Science and technology
科学技术
Aesthetics and money
审美和金钱
Fiddling with the mind
弦动我心
Old, expensive violins are not always better than new, cheap ones
古老，昂贵的小提琴不并总是胜过崭新，廉价的小提琴
THOUGH individual tastes do differ,
尽管个人的品位不同，
the market for art suggests that those who have money generally agree on what is best.
但艺术市场却昭显着有钱人通常会认同最好的东西。
The recent authentication of a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, for example, magically added several zeroes to the value of a work that had not, physically, changed in any way.
例如，最近被确定为达芬奇真迹的一幅作品，在价格上不可思议般比非真迹的作品要多上好几个零，变化就这样自然而然的发生着。
Nor is this mere affectation.
这不仅仅因为大众的喜爱。
In the world of wine,
在酒界，
being told the price of a bottle affects a drinker's appreciation of the liquid in the glass in ways that can be detected by a brain scanner.
被告知一瓶酒的价格会影响饮用者对于瓶中酒的鉴赏，而这些变化是可以透过脑部扫描仪检测出来的。
It seems, now, that the same phenomenon applies to music.
现在，相同的现象也展现在音乐领域里。
For serious players of stringed instruments the products of three great violin-makers of Cremona, Nicolo Amati, Giuseppe Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari, have ruled the roost since the 17th century.
对于内行的弦乐演奏家来说，出自三大小提琴制造商的Cremona，Nicolo Amati, Giuseppe Guarneri和Antonio Stradivari自17世纪起就处在行业内领先地位。
Their sound in the hands of a master is revered.
他们被大师演奏，音色备受好评，
They sell for millions.
价值数百万美元，
And no modern imitation, the story goes, comes close.
而且没有现代仿品能够与之媲美。

Unfortunately, however, for those experts who think their judgment unclouded by the Cremonese instruments' reputations,
然而，不幸的是，一些专家认为他们的评论对于Cremona器乐的名声来说是无足轻重的，
Claudia Fritz of the University of Paris VI and Joseph Curtin, an American violin-maker, have just applied the rigorous standards of science to the matter.
巴黎第六大学的Claudia Fritz和美国小提琴制造家Curtin 用一些严苛的标准检验器乐。
Their conclusion, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is that the creations of Cremona are no better than modern instruments, and are sometimes worse.
他们得出的结论出版在Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences一书之中，即Cremona制造的提琴并不比现代器乐要好，有时甚至更糟。
Unlike previous blind trials of violins, in which an instrument's identity was concealed from the audience but not from the player himself,
之前关于小提琴的盲试为小提琴的特性不告知观众，但演奏者本人是知道的。而这次试验与以往的试验不同。
the one organised by Dr Fritz and Mr Curtin sought to discover the unbiased opinion of the men and women who actually wield the bow.
此次实验是由Fritz 博士和Curtin先生联合发起，旨在研究演奏者的真实看法。
They and their colleagues therefore attended the Eighth International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, held in September 2010,
他们和同事参加了2010年9月的印第安纳波利斯第八届国际小提琴竞赛，
which gathering provided both a sample of testable instruments and a pool of suitable volunteers to play them.
那里云集了可用作实验的样品小提琴，也有一大堆合适的志愿演奏者。
Exactly which instruments were tested remains a secret.
被用作测试的器乐的信息要保密。
That was a condition of the loans, in order that an adverse opinion should not affect a fiddle's market value.
这里有前提保障,以确保不利的观点不会影响小提琴的市值。
There were, however, six of them: two Stradivarii and a Guarnerius, and three modern violins made to Cremonese patterns.
参与测试的有六只小提琴：两只Stradivarii提琴，一只Guarnerius提琴和三只按照Cremonese样式定做的现代小提琴。
A total of 21 volunteers—participants in the competition, judges and members of the local symphony orchestra—were asked to put the instruments through their paces.
总共有21名志愿者—分别来竞赛的选手，评委和当地交响乐团的乐手—来检验这些小提琴的优劣。
The catch was that they had to do so in a darkened room while wearing welders' goggles,
关键在于他们必须在一间黑屋里拉琴，同时要带上电焊工的护目镜，
so that they could not see them clearly, and that the chin-rest of each violin had been dabbed with perfume,
这样他们就不能清楚得看到小提琴的模样，在他们下巴架在小提琴上的部分涂抹了一些香水，
lest the smell of the wood or the varnish give the game away.
不然木材的气味或者是亮光漆的味道就会泄实验的信息，使试验失败。
There were two tests: a series of pairwise comparisons between old and new instruments that allowed a player one minute to try out each instrument, and a comparison between all six,
进行两项测试：第一数个新旧小提琴的两两对比，演奏者有一分钟的时间来拉每个提琴；
in which the player was allowed to play whatever he wanted for however long he wanted, subject to a total time-limit of 20 minutes.
第二项是六只提琴之间的对比，演奏者总共有20分钟的时间，可以随心拉他想演奏的小提琴。
In the pairwise test, five of the violins did more-or-less equally well, but the sixth was consistently rejected.
在对比实验中，其中有五只小提琴表现地差不多好，但是剩下来的一只却普遍，
That sixth, unfortunately for the reputation of Cremona, was a Strad.
而那一只，不幸的是享有盛名的Cremona, Strad制造的提琴.
In the freeplay test, a more subtle approach was possible.
在自由演奏测试中，得以进行更为精细的比较。
Players rated the six instruments using four subjective qualities that are common terms of the violinist's art:
演奏者用常用的评断小提琴演奏标准来评判六只小提琴：
playability, projection, tone colours and response.
即手感, 音响, 音色和回音。
The best in each category scored one point, the worst minus one, and the rest zero.
每项中最好的小提琴得一分，最差的减一分，其余的得分为零。
Players were also asked which violin they would like to take home, given the chance.
演奏者们要假设可以带一只小提琴回家，要他们选择最想要的那只。
In this case, two of the new violins comprehensively beat the old ones, while the third more or less matched them.
在这个实验中，两只新小提琴完全打败了那些古董提琴，而第三只新提琴则和那些古董程度相当。
The most popular take-home instrument was also a new one:
最受欢迎，最想被带回家的是一只新提琴：
eight of the 21 volunteers chose it, and three others rated it a close second.
21名志愿者中有8人首选了它，3个人把它评为紧随其后的选择。
Not surprisingly, the least popular instrument in the second test was the Stradivarius that did badly in the first.
结果在意料之中，在第二轮测试中最不受欢迎的提琴上就是在第一轮中表现糟糕的Stradivarius提琴。
The upshot was that, from the players' point of view, the modern violins in the study were as good as, and often better than, their 18th-century forebears.
结论是，从演奏者的角度来看，测试中的现代小提琴和18世纪的古董提琴相比差不多，甚至比它们还好。
Since Dr Fritz estimates the combined value of the three forebears in her experiment as 10m,
Fritz博士估计用于她实验的三只古董小提琴的总价值为1000万美元，
and the combined value of the three modern instruments as around 100,000, that is quite a significant observation.
而那三只现代小提琴的总价值只有10万美元左右，鉴于此，以上得出的真是一个惊人的结论。
Human nature being what it is, this result will probably have little effect in the saleroom:
人的天性就是如此，这个结果难以对销售产生很大的影响：
the glamour of Cremona will take more than one such result to dispel it.
cremona的盛名不会因为这一项测试结果而被抹黑。
But it does suggest that young players who cannot afford a Strad should not despair.
但这意味着买不起Strad提琴的年轻的演奏家不应陷入绝望。
If they end up with a cheaper, modern copy instead, they might actually be better off.
如果他们买了一只便宜的现代仿品，很有可能比古董的提琴还要好。