Unit-4-Psychology-in-Our-Daily-Life新编大学英语第二版第二册课文翻译

Unit 4 Psychology in Our Daily Life

Is There a Doctor in the Body?

1 When you go to the doctor, you like to come away with a prescription. It makes you feel better to know you will get some medicine. But the doctor knows that medicine is not always needed. Sometimes all a sick person needs is some reassurance that all will be well. In such cases the doctor may prescribe a placebo.

2 A placebo is a sugar pill, a harmless shot, or an empty capsule. Even though they have no medicine in them, these things seem to make people well. The patient thinks it is medicine and begins to get better. How does this happen?

3 The study of the placebo opens up new knowledge about the way the human body can heal itself. It is as if there was a doctor in each of us. The "doctor" will heal the body for us if we let it.

4 But it is not yet known just how the placebo works to heal the body. Some people say it works because the human mind fools itself. These people say that if the mind is fooled into thinking it got medicine, then it will act as if it did, and the body will feel better.

5 Other people say this is not so. They say that the placebo makes the wish to get better become reality. The placebo will not work if the patient knows it is a placebo. This shows that the body is not fooled by it. It seems that if patients think they have been given medicine, they will have hope. They feel that they are getting some help. This gives them a stronger will to get better, and that is what helps to heal them.

6 Placebos do not always work. The success of this treatment seems to rest a lot with the relationship between the patient and the doctor. If the patient has a lot of trust in the doctor and if the doctor really wants to help the patient, then the placebo is more likely to work. So in a way, the doctor is the most powerful placebo of all.

7 An example of the doctor's role in making the placebo work can be seen in this study. Some patients with bleeding ulcers were put in two groups. The first group were told by a doctor that they had been given a new drug which, it was hoped, would give them some relief. The second group were told by a nurse that they had been given a new

drug but that not much was known about how it would work. As a result, 70 percent of the people in the first group got much better. Only 25 percent of the people in the second group got better. And both groups had in fact been given the same thing a placebo.

8 The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases. It helps such things as seasickness, coughs, colds, and even pain after an operation. And there was an experiment done to see if a placebo could help old people stay healthy and live longer.

9 The test was done in Romania with 150 people over the age of 60. They were put in three groups with 50 people in each group. The first group were given nothing at all. The second group were given a placebo. The third group were given a real drug and told that it would help with the problems of old age. (In fact, it was not a drug for old age at all.) The three groups were studied for many years. The first group showed no changes from the way old people in that village had always been. The second group (with the placebo) had much better health and a lower death rate. The third group (with the real drug) showed much the same results as the group that took the placebo.

10 A placebo can also have bad effects. If patients expect a bad reaction to medicine, then they will also show a bad reaction to the placebo. This would seem to show that a lot of how you react to medicine is in your mind rather than in your body. Some doctors still think that if the placebo can have bad effects it should never be used. They think there is still not enough known about it.

11 And yet, the use of the placebo has been well known for hundreds of years in other countries. Tribal doctors in some African countries have known for a long time that patients will get better if they think they are going to. Many of the "treatments" they use do not seem able to make a sick person better, and yet such treatments work.

12 The strange power of the placebo does seem to suggest that the human mind is stronger than we think it is. There are people who say you can heal your body by using your mind. And the interesting thing is that even people who swear this is not possible have been healed by a placebo.

人体内有医生吗？

1 当你去看病时，你总希望走时能拿到一张药方。知道你能得到一些药，你会感觉好些。但是医生清楚并不是所有情况都需要用药。有时病人所需要的只是一个一切都会好的保证。

在这种情况下，医生可能就会开安慰剂。

2 安慰剂可以是糖丸，无害的针剂，或者空的胶囊。尽管安慰剂中没有任何药的成分，但似乎也能使人康复。病人以为这就是药，然后开始好转。这究竟是怎么回事呢？

3 安慰剂的研究揭示了一个有关人体怎样自愈的新知识领域。就好像我们每个人体内都有一个医生一样。这位“医生”能治好我们的病，如果我们让他治的话。

4 但是，我们仍然不清楚安慰剂究竟是如何治病的。有些人说，它能起作用是因为人脑会欺骗自己。这些人说如果能使人脑上当, 误以为得到了药物治疗，那么人脑就会像真的得到了药物一样行事，于是病体就会好转。

5 另一些人持不同意见。他们认为病人希望身体好转，而安慰剂能促使这种愿望成真。如果病人知道是安慰剂的话，那它就没有效果了。这表明人体并没有上当受骗。情况似乎是这样：如果病人以为他们得到了药物治疗，他们就会充满希望。他们感到在得到治疗。这就使得他们更加强烈地希望身体好转，而正是这种希望有助于他们康复。

6 安慰剂并不总是有效。这种疗法是否成功在很大程度上似乎取决于病人与医生之间的关系。如果病人非常信任医生，而医生又真心想帮助病人的话，安慰剂就更有可能起作用。所以从某种意义上说，医生是最有效的安慰剂。

7 有一项研究可以作为例子来说明医生在促使安慰剂发挥效用的过程中所起的作用。一些溃疡出血的病人被分为两组。第一组病人由一位医生告诉他们用了一种新药，并且相信这种药能够缓解他们的疼痛感。第二组病人由一位护士告诉他们用了一种新药，但是药效如何却不太了解。结果，第一组中百分之七十的病人病情明显好转。第二组中只有百分之二十五的病人情况有了好转。实际上，两个组都用了同样的安慰剂。

8 人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。它对于晕船、咳嗽、感冒、甚至术后疼痛这样的病症都有帮助。曾经有过一项实验来检验安慰剂是否能帮助老人健康长寿。

9 这项实验是在罗马尼亚的150名60岁以上的老人中做的。他们被分成三组，每组50人。第一组的老人什么也没给。第二组用了安慰剂。第三组用了真药，并被告知这种药对于因年老而出现的疾病有帮助（实际上它根本不是针对老年人的药）。对三个组的老人的研究持续了很多年。第一组与那个村庄里老年人一贯的状况没有什么区别。第二组（用了安慰剂的）身体要健康得多，死亡率也降低了。第三组（用了真药的）与用安慰剂的那组人结果非常一致。

10 安慰剂也会有不良后果。如果病人认为药物会有不良反应，那么他们用了安慰剂之后也会显示不良反应。这似乎表明药物反应在很大程度上是心理上的而不是生理上的。一些医生仍然认为如果安慰剂有可能存在不良后果，那就不该使用。他们觉得对于安慰剂的了解还不够。

11 尽管如此，人们知道在别的一些国家安慰剂的使用已有好几百年了。在一些非洲国家,部

落的医生早已知道,如果病人认为自己会好起来,他们的健康就会好转。他们采用的很多“疗法”看似不可能治好病人，但居然行之有效。

12 安慰剂的奇效似乎确实表明人的精神力量比我们所想象的要更强一些。有些人认为你可以用精神来治愈自己的疾病。有趣的是甚至那些信誓旦旦认为这是不可能的人，也因为用了安慰剂而完全康复了。

The Psychology of Money

1 Are you a compulsive spender, or do you hold on to your money as long as possible? Are you a bargain hunter? Would you rather use charge accounts than pay cash? Your answers to these questions will reflect your personality. According to psychologists, our individual money habits not only show our beliefs and values, but can also stem from past problems.

2 Experts in psychology believe that for many people, money is an important symbol of strength and influence. Husbands who complain about their wives' spending habits may be afraid that they are losing power in their marriage. Wives, on the other hand, may waste huge amounts of money because they are angry at their husbands. In addition, many people consider money a symbol of love. They spend it on their family and friends to express love, or they buy themselves expensive presents because they need love.

3 People can be addicted to different things for example, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. People who have such an addiction are compulsive; that is, they have a very powerful psychological need that they feel they must satisfy. According to psychologists, many people are compulsive spenders; they feel that they must spend money. This compulsion, like most others, is irrational impossible to explain reasonably. For compulsive spenders who buy on credit, charge accounts are even more exciting than money. In other words, compulsive spenders feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasure in spending enormous amounts is actually greater than the pleasure that they get from the things they buy.

4 There is even a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices, and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things that they don't need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets, but they are really playing an exciting game:

when they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for the things that they do and the real reason.

5 It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also business people. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business: they consider people's needs for love, power, or influence, their basic values, their beliefs and opinions, and so on in their advertising and sales methods.

6 Psychologists often use a method called "behavior therapy" to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money: they give them "assignments". If a person buys something in every store that he enters, for instance, a therapist might teach him self-discipline in this way: on the first day of his therapy, he must go into a store, stay five minutes, and then leave. On the second day, he should stay for ten minutes and try something on. On the third day, he stays for fifteen minutes, asks the salesclerk a question, but does not buy anything. Soon he will learn that nothing bad will happen to him if he doesn't buy anything, and he can solve the problem of his compulsive buying.

花钱的心理

1 你是花钱成瘾，还是尽可能守着钱不花？你专爱买便宜货吗？你是愿意使用信用（赊欠）账户还是支付现金？你对这些问题的回答能反映出你的个性。根据心理学家的观点，我们每个人的花钱习惯，不仅体现我们的信仰、价值观，而且还跟过去存在的问题有关。

2 心理学家相信对许多人来说，钱是力量和支配力的重要象征。丈夫抱怨妻子的花钱习惯，可能就是因为害怕失去自己在婚姻中的权威。反过来，妻子可能会因为生丈夫的气而大笔大笔地乱花钱。此外，许多人把钱看成是爱的象征。他们把钱花在家人、朋友身上以表达对他们的爱，或者为自己购买昂贵的礼物，因为自己也需要爱。

3 人们可能会痴迷于不同的事物――例如，烈酒、毒品，某些食物，甚至电视节目。有这些癖好的人就是上了瘾，也就是说，他们有着强烈的心理需求，他们认为这种需求必须得到满足。按照心理学家的说法，许多人购物成癖，他们觉得自己必须把钱花出去。跟其他癖好相似，这种欲望是非理性的——不可能做出合理的解释。对那些赊账购物成癖的人而言，信用账户比现金更为刺激。换句话说，购物成癖的人认为，借助赊账，他们可以无所不为。他们从大笔花钱时体验到的乐趣，实在是比从所购物品中获得的乐趣大得多。

4 甚至还有四处搜寻便宜货的特殊心理。当然，要省钱多数人会去光顾大甩卖、廉价物和折扣商品。然而，购买便宜货成癖的人经常仅仅因为价廉而买一些自己不需要的东西。他

们愿意相信这是在给自己省钱，但事实上他们是在玩一场很刺激的游戏：当他们能买到比别人便宜的东西时，他们觉得自己是赢家。专家断言，大多数人对于自己的行为都有两种解释：一个是他们行事的正当理由，另一个是真正原因。

5 当然，不只是科学家了解消费习惯方面的心理因素，商人也了解。商店、公司和广告商都利用心理因素来增加营业额：他们在广告宣传和决定产品的推销方法时会考虑，人们对于爱、权力或支配力的需求，人们的基本价值观、信仰和观点。

6 心理学家常常用一种被称为“行为疗法”的手段来帮助个人解决其性格上的问题。用这种方法，他们能帮助那些感到自己在花钱方面存在问题的人，他们会给这些人“布置任务”。例如，如果一个人每到一个商店都要买点什么，治疗专家就会教他这样来约束自己：在治疗的第一天，他必须去一家商店，呆五分钟再离开。第二天，他要呆上十分钟，并试试某种商品。第三天，他要呆上十五分钟，向售货员问个问题，但什么都不买。不久，他就会发现什么都不买，对自己不会有什么不好的事情发生。这样，他就能改掉购物成癖的毛病了。

How to Jump Queue Fury

1 If you find yourself waiting in a long queue at an airport or bus terminus this holiday, will you try to analyse what it is about queuing that makes you angry? Or will you just get angry with the nearest official?

2 Professor Richard Larson, an electrical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hates queuing but rather than tear his hair out, he decided to study the subject. His first finding, which backs up earlier work at the US National Science Foundation, was that the degree of annoyance was not directly related to the time. He cites an experiment at Houston airport where passengers had to walk for one minute from the plane to the baggage reclaim and then wait a further seven minutes to collect their luggage. Complaints were frequent, especially from those who had spent seven minutes watching passengers with just hand baggage get out immediately.

3 The airport authorities decided to lengthen the walk from the aircraft, so that instead of a one-minute fast walk, the passengers spent six minutes walking. When they finally arrived at the baggage reclaim, the delay was then only two minutes. The extra walk extended the delay by five minutes for those carrying only hand baggage, but passenger complaints dropped almost to zero.

4 The reason? Larson suggests that it all has to do with what he calls "social justice". If people see others taking a short cut, they will find the wait unbearable. So in the case of the airport, it was preferable to delay everyone.

5 Another aspect Larson studied was the observation that people get more fed up if they are not told what is going on. Passengers told that there will be a half-hour delay are less unhappy than those left waiting even twenty minutes without an explanation.

6 But even knowing how long we have to wait isn't the whole answer. We must also believe that everything is being done to minimize our delay. Larson cites the example of two neighbouring American banks. One was highly computerised and served a customer, on average, every 30 seconds. The other bank was less automated and took twice as long. But because the tellers at the second bank looked extremely busy, customers believed the service was faster and many transferred their accounts to the slower bank. Ultimately, the latter had to introduce time-wasting ways of appearing more dynamic.

如何消除排队的怒火

1 如果这个假期你在机场或车站排长队，你是去分析一下到底是排队的什么方面使你恼火呢？还是只会冲着身边的管理人员发脾气？

2 理查德·拉森教授是麻省理工学院的电气工程师，他也讨厌排队。但是他并未因此而怒发冲冠，相反地他决定要研究这个课题。他的第一个研究结果表明，人们恼怒的程度与等待时间的长短并不直接相关，这也验证了美国国家科学基金会的早期研究。他引用休斯顿机场的实验为例。在休斯顿机场，乘客们下飞机之后走到行李提取处得用一分钟，然后再等七分钟才能领到行李。对此旅客怨声不断，尤其是那些等候领取行李的乘客，他们眼睁睁地看着那些只带着手提行李的旅客可以马上走出机场，而自己却要等上七分钟。

3 机场当局决定加长乘客下飞机后的步行距离，这样，走到行李提取处需要六分钟，而不再是快速行走一分钟就能到达。等他们最终来到行李提取处，只需要等待两分钟。那些只带着手提行李的乘客为此却多耽误了五分钟，可是旅客们的抱怨几乎下降为零。

4 原因是什么？拉森指出，这一切都与他称之为“社会公正”的现象有关。人们看到别人抄近路，就会觉得自己的等待难以忍受。因此，对于机场来说，让每个人都耽误一下的做法是可取的。

5 拉森研究的另一个侧面是，他观察到：如果不告知人们发生了什么，他们就会变得更加不满。那些知道会耽搁半小时的乘客会比那些莫名其妙等候二十分钟的乘客情绪要好一些。

6 但是即使知道了我们得等多长时间也不能解决所有问题。我们还必须相信人们正在采取一切措施来减少耽误的时间。拉森引用了美国两家相邻的银行为例。一家高度计算机化，

为每个顾客服务的时间平均为30秒。另一家自动化程度比较低，为顾客服务需要两倍的时间。但是因为第二家银行的出纳员看起来非常忙碌，顾客们以为它的服务更快，而且许多人把账户转到了这家效率低的银行。最终，第一家银行不得不引进费时但看起来却更具活力的工作方法。