1、Door closer,are you?關門者”，你是嗎?1 The next time youre deciding between rival options, one which is primary and the other which is secondary, ask yourself this question: What would Xiang Yu do?1下次你要在兩個難于取舍的、主要的和次要的選擇之間做決定時，不妨問 自己這樣一個問題：項羽會怎么做？2 Xiang Yu was a Chinese imperial general in the third centur

2、y BC who took his troops across the Zhang River on a raid into enemy territory. To his troops astonishment, he ordered their cooking pots crushed and their sailing ships burned.2項羽是公元前三世紀中國古代王朝的一位將軍。他帶領他的部隊橫渡漳 河，突襲進入了敵方的領地。他下令砸鍋燒船，令他的部隊大為震驚。3 He explained that he was imposing on them a necessity for

3、 attaining victory over their opponents.What he said was surely motivating, but it wasnt really appreciated by many of his loyal soldiers as they watched their vessels go up in flames. But the genius of General Xiang Yus conviction would be validated both on the battlefield and in modern social scie

4、nce research. General Xiang Yu was a rare exception to the norm, aveteran leader who was highly respected for his many conquests and who achieved the summit of success.3他解釋道，他強加給他們的是戰勝對手的必要舉措。他所說的無疑十分鼓舞士氣，但當他那許多忠誠的士兵眼睜睜地看著他們的船只在火焰中被焚毀 時，他們并不贊成他的做法。不過項羽將軍的這種砸鍋焚船的做法所顯示出的天賦，在戰場上和現代社會科學研究中都將得到肯定。項羽將軍是一個

5、罕見的不墨守成規的人，他是一位經驗豐富的領袖，由于他征戰無數并達到了成功的頂峰，他深受尊敬。4 He is featured in Dan Arielys enlightening new publication, Predictably Irrational, a fascinating investigation of seemingly irrational human behavior, such as the tendency for Keeping multiple options open. Most people cant marshal the will for painfu

6、l choices, not even students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where. Dr. Ariely teaches behavioral economics. In an experiment that investigated decision-making, hundreds of students couldnt bear to let their options vanish, even though it was clear they would profit from doing so

7、.4丹阿雷利極富啟迪性的新書可預見的非理性對項羽作了專題介紹。了弓I人入勝的調查這本書對看似非理性的人類行為，譬如人類總想留住多項選擇機會的傾向，進行大多數人都不能整理自己的思路來做痛苦的選擇，麻省理工學院上阿雷利博士行為經濟學這門課的學生也不例外在調查作決策的一項實驗中，幾百名學生都不能忍受眼睜睜看著他們的選擇機會消失，即使他們很清楚這樣做對他們有利。5 The experiment revolved around a game that eliminated the excuses we usually have for refusing to let go. In the real wo

8、rld, we can always say) Its good to preserve our options. Want a good example A teenager is exhausted from soccer, ballet, piano, and Chinese lessons, but her parents wont stop any one of them because they might come ln handy some day!5實驗是圍繞著一個游戲展開的，這個游戲排除了我們通常不肯放手的借口。在現實世界里，我們總會說：“保留我們的選擇機會是對的?！毕胍?/p>

9、個好的例子嗎？ 一個十多歲的女孩被足球、芭蕾舞、鋼琴、中文課給累得筋疲力盡，但 她的父母不會讓她停止任何一項活動，理由是它們有一天可能會派上用場！6 In the experiment sessions, students played a computer game that provided cash behind three doors appearing on the screen. The rule was the more money you earned,the better player you were, given a total of 100 clicks. Every

10、time the students opened door by clicking on it, they would use up one click but wouldnt get any money.However, each subsequent click on that door would earn a fluctuating sum of money,withone door always revealing more money than the others. The important part of the rule was each door switch, thou

11、gh having no cash value, would also use up one of the 100 clicks.Therefore, the winning strategy was to quickly check all the doors and keep clicking on the one with the seemingly highest rewards 。6在這個實驗里，學生要玩一個電腦游戲：在電腦屏幕上會顯示三扇門，每扇門后都會提供一些現金。該游戲的規則是每個人都只能點擊100次，你點擊獲取的錢越多，你就玩得越好。學生每點擊一次打開一扇門，他們會用掉一個點

12、擊數，但卻不會得到任何錢。然而，隨后接著在那扇門上的每次點擊都會掙得數額不等的錢，三扇門顯示的錢總有一扇比另外兩扇多。這個游戲規則的重點是雖然每次換門沒有金錢回報，可還是會用掉一次點擊數。所以，制勝戰略是要迅速查看所有的門，然后只點擊那扇似乎是錢最多的門。7 While playing the game, students noticed a modified visual element: Any door left unclicked for a short while would shrink in size and vanish. Since they already understo

13、od the game, they should have ignored the vanishing doors. Nevertheless, they hurried to click on the lesser doors before they vanished, trying to keep them open. As a result, they wasted so many clicks rushing back to the vanishing doors that they lost money in the end. Why were the students so att

14、ached to the lesser doors? They would probably protestthat they were clinging to the doors to Keep future optionsopen, but, according to Dr. Ariely, that isnt the true factor.7在玩游戲時，學生們注意到了一個視覺上的變化：如果有片刻沒點擊某扇門，那扇門就會慢慢縮小并消失。由于他們已了解了游戲規則，他們本應對要消失的門不予理睬。 然而，在它們消失以前，他們卻迫不及待地去點擊那些變小的門，試圖讓它們開啟著。結果是，他們在匆忙回

15、去點擊那些快消失的門時浪費了很多點擊數以至于最后輸了錢。為什么學生對那些變小的門如此依戀呢？他們可能會爭辯說，他們緊抓住這些門是為將來多留一些機會。但是，據阿雷利博士 說，這不是真正的原因。8 Instead of the excuse to maintain future options open, underneath it all the student s desire was to avoid the immediate, though temporary, pain of watching options close.closing a door on an option is e

16、xperienced as a loss, andpeople are willing to pay a big price to avoid the emotion ofloss, Dr, Ariely says. In the experiment, the price was easilymeasured in lost cash. In life, the corresponding costs areoften less obvious such as wasted time or missedopportunities.8在他們為將來多留一些機會的借口背后反映出的是所有的學生都不堪

17、目 睹眼前的選擇機會被剝奪，盡管這種痛苦是臨時的。阿雷利博士說：“每閉上一扇選擇之門就如同經受了一次損失，人們寧愿付出很大的代價， 也要避免情感的失落在實驗中，損失很容易用丟失的現金來衡量在生活中，相應的損失就往往沒那么明顯，如浪費時間，錯過機會。9 Sometimes these doors are closing too slowly for us to see them vanishing. writes. We may work more hours at our jobs without realizing that the childhood of our Sons and dau

18、ghters is slipping away.10 有時候，這些門是慢慢關閉的，我們沒有看到它們在悄然消失，”阿雷利 博士寫道：“我們可能花很多時間在工作上，卻沒有意識到我們子女的童年正在悄悄溜走?！?1 So, what can be done to restore balance in our lives?One answer, Dr. Ariely says, is to implement moreprohibitions on overbooking. We can work to reduce options on our own, delegating tasks to oth

19、ers and even giving away ideas for others to pursue. He points to marriage as an example, In marriage, we create a situation where we promise ourselves not to keep options open. We close doors and announce to others weve closed doors.12 那么，我們可以做些什么讓我們的生活恢復平衡呢？阿雷利博士說，個辦法是制止更多的超額預約。我們可以自己減少選擇，將任務委派給其他

20、人,甚至放棄一些點子，讓其他人去做。他用婚姻作為例子：“在婚姻中，我們承諾不保留選擇機會,我們就創造了獲得最佳選擇的有利局面我們關上可選擇的門，并告訴別人我們已作出選擇。”11 since conducting the door experiment, Dr. Ariely says he has made a conscious effort to lessen his load. He urges the rest of us to resign from committees, prune holiday card lists, rethink hobbies and remember

21、the lessons of door closers like Xiang Yu.11阿雷利博士說，自從進行了這個點擊門的實驗，他已經有意識地努力減 輕自己的負擔。 他敦促我們辭去委員會的工作，刪減送節日賀卡的名單，重新 思考興趣愛好，并記住像項羽那樣的關門者給我們的啟示。12 In other words, Dr. Ariely is encouraging us to discard those things that seem to have outward merit in favor of those things that actually enrich our lives. We are naturally prejudiced to believe that more is better, but Dr. Arielys research provides a dose of reality that strongly sugges