CET-6 Listening Lecture: What the Marshmallow Test Really Tells Us

Recording Three.

录音三。

Picture a four-year-old alone in a room with one marshmallow on a plate.

想象一个四岁的孩子独自待在房间里，盘子上放着一颗棉花糖。

An adult says: you can eat it now, or wait, and get two.

一个大人说：你可以现在就吃，也可以等一会儿，得到两颗。

This was the marshmallow test, run by Walter Mischel at Stanford University.

这就是斯坦福大学Walter Mischel主持的棉花糖实验。

Some children ate the treat at once. Others sang, or covered their eyes.

有的孩子马上就吃了。有的则唱歌，或者捂住眼睛。

Years later, the children who had waited longer tended to do better at school!

多年以后，那些等得更久的孩子往往在学校表现得更好！

For a long time, the lesson seemed clear: self-control predicts success.

很长一段时间里，结论似乎很明确：自控力能预测成功。

But later research has made the story more complicated.

但后来的研究让事情变得复杂了。

Later, researchers at the University of Rochester added one step before the test.

后来，罗切斯特大学的研究人员在实验前增加了一个步骤。

An adult promised the children better art materials, and then either kept the promise or broke it.

一个大人向孩子们承诺会给他们更好的画画材料，然后要么兑现，要么食言。

Children who had met the reliable adult waited about four times longer!

遇到守信大人的孩子，等待的时间大约是另一组的四倍！

So waiting isn't only about willpower.

所以，能不能等待不只是意志力的问题。

It's also a sensible choice when you can trust that the reward will come.

当你相信奖励一定会来时，等待也是一种明智的选择。

Then, in 2018, a much larger study repeated the test with a more varied group of children.

后来在2018年，一项规模大得多的研究以背景更多样的孩子为对象，重复了这项实验。

The link with later success was much weaker.

与日后成功之间的联系弱了很多。

Once family background was taken into account, it almost disappeared.

一旦把家庭背景考虑进去，这种联系几乎就消失了。

Questions twenty-two to twenty-five are based on the recording you have just heard.

第22题到第25题基于你刚才听到的录音。

Question twenty-two. What were the children asked to do in the marshmallow test?

第22题。在棉花糖实验中，孩子们被要求做什么？

Question twenty-three. What did the researchers in Rochester change?

第23题。罗切斯特的研究人员改变了什么？

Question twenty-four. What does the Rochester study suggest about waiting?

第24题。罗切斯特的研究对等待有什么启示？

Question twenty-five. What did the 2018 study find?

第25题。2018年的研究发现了什么？

Famous experiments are a good start, not the final word.

著名的实验是一个好的起点，而不是最终结论。

And if someone offers you two marshmallows, make sure you trust them first!

如果有人说要给你两颗棉花糖，先确定你信得过他！