6] A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain. In 2008, social psychologists from the University of Amsterdam and the University of California, Berkeley, studied pairs of strangers telling one another about difficulties they had been through, like a divorce or death of a loved one. The researchers found that the differential expressed itself in the playing down of suffering. The more powerful were less compassionate toward the hardships described by the less powerful.
[7] Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Berkeley, and Michael W. Kraus, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have done much of the research on social power and the attention deficit.
prerequisite 先决条件
例：Good self-esteem is a prerequisite for a happy life.
良好的自尊心是幸福生活的先决条件。
compassionate 有同情心的; 表示同情的
例：My father was a deeply compassionate man.
我的父亲是个极富同情心的人。
deficit 赤字
例：we do have to deal with the deficit.
我们的确必须解决赤字问题。
[8] Mr. Keltner suggests that, in general, we focus the most on those we value most. While the wealthy can hire help, those with few material assets are more likely to value their social assets: like the neighbor who will keep an eye on your child from the time she gets home from school until the time you get home from work. The financial difference ends up creating a behavioral difference. Poor people are better attuned to interpersonal relations — with those of the same strata, and the more powerful — than the rich are, because they have to be.
keep an eye on 照看；留意；密切注视
例：Please keep an eye on my child while I'm away.
我不在时,请你帮我照看一下孩子。
end up 到头来
例：If you don't know what you want, you might end up getting something you don't want.
如果你不知道自己想要什么，你可能会到头来得到自己不想要的东西。
attune to 使习惯，使适应
例：His ears are attuned to the noise of a big city.
他已经听惯大城市的嘈杂声了。
[9] While Mr. Keltner’s research finds that the poor, compared with the wealthy, have keenly attuned interpersonal attention in all directions, in general, those with the most power in society seem to pay particularly little attention to those with the least power. To be sure, high-status people do attend to those of equal rank — but not as well as those low of status do.
[10] This has profound implications for societal behavior and government policy. Tuning in to the needs and feelings of another person is a prerequisite to empathy, which in turn can lead to understanding, concern and, if the circumstances are right, compassionate action.
profound 深刻的; 极大的
例：My father's death had a profound effect on us all.
父亲的去世深深地影响了我们全家。
in turn 相应地，转而
例：Increaed production will, in turn, lead to increased profits.
增加生产会进而增加利润。
lead to 导致；引起：
例：Heart failure led to her father's death.
心力衰竭导致她父亲的死亡。
[11] In politics, readily dismissing inconvenient people can easily extend to dismissing inconvenient truths about them. The insistence by some House Republicans in Congress on cutting financing for food stamps and impeding the implementation of Obamacare, which would allow patients, including those with pre-existing health conditions, to obtain and pay for insurance coverage, may stem in part from the empathy gap. As political scientists have noted, redistricting and gerrymandering have led to the creation of more and more safe districts, in which elected officials don’t even have to encounter many voters from the rival party, much less empathize with them.
dismiss 不予理会，不再考虑
例：I dismissed the problem from my mind.
我从心中摒除了这个问题。
food stamp 美国政府发放给低收入者以兑换食物的票券
impede 阻碍
例：One shouldn't impede other's progress.
一个人不应该妨碍他人进步。
stem from 起源于
例：All my problems stem from drink.
我所有的问题都是酗酒引起的。
[12] Social distance makes it all the easier to focus on small differences between groups and to put a negative spin on the ways of others and a positive spin on our own.
[13] Freud called this “the narcissism of minor differences,” a theme repeated by Vamik D. Volkan, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, who was born in Cyprus to Turkish parents. Dr. Volkan remembers hearing as a small boy awful things about the hated Greek Cypriots — who, he points out, actually share many similarities with Turkish Cypriots. Yet for decades their modest-size island has been politically divided, which exacerbates the problem by letting prejudicial myths flourish.
emeritus 名誉退休的
psychiatry 精神病学
[14] In contrast, extensive interpersonal contact counteracts biases by letting people from hostile groups get to know one another as individuals and even friends. Thomas F. Pettigrew, a research professor of social psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed more than 500 studies on intergroup contact. Mr. Pettigrew, who was born in Virginia in 1931 and lived there until going to Harvard for graduate school, told me in an e-mail that it was the “the rampant racism in the Virginia of my childhood” that led him to study prejudice.
hostile 反对的; 敌对的
例：The city is encircled by a hostile army.
该市被敌军包围。
rampant 猖獗的，泛滥的
例：In some parts of Brazil, violent crime is still rampant.
在巴西的某些区域，暴力犯罪仍然猖獗。
[15] In his research, he found that even in areas where ethnic groups were in conflict and viewed one another through lenses of negative stereotypes, individuals who had close friends within the other group exhibited little or no such prejudice. They seemed to realize the many ways those demonized “others” were “just like me.” Whether such friendly social contact would overcome the divide between those with more and less social and economic power was not studied, but I suspect it would help.
[16] Since the 1970s, the gap between the rich and everyone else has skyrocketed. Income inequality is at its highest level in a century. This widening gulf between the haves and have-less troubles me, but not for the obvious reasons. Apart from the financial inequities, I fear the expansion of an entirely different gap, caused by the inability to see oneself in a less advantaged person’s shoes. Reducing the economic gap may be impossible without also addressing the gap in empathy.
词汇
turn a blind eye 对…故意视而不见
give sb the cold shoulder 冷淡，轻视
look down on 看不起，蔑视
see through 识破，看穿
metaphor 隐喻，比喻
condescend 摆出高人一等的架子
dismissive 不屑一顾的
to an extent 在一定程度上
interpersonal 人际的，人与人之间的
exacerbate 使...恶化，使...加剧
inequality 不平等; 不公平
scant 少量的，不足的
tune out 不听; 不注意
disregard 对…置之不理
micropolitics 微观政治学
implication 含意，启示
prevail 盛行，普遍存在
totem 图腾标志
prerequisite 先决条件
compassionate 有同情心的; 表示同情的
deficit 赤字
keep an eye on 照看；留意；密切注视
end up 到头来
attune to 使习惯，使适应
strata 阶层
profound 深刻的; 极大的
in turn 相应地，转而
lead to 导致；引起
dismiss 不予理会，不再考虑
food stamp 美国政府发放给低收入者以兑换食物的票券
impede 阻碍
stem from 起源于
emeritus 名誉退休的
psychiatry 精神病学
hostile 反对的; 敌对的
rampant 猖獗的，泛滥的
重点句子
1. Turning a blind eye. Giving someone the cold shoulder. Looking down on people. Seeing right through them.
视而不见，爱搭不理，嗤之以鼻，一眼看穿。
2. Higher-status people are also more likely to express disregard, through facial expressions, and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past the other speaker.
地位更高的人更容易通过面部表情来表示漠然，而且更容易接管对话，打断他人，或者干脆忽视他人。
3. The financial difference ends up creating a behavioral difference. Poor people are better attuned to interpersonal relations — with those of the same strata, and the more powerful — than the rich are, because they have to be.
财富上的差距，最终会变成行为上的差距。相比起富人，穷人在人际关系方面更善于迎合，不论是对同一阶层，还是对那些更有权势的阶层，因为穷人们不得不这么做。
4. Tuning in to the needs and feelings of another person is a prerequisite to empathy, which in turn can lead to understanding, concern and, if the circumstances are right, compassionate action.
能够了解另一个人的需求和感受是同情心产生的基础。而这反过来又可以导致理解和关心，如果情形刚好合适，就会引发一些同情性的举动。
5. Social distance makes it all the easier to focus on small differences between groups and to put a negative spin on the ways of others and a positive spin on our own.
这种社会差距会让我们很容易把焦点放到不同群体之间的差异上，不断丑化对方，与此同时美化自己。
6. In contrast, extensive interpersonal contact counteracts biases by letting people from hostile groups get to know one another as individuals and even friends.
相比之下，大量的人际交往会抵消这样的偏见，比如让敌对群体的人之间相互接触，了解对方，甚至成为朋友。
7. Apart from the financial inequities, I fear the expansion of an entirely different gap, caused by the inability to see oneself in a less advantaged person’s shoes.
除了财富上的不平等之外，我还担心由于没有办法对那些弱势的人做到将心比心，导致这种差异的进一步扩大。
原文:
我们总说“为富不仁”。到底是为了发家致富，所以不得不巧取豪夺，不择手段？还是成为了富人之后，自然变得不仁不义了？不论怎样，贫富差距以及由此引发的问题和现象都不容忽视，这篇文章就来探讨一下这个问题
[1] Turning a blind eye. Giving someone the cold shoulder. Looking down on people. Seeing right through them.
[2] These metaphors for condescending or dismissive behavior are more than just descriptive. They suggest, to a surprisingly accurate extent, the social distance between those with greater power and those with less — a distance that goes beyond the realm of interpersonal interactions and may exacerbate the soaring inequality in the United States.
[3] A growing body of recent research shows that people with the most social power pay scant attention to those with little such power. This tuning out has been observed, for instance, with strangers in a mere five-minute get-acquainted session, where the more powerful person shows fewer signals of paying attention, like nodding or laughing. Higher-status people are also more likely to express disregard, through facial expressions, and are more likely to take over the conversation and interrupt or look past the other speaker.
[4] Bringing the micropolitics of interpersonal attention to the understanding of social power, researchers are suggesting, has implications for public policy.
[5] Of course, in any society, social power is relative; any of us may be higher or lower in a given interaction, and the research shows the effect still prevails. Though the more powerful pay less attention to us than we do to them, in other situations we are relatively higher on the totem pole of status — and we, too, tend to pay less attention to those a rung or two down.
[6] A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain. In 2008, social psychologists from the University of Amsterdam and the University of California, Berkeley, studied pairs of strangers telling one another about difficulties they had been through, like a divorce or death of a loved one. The researchers found that the differential expressed itself in the playing down of suffering. The more powerful were less compassionate toward the hardships described by the less powerful.
[7] Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Berkeley, and Michael W. Kraus, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have done much of the research on social power and the attention deficit.
[8] Mr. Keltner suggests that, in general, we focus the most on those we value most. While the wealthy can hire help, those with few material assets are more likely to value their social assets: like the neighbor who will keep an eye on your child from the time she gets home from school until the time you get home from work. The financial difference ends up creating a behavioral difference. Poor people are better attuned to interpersonal relations — with those of the same strata, and the more powerful — than the rich are, because they have to be.
[9] While Mr. Keltner’s research finds that the poor, compared with the wealthy, have keenly attuned interpersonal attention in all directions, in general, those with the most power in society seem to pay particularly little attention to those with the least power. To be sure, high-status people do attend to those of equal rank — but not as well as those low of status do.
[10] This has profound implications for societal behavior and government policy. Tuning in to the needs and feelings of another person is a prerequisite to empathy, which in turn can lead to understanding, concern and, if the circumstances are right, compassionate action.
[11] In politics, readily dismissing inconvenient people can easily extend to dismissing inconvenient truths about them. The insistence by some House Republicans in Congress on cutting financing for food stamps and impeding the implementation of Obamacare, which would allow patients, including those with pre-existing health conditions, to obtain and pay for insurance coverage, may stem in part from the empathy gap. As political scientists have noted, redistricting and gerrymandering have led to the creation of more and more safe districts, in which elected officials don’t even have to encounter many voters from the rival party, much less empathize with them.
[12] Social distance makes it all the easier to focus on small differences between groups and to put a negative spin on the ways of others and a positive spin on our own.
[13] Freud called this “the narcissism of minor differences,” a theme repeated by Vamik D. Volkan, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, who was born in Cyprus to Turkish parents. Dr. Volkan remembers hearing as a small boy awful things about the hated Greek Cypriots — who, he points out, actually share many similarities with Turkish Cypriots. Yet for decades their modest-size island has been politically divided, which exacerbates the problem by letting prejudicial myths flourish.
[14] In contrast, extensive interpersonal contact counteracts biases by letting people from hostile groups get to know one another as individuals and even friends. Thomas F. Pettigrew, a research professor of social psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzed more than 500 studies on intergroup contact. Mr. Pettigrew, who was born in Virginia in 1931 and lived there until going to Harvard for graduate school, told me in an e-mail that it was the “the rampant racism in the Virginia of my childhood” that led him to study prejudice.
[15] In his research, he found that even in areas where ethnic groups were in conflict and viewed one another through lenses of negative stereotypes, individuals who had close friends within the other group exhibited little or no such prejudice. They seemed to realize the many ways those demonized “others” were “just like me.” Whether such friendly social contact would overcome the divide between those with more and less social and economic power was not studied, but I suspect it would help.
[16] Since the 1970s, the gap between the rich and everyone else has skyrocketed. Income inequality is at its highest level in a century. This widening gulf between the haves and have-less troubles me, but not for the obvious reasons. Apart from the financial inequities, I fear the expansion of an entirely different gap, caused by the inability to see oneself in a less advantaged person’s shoes. Reducing the economic gap may be impossible without also addressing the gap in empathy.