篇对别人的印象是怎样形成的

第八篇How We Form First Impression

对别人的第一印象是怎样形成的？

1We all have first impression of someone we just met. But why? Why do we form 对刚刚遇到的人我们都会留下第一印象。为什么？为什么我们会对一无anopinion about someone without really knowing anything about him or her - aside

所知的人形成自己的印象——除去perhaps from afew remarks or readily observable traits.

一些描述或显而易见的特征。

2The answer is related to how your brain allows you to be aware of the world. Your 这与你的大脑如何感知世界是息息相关的。

brain isso sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in how a

大脑对于面部特征十分敏感，即使是每个人在眼睛、

person's eyes, ears,nose, or mouth are placed in relation to each other make you see 耳朵、鼻子或嘴巴的细小差异也会使大脑察觉到其不同之处。

him or her as different'. In fact,your brain continuously processes incoming sensory

实际上，大脑一直在不断的对接收到的感官信息进行处理-- information - the sights and sounds of yourworld. These incoming "signals" are 包括影像和声音。大脑将这些“信号”

compared against2 a host of "memories" stored in the brainareas called the cortex

与储存在脑皮层系统中的大量“记忆”相比较

system to determine what these new signals "mean".

以确定这些新收到信号的“意思”。

2If you see someone you know and like at school3, your brain says "familiar and 如果你在学校看到某个你认识且喜欢的人，你的大脑会做出“熟悉安全”的判断。safe". Ifyou see someone new, it says, "new - potentially threatening". Then your brain 如果你看见一个陌生的人，你的大脑会告诉你“陌生，有潜在的威胁”紧接着你的大脑starts to matchfeatures of this stranger with other "known" memories. The height,

会开始将这个陌生人的特征与“已知”的记忆进行比较。包括身高，weight, dress, ethnicity,gestures, and tone of voice are all matched up. The more

体重，穿着，种族，手势，以及音调等等。

unfamiliar the characteristics, the moreyour brain may say, "This is new. I don't like this 特征越不相符，大脑越会告诫你“这是陌生人，我不喜欢这个人”person". Or else, "I'm intrigued". Or yourbrain may perceive a new face but familiar 或者“我很好奇”。大脑也可能观察到一张新面孔，但却有熟悉clothes, ethnicity, gestures - like your other friends;so your brain says: "I like this

的穿着，种族特征，手势----像你的朋友，你的大脑会告诉你“我喜欢这个人”person. " But these preliminary "impressions" can be dead wrong4.

但是这些第一“印象”却可能完全是错误的。

3When we stereotype people, we use a less mature form of thinking (not unlike 当我们区分人时，我们使用一种欠成熟的思考方式（与小孩子theimmature thinking of a very young child) that makes simplistic and categorical

不成熟的想法一样）去对别人做出简单并且绝对化的判断。

impressions ofothers. Rather than learn about the depth and breadth of people - their

而不是对人的深度和广度—--他们的

history, interest, values,strengths, and true character - we categorize them as jocks,

历史，兴趣，价值，优势，或正真的性格有所了解，我们将他们区分为骗子，反常的geeks, or freaks.

人或怪人

4However, if we resist initial stereotypical impressions, we have a chance to be aware 然而，如果我们对模式化的第一印象加以抑制，我们就会有机会对一个人ofwhat a person is truly like. If we spend time with a person, hear about his or her life, 有正真的了解。如果我们花一些时间与一个人在一起，倾听关于他的或她的生活，hopes,dreams, and become aware of the person's character, we use'a different, more 希望，梦想，了解了这个人的性格，我们才会用不同的，更mature style ofthinking - and the most complex areas of our cortex, which allow us to be 成熟的方式去思考--------即用我们脑皮层中最复杂的区域进行思考，而这会使我们更富人情味

humane.

注释：

1. Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in how aperson's eyes, ears, nose, or mouth are placed in relation to each other make you see him or heras different.从even开始到as different是个结果状语从句，相当于that even very minor…，而that是与主句中的so呼应的。

2．against:和……对比

3．If you see someone you know and like at school，…如果你在学校看到某个你认识而且喜欢的人……like在这里是动词。

4．dead wrong:相当于completely wrongo dead wrong是口语表达用语。

练习:

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