考研阅读计划19——1990 Translation《人聪明与否
写在前面
Hi，我是新海，一个正在备战的考研人。
最近需要进行大量的考研专项阅读，于是萌生了一个翻译计划，准备翻译1986——2018年所有阅读，通过大量的阅读训练来熟悉考研单词，短语以及语法，更深刻理解考研阅读。
下面是我的第19篇，所有中文释义，均是由本人整理翻译，当然也有不够完善的地方，欢迎大家评论补充。
People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.
长久以来，人们一直在思考他们的个性和行为是如何形成的。很难解释为什么一个人是聪明的，另一个人是不聪明的，或者为什么一个人是合作的，另一个人是竞争的。
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature vs. nurture.”
当然，社会科学家对这些类型的问题非常感兴趣。他们想解释为什么我们具有某些特征并表现出某些行为。目前还没有明确的答案，但是关于这一问题的两个不同的学派已经发展起来。正如人们所期望的，这两种方法彼此非常不同。争论常常被方便地称为“自然与教养”。
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. (63) That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory.
那些支持冲突的“自然”方面的人认为，我们的性格和行为模式很大程度上是由生物因素决定的。（63）我们的环境与我们的能力、特征和行为几乎没有关系，如果这些有什么关系的话，这就是这个理论的核心。
Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is pre-determined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts.
极端地说，这个理论认为我们的行为在很大程度上是预先决定的，以至于我们几乎完全被本能所支配。
Those who support the “nurture” theory, that is, they advocate education, are often called behaviorists. They claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. (64) The behaviorists maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.
那些支持“教养”理论的人，也就是他们提倡教育的人，通常被称为行为主义者。他们声称我们的环境比我们的生物本能更重要，决定我们将如何行动。行为学家B. F. Skinner认为人类的行为几乎完全被周围的环境所塑造。（64）行为主义者认为，像机器一样，人类对环境刺激的反应是其行为的基础。
Let us examine the different explanations about one human characteristic, intelligence, offered by the two theories. Supporters of the “nature” theory insist that we are born with a certain capacity for learning that is biologically determined. Needless to say: They don’t believe that factors in the environment have much influence on what is basically a predetermined characteristic. On the other hand, behaviorists argue that our intelligence levels are the product of our experiences. Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development.
让我们来考察一下这两种理论对人类特性、智力的不同解释。“自然”理论的支持者坚持认为，我们生来就有某种与生物学相关的学习能力。毋庸置疑：他们不相信环境中的因素会对基本预定的特性产生很大影响。另一方面，行为主义者认为我们的智力水平是我们经验的产物。行为主义者认为，在有许多刺激的环境中长大的孩子将经历更大的智力发展。
The social and political implications of these two theories are profound. n the United States, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are biologically inferior to whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often deprived of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy.
这两个理论的社会和政治含义是深远的。在美国，黑人在标准化智力测验中的成绩往往低于白人。这导致一些“自然”支持者认为黑人在生物学上不如白人。相比之下，行为主义者认为分数的差异是由于黑人常常被剥夺了白人享有的许多教育和其他环境优势。
Most people think neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior.
大多数人认为这些理论都不能完全解释人类行为。
- for a long time长久；且；久；日长岁久
- easy to便于
- of course当然，自然; 敢情; 自是; 理当
- interested in对…感兴趣
- types of各种类型的; 型态
- There are有
- As one might expect正如人们所预料的
- very different差得多
- each other互相，彼此
- referred to as被称为…
写在最后
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作者：新海
11月18日晚
