(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
What makes a successful politician?
Experience? Skill? Charisma?
Perhaps you were searching for these traits while watching the recent Republican presidential debate.
But what you might not have thought about was how your perception of the candidates could be influenced by their voices.
In two recently published studies, researchers looked at how the pitch of a candidate’s voice affected their chances in an election.
The first study found that in the 2012 U.S. House elections candidates with lower voices were more likely than a higherpitched opponent to win.
With one exception:
when running against a female opponent, candidates with higher voices were more popular, especially if they were men.
That study is in the journal Political Psychology.
In the second study, researchers wanted to know why a deep voice was a potent political tool.
They recorded men and women speaking the sentence
“I urge you to vote for me this November.”
They then altered the recordings to create higher and lower pitched versions of each sentence.
More than 800 volunteers listened to the audio.
Their preference for lower-pitched voices correlated with their preconception that these individuals were older, stronger and more competent.
This study is in the journal PLoS ONE.
The researchers note that a preference for leaders with deeper voices may be the result of so-called “cavemen instincts.”
A deep voice is associated with high testosterone, physical strength and aggression.
And way back when, those qualities were probably attractive in a leader.
High-pitched voices also are thought to convey negative emotions, such as stress and fear.
We like to think that we consider our electoral options carefully, and base our decisions on conscious, rational judgments.
But it may be a candidate’s height, attractiveness or voice that play outsized roles when we go to the polls.
参考译文
是什么造就一名成功的政治家?
是经验?技巧?抑或是个人魅力?
可能在观看最近的共和党总统候选人唇枪舌剑辩论时你也会寻找他们的这些特质。
但令你始料未及的是，可能是这些候选人的声音影响了你对他们的感觉。
在最近的两项研究中，研究人员们对候选人声音的高低对自己在选举中机会产生的影响进行了研究。
第一项研究发现在2012年白宫的选战，声音较低的候选人有更高的获胜的几率。
但有一项特例:
当同女性竞争的时候，声音较高则会更受欢迎，男性候选人在这方面更占优势。
这项研究已经在《政治心理学》杂志上发表。
而在第二项研究中，研究者们想要弄清楚为何深沉的嗓音会成为强有力的政治工具。
他们记录下女性和男性在讲述下面这句话时的声音：
我希望今年11月份能有你们的投票。
而后研究者们改变这些声音创造这句话高低两个不同版本。
超过800多名志愿者都听到了这句话。
他们更偏爱低沉嗓音的说话人，他们认为发出这种声音的人年龄更大，身体更强壮、而且更有能力。
这研究已经《PLoS ONE》杂志上发表。
研究者们指出对这种低沉嗓音的偏爱可能是因为“洞穴人本能”所致。
低沉嗓音与高睾酮、体力以及自身的攻击性有关。
但反过来看，这样的特征会造就一位非常吸引人的领袖。
而尖锐声音可能会包含一些如压力和恐慌的负面情绪。
我们希望自己能认真选出各位候选人，根据理性判断做出决定。
但是在投票的那一刻，那位候选人的身高、魅力或声音会造成我们内心天平的倾斜。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
重点讲解
1.search for 搜查；搜索
例句:They drew a blank in their search for the driver.
他们四处寻找那个司机，但一无所获。
2.want to 想去；想要
例句:When life gets hard and you want to give up, remember that life is full of ups and downs, and without the downs, the ups would mean nothing.
当生活很艰难，你想要放弃的时候，请记住，生活充满了起起落落，如果没有低谷，那站在高处也失去了意义。
3.listen to 倾听；聆听
例句:The company's top executives had refused to listen to reason.
公司的高层管理人员拒绝理智行事。
4.associate with 与…交往，联系
例句:Don't associate with such people.
勿与此辈来往。
