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Love and logic: The story of a fallacy My roommate Rob made a pact with me that hed give me his girlfriend Polly in exchange for my jacket. And I agreed. Polly had the right background to be the girlfriend of a dogged，brilliant lawyer like myself. She was pretty, well-off, and radiant. Still, I want to dispense her enough pearls of wisdom to make her “well-spoken”. So I tried my best to teach her such logical fallacies as Dicto Simpliciter, Hasty Generalization, Ad Misericordiam, and False Analogy. After five nights of diligent work, I actually made a logician out of Polly. She was an analytical thinker at last. When I asked her to develop our relationship into a romantic one, however, she refuted my arguments as those logical fallacies I had taught her! And she refused my proposition by making full disclosure have my jacket .协议顽强，辉煌 智慧珍珠 分析思想家 驳斥 浪漫 逻辑学家 泄露 夹克我的室友Rob与我签了合约，他会给我他的女朋友Polly换来我的夹克。 我同意了波利拥有正确的背景，成为像我这样一位顽强的律师的女朋友。 她很漂亮，富裕，光彩夺目。 不过，我想分配她足够的智慧珍珠，让她“谈吐优雅”。 所以我尽力教她如绝对判断，轻率的归纳，感性论证和错误类比这样的逻辑谬误。 经过五天的勤奋工作，我实际上是用波利做了一个逻辑学家。 她最后是分析思想家。不过，当我要求她将我们的关系发展成为一个浪漫的关系时，她驳斥了我的观点，就是我教过她的逻辑谬误！ 而且她透露了我的外套，拒绝了我的主张。Why do smart people do dumb things? Psychologists have uncovered _cognitive_ biases are common to all people. One of the most common biases is_fundamental attribution error. Through this people attribute the failures of others to character flaws and their own to mere _circumstance_. _Confirmation_ bias is found together with fundamental attribution error. This one has two parts. First, people tend to gather and rely upon information that only confirms their existing views. Second, people avoid or veto things that refute their _pre-existing hypotheses_. Similar to confirmation bias is the _overconfidence_bias, Which means we could be correct 100 percent of the time we were 100 percent sure_ about something, _ correct 80 percent_ of the time we were 80 percent sure about something. The availability bias is also related to _errors in estimation, In action this bias might lead someone to cancel a trip because of a report that the _biggest plane crash in history happened there_. The sunk cost fallacy can lead people to stay indamaging situations_. The key to avoiding these biases remains the same: Rely on _watertight logic_, carefully examine the evidence and _remain aware_! The confusing pursuit of beauty When a woman asks a man how she looks, it is very difficult for him to come up with the right answer. Men do not think of their looks in the same way as women do. They stick to an opinion and like to think of themselves as average-looking. They dont _affix much value to_ to their looks. However, women tend to think their appearance is “not good enough”. They would magnify_ the smallest imperfections in their bodies. The differences between how men and women view their own looks are caused by complex _psychological_ and societal factors. First, men and women have different childhood experiences with toys. Girls dolls have slim figures whose physical measurements are _impossible_ for living human beings to achieve while boys toys are weird-looking. Second, beauty industry exerts different influences on them. Women are _convinced_ that they must buy the newest beauty products and _apply_ them carefully, whereas men are not influenced; they dont face the societal _focus_ purely on physical beauty. Men and women also have differences in care for details in womens appearance. Men _ take no notice of_ the details, but women spend great efforts on details of appearance only to expose_ themselves to criticisms by other women. Anyway, to get back to my _original_ point: There is no easy way for a man to answer a womans question of how she looks.想出 坚持 很有价值 放大 心理的 不可能的 相信 应用 集中 不理会 暴露 原始当一个女人问一个男人她的长相时，他很难想出正确的答案。男人不像女人那样看待自己的容貌，他们坚持自己的观点，认为自己相貌平平。他们对容貌没有多大价值。然而，女性倾向于认为她们的外表“不够好”。他们会放大他们身体中最小的缺陷。男人和女人看待自己外表的差异是由复杂的心理和社会因素造成的。首先，男人和女人在玩具方面有不同的童年经历。女孩的洋娃娃有苗条的身材，他们的生理测量是不可能的，而男孩的玩具看起来很奇怪。第二，美容业对她们有不同的影响。女人觉得，他们必须购买最新的美容产品和应用它们仔细，而男人不受影响，他们不只是纯粹关注外表美。男人和女人在关注女人外表的细节方面也有差异。男人不注意细节，但女人在细节上花了很大功夫才暴露在别人的批评之下。不管怎样，回到我原来的观点：男人回答女人的长相是不容易的。Extreme makeovers are _all the rage_ these days, with too many people _addicted to_. Botox injection parties and reality shows. Plastic surgery is _on the rise_. Even the people want to create the biomedical happiness through the several _shortcuts _. But, beautiful people are not automatically happy people. Beauty is a growth process, a transformation of self through _awareness and learning. Its about _meaning_, and being _real_. Its an emotional and _spiritual_ walk, and it requires _faith_ fueled with liberal does of _loving kindness. I loved my husband so much even he was not so perfect. As a psychotherapist, I faced with so many clients every day _scarred with_ emotional pain. I want to underscore that life is about _growing _ and deepening your soul. The only way I know to develop my soul is _through feelings_. Such as the nature animals and plants, even the human relationships teach me _maturity and passion And I learn to accept others as they are. We are _ordinary_, _real_, _imperfect_ people. We need to strive to illuminate the world with our personal _ethics and aspirations_. From all life events, we learn, we _stretch_. We sometimes fracture, we can feel the growth eventually. The secret is that this growth is visible to others, the spirit that shines from within this person is true beauty, and it cant be bought in a jar.Even as our mortal bodies wear out and _degenerate_, the miracle is that each of us has the total capacity to achieve this _perspective_. In other words, true beauty is not about looks. Its about _choices_. We must look at our own lives and decisions from a more _valuable perspective than the medias eye. Ultimately, each new decision we make can be a new resolution to build the beautiful future we long to have.Making the choice to be truly beautifulFred Smith and FedEx:The vision that changed the worldFrederick W. Smith is the founder of the FedEx Corp., the largest and most successful overnight delivery service . He is recognized as an outstanding entrepreneur who is held in high regard by both his competitors and employees. As a juvenile, he suffered from a disease and was often picked on by bullies. But his passion for flying increased as he grew up. At Yale University, he helped to revive the Yale flying club. In a term paper for an economics class, he drafted a prototype for a transportation company that ensure overnight delivery of small and time-sensitive goods, but the professor said it wasnt feasible. After graduation, he joined the Marines and went to Vietnam. During his military days, he learned good Leadership had measureable effects on a company. Home from Vietnam, he decided to take a stab at starting his own business but the early days were underscored by extreme frugality and financial losses. In spite of difficulties, he still set the precedent to ensure good medical plan. He said success in business boiled down to three elements: appealing product or service, efficient management system, and good leadership.隔夜交货服务 非常器重 选上 恢复 起草了一个原型 对时间敏感的 可行的 加入了海军陆战队 有重大影响 需要尝试 强调了 设置的先例 归结为 有效的管理系统弗雷德里克w史密斯是联邦快递公司的创始人，该公司是全球最大、最成功的快递服务公司。他被公认为是一位杰出的企业家，他的竞争对手和员工都高度重视他。少年时，他患了一种疾病，经常被欺负。但随着他的成长，他对飞行的热情也与日俱增。在耶鲁大学，他帮助复兴了耶鲁的飞行俱乐部。在一份经济类的学期论文中，他为一家运输公司起草了一份原型产品，该公司可以确保在短时间内交付少量和时间敏感的货物，但教授说这是不可能的。毕业后，他加入了海军陆战队，去了越南。在他的军事时代，他学会了良好的领导能力对公司有可测量的影响。在越南的家中，他决定尝试创业，但由于极度节俭和经济损失，他的早期生活受到了极大的关注。尽管困难重重，他还是开创了一个先例，以确保良好的医疗计划。他说，商业成功归结为三个要素:吸引人的产品或服务，高效的管理体系，以及良好的领导能力。 Building the dream of Starbucks With impressive _velocity_, Howard Schultz has made Starbucks a well known coffee retailer in the world. Like many great entrepreneur, Howard Schultz had a _harsh_ memory of his childhood since he was born and grew up in an extremely poor family. As an _escape from poverty, Schultz played sports and became the first person in his family to _graduate from college. In 1983, Schultz conceived of_ a new American way of life in the coffee bars of Milan. In 1987, Schultz purchased the Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle and _restructured_ as theStarbucks Corporation. Schultzs premium coffee bars were an instant success, acting as a stimulus of its rapid growth and _ expansion_ in different field and part of world. The key to his success lies in his employment policies. He gave Starbucks employees both a philosophical and financial_ stake in the business, which makes a sturdy _workforce and creates a significant numerical payoff for Starbucks. One thing he regretted for the rest of his life is that he spoke harshly_ to his father and had no chance to apologize before he died. But he believed that his father would have felt proud of him, and his success could be a comfort to his father. Speaking Chinese in America Once, at a dinner, my mother whispered to me confidentially: “Sau-sau pretends too hard to be a polite recipient! Why bother with such nominal courtesy? In the end, she always takes everything.” My mother no longer patient with old taboos and courtesies. I read an article in The New York Times Magazine, where the author mentioned that the interwoven configuration of Chinese language and culture renders its speech indirect and polite. Chinese people are so “discreet and modest”, that there arent even words for “yes” and “no”. If I consider my upbringing carefully, I find there was nothing discreet about the Chinese language I grew up with, no censorship for the sake of politeness. Having listened to both Chinese and English, Im suspicious of comparisons between the two languages, as I notice the reciprocal challenges they each present.Even more dangerous is the temptation to view the gulf between different languages and behavior in translation. There is no one word for “yes” or “no”, but not out of necessity to be discreet. If anything, I would say the Chinese equivalent of answering “yes” or “no” is specific to what is asked.有一次，在一次宴会上，我的母亲私下悄悄对我说:“苏-索假装很难成为一个有礼貌的接受者！”为什么要为这种名义上的礼貌而烦恼呢?最后，她总是把一切都拿了。“我母亲不再对旧的禁忌和礼节有耐心了。我在纽约时报杂志上读到一篇文章，作者在文中提到，中国语言和文化的相互交织，使它的演讲间接而礼貌。中国人是如此“谨慎和谦虚”，甚至连“是”和“不”都没有。如果我仔细考虑我的成长经历，我发现在我成长的中国语言中，没有什么是谨慎的，没有任何的审查是出于礼貌。在听了汉语和英语之后，我对两种语言的比较感到怀疑，因为我注意到了它们各自存在的相互挑战。更危险的是，在翻译中看到不同语言和行为之间的鸿沟。没有一个词是“是”或“否”，但不是出于必要谨慎。如果说有什么不同的话，那就是中国人对“是”或“否”的回答是特定于被要求的。Culture makes the business world go round Just as Edward Hall said: “The single greatest barrier to business success is the one erected_ by culture,” so cultural differences have as big an impact on international business ventures and financial planning and _visionary leadership ! To illustrate this point better, lets take the examples of _ Kevin Johnston and Ann, a senior vice-president of a US company and a US manager respectively, both working in different from their native cultural environment. Kevin was put in charge of finalizing a merger with a company in the UAE. Having compiled all the necessary documents and graphs, and having prepared _a thorough exposition_ , he was confident in _close the deal _successfully. However, what did bring the deal to an abrupt end is his lack of thorough understanding and insight of role of relationships in the UAE. Ann took a reactionary approach to cultural differences, and tried to establish team_unification and solidarity_. Later, when the team convened face-toface for their first quarterly review meeting, Ann, boldly criticized and questioned a Korean, which made him become embarrassed and uncomfortable immediately and the meeting _lose its groove_. Clearly, Ann was not familiar with the concept of saving face in other cultures. Hence, from the two examples mentioned above, we can drive a conclusion safely that for business success, it is essential to learn to mediate these deeper cultural differences. Though it may be a little complicated to _incorporate them into_ your way of thinking and communicating, _it is well worth the effort !The weight men carry The men I knew labored with their bodies from morning to sundown. The bodies of men were twisted and wounded because of hard work. Men were soldiers who had to die in war. The lives of poor-class men were real, whereas those of rich men who had power and privileges seemed remote and unreal.I was puzzled at womens claim that men enjoy greater joys and more privileges. Womens grievances of men were hard to understand because women had an easier life than men. The fates of lower-class and women are symmetrically bleak and grim. The daughters of privileged, Republican men wanted to inherit their fathers power and lordship over the world and longed for a say over their future, so they saw me as their enemy. But actually I was an ally in their rebellion.我认识的那些人从早到晚都在吃力的用他们的身体。由于努力工作，人们的身体被扭曲和受伤。男人是在战争中牺牲的战士。贫