CET-6 Listening Passages: The Anchoring Effect and the Brains of London Taxi Drivers

Passage One.

短文一。

Can a completely random number change the way you think?

一個完全隨機的數字，能改變你的想法嗎？

In 1974, the psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman showed that it can.

1974年，心理學家阿莫斯．特沃斯基和丹尼爾．康納曼證明了答案是肯定的。

They spun a wheel of fortune that was secretly set to stop at either ten or sixty-five.

他們轉動一個幸運轉盤，轉盤事先被偷偷設定成只會停在十或六十五。

Then they asked people what percentage of African countries were in the United Nations.

接著，他們問大家：非洲國家中有百分之幾是聯合國會員？

Those who saw ten guessed around twenty-five percent.

看到十的人猜大約百分之二十五。

Those who saw sixty-five guessed around forty-five!

看到六十五的人，卻猜大約百分之四十五！

This is known as the anchoring effect.

這就是所謂的錨定效應。

The first number we hear becomes an anchor, and our guesses stay close to it.

我們聽到的第一個數字會變成錨，之後的猜測都會離它不遠。

Shops know this well, which is why a crossed-out high price makes a sale so tempting.

商家很懂這一點，所以一個被劃掉的高價，會讓特價品看起來格外誘人。

Questions nine to eleven are based on the passage you have just heard.

第9題到第11題根據你剛才聽到的短文。

Question nine. What was special about the wheel used in the experiment?

第9題。實驗中用的轉盤有什麼特別之處？

Question ten. How did people who saw the higher number answer?

第10題。看到較大數字的人是怎麼回答的？

Question eleven. Why does the speaker mention crossed-out prices in shops?

第11題。說話者為什麼提到商店裡被劃掉的價格？

Passage Two.

短文二。

To get a licence, London taxi drivers must pass a famously difficult test called the Knowledge.

倫敦計程車司機要拿到執照，必須通過一項出了名困難的考試，叫做 the Knowledge。

They spend three to four years learning around twenty-five thousand streets.

他們要花三到四年，背下大約兩萬五千條街道。

In 2000, the neuroscientist Eleanor Maguire and her team scanned the brains of these drivers.

2000年，神經科學家艾蓮諾．馬奎爾和她的團隊掃描了這些司機的大腦。

The back of the hippocampus, an area linked to navigation, was larger than in other people!

他們海馬迴的後半部，也就是跟辨認方向有關的區域，比一般人還大！

And the longer someone had driven a taxi, the larger that area tended to be.

而且開計程車的時間越久，這個區域通常就越大。

But perhaps people with a bigger hippocampus simply chose to drive taxis?

不過，會不會只是海馬迴本來就比較大的人，剛好選擇開計程車？

A later study compared taxi drivers with London bus drivers.

後來有一項研究，把計程車司機和倫敦公車司機拿來比較。

Bus drivers follow fixed routes, and they showed no such difference.

公車司機走固定路線，他們身上並沒有出現這種差異。

It seems the brain really does change with the way we use it.

看來，大腦真的會隨著我們使用它的方式而改變。

Questions twelve to fifteen are based on the passage you have just heard.

第12題到第15題根據你剛才聽到的短文。

Question twelve. What must London taxi drivers do to get a licence?

第12題。倫敦計程車司機要拿到執照必須做什麼？

Question thirteen. What did Eleanor Maguire find in the taxi drivers' brains?

第13題。艾蓮諾．馬奎爾在計程車司機的大腦中發現了什麼？

Question fourteen. Why did researchers compare taxi drivers with bus drivers?

第14題。研究人員為什麼要比較計程車司機和公車司機？

Question fifteen. What conclusion does the speaker draw?

第15題。說話者得出了什麼結論？