研究生英语精读教程课文原文+翻译+短文unit3.doc

Rats and MenInsoluble ProblemsProfessor N. R. F. Maier of the University of Michigan performed a series of experiments several years ago in which neurosis is induced in rats. The rats are first trained to jump off the edge of a platform at one of two doors.If the rat jumps to the right, the door holds fast, and it bumps its nose and falls into a net; if it jumps to the left, the door opens, and the rat finds a dish of food. When the rats are well trained to this reaction, the situation is changed. The food is put behind the other door, so that in order to get their reward they now have to jump to the right instead of to the left. (Other changes, such as marking the two doors in different ways, may also be introduced by the experimenter.)If the rat fails to figure out the new system, so that each time it jumps it never knows whether it is going to get food or bump its nose, it finally gives up and refuses to jump at all. At this stage, Dr. Maier says, Many rats prefer to starve rather than make a choice.密执安大学的N.R.F. 麦耶教授几年前做过一系列可以诱导鼠产生“ 神经官能症” 的实验。首先训练鼠由平台边缘跳向两个门中的一个。如果鼠向右跳，右门是碰不开的，那么鼠就撞了鼻子并掉进网里；如果鼠向左跳，左门就打开，鼠就会找到一碟食物。在鼠已很熟悉这一反应时，就改变情况：把食物放在另外一扇门后，这样鼠要想得到犒赏就不能向左跳，而要向右跳了。( 实验者也可采用其他变化形式，比如用不同的方式标记两个门。) 如果鼠弄不懂新规则，它每次跳时决不知是会得到食物还是会撞鼻子。最终它就会放弃，拒绝再跳。到这一步，麦耶博士说：“ 许多鼠宁愿挨饿也不再做选择。”Next, the rats are forced to make a choice, being driven to it by blasts of air or an electric shock. Animals which are induced to respond in the insoluble problem situation, says Dr. Maier, settle down to a specific reaction (such as jumping solely at the left hand door) which they continue to execute regardless of consequences.The response chosen under these conditions becomes fixated. Once the fixation appears, the animal is incapable of learning an adaptive response in this situation. When a reaction to the left-hand door is thus fixated, the right-hand door may be left open so that the food is plainly visible. Yet the rat, when pushed, continues to jump to the left, becoming more panicky each time.When the experimenter persists in forcing the rat to make choices, it may go into convulsions, racing around wildly, injuring its claws, bumping into chairs and tables, then going into a state of violent trembling, until it falls into a coma.In this passive state, it refuses to eat, refuses to take any interest in anything: it can be rolled up into a ball or suspended in the air by its legsthe rat has ceased to care what happens to it. It has had a nervous breakdown.第二步，对鼠施加强大气流或电击，赶它，强迫它做出选择。“ 处于不能解决的难题之中而被迫做出反应的动物，” 麦耶博士说，“ 最后总是落到一个特定的反应上( 比如只4 向左跳)，不顾结果如何都总是做出这一反应这种条件下所做出的反应便固定不变了一旦出现了这种固态，动物就没有能力学会适应性的反应了。” 一旦向左跳的反应被固定下来时，可以让右门开着，使食物呈现在眼前。可是鼠被驱赶时却仍旧向左跳，并且每次都愈来愈惶恐不安。实验者继续迫使鼠做出选择时，鼠开始惊厥不安，四下狂奔，弄伤爪子，撞上桌椅，然后浑身剧烈颤抖，直到昏迷不醒。处于这样的被动情况，鼠拒绝进食，对一切不感兴趣：可以把它卷成一团或擒住双腿倒挂空中无论怎样摆布它，它都无动于衷。这时的鼠已是“ 神经崩溃” 了。It is the insolubility of the rats problem that leads to its nervous breakdown, and, as Dr. Maier shows in his studies of disturbed children and adults, rats and human beings seem to go through pretty much the same stages. First, they are trained to make habitually a given choice when confronted by a given problem; secondly, they get a terrible shock when they find that the conditions have changed and that the choice doesnt produce the expected results;third, whether through shock, anxiety, or frustration, they may fixate on the original choice and continue to make that choice regardless of consequences; fourth, they sullenly refuse to act at all; fifth, when by external compulsion they are forced to make a choice, they again make the one they were originally trained to make - and again get a bump on the nose; finally, even with the goal visible in front of them, to be attained simply by making a different choice, they go crazy out of frustration. They tear around wildly; they sulk in corners and refuse to eat; bitter, cynical, disillusioned, they cease to care what happens to them.鼠所面临问题的 “不可解决性 ”导致了它的神经崩溃，而麦耶博士在他对心理失常的小孩和成人的研究报告中表明，鼠和人经历的各个阶段大同小异。首先是两者受训练，在面对某一问题时都习惯地做出某一选择；然后，发现条件已改变而原来的选择并不能产生预期的效果时，两者都大吃一惊；再次，不论是出于震惊、焦虑还是受挫，两者都会执著于最初的选择，不管结果，一意孤行；接着，悻悻然拒绝采取行动；而后，在被迫做出选择时，两者又总做出最初训练时所做出的选择且再次碰壁；最后，即使目标就在眼前 ，只要做出不同的选择就唾手可得时，两者又都由于以前受到的挫折而发狂。他们疯狂地四处撕抓；或是躲在角落里赌气拒食；他们变得辛酸怀恨、不信任一切、心灰意冷，无论人们怎样对待他们，他们都无动于衷。Is this an exaggerated picture? It hardly seems so. The pattern recurs throughout human life, from the small tragedies of the home to the world-shaking tragedies among nations. In order to cure her husbands faults, a wife may nag him. His faults get worse, so she nags him some more.Naturally his faults get worse still - and she nags him even more. Governed, like the rat, by a fixated reaction to the problem of her husbands faults, she can meet it only in one way. The longer she continues, the worse it gets, until they are both nervous wrecks.这是否是一幅夸张的画面呢 ?似乎并非如此。这个模式反复再现于人生，小到家庭的悲剧，大到震撼世界的国家间的悲剧。为了纠正丈夫的毛病，妻子数落他。毛病越坏，就越多地挨数落。当然他的毛病变得更坏，她就更加数落。像鼠一样，妻子对丈夫的毛病受一种固定反应的摆布，她只能总以一种方式应付它。她这么做的日子越久，丈夫的毛病就越厉害，直至夫妇二人在神经上都备受折磨，疲惫不堪。Again, white people in a northern city, deploring the illiteracy and high crime rate among Negroes, segregate them, persecute them (it is well known that the police are almost always tougher on Negro suspects than on whites),and deny them opportunities for employment and advancement.The denial of opportunity perpetuates the illiteracy and the high crime rate, which in turn perpetuate the segregation, persecution, and denial of opportunity. The search for a way to break up this vicious circle taxes the best minds among those interested in orderly social change: city councilmen, educators, urban planners, Negro organizations, as well as state governments and federal authorities.再看一个例子。北方某城市的白人因厌恶黑人高文盲率和高犯罪率的状况而隔离他们、迫害他们 (众所周知，警察通常对黑人嫌疑犯比对白人嫌疑犯要粗暴得多 )，并且拒绝给他们受雇与提升的机会。这种机会的被剥夺使文盲率与犯罪率高的情况得以延续下去，转而又使隔离、迫害和不给黑人机会的做法得以继续存在。要找到解决这一恶性循环的方法需要致力于有序社会改革的智者殚精竭虑，包括市议员、教育家、城市规划人员、黑人组织以及州政府和联邦政府。To cite another example, students trying to express themselves in writing may write poorly. In order to improve their writing, says the English teacher, I must teach them the fundamentals of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.By thus placing excessive emphasis on grammar and mechanics while ignoring the students ideas, the teacher quickly destroys student interest in writing. That interest destroyed, the students write even more poorly.Thereupon the teacher redoubles his dose of grammar and mechanics. The students become increasingly bored and rebellious. Such students fill the ranks of “remedial English classes in high school and college.另一个例子是，想用写作表达自己思想的学生可能写得很差。英文老师说，我一定要教会他们语法、拼写和标点符号这些方面的基础知识，来提高他们的写作。于是由于过分强调语法与写作方面的技术性细节而忽视了学生的思想，老师很快湮灭了学生对写作的兴趣。失去了兴趣，学生写得就更差了，老师于是再给学生以加倍的语法和写作方法的练习。学生也就越来越厌倦和反感了。中学和大学的“英文补习”班里全是这样的学生。Again, a nation, believing that the only way to secure peace and dignity is through armed strength, may embark on a huge armaments program. The program arouses the fears of neighboring nations, so that they too increase their armaments to match those of the first nation.Anxiety and tension increase. It is clear, the first nation declares, that we shall continue to feel anxious about our national security so long as we are not adequately prepared for all emergencies; we must therefore double our armaments. This naturally makes the neighboring nations even more anxious, so that they too double their armaments.Anxiety and tension increase even more. It is clear, the first nation declares, that our mistake has been to underestimate our defense needs. This time we must be sure to be sufficiently armed to preserve peace. We must triple our armaments.同样，一个认为武装力量是维护和平与尊严的唯一有效途径的国家，会推行巨大的扩军计划。这种计划引起邻国的恐慌，于是后者也扩充军备，与前者抗衡。焦虑与紧张气氛升温。前者宣称，很明显，只要我们不能对所有突发事件都有充分准备，我们就会不断为国家的安危担忧；所以我们必须加倍 扩军。这自然使邻国更为恐慌，于是也把军备翻了一番。焦虑与紧张气氛更强了。前者宣称，很明显，我们犯了低估国防需要的错误。这次我们一定要保证 我们有充分武力来保持和平。我们必须把军备再加一倍 Of course these instances are oversimplified, but it is often because of vicious circles of this kind that we are unable to get at or do anything about the conditions that lead to disaster. The pattern is frequently recognizable; the goal may be in sight, attainable by a mere change in methods.Nevertheless, governed by fixated reactions, the rat cannot get food, the wife cannot cure her husbands faults, Negroes will have to wait two or three generations until the time is ripe for social change, and we cannot afford to stop devising and manufacturing weapons so deadly that they cannot be used without destroying civilization itself.当然，这些例子难免过于简单化，但是确实常常由于这种类似的恶性循环使我们无法认清或处理导致灾难的不测事件的条件。这样的模式常常很容易识别；目标就在眼前，只要在方法上做些改变就会达到。可是，由于受到固定反应的摆布，鼠“无法”吃到食物，妻子“无法”改掉丈夫的毛病，黑人还要等两三代人的时间，“直到社会改革的时机成熟”，我们“无法”停止发明并制造可摧毁人类文明的致命武器。There is, however, an important difference between the insolubility of the rats problems and the insolubility of human problems. Dr. Maiers rats were driven to their nervous breakdowns by problems more complicated than would naturally occur in a rats environment. But human breakdowns are ordinarily caused by problems that human beings themselves have created:problems of religious and ethical belief; problems of money and credit and mortgages and trust funds and stock market fluctuations; problems of man-made custom and etiquette and social organization and law.不过，鼠与人的难题的不可解决性之间有一个重要的区别。麦耶博士的鼠遇到的难题比它在自然状态下能遇上的复杂得多，它是被逼迫至神经崩溃的。而人类的神经崩溃一般总是由于人类自己制造的难题所造成：如宗教与道德信仰的问题，金钱、贷款、抵押、托管基金、股市涨跌的问题，人为的习惯、礼节、社会团体和法律的问题，等等。Rats can hardly be blamed for not being able to solve problems set for them by Dr. Maier; there are limits to a rats powers of abstraction. But there are no known limits to the human capacity to abstract and organize and make use of abstractions. Hence, if human beings find problems insoluble because of fixated reactions - if they are frustrated because they can respond in only one way, regardless of context or circumstances, to certain symbolically defined situations - they are functioning at less than full human capacity.They can be said, in Korzybskis suggestive phrase, to be copying animals in their reactions. Wendell Johnson summarized this idea aptly when he said, To a mouse, cheese is cheese; thats why mouse traps work. How do these fixations occur in human beings?不能责怪鼠解决不了麦耶博士为它们设下的难题；因为鼠的抽象能力有限。但人类的抽象能力、组织和利用抽象的能力是无限的。因此，如果人由于固定反应而认为难题不可解决如果人受挫折只是由于对某些以符号来界定的形势，不论其前因后果或出于环境只能采取一种反应的话那么，人便没有充分发挥出其全部人的能力。如科尔奇布斯基所说的意味深长的话：此时，人在做出反应这一点上是在“模仿动物”。对此，温德尔约翰逊有一贴切的归纳：“对鼠而言，奶酪就是奶酪；这就是捕鼠器能捕鼠的原因。”可这种固定反应是如何在人类中发生的呢?Supplementary ReadingIn the 1940s, psychologist Abraham Maslow recognized that workers perform as they do in order to satisfy a wide variety of needs. He realized that these needs would have to be classified to explain motion. The model he worked out is called Maslows ladder. Two principles underlie this model: A human being is an animal with many needs, and only those needs not yet fully satisfied cause a person to act. When needs on a lower level are satisfied, at least in part, the rung above becomes a goal a person will strive to reach. With these principles in mind, let us now take a look at each set of needs depicted in the model.All the basic drives that sustain lifefood, clothing and shelterare called physiological needs. A person must satisfy these needs before pursuing any other objective. Most people, of course, strongly desire more than the minimum level of satisfaction required for survival:They want three meals a day instead of one and a house instead of a hut.The physiological needs are readily satisfied in modern societies by money. Even the few pennies earned by nineteenth-century laborers were strong motivation to people who had not eaten for several days. They would suffer almost any abuse to collect them and live another day.People have a strong desire to feel protected. Usually this means protection against loss of the physical necessities, the idea of cushion against misfortune. Once more, money will effectively satisfy this level of need. Even today few peole succeed in earning enough money to feel completely secure. This is why the classical theory of motivation held on so long.Business now does a reasonably good job of meeting the workers demands for safety. Wages are high enough to allow most workers to save for a rainy day. Guaranteed job security, pension plans, health insurance, life insurance, and employer contributions to Social Security are all examples of direct satisfaction of safety needs.Humans are social animals. Their desires to associate with others and to be loved by others are nearly as strong as their will to survive. Indeed, even when the need for safety is not totally satisfied, people begin feeling social needs.This is the first level of needs that money cannot readily satisfy.As the Hawthorne Studies clearly showed, workers desire to be accepted by co-workers could motivate them more strongly than the desire to earn more money. Furthermore, workers need no impetus from management to seek satisfaction of their social needs. It is this drive that gives rise to the informal organization.People need to feel self-esteem, a sense of personal worth derived from their competence, achievement, or independence. They also need the respect of others, a respect based on a recognition of their competence rather than on friendship (a social need). The need for esteem is closely tied to the idea of status.Status is ones rank in comparison with others in the same social group. A person with high status is one who is well regarded by friends and associates. Several factors can give a person high status in society. These include wealth, social standing, advanced education, and a prestigious occupation. We are all familiar with status symbols such as a Cadillac or a mansion. Since these familiar symbols of status all cost money, it is common to mistake a striving for status as a drive to accumulate wealth. While earning a million dollars may indeed bestow status on an individual, a person motivated by esteem needs seeks the status, not the money.People in business often seek satisfaction of their esteem needs by pursuing a promotion. To some individuals, the status conferred by the title “vice-president” is more important than the salary that also comes with the job. Of course, people also manifest the need for esteem when they seek one of the occupations that our society holds in high esteem, such as physician, writer, artist, actor, university professor, lawyer, or musician.Maslow defined the need for self-realization as the desire to become more what one is, to become everything one is capable of. A person who operates on this level usually views work as something to be done in order to f