中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Fitting the stereotype: According to the latest research, American Idol judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul demonstrate typical gender characteristics when it comes to decision making. While Cowell would often see contestants 'in black and white' and stick to his decision, Abdul was prone to indecision. |
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It will come as no surprise to any man who has waited for his wife to choose what to wear for a night out. But scientists have now proved that women are the less decisive sex. While, of course, the tendency is not always a helpful one, the study found that men are more likely to leap to ‘black-or-white’ judgments. Women, on the other hand, tend to be open minded and ‘see more shades of grey’. In the study, more than 100 people were asked whether each of 50 objects fitted partially, fully or not at all into categories. Women were 23 per cent more likely to select the ‘partial’ option. Their ‘indecisive’ responses were to questions likely to stimulate debate, such as ‘Is paint a tool?’ or ‘Is a tomato a fruit?’ Most men were happy to decide, for example, that a tomato is either a fruit or not, while women say it can ‘sort of’ belong in the fruit category. Researcher Dr Zachary Estes, of Warwick University, said: ‘Of course, simply because we have found a significant sex difference in how men and women categorise does not mean that one method is intrinsically better than the other. ‘For instance, male doctors may be more likely to quickly and confidently diagnose a set of symptoms as a disease. ‘Although this brings great advantages in treating diseases early, it obviously has massive disadvantages if the diagnosis is actually wrong. In many cases, a more open approach to categorising or diagnosing would be more effective.’ In a conclusion that may explain why Lord Sugar is so at ease with his role choosing which candidate to fire on his show The Apprentice, Dr Estes added: ‘Men, it would seem, are more suited to occupational environments that require decisive action whereas women are better at jobs where a considered approach is most important.’ Dr Estes said the gender difference is also consistent with women’s use of tentative language. He said: ‘In general, women tend to use more tentative language such as hedges, for example ‘sort of’ and disclaimers like I’m not sure.’ (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
對(duì)于那些曾經(jīng)因?yàn)槠拮右暨x晚上出門穿的衣服而苦苦等待的男人來說，這一研究結(jié)果并不會(huì)讓他們驚訝。 現(xiàn)在科學(xué)家已證實(shí)女人是比較不善于決斷的那一方。 但是，男人的決斷力并非總是有利的，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，男性更可能做出“非黑即白”的絕對(duì)化的判斷。 而女人的思維一般會(huì)更開闊，能“看到更多的灰色地帶”。 在這項(xiàng)涵蓋了100多人的研究中，研究人員讓被調(diào)查者判斷50種物體是“部分”、“完全”還是“完全不”符合既定的類別。 女性選擇“部分符合”選項(xiàng)的可能性要高出23%。 她們對(duì)于一些容易引起爭議的問題會(huì)做出“不確定”的反應(yīng)，例如“顏料是一種工具嗎？”，或“西紅柿是一種水果嗎？”。 在回答西紅柿是不是水果這類問題時(shí)，大部分男性都很樂意給出確定答案，而女性會(huì)說西紅柿“大概”屬于水果類。 華威大學(xué)的研究人員扎克里?埃斯蒂斯博士說：“當(dāng)然，我們不能僅僅因?yàn)樵跉w類這方面發(fā)現(xiàn)兩性的重大差異就認(rèn)為其中一種思維方式就比另一種強(qiáng)。 “例如，男醫(yī)生也許更能夠快速、確定地對(duì)一系列病癥做出診斷。 “盡管這非常有助于及早對(duì)疾病進(jìn)行治療，但是如果診斷錯(cuò)誤的話，顯然也會(huì)造成嚴(yán)重?fù)p害。在許多情況下，對(duì)于歸類或診斷采用更開放的思維方式會(huì)更有效。” 這一結(jié)論也許可以解釋為什么Lord Sugar在他的《學(xué)徒》真人秀中決定哪個(gè)候選人被解雇時(shí)可以如此得心應(yīng)手。埃斯蒂斯博士說：“研究表明，男性會(huì)更適合需要做出決斷性舉動(dòng)的職業(yè)環(huán)境，而女性更善于從事那些需要三思而后行的工作?！?/p> 埃斯蒂斯博士說，這一性別差異和女性喜歡運(yùn)用不確定的語言也是相一致的。 他說：“總體來看，女性一般會(huì)用更多不確定的語言，說一些模棱兩可的話，例如‘大概’和‘我不確定’等免責(zé)性的話。” 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯： 馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: intrinsically: 本質(zhì)上 tentative: not definite or certain because you may want to change it later（不確定的；不肯定的；暫定的） hedge: 模棱兩可的話 disclaimer: a statement in which somebody says that they are not connected with or responsible for something, or that they do not have any knowledge of it（免責(zé)聲明） |
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