3月2日答案 - ChaseDream - Powered by Discuz!

Damon Horowitz is a philosophy professor and serial entrepreneur. He recently joined Google as In-House Philosopher / Director of Engineering, heading development of several initiatives involvingsocial and search. He came to Google from Aardvark, the social search engine, where he was co-founder and CTO, overseeing product development and research strategy. Prior to Aardvark,Horowitz built several companies around applications of intelligent language processing. He co-founded Perspecta (acquired by Excite), was lead architect for Novation Biosciences (acquired byAgilent), and co-founded NewsDB (now Daylife).

Horowitz teaches courses in philosophy, cognitive science, and computer science at severalinstitutions, including Stanford, NYU, University of Pennsylvania and San Quentin State Prison.

Meet Tony. He's my student. He's about my age, and he's in San Quentin State Prison. WhenTony was 16 years old, one day, one moment, "It was mom's gun. Just flash it, scare the guy.He's a punk. He took some money; we'll take his money. That'll teach him. Then last minute, I'mthinking, 'Can't do this. This is wrong.' My buddy says, 'C'mon, let's do this.' I say, 'Let's do this.'"And those three words, Tony's going to remember, because the next thing he knows, he hearsthe pop. There's the punk on the ground, puddle of blood. And that's felony murder -- 25 to life,parole at 50 if you're lucky, and Tony's not feeling very lucky.

说说托尼，他是我的学生，跟我差不多年纪。他在圣昆汀州立监狱服刑。在他16岁的时候，有一天，“那是我妈的枪，拿它吓唬吓唬这人。这家伙是个刺头。他有点钱。我们拿了钱，也是给他点颜色看看。最后一刻，我想：‘我不该这么做，这不对。’ 同伴说：‘别拖拉了，快动手！’ 我说：‘动手吧！’” 托尼会记住这三个字，因为他立刻听到了响声，而那个刺头躺倒在血泊里。谋杀重罪，终生监禁。运气好的话50岁能假释，但托尼似乎不太走运。

So when we meet in my philosophy class in his prison and I say, "In this class, we will discuss thefoundations of ethics," Tony interrupts me. "What are you going to teach me about right andwrong? I know what is wrong. I have done wrong. I am told every day, by every face I see, everywall I face, that I am wrong. If I ever get out of here, there will always be a mark by my name. I'ma convict; I am branded 'wrong.' What are you going to tell me about right and wrong?"

在到他的监狱上哲学课时，我们相遇了，我说：“这门课我们讨论道德基础。” 托尼打断了我 “你要教我什么是是非？” 我知道什么是错的。我做过错事。每一天我都知道，每一天我看着面前每堵墙，我知道我错了。要是我出不去，我的名字上肯定有个污点，我是个罪犯，我的标签就是‘错误’。你还有什么要告诉我是非对错吗？”

So I say to Tony, "Sorry, but it's worse than you think. You think you know right and wrong?Then can you tell me what wrong is? No, don't just give me an example. I want to know aboutwrongness itself, the idea of wrong. What is that idea? What makes something wrong? How do weknow that it's wrong? Maybe you and I disagree. Maybe one of us is wrong about the wrong.Maybe it's you, maybe it's me -- but we're not here to trade opinions; everyone's got an opinion.We are here for knowledge. Our enemy is thoughtlessness. This is philosophy."

我跟托尼说 “抱歉，但你的情况比你以为的还糟。你以为你知道对与错？那你能告诉我什么是错的？不要单给我例子，我要知道错这个概念，错是什么意思？是什么导致它是错的？我们怎么知道一件事情是错的？也许你我意见不同，也许我们对错的理解是错的，也许是你，也许是我。但我们不是来交换意见的。谁都有自己的意见，我们是为知识而来的，我们的敌人是不去思考。这就是哲学。”

And something changes for Tony. "Could be I'm wrong. I'm tired of being wrong. I want to knowwhat is wrong. I want to know what I know." What Tony sees in that moment is the project ofphilosophy, the project that begins in wonder -- what Kant called "admiration and awe at thestarry sky above and the moral law within." What can creatures like us know of such things? It isthe project that always takes us back to the condition of existence -- what Heidegger called "thealways already there." It is the project of questioning what we believe and why we believe it -- whatSocrates called "the examined life." Socrates, a man wise enough to know that he knows nothing.Socrates died in prison, his philosophy intact.

托尼有了改变 “也许是我错了。我不想错下去了。我想知道什么是错，我想知道我的想法。托尼那一刻明白了哲学的概念。哲学始于探究－康德所谓的“位我上者，灿烂星空；道德律令，在我心中。” 人类生命能对此认知多少？哲学的概念总是将我们带回存在的问题－海德格尔所谓的“已然存在” 。这是个质疑我们的认知及其背后理由的概念，也就是苏格拉底所说的“经过检验的生活” 苏格拉底，一个知道自己一无所知的智者，他死于狱中，但他的哲学长存于世。

So Tony starts doing his homework. He learns his whys and wherefores, his causes andcorrelations, his logic, his fallacies. Turns out, Tony's got the philosophy muscle. His body is inprison, but his mind is free. Tony learns about the ontologically promiscuous, the epistemologicallyanxious, the ethically dubious, the metaphysically ridiculous. That's Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche andBill Clinton.

托尼开始思考。他去理解他的何所来何所去，他的前因后果他的逻辑，他的谬论。托尼有哲学的领悟力，他身在监狱，但心却自由。托尼理解了本体性混杂，认识性焦虑，道德可疑性和形而上学的荒谬，分别是柏拉图，笛卡儿，尼采和比尔.克林顿。

So when he gives me his final paper, in which he argues that the categorical imperative is perhapstoo uncompromising to deal with the conflict that affects our everyday and challenges me to tellhim whether therefore we are condemned to moral failure, I say, "I don't know. Let us think aboutthat." Because in that moment, there's no mark by Tony's name; it's just the two of us standingthere. It is not professor and convict, it is just two minds ready to do philosophy. And I say toTony, "Let's do this."

最后他在递交给我的期末报告里，讨论了绝对命令，对处理日常生活中的冲突，也许是过于不妥协的态度，并要我告诉他是否因此我们注定道德失灵。我说：“我不知道，我们想想这个问题。” 那一刻，托尼的名字上没有污点，仅仅是我们两个人站在那里，不是教授和罪犯，仅仅是两个心灵探讨哲学。我对托尼说“动手吧！”

谢谢！
3月2日阅读

In an attempt to improve the overall performance of clerical workers, many companies have introduced computerized performance monitoring and control systems (CPMCS) that record and report a worker's computer-driven activities.

生词:  clerical 行政的  introduce 引进
语法: In an attempt to do 力图,试图.  语法结构: 介词短语做插入语, SVO + 定语从句
翻译:为了能提高全体行政人员的工作绩效,很多公司引入了电子绩效的监管系统(CPMCS),该系统能够记录和汇报工作者电脑驱动的活动状况
P : many companies have introduced CPMCS

However, at least one study has shown that such monitoring may not be having the desired effect.

语法:  名词从句 , may not be doing 和 may not do sth 类似

“May not do sth” talks about a possible future action while “ may not be doing “ talks about something  that might not  happening right now

翻译:然而,至少有一项研究显示这样的监控可能没有达到理想的效果

I: Such monitoring may not be having the effect

In the study, researchers asked monitored clerical workers and their supervisors how assessments of productivity affected supervisors' ratings of workers' performance.

语法: 修饰assessments of productivity affected supervisors' ratings of workers' performance
翻译:这项研究中,研究者询问被监控的行政人员和她们的主管关于生产率的评估是如何影响主管对工作者业绩的评分
E: how assessments of productivity affected supervisors' ratings of workers' performance

In contrast to unmonitored workers doing the same work, who without exception identified the most important element in their jobs as customer service, the monitored workers and their supervisors all responded that productivity was the critical factor in assigning ratings.

语法: 介词短语平行结构, ( 定语从句修饰介词短语), SV+ 名词从句
翻译: 那些没有被监控的员工一致认为在他们工作中最重要的因素就是那些类似客户服务性质的工作, 与他们相比, 那些被监管的工作人员和他们的管理者一致认为在评分中,最关键的因素是生产率
E: In contrast to unmonitored workers, the monitored workers responded that productivity was the critical factor

This finding suggested that there should have been a strong correlation between a monitored worker's productivity and the overall rating the worker received.

语法: 省略, the overall rating (which) the worker received.
翻译:这一现象表明在被监管员工的生产率和整体的员工评级之间应该是有紧密联系的
E a strong correlation between a monitored worker's productivity and the overall rating

However, measures of the relationship between overall rating and individual elements of performance clearly supported the conclusion that supervisors gave considerable weight to criteria such as attendance, accuracy, and indications of customer satisfaction.

语法: 平行结构,修饰,定语从句
翻译: 然而,对于总体和个体业绩的评分之间的关系测评明确的支持了这样的结论,监管者在评分时给了出勤 ,准确性,和客户满意度等条件一定的权重
E supervisors gave considerable weight to criteria such as attendance, accuracy, and indications of customer satisfaction.

It is possible that productivity may be a "hygiene factor." that is, if it is too low, it will hurt the overall rating. But the evidence suggests that beyond the point at which productivity becomes "good enough." higher productivity per se is unlikely to improve a rating.
词汇: per se 本质上
语法: 名词从句,定语从句
翻译:有可能生产力至少一项”保健因素”,即,如果生产率过低,它就会影响整体评分. 但是事实证明当生产力超过足够好的临界点时, 更高的生产力本质上是不可能提升评分的.
Conclusion: if it is too low, it will hurt the overall rating; If it becomes good enough, higher productivity per se is unlikely to improve a rating.

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