英语四级阅读理解翻译

2006年6月

一、

Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth.

通讯技术在传递真相的时候并不是简单地和真相本身一致。

The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails.

从第一项对使用不同通讯媒介时的诚实程度的比较重可以看出，人们在使用电话时的说谎几率是使用电子邮件时的两倍。

The fact that emails are automatically recorded-and can come back to haunt (困扰) you-appears to be the key to the finding.

因为电子邮件内容会被自动记录下来----并可能对你造成困扰----这就是这项研究的关键所在。

Jeff Hancock of Cor'nell University in Ithaca ['iθəkə] , New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week.

Jeff Hancock在位于纽约州伊萨卡的康奈尔大学执教，他曾要求30个学生记录一周中每天的通讯情况。

In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told.

参与其中的人需要记录超过10分钟的对话或者电子邮件通讯的数量，并且要坦诚自己说了多少谎话。

Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 percent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 percent of phone calls.

Hancock据此推算出使用各种通讯媒介在每次交流过程中说谎的次数。他得出结论：谎言在电子邮件通讯中占了14%，在当面沟通中占了27%，而在电话交流中占了37%

His results, to be presented at the conference on human computer interaction in Vienna[viˈenə], Austria['ɔ:striə], in April, have surprised psychologists.

这项研究结果于4月份再奥地利维也纳的“人与电脑互动国际会议”上被宣读，并且令心理学家们感到惊讶。

Some expected e-mailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment (非直接接触) of e-mailing would make it easier to lie.

有人认为电子邮件是最主要的谎言媒介，因为欺骗会让人不适，而电子邮件非直接接触的特性使其更容易成为谎言发生的渠道。

Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication.

还有人认为在当面交流的过程中更容易说谎，因为当面交流史最常见的沟通方式。（因为人们更擅长当面交流，所以撒谎技术更娴熟）。

But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether occurs in real time.

但是Hancock认为同样重要的是对话过程是否会被记录下来并能够被重新阅读，以及对话是否是即时发生的。

People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone.

当人们觉得时候要对交流过程负责时，就会对说谎存有恐惧感。这就是为什么电子邮件中的谎言要少于电话中的。

People are also more likely to lie in real time-in an instant message to phone call,

say-than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock.

Hancock说，与有时间思考如何回应的情况相比，人们也更倾向于在即时交流过程中说谎---例如在即时信息或者电话中。

He found many lies are spontaneous (脱口而出的) responses to an unexpected demand, such as: "Do you like my dress?"

他发现很多谎言都是对一些偶然问题脱口而出的回应，例如："你觉得我的裙子怎么样？"

Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate.

Hancock希望他的研究结果能帮助公司找出员工之间沟通的最佳途径。

For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth.

But, given his result, work assessment, where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email.

但是根据该项研究结果，在做以诚实为重的工作时，最好还是发电子邮件。