时间:2018-12-03 作者:英语课 分类:初学者听力文摘精选


英语课

The mathematical marriage predictor.



You might not think that mathematicians 2 have anything particularly relevant to say about your love life. But you'd be wrong--if we're talking about James Murray, a mathematician 1 at the University of Washington in Seattle who teamed up with Psychologist John Gottman to explore the rocky road of romance. Here's what the two did. They videotaped hundreds of volunteer couples discussing such things as sex and money. You know--the sorts of things on which everybody always agrees, right?



Then they broke down behavioral responses to these high-pressure discussions into recognizable groups, such as whether partner A can be persuaded by partner B, or whether partner A takes offense 3 when partner B makes a cutting remark. A set of equations was drawn 4 up that represented the interactions of these different factors in mathematical form, leading to...Ding!...a prediction as to whether this marriage would last.



Sound like a stretch? Think you can't possibly tell that much about a couple from a single interview and some calculations? Four years later Murray and Gottman did a follow-up to see whether the equation had made the right prediction. It sure had--their Mathematical Marriage Predictor was right an astonishing ninety-four percent of the time.



Some conspicuous 5 findings included the fact that, in marriages that lasted, laughing occurred five times more frequently than in couples destined 6 for break-up. The team also found that the one behavior that most consistently predicted divorce was the appearance of a contemptuous or mocking facial expression on one partner's face when the other one spoke 7. According to the Mathematical Marriage Predictor, it's "roll your eyes and say goodbyes."



1 mathematician
n.数学家
  • The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
  • The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。
2 mathematicians
数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )
  • Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗? 来自英汉文学
  • Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分
3 offense
n.犯规,违法行为;冒犯,得罪
  • I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
  • His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。
4 drawn
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
5 conspicuous
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的
  • It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显,抽烟对健康有害。
  • Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。
6 destined
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的
  • It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
  • The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。
7 spoke
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
学英语单词
21-acetoxypregnenolone
acanthamoebiasis
air cooled reactor
american manufacturers export association
amyasthenic
analvos
backrows
barrack-room lawyer
barrage fire,barrage-fire
blast cell transformation
bumpy road
burda
choice of companions
cognitive ergonomics
coloner
compartmentalized
conglomerateur
corrosion preventive
cosmarium laeve
denly
dephenylmethanes
Djéké
Dortmund tank
downloaders
first-generation computer
flapper-valve controller
gas turbine unit
glycocalicin
goniastrea edwardsi
Grays Harbor
Grossourvreite
group wave
head stock center
Henry of Portugal
hentriaconta-
hippogryphs
hokiest
Holbeach
hyatt
hydraulic fluid
hyperprolactinaemia
interrogation of a defendant
K.C.B.
Laish
large-caps
lightweight of ship
living world
longitudinal striae
macrophobia
Mahavanona
make passes
malasseziosis
MARSOC
minimum width
mith
monotetrazolium
NakaolingFormation
nesting storage
nombre fondamental (matthey 1949)
nominal measurement
nonspheroidal
okuta
Old North French
orphan diseases
paints the walls
paralysis of accommodation
PCGG
perturbatively
pkf
ppu
professional-service
Propylthiour
proteomics
pyranose
quantum state
recurved line
refiling
rhizagr
Santalales
Sarnen
set-back scale
shit-faceds
smart-phone
smelter flue
sodium phosphate fluoride
Sorel alloy
specimen singnature
speckled and lentiginous nevus
splice acceptor
split-body
Stephania gracilenta
supermode
supersonic isobar
theca externa
thought a great deal of
toposa
turnover time
urtexts
validator
velvety-furred
voltage change ratio
yestermorning, yesttermorn