《宋氏快译》英汉对照 （15）：谣言惑众，胜过真相

《宋氏快译》英汉对照 （15）：谣言惑众，胜过真相


Gossip more powerful than truth, researchers say

By Michael Kahn

流言蜚语的力量胜过真相

迈克尔。卡恩 文 宋德利 译



LONDON (Reuters) - Gossip is more powerful than truth, a study showed on Monday, suggesting people believe what they hear through the grapevine even if they have evidence to the contrary.

伦敦（路透社）
流言蜚语的效力要比真相大得多，周一展示的一次调研显示，人就是相信通过流言蜚语得知的小道消息，即便他们有与之相反的证据，也依然如此。


Researchers, testing students using a computer game, also found gossip played an important role when people make decisions, said Ralf Sommerfeld, an evolutionary biologist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, who led the study.

调查者们利用一种电脑游戏来测试学生，结果也发现，人们在做决定的时候，流言蜚语起到一种很重要的作用，拉尔夫。萨莫菲尔德说。此人是德国马克斯。普兰克学院一名进化论生物学家，就是他主持了这次调查。


"We show that gossip has a strong influence... even when participants have access to the original information as well as gossip about the same information," the researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“我们可以证明流言蜚语具有很强大的影响力。。。即便在参与调查者既能获取原始信息，也能获取与原始信息相关的流言蜚语的时候（也是如此），”调查者在国家科学院的法律程序里里这样写道。

注释：

这句话比较费解。意思是说，我们什么时候都能证明流言蜚语的确具有很强的影响力。。。即便当参与调查的人面临两种截然不同的信息时也不例外，这两种信息，一种是真实情况，另一种就是关于这种真实情况的流言蜚语。具体讲就是即便真相就在眼前，流言蜚语却依然在发挥巨大影响力，以致参与者面对真相却宁愿相信流言蜚语。此种影响力何其大哉！


"Thus, it is evident that gossip has a strong manipulative potential."

“因此，流言蜚语显然具有一种很强的支配性潜力。


In the study, the researchers gave the students money and allowed them to give it to others in a series of rounds. The students also wrote notes about how others played the game that everyone could review.


在调查中，调查人员把钱交给学生，允许他们把这些钱再交给别人，如此循环往复。学生也记笔记，记述别人如何玩这个任何人都可以监督检查的游戏。


Students tended to give less money to people described as "nasty misers" or "scrooges" and more to those depicted as "generous players" or "social players," Sommerfeld said.

学生们都趋向于对那些被描述成为“令人厌恶的守财奴”或“吝啬鬼”的人给钱少，对那些“大方的玩家”给钱多，萨莫菲尔德说。

注释：本段的关键词是“被描述的described”，因为它显示随后提到的“令人厌恶的守财奴”或“吝啬鬼”的人，都不是真实的，是被“流言蜚语”描述成的。
只有理解这一点，对下文才能理解。


"People only saw the gossip, not the past decisions," he said in a telephone interview. "People really reacted on it."
“人们只看到流言蜚语，而没看到早已成为过去的决定，”他在一次电话采访中说。“人们的确对流言蜚语产生了影响。”

注释：第一句话也比较费解。意思是说，被调查者只见物不见人。只看到流言蜚语这一面，却忽视散布者做出散布流言蜚语的决定。再进一步说，就是做这种决定的真实目的，或险恶用心。the past decisions，早已成为过去的决定。人们在做出散布流言蜚语这个实质性动作之前，先要有这样做的打算，也就是决定，先要决定去做，第二步才能有行动。从先后顺序来将，决定当然在行动之前，这就是past的含义。

The researchers then took the game a step further and showed the students the actual decisions people had made. But they also supplied false gossip that contradicted that evidence.

之后，调查人员将游戏做得更进一步，将人们所做的实际决定展示给学生。但是他们也提供一些与证据相矛盾的假流言蜚语。


In these cases, the students based their decisions to award money on the gossip, rather than the hard evidence, showing such information is a powerful tool, Sommerfeld said.

在这些情况中，学生们决定把钱交给谁，完全根据流言蜚语，而不是确凿的证据，这也同样显示了这种信息是一种有力的工具，萨莫菲尔德说。


"Rationally if you know what the people did, you should care, but they still listened to what others said," he said.

“按常理说，如果你知道人们的所作所为，你就应该加小心，但（实际上）他们依然听了别人的话，”他说。


"They even reacted on it if they knew better."

“如果他们了解的情况更好的话，他们甚至会对此产生影响。”


Researchers have long used similar games to study how people cooperate and the impact of gossip in groups. Scientists define gossip as social information spread about a person who is not present, Sommerfeld said.

调查者长期以来一直在利用类似的游戏分组研究人们如何合作，以及流言蜚语的影响。科学家将流言蜚语定义成“散布给一个不在场者的社会信息”，萨莫菲尔德说。



In evolutionary terms, gossip can be an important tool for people to acquire information about others' reputations or navigate through social networks at work and in their everyday lives, the study said.

研究表明，用进化论的术语讲，流言蜚语可以是人们在日常生活中通过社交网络获取他人信誉或进行社交活动的一种十分重要的工具。


One example could be using gossip to learn that a potential mate had cheated on others, something which could make that person an undesirable match, Sommerfeld said.

直译：
其中一例就可以是，利用流言蜚语来得知一位潜在的伙伴已经欺骗过他人，这种做法就可以使那个人成为一个不理想的伙伴，萨莫菲尔德说。


意译：
其中一例就可以是，利用流言蜚语来得知一位有可能成为伙伴的人已经欺骗过他人，这种做法就可以证明那个人并不是一个理想的伙伴，萨莫菲尔德说。


译后语：

这是一篇调查报告，科研味道比较浓，译完后觉得不太精彩。有的地方显得空洞，甚至有不知所云之感。但既然已经译出来，还是发出来吧。不过我已经尽可能多地、尽可能详细地加以注释。翻译就是这样，有时开始觉得不错，但后来越译越觉得不值得花时间译，但有时因为时间与精力都已花了很多，故而有骑虎难下之感。如果文章短小，则弃不惜，而如果篇幅很长，则很难办。这种情况，我经常遇到，恐怕其他译者也不会没有遇到过。