考研英語時文賞讀（89）：離婚概率也能通過公式來精確計算？

　　摘要：考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經(jīng)常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

　　The Math Behind Successful Relationships

　　成功關系背后蘊含的數(shù)學原理

　　Nearly 30 years ago, a mathematician and a psychologist teamed up to explore one of life’s enduring mysteries: What makes some marriages happy and some miserable?

　　大約30年前，一位數(shù)學家和一位心理學家共同開始探討一個永恒的人生謎題：為何有的婚姻幸福，而有的婚姻不幸福？

　　The psychologist, John Gottman, wanted to craft a tool to help him better counsel troubled couples. The mathematician, James Murray, specialized in modeling biological processes. It was a match made in heaven.

　　心理學家約翰·戈特曼想要設計一種工具，以便更好地為那些陷入婚姻危機的夫妻提供咨詢。數(shù)學家詹姆斯·穆雷則專注于生物學過程的建模。兩人簡直就是天造地設的一對拍檔。

　　The pair decided to create a mathematical model to quantify how couples interact and influence each other during an argument. The results helped Dr Gottman visualize the dynamics of a marriage and measure the impact of therapy.

　　他們決定開發(fā)一套數(shù)學模型來量化夫妻間在爭論時的互動以及對彼此的影響。戈特曼根據(jù)研究結果將婚姻狀態(tài)以可視化形式呈現(xiàn)出來，并以此衡量婚姻咨詢治療的效果。

　　The approach also proved to be shockingly accurate at predicting which couples would divorce. “We got actual numbers we could compute,” Dr Gottman said. “We could see how the partners influence each other.”

　　結果還表明，這一算法可以高度準確地預測哪些夫婦將會離婚。戈特曼說：“我們能得出可供計算的準確數(shù)值，我們可以看到夫妻間是如何相互影響的。”

　　Their subjects initially included 130 couples who had applied for marriage licenses in King County, where, at the time, the professors taught at the University of Washington in Seattle. Some of the couples were newlyweds, others were about to be married, and each pair was videotaped for three 15-minute conversations.

　　他們最初的研究對象是130對在華盛頓金縣申請結婚登記的夫妻。當時，兩人都在華盛頓大學西雅圖分校任教。他們的研究對象一部分是新婚夫婦，另一些則是即將結婚的情侶他們會和每對伴侶進行三次長達15分鐘的交流并全程錄像。

　　In one exchange, the couples were instructed to talk about their day. In another they were told to talk about something positive. And in the third, they were asked to talk about something contentious. The topic didn’t matter—it could be about money, sex, food, in-laws or anything else—as long as they disagreed.

　　在第一次交流中，研究人員讓夫婦二人談論他們一天的經(jīng)歷，第二次要求談論積極的話題，第三次則是談論有爭議性的話題。話題是什么不重要（可以是錢、性、食物、姻親或其他任何話題），只要是雙方意見不一致即可。

　　The contentious exchange proved to be the most predictive. The couple’s interactions were scored by two independent observers who rated every emotion in the exchange.

　　結果證明，具有爭論性的交流（即第三次交流）是最具預測價值的。有兩位獨立觀察員對夫妻的互動過程進行評估，對互動過程中的每一種情緒分別打分。

　　Altogether, 16 different emotions were coded. At one end of the spectrum, contempt, the most corrosive emotion, according to Dr Gottman, was scored -4. At the other end, shared humor, one of the best ways to defuse tension, he said, was scored +4.

　　評分體系一共覆蓋了16種情緒。戈特曼表示，最低分為-4分，代表最具毀滅性的情緒，即輕蔑；最高分為+4分，表現(xiàn)為共有的幽默，是最能緩解矛盾的情緒。

　　“They both have to be laughing together,” Dr Gottman said. “A lot of contempt happens with one person laughing and the other person looking stunned. That’s a minus 4.”

　　戈特曼表示：“只有兩人一起笑出來才能得最高分，而如果只有一個人在笑，另外一個人神情驚愕，便會產(chǎn)生很多輕蔑的情緒，就只能得-4分。”

　　(全文共334個詞，華爾街日報)

　　?重難點詞匯：

　　miserable  adj. 悲慘的；痛苦的；卑鄙的

　　specialize  vi. 專門從事；詳細說明；特化 vt. 使專門化；使適應特殊情況；詳細說明

　　dynamics  n. 動力學，力學

　　instruct  vt. 指導；通知；命令；教授

　　contempt  n. 輕視，蔑視；恥辱

　　corrosive  adj. 腐蝕的；侵蝕性的 n. 腐蝕物

　　defuse  vt. 平息；去掉…的雷管；使除去危險性

　　?幫幫提示：考研英語同源外刊美文賞讀匯總