为什么城市让我们变得无礼

This is a download from BBC Learning English. To find out more, visit our website. 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. com. 本文来自BBC Learning English。如需获得更多内容请访问我们的网站。BBC Learning English. com 英语六分钟节目。 Catherine: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Catherine… 大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟，我是凯瑟琳。 Neil: And I'm Neil. Do you know, Catherine, someone actually talked to me on the underground this morning! 我是尼尔。你知道吗凯瑟琳，今早在地铁上，居然有人跟我聊天了！ Catherine: No, really? 不会吧，真的吗？ Neil: Yeah. 真的。 Catherine: Wow! I should perhaps point out that talking to someone you don't know on the Tube is quite unusual behaviour in London! So, Neil, what did they say? 天啊！或许我应该说一下，在伦敦，如果你和不认识的人在地铁上聊天，那太异常了。尼尔，他们跟你说了什么？ Neil: Well, they said what a lovely day it was, great to see the sun shining in London – something along those lines. But it was actually nice to chat instead of sitting there with a frown on my face, fiddling with my phone. 他们说今天天气不错，今天的伦敦阳光明媚，真让人高兴等类似的话。与其坐在那，愁容满面地玩着手机，还不如这样开心地聊聊天呢。 Catherine: Which is what you probably always do to pass the time on public transport, Neil. 你经常在公共交通上这样打发时间吧，尼尔。 Neil: Yes, it is - me and thousands of others. But it got me thinking… if it makes me feel better to talk to people on the way to work, why don't I – and other commuters in the city – do it more often? 是的，包括我在内，很多人都这样认为。不过，这让我想到：如果在上班的路上，和别人聊天会让我感觉更好的话，为什么我们这些通勤者却没有经常这样做呢？ bbc6fz206.jpg Catherine: Well, that's a good question, Neil, and maybe we'll find some answers in the show, because today we're talking about why cities make us so rude. And I have a question for you: when we have a positive interaction with somebody, our body releases a chemical. But what's the name of this chemical? Is it…a) melatonin? b) oxytocin? Or c) thyroxin? 这个问题问得好。也许你能在今天的节目中找到答案，因为今天我们要谈论的就是，为什么城市让我们变得如此无礼。我有一个问题要问你：我们在与别人积极互动时，我们的身体会释放一种化学物质。这种化学物质叫什么？a) 褪黑素？b) 催产素？还是c) 甲状腺素？ Neil: I don't know, but I'm going to say a) melatonin. 我不知道，但我想选a) 褪黑素。 Catherine: Well, we'll see if you were right or not later on in the show. But did you know, Neil, that an organisation called Talk to me London has created these Tubechat badges that you can wear to show that you're happy to talk to a stranger. Maybe you should get one! 好的，稍后我们再看你的回答是否正确。你知道吗，一个名叫Talk to me London的组织发明了一些地铁聊天徽章，如果你戴着该徽章就表示你乐意跟陌生人聊天。也许你该戴一个。 Neil: Yeah, maybe I should. But the thing is, people in big cities are often scared to start a conversation with a stranger because, well, you don't know what might happen. 嗯，或许吧。但问题是，大城市的人们经常害怕和陌生人交谈，因为你不知道会发生什么。 Catherine: That's true. Now, let's listen to Dr Elle Boag, a social psychologist at Birmingham City University here in the UK. She agrees that people can view cities as threatening places. 没错。我们来听听伯明翰城市大学的社会心理学家艾丽·博格博士的看法。她赞同人们将城市视为有威胁性的地方。 When we step off the metro or onto a crowded city street our brain becomes hyper vigilant to the perception of threats around us – we're just one small person in a very large set of other people, in a large body of people. This then leads to behaviours that are insular and defensive. We're persistently looking for potential threats around us, and this then makes us not give eye contact, this will reduce the likelihood that anybody will say hello. It's a protective mechanism by which we can survive our journey to whence we're going, which makes us all sound really really rude to one other. 当我们走下地铁，或走进拥挤的城市街道时，我们的大脑就会对身边的威胁保持警惕——在这一大群人中，我们很渺小。这就导致我们要保护自己，从而把自己孤立起来。我们不断寻找身边潜在的威胁，从而不会与外界有眼神交流，那么别人与我们打招呼的可能性也就较少了。无论走到哪里，这种自我保护机制都能让我们在旅途中存活，这也让我们看起来很粗鲁。 Catherine: Dr Elle Boag there. And hyper vigilance means being extremely watchful of what's going on around you. People can behave unpredictably, and like Dr Boag says, you're just one person in a crowd of others and you just don't know who might be dangerous. 以上是艾丽·博格博士的观点。异常警惕是说我们对周围的事物非常警惕。人们的行为不可预见，就像艾丽·博格博士所说的，你只是人群中的一员，你不知道谁是危险的。 Neil: Yeah, I see what you mean. And the fact we are constantly on the lookout for potential threats, well, it affects our behaviour. 恩，我明白你的意思。事实上我们总是密切关注着周围潜在的威胁，从而我们的行为也受到了影响。 Catherine: That's right. And as a protective mechanism we avoid speaking to or making eye contact with other people. So we become insular – which means inward looking. 没错。我们避免和他人聊天，也不和他人进行眼神交流，这就是我们的保护机制。所以我们把自己孤立起来——只关注自己。 Neil: It sounds awful! But actually, I know people who moved to London in order to be anonymous – to blend in with the crowd– and not have to talk to people! 这样很不好！但我知道有些人来伦敦的目的就是想要无声无名地融入到人群中，无须跟他人交谈。 Catherine: Well, if you grow up in a small town, it can feel claustrophobic – which means not having enough space to feel comfortable. You know, you can't do anything without the whole community knowing about it. You may have nosey neighbours. 如果你在小城镇长大，会患幽闭恐惧症——没有足够舒适的空间。你知道的，不管你做了什么，整个社区都会知道的。你的邻居也许爱多管闲事。 Neil: And a nosey person shows too much interest in other people's business. 爱多管闲事是说对别人的事太过感兴趣。 Catherine: Now, it's good to point out that people living in cities have stuff to do. And it's not necessarily rudeness that stops people from chatting– it's about efficiency – getting to work on time, getting things done. Let's hear from Thomas Farley, writer and broadcaster, and expert on manners, for more on this. 居住在城市里的人们都有事可做，这一点很好。而且不与别人交流未必就是粗鲁行为。这事关效率——按时做完工作。我们来听听作家、广播员兼礼仪专家托马斯·法利的观点。 The cost of living in cities is higher, the success quotient is higher, it's a place where you hustle to survive, and if you are not hustling, and I mean that literally and figuratively, you are not able to survive and thrive. So we often don't have much time for chitchat. I think we just all need to be mindful that it's not a deliberate disregard or somebody trying to be rude on purpose – it's simply that people have a destination to be. 城市生活的成本较高，成功系数也较高。在城市里，你要有拼劲才能存活，如果你不拼的话，你将无法在这里生存和发展。所以我们根本没有时间闲聊。我们都要注意，我们并不是故意无视他人，也不是有意对他人无礼。我们只不过都有自己的目标罢了。 Neil: So what does Thomas Farley mean by success quotient, Catherine? 托马斯·法利说的成功系数是什么？ Catherine: Success quotient means your ability to be successful in work, relative to the average person, and Thomas Farley is saying that in cities people have higher success quotients. 成功系数是说你在工作上取得成功的能力，托马斯·法利说，生活在城市里的人们有着更高的成功系数。 Neil: Cities are also competitive places so people have to hustle to survive. Do we hustle, Catherine? 城市里也是充满了竞争，要想生存下来，就要有拼劲。我们拼吗，凯瑟琳？ Catherine: I don't think we hustle, Neil. Hustle means to work aggressively to make money. 我觉得我们不拼。Hustle是指为了赚钱而使劲工作。 Neil: We do have plenty of time for chitchat, though. And chitchat, by the way, means unimportant conversation. That's what we do! 但我们有很多闲聊的时间。闲聊是指不重要的对话。我们现在就在闲聊！ Catherine: What we do isn't chitchat, Neil! It's highly informative and instructional! Now, I think it must be time to hear the answer to today's quiz. Do you remember, I asked: when we have a positive interaction with someone, our body releases a chemical. What's the name of this chemical? Is it…a) melatonin? b) oxytocin? Or c) thyroxin? 我们并没有闲聊，尼尔！我们的谈话很有教育意义和指导意义！现在是时候揭晓今天问题的答案了。你还记得吗，我的问题是，当我们与他人积极互动时，我们的身体会释放一种化学物质。这种化学物质叫什么？a) 褪黑素？ b) 催产素？ 还是 c) 甲状腺素？ Neil: And it's a) melatonin – I'm absolutely sure. 我很确定是a) 褪黑素。 Catherine: Sorry! The correct answer is b) oxytocin – a hormone commonly known as the love drug. It reduces fear, increases trust between people, and evokes feelings of contentment. 不好意思！正确答案是 b) 催产素，一种荷尔蒙，通常被称作爱情灵药。它能减少恐惧，增加人们之间的信任，激发人们的满足感。 Neil: Now, here are the words we learned today: 我们来看看今天学到的单词。 hyper vigilance 异常警惕 insular 孤立的 claustrophobic 幽闭恐惧症的 nosey 好管闲事的 quotient 系数 hustle 奔忙 chitchat 闲聊 Catherine: That's the end of today's 6 Minute English. Don't forget to join us again soon! 今天的六分钟英语就到这里了。我们下期再会！ Both: Bye! 再见。 6 Minute English from the BBC. BBC英语六分钟。