(单词翻译:单击)
As the day wears on, we tend to get weary.
随着一天中时间的慢慢流动,人们往往会显露出疲态 。
Now a study finds that as a result we may be more likely to cheat or lie in the afternoon than in the morning.
而现在的一项研究表明正是这一原因导致相比上午,我们更有可能在下午骗人或说谎 。
But only if we're usually ethical to begin with.
但这仅适用于原本就品行较端正的人们 。
Scientists showed volunteers patterns of dots on a computer and asked them to tell which side of the screen contained more dots, the right or left.
科学家展示给受试者们计算机上的圆点图案,然后让他们指出左边还是右边的屏幕包含更多圆点 。
Here's the kicker: the researchers gave the subjects a higher reward if they selected the right side, even if it was incorrect.
重点在于:无论对错,只要受试者们选择右边,研究人员就会给他们更高的奖励 。
And with this incentive, subjects were more likely to cheat in the afternoon than in the morning.
就在这种刺激之下,相比上午,受试者在下午更有可能出现欺骗行为 。
In another experiment the scientists showed the subjects fragments of words, and asked them to complete the word.
而在另一项实验中,科学家给受试者们一些单词碎片并要求补全单词 。
For example, they might see the last three letters, R, A, L, of a five-letter word.
比如受试者们会看到一个最后三位字母为RAL的五字母单词 。
And surprisingly in the morning the participants tended come up with the word "moral" whereas in the afternoon the word of choice was “coral.”
而令人惊讶的是在上午受试者更容易想出道德准则(moral)这样的答案,但在下午却更容易萌生珊瑚(coral)这样的答案 。
The researchers also found that people who tend to cheat regularly were just as likely to do so in the morning as in the afternoon.
研究还发现,经常有欺骗行为的人,在上午下午都有可能骗人 。
It was the more ethical folks who suffered lapses as the day wore on.
也就是说,那些品行较好的人则会在下午犯错 。
So the early bird gets the worm…and the truth.
看来早起的鸟儿不仅有虫吃,还可以享受真话 。