0415英語流利閱讀筆記:一點不假,科學家評出了世界最會扯淡的人

the world’s biggest peddlers of bul

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內容簡介：

No word of a lie: scientistsrate the world’s biggest peddlers of bull

一點不假：科學家評出世界上最會扯淡的

In new research, scientists claim to have identified the most common practitionersof the ignoble art—bullshit. Their study of 40,000 teenagers reveals that boys; those from privileged backgrounds; and North Americans in particular, top the charts as the worst offenders.

在一項新研究中，科學家們宣稱已找到了最常運用「扯淡」這個卑劣技巧的人群。他們研究了 4 萬名青少年，並得出以下結論：男生，特權背景出身的人，尤其是北美地區的人在扯淡這一「犯罪」領域高居榜首。

「Everyone knows a bull shitter but there’s been very little work done on them,」 said John Jerrim, who led the latest study at UCL’s Institute of Education. With his UCL colleague, Nikki Shure, and Phil Parker, a psychologist at the Australian CatholicUniversity, Jerrim analysed data gathered by the OECD to assess how well 15-year-olds around the globe have mastered key academic subjects.

在倫敦大學學院教育系主導該最新研究的約翰傑瑞姆表示：「每個人都認識一個會扯淡的人，但是針對這一人群的研究卻很少。」一起參與實驗的還有傑瑞姆在倫敦大學學院的同事尼基舒爾，以及澳大利亞天主教大學的心理學家菲爾帕克。他們分析的數據來源於經合組織，該組織用這些數據評估全球範圍內 15 歲青少年對重點學科的掌握程度。

For one of the questions, the teenagers must rate how familiar they are with 16 mathematical concepts ranging frompolygons and vectors to quadraticfunctionsand congruent figures. Hidden among the bona fide terms are three fakes: proper numbers, subjective scaling and declarative functions.

在其中一題，參與研究的青少年必須評估自己對 16 個數學概念的熟悉程度，這些概念的範圍從多邊形、向量，到二次函數、全等圖形。在真正的術語中隱藏著三個偽造的詞：「適數」、「主觀縮放」和「陳述函數」。

Jerrim took the students』 responses to the three fake concepts to draw up a 「bullshit scale」, which he then used to compare different groups, such as boys and girls, high and low socioeconomic status, and theregions where people lived.

傑瑞姆用這些學生對於這三個假概念的答題結果，擬算出了一個「扯淡量表」，接著用該量表去比較不同組別（比如性別、社會經濟地位、生活地區）之間的結果。

Those who ranked highest on the scale tended to see themselves as more self-confident, more persevering, and more popular at school, than those further down the scale.

比起那些「扯淡等級」評分較低的學生，評分最高的學生們往往認為自己更自信、更堅持不懈，且在學校更受歡迎。

「People are social animals and we desirefeelings of connection, belonging, and inclusion, so we try to participate when it is critical to build and maintain these relationships,」 said John Petrocelli, a psychologist at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. 「

Such situations sometimes require us to talk about things we really know nothing about, and what comes out isbullshit.」

北卡羅來納州維克森林大學的一位心理學家約翰彼得羅切利（他未參與此項研究）表示：「人是社會性動物，我們渴望關聯感、歸屬感和包容感，所以當建立和維繫這些關係至關重要時，我們會試圖參與談話。而這種情況有時需要我們談論自己其實一無所知的事情，而這就是扯淡。」

「I truly believeit is critical to better understand bullshitting behaviour before we can more competently detect and dispose of bullshit,」 he added.

他補充道：「我確信，在我們更能察覺和處理扯淡這一行為之前，更好地理解它是至關重要的。」

詞彙詳解：

1. rate ：vt. 給…估價；評估； 評定等級

2. peddler：n.[貿易]小販；傳播者A drug peddleris a person who sells illegal drugs. 毒販

3. practitioner：/prktn/ Doctors are sometimes referred to as practitionersor medical practitioners. 行醫者實踐者；開業者；實習者

4. offender：/fnd/ An offenderis a person who has committed a crime. 罪犯

5. sth. tops the charts：…高居榜首

6. Catholic天主教天主教的，天主教徒，廣泛的 He was a man of catholic tastes, a lover of grand opera, history, and the fine arts.他是一個興趣廣泛的人，愛好大歌劇、歷史和美術。

7. OECD abbr.經合組織；經濟合作與發展組織（Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development）

8. key academic subjects重點學科

9. quadratic:/kwdrtk/ adj. [數] 二次的n. 二次方程式

quadraticfunctions二次函數

10. congruent /kɡrnt/ If one thing is congruentwithanother thing, they are similar or fit together well. 相似的; 合適的

congruent figures全等圖形

11. bonafide /bn fad/ If something or someone is bona fide, they are genuine or real. 真正的; 真誠的 We are happy to donate to bona fide charitable causes. 我們很樂意向真正的慈善事業捐贈。

12. fake A fake is something that is fake. 膺品 例：The gallery is filled with famous works of art, and every one of them is a fake. 畫廊裡滿是極好的藝術名品，每一件都是膺品。

If someone fakessomething, they try to make it look valuable or genuine, although in fact it is not. 偽造 you fake a feeling, emotion, or reaction, you pretend that you are experiencing it when you are not. 假裝 Someone who is a fake is not what they claim to be, for example, because they do not have the qualifications that they claim to have. 騙子

13. socioeconomic status社會經濟地位

14. region/ridn/ n. 地區；範圍；部位

15. persevere /psv/ you perseverewithsomething, you keep trying to do it and do not give up, even though it is difficult. 堅持不懈 persevering adj. 堅忍的；不屈不撓的

16. desire n. 欲望；要求，心願；性慾

vt. 想要；要求；希望得到…

vi. 渴望

17. psychologist心理學家

18. be involved in 牽涉，涉及，包括，參與，參加

19. ……, and what comes out is…：…，而這就是…，對前一句的概括性總結

20. it is critical to do sth. 做……至關重要

21. dispose of sth. 處理某事

22. detectvt. 察覺；發現；探測