「金融时报」外语让人更明智？
相比母语，我们在讲外语时会更加明智吗？芝加哥大学的研究发现，用外语思考时，人们往往会做出更加冷静、客观的决定；而母语使用者则更多依靠直觉。为什么会这样？
Do we make better decisions in a foreign language?（757 words）
By Michael Skapinker
Financial Times
An American friend recently told me of a reunion with the son of the German family whose home he had lived in for a year as an exchange student. My friend had spent the year acquiring[1] fluent German, which he spoke to the family.
[1]acquire：to gain sth by your own efforts, ability or behaviour（通过努力、能力、行为表现）获得，得到，学到
The reunion, several decades later, took place among a crowd who were speaking English. Afterwards, the German son said to my friend: “I never realised you were witty[2].” Because in German, he never was. It was too hard to joke in a foreign tongue.
[2]witty：using words in a clever and funny way 风趣的，诙谐的
a witty comment/remark
风趣的评论／话语
Anyone who has learnt another language will be familiar with this. We are more ponderous[3] in our acquired language. We are slower on the uptake[4], having to construct each riposte[5] in advance.
[3]ponderous /'pɒndərəs/
1）slow and awkward because of being very heavy or large （因重或大而）行动迟缓的，笨拙的
2）If a book, speech, or style of writing or speaking is ponderous, it is boring because it is too slow, long, or serious. （书、讲话或写作风格）严肃而乏味的，呆板的，生硬的
He had a slow and ponderous manner.
他的举止缓慢笨拙。
[4]be quick/slow on the uptake：If someone is quick/slow on the uptake, they understand things easily/with difficulty. 领悟得快／慢
He's a little slow on the uptake, so you may have to repeat the instructions a few times.
他领悟力比较差，因此你可能得重复指导他好几遍。
[5]riposte /rɪ'pɒst/
a quick and clever remark, often made in answer to a criticism 机敏的回答；巧妙的应对
She made a sharp/witty/neat riposte.
她尖刻／机智／巧妙地反唇相讥。
But is it also possible that we make more dispassionate[6] decisions when thinking in a foreign language?
[6]dispassionate：able to think clearly or make good decisions because of not being influenced by emotions 冷静的，镇静的，沉着的
Academics at the University of Chicago think we do.
Writing in the journal Cognition, they describe a well-known moral dilemma[7]. You are watching a runaway carriage hurtling down a railway. In its path you see five people tied to the track. On your left is a large man. If you push him into the carriage's path, you will kill him but save the five. Do you do it?
推下一人救活五个人？
你会怎么选择？
[7]dilemma：a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two different things you could do 左右为难，两难境地
The Chicago academics put the dilemma to a group of 800 native German speakers. About half considered the dilemma in German and half in English. Those answering in their second language were more likely to favour pushing the man on to the track.
To the Chicago faculty, this was no surprise. There have been several experiments, with similar results, about the effect of language on the track dilemma, with native speakers of English, Korean, Spanish, French, Hebrew, German and Italian.
The question the Chicago team tried to answer in the Cognition study was why the change happens when people decide in another language.
Their hypothesis was that we visualise people and objects more sharplyin our native tongue and this affects our decision-making. In particular, when thinking in our own language, we can clearly picture the large man and are reluctant to[不情愿/不愿意] push him to his death.
To test this, the 800 German speakers were asked to rate the vividness of their images of the large man and the five people on the tracks. Those doing the experiment in German reported having a clearer picture of the man than those doing it in English. There was no difference between the vividness of the images of the five other people on the track.
Why should this be? The Chicago study argues that the images we form in our minds are based on the memories we have of people and objects. Because we have more experience of people in our native language, we find it easier to picture them.
The authors concede[7] that “other potential explanations are possible”. However, they did argue in an earlier paper that “a foreign language provides a distancing mechanism that moves people from the immediate intuitive system to a more deliberate mode of thinking”.
[7]concede：to admit, often unwillingly, that something is true （常指不情愿地）承认
[ + (that) ] The government has conceded (that) the new tax policy has been a disaster.
政府承认新的税收政策是彻底失败的。
How seriously should we take this? An increasing number of people are now working in organisations that operate in English, mixing native and second-language speakers. It is certainly worth thinking about whether people seem more considered, and make more dispassionate decisions, in English than the native speakers do. The non-native speakers may seem less witty, but pay more attention to their opinions.