《再见爱人4》你觉得怎么样？

近日，芒果TV婚姻纪实观察节目《再见爱人4》开播。明星夫妻黄圣依和杨子的婚姻状态引发热议。

今天你练听力了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. What was the primary motivation behind John Gottman and James Murray's collaboration nearly 30 years ago?

A. To develop a new psychological therapy for couples.

B. To create a mathematical model to predict divorce rates.

C. To explore the factors contributing to marital happiness and misery.

D. To study the biological processes underlying human emotions.

无注释原文：

The Math Behind Successful Relationships

From: The Wall Street Journal

Nearly 30 years ago, a mathematician and a psychologist teamed up to explore one of life's enduring mysteries: What makes some marriages happy and some miserable?

The psychologist, John Gottman, wanted to craft a tool to help him better counsel troubled couples. The mathematician, James Murray, specialized in modeling biological processes.

It was a match made in heaven.

The pair decided to create a mathematical model to quantify how couples interact and influence each other during an argument. The results helped Dr. Gottman visualize the dynamics of a marriage and measure the impact of therapy.

The approach also proved to be shockingly accurate at predicting which couples would divorce.

“We got actual numbers we could compute,” Dr. Gottman said. “We could see how the partners influence each other.”

Their subjects initially included 130 couples who had applied for marriage licenses in King County, where, at the time, the professors taught at the University of Washington in Seattle. Some of the couples were newlyweds, others were about to be married, and each pair was videotaped for three 15-minute conversations.

In one exchange, the couples were instructed to talk about their day. In another they were told to talk about something positive. And in the third, they were asked to talk about something contentious. The topic didn't matter—it could be about money, sex, food, in-laws or anything else—as long as they disagreed.

The contentious exchange proved to be the most predictive.

The couple's interactions were scored by two independent observers who rated every emotion in the exchange.

Altogether, 16 different emotions were coded. At one end of the spectrum, contempt, the most corrosive emotion, according to Dr. Gottman, was scored -4. At the other end, shared humor, one of the best ways to defuse tension, he said, was scored +4.

“They both have to be laughing together,” Dr. Gottman said. “A lot of contempt happens with one person laughing and the other person looking stunned. That's a minus 4.”

The scores for the various emotions expressed during each exchange were summed, and the researchers plotted the scores for each subsequent exchange as a time series on a graph.

Once the emotions were scored and plotted, the researchers found that the positive and negative progression of the exchanges eventually settled down and didn't change very much.

That steady state, they concluded, described how a couple resolves conflicts.

“It's like a Dow Jones curve,” Dr. Murray said. “The ones that went continuously down, it was clear they found it very, very difficult to appreciate what the other one was thinking. That's what made it clear the marriage wasn't going to last.”

For low-risk couples, the ratio of positive to negative responses was approximately 5 to 1. For high-risk couples, the ratio was about 1 to 1, and based on their observations, the researchers were able to predict divorce with 94% accuracy.

Notably, they also found that as the years passed, each couple's style of communication changed very little from that initial videotaped contentious exchange.

“We found about 80% stability in couples' interaction over time,” Dr. Gottman said, a result that was based on bringing the couples back to the lab for additional scored discussions, usually at three-year intervals.

But if they were to boil down their work to one simple strategy for couples, it might be this: Face each other when talking. And acknowledge your role in the dispute.

“If they listen to each other,” said Dr. Murray, who's been married for 60 years, “they might have a different future.”

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为华尔街日报官方译文，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Trump serves disturbing message through McDonald's drive-thru window about whether he'll accept election result

From: The Wall Street Journal

Nearly 30 years ago, a mathematician and a psychologist teamed up to explore one of life's enduring mysteries: What makes some marriages happy and some miserable?

将近30年前，一位数学家和一位心理学家开始共同探讨一个永恒的人生谜题：为何有的婚姻幸福，有的婚姻不幸？

The psychologist, John Gottman, wanted tocrafta tool to help him bettercounseltroubled couples. The mathematician, James Murray, specialized in modeling biological processes.

这位心理学家名叫约翰·葛特曼(John Gottman)，他想要开发一种工具，以便更好地为遭遇婚姻危机的夫妇提供咨询。那位数学家名叫詹姆斯·穆雷(James Murray)，专注于生物过程的建模。

craft

craft /krɑːft/ 结合我们常见的aircraft/spacecraft/hovercraft等词猜测，craft可以表示“船，艇；飞行器，航空器”，英文解释为“a vehicle for travelling on water or through the air”如：naval craft 军舰，civilian craft 民用船，patrol craft 巡逻艇，rescue craft 救生艇。

🎬电影《外星人保罗》（Paul）中的台词提到：Hey, imagine if we got buzzed by a craft. 想象一下如果一艘飞船从我们头上掠过。

📍补充：hovercraft 气垫船，military aircraft 军用飞机，a manned/unmanned spacecraft 载人/无人的宇宙飞船。

此外，craft作名词还可以指“工艺，手艺；技术”，英文解释为“skill and experience, especially in relation to making objects; a job or activity that needs skill and experience, or something produced using skill and experience”如：the craft of furniture making/sewing 家具制作/缝纫工艺，political/literary craft 政治手腕／文学手法，rural/ancient/traditional crafts 乡村的/古老的/传统的手艺，craft workers (= skilled workers) 熟练工人，工匠。

craft作为动词表示“精制，（手工）制作”，举个🌰：Each doll is crafted individually by specialists. 每个布娃娃都由专业人员手工制作。

counsel

counsel /ˈkaʊnsəl/ 可以作名词也可以作动词，表示“建议；提议；劝告，忠告”，英文解释为“If you counsel someone to take a course of action, or if you counsel a course of action, you advise that course of action.”举个🌰：My advisers counselled me to do nothing. 我的顾问建议我不要做任何事情。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述疫情期间送货上门服务的文章中提到：During the epidemic the firm has offered free online counselling to riders. 疫情期间这家公司为骑手提供了免费在线咨询。

counsel 作名词还可以表示“（参与案件的）律师”，英文解释为“one or more of the lawyers taking part in a legal case”举个🌰：The judge addressed counsel. 法官向律师问了话。

It was a match made in heaven.

二人简直就是天造地设的一对拍档。

The pair decided to create a mathematical model toquantifyhow couples interact and influence each other during an argument. The results helped Dr. Gottman visualize the dynamics of a marriage and measure the impact of therapy.

两人决定开发一种数学模型，量化夫妻间在争论时的互动，以及彼此间施加的影响。葛特曼博士根据结果将婚姻状态以图像呈现出来，并根据图像变化衡量婚姻咨询治疗的效果。

quantify

quantify /ˈkwɒn.tɪ.faɪ/ 表示“以数量表述；量化；确定…的大小（或数量）”，英文解释为“to measure or judge the size or amount of something”举个🌰：It's difficult to quantify how many people will be affected by the change. 很难确定将有多少人受到该变化的影响。

The approach also proved to be shockingly accurate at predicting which couples would divorce.

结果还表明，这一算法可以高度准确地预测哪些夫妇将会离婚。

“We got actual numbers we could compute,” Dr. Gottman said. “We could see how the partners influence each other.”

“我们可以得出准确的量化值，也可以进行计算，”葛特曼说。“我们可以看到夫妻如何相互影响。”

Their subjects initially included 130 couples who had applied for marriage licenses in King County, where, at the time, the professors taught at the University of Washington in Seattle. Some of the couples werenewlyweds, others were about to be married, and each pair wasvideotapedfor three 15-minute conversations.

两人最初的观察对象包括130对在华盛顿金县(King County)申请结婚登记的夫妻。实验进行的那些年，葛特曼博士在华盛顿大学西雅图分校任教。跟踪对象中有些是新婚夫妇，有些是准备结婚的。他们跟每对伴侣都会进行三段15分钟的对话，对话全程有录像记录。

newlywed

newlywed /ˈnjuː.li.wed/ 表示“新婚者”，英文解释为“someone who has recently married”举个🌰：The hotel has a special discount rate for newlyweds. 这家宾馆为新婚夫妇提供特别优惠。

videotape

videotape /ˈvɪd.i.əʊ.teɪp/ 表示“录制；把…录下来”，英文解释为“to record a film, television programme, or event on videotape”

In one exchange, the couples were instructed to talk about their day. In another they were told to talk about something positive. And in the third, they were asked to talk about somethingcontentious. The topic didn't matter—it could be about money, sex, food,in-lawsor anything else—as long as they disagreed.

在第一段交流中，研究人员引导夫妇二人谈论自己一天的经历，第二段是要求谈论某个积极的话题，第三段则是有争议性的话题。话题是什么不重要——可以是钱、性、食物、对方家庭及其他任何话题——只要是双方意见不一即可。

contentious

contentious /kənˈtɛnʃəs/ 表示“引起争议的”，英文解释为“A contentious issue causes a lot of disagreement or arguments.”举个🌰：Sanctions are expected to be among the most contentious issues. 制裁预计位居最具有争议的问题之列。

in-law

表示“姻亲；（尤指）公婆，岳父母”，英文解释为“your relatives by marriage, especially the parents of your husband or wife”

The contentious exchange proved to be the most predictive.

结果证明，第三段，即具有争论性的交流是最具预测价值的。

The couple's interactions were scored by two independent observers who rated every emotion in the exchange.

有两位独立观察员对夫妻的互动过程进行评估，对互动过程中的每一种情绪分别打分。

Altogether, 16 different emotions were coded. At one end of thespectrum,contempt, the mostcorrosiveemotion, according to Dr. Gottman, was scored -4. At the other end, shared humor, one of the best ways todefusetension, he said, was scored +4.

评分体系一共覆盖了16种情绪。葛特曼博士表示，最低分为-4分，代表最具毁灭性的情绪，即蔑视；最高分为+4分，表现为共有的幽默，是最能缓解矛盾的情绪。

spectrum

spectrum /ˈspɛktrəm/ 1）表示“范围；各层次；系列；幅度”，英文解释为“a complete or wide range of related qualities, ideas, etc.”如：a broad spectrum of interests 广泛的兴趣范围，举个🌰：A wide spectrum of opinion was represented at the meeting. 会上提出了一系列广泛的意见。

2）表示“光谱，谱”，英文解释为“The spectrum is the range of different colours which is produced when light passes through a glass prism or through a drop of water. A rainbow shows the colours in the spectrum.”

contempt

contempt /kənˈtempt/ 表示“蔑视；鄙视；轻视；轻蔑”，英文解释为“a strong feeling of disliking and having no respect for someone or something”举个🌰：At school she had complete contempt for all her teachers. 在学校读书时她对所有老师都不屑一顾。

corrosive

corrosive /kəˈrəʊ.sɪv/ 1）表示“腐蚀性的，侵蚀性的”，英文解释为“A corrosive substance causes damage by chemical action.”如：a highly corrosive acid 强腐蚀性酸。

2）表示“有害的，有危害性的；恶劣的”，英文解释为“harmful and causing bad feelings”如：the corrosive influence of racism 种族主义的恶劣影响。

defuse

defuse /ˌdiːˈfjuːz/ 表示“缓和；平息”，英文解释为“to make a difficult or dangerous situation calmer by reducing or removing its cause”举个🌰：The two groups will meet next week to try to defuse the crisis/situation/tension. 双方将于下周会面以求缓和危机/局面/紧张局势。

“They both have to be laughing together,” Dr. Gottman said. “A lot of contempt happens with one person laughing and the other person lookingstunned. That's a minus 4.”

“最高分要两个人一起笑出来才能算，”葛特曼博士表示。“而如果只有一个人在笑，另外一个人神情惊愕，便是-4分。”

stunned

stun /stʌn/ 1）表示“使震惊；使惊讶”，英文解释为“to shock or surprise someone very much”举个🌰：News of the disaster stunned people throughout the world. 灾难消息使全世界的人震惊。

2）表示“使失去知觉，使昏迷；（尤指重击头部）把…打昏”，英文解释为“to make a person or animal unconscious or unable to think normally, especially by hitting their head hard”举个🌰：Stunned by the impact, he lay on the ground wondering what had happened. 遭重击后，他躺在地上想弄清楚发生了什么事。

📍stunned /stʌnd/ 表示“目瞪口呆”，英文解释为“very shocked or surprised”举个🌰：I am stunned and saddened by this news. 这个消息令我大为震惊，非常难过。

The scores for the various emotions expressed during each exchange were summed, and the researchersplottedthe scores for eachsubsequentexchange as a time series on a graph.

研究人员将交流过程中展现的不同情绪相加得出一个总分，根据每次后续交流得出的分数按照时间绘制成图表。

plot

作名词，plot /plɒt/ 1）表示“情节”，英文解释为“the story of a book, film, play, etc.”举个🌰：The movie has a very simple plot. 这部电影情节很简单。

2）表示“密谋，阴谋，秘密计划”，英文解释为“a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal”，如：an assassination plot 一宗暗杀阴谋。

作动词，plot /plɒt/ 表示“在图上标绘…的位置；绘制…的图；标出…的航线”，英文解释为“to make marks to show the position, movement, or development of something, usually in the form of lines or curves between a series of points on a map or piece of paper”举个🌰：Radar operators plotted the course of the incoming missile. 雷达操作员标绘出了来袭导弹的轨迹。

subsequent

subsequent /ˈsʌb.sɪ.kwənt/ 表示“随后的，接着的；后来的；之后的；接后的”，英文解释为“happening after something else”举个🌰：The book discusses his illness and subsequent resignation from politics. 书中讲述了他患病及随后隐退政坛的事。

Once the emotions were scored and plotted, the researchers found that the positive and negativeprogressionof the exchanges eventually settled down and didn't change very much.

研究人员从得分和图表走势可以发现，每对伴侣交流的情绪得分走势最终都会趋于稳定，不会有太大出入。

progression

progression /prəˈɡreʃ.ən/ 表示“进展；发展；前进”，英文解释为“the act of changing to the next stage of development”举个🌰：Drugs can slow down the progression of the disease. 药物能减缓疾病的恶化。

That steady state, they concluded, described how a couple resolves conflicts.

他们的结论是，最后稳定下来的状态便体现了夫妻之间解决矛盾的方式。

“It's like a Dow Jonescurve,” Dr. Murray said. “The ones that went continuously down, it was clear they found it very, very difficult to appreciate what the other one was thinking. That's what made it clear the marriage wasn't going to last.”

“就像道指曲线一样，”莫里博士表示。“如果走势持续向下，那么很明显夫妻双方发现理解对方的想法无比困难，因此这样的婚姻显然无法持久。”

curve

curve /kɜːv/ 表示“曲线，弧线；转弯”，英文解释为“a line that bends continuously and has no straight parts”如：a curve in the road 道路转弯处。

For low-risk couples, theratioof positive to negative responses was approximately 5 to 1. For high-risk couples, the ratio was about 1 to 1, and based on their observations, the researchers were able to predict divorce with 94% accuracy.

离婚风险低的夫妻正面回应与负面回应之比约为5比1。风险高的夫妻该比例约为1比1，且研究人员根据观察预测的离婚准确率高达94%。

ratio

表示“比率；比例”，英文解释为“the relationship between two groups of people or things that is represented by two numbers showing how much larger one group is than the other”举个🌰：The school has a very high teacher-student ratio. 这所学校的师生比例很高。

Notably, they also found that as the years passed, each couple's style of communication changed very little from that initial videotaped contentious exchange.

值得注意的是，他们还发现数年之后，每对夫妻的交流方式与当初记录下来的争论方式几无变化。

“We found about 80% stability in couples' interaction over time,” Dr. Gottman said, a result that was based on bringing the couples back to the lab for additional scored discussions, usually at three-year intervals.

葛特曼博士表示，观察对象会在约三年的间隔后受邀回实验室再度进行交流，并接受评分，“我们发现夫妻之间的互动评分的稳定性在80%左右。”

。

But if they were toboil downtheir work to one simple strategy for couples, it might be this: Face each other when talking. And acknowledge your role in the dispute.

不过如果要让他们总结出夫妻相处之道的一条简单秘诀，那就是：交流时看着对方，并认清你在争论中扮演的角色。

boil down

boil /bɔɪl/ 表示“压缩，简化；概括，归纳”，英文解释为“to reduce information, usually so that it contains only its most important parts”举个🌰：He had boiled down a lengthy report to just a few paragraphs. 他已将大篇幅的报告压缩成了只有几段。

“If they listen to each other,” said Dr. Murray, who's been married for 60 years, “they might have a different future.”

已经结婚60年的莫里博士说：“如果能做到倾听对方，他们或许会有不一样的未来。”

- 词汇盘点 -

craft、 counsel、 quantify、 newlywed、 videotape、 contentious、 in-law、 spectrum、 contempt、 corrosive、 defuse、 stunned、 plot、 subsequent、 progression、 curve、 ratio、 boil down

- 词汇助记 By ChatGPT -

The newlywed's contentious in-law plot stunned them. To defuse contempt, they sought counsel to quantify emotions across a spectrum. The videotape captured the corrosive progression, boiling down tensions to a curved ratio and crafting resolution.

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