無知即是福---經濟學人雙語

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Ignorance is bliss

無知即是福

原文：Forensic scientists know too much about the cases they investigate

官方譯文：法醫科學家對他們調查的案子知道得太多

原文：AS ALL fans of crime fiction know, DNA is the gold standard of forensic science. Or is it? Itiel Dror, a cognitive psychologist at University College, London, thinks this doctrine of infallibility needs to be questioned. His problem is not with the technology itself, but with the way it is deployed. For he has gathered evidence that DNA examiners interpretations of their results are, at least in complex cases, open to subjectivity and bias.

官方譯文：所有的罪案小說迷都知道，DNA是司法科學的黃金標準。它到底是么？一位倫敦的大學認知心理學專家Itiel Dror認為這個說法的正確性有待考驗。他的問題不是針對技術本身而是它進行的方式。因為他已經搜集了證據證明DNA鑒定者對他們結果的解釋至少在複雜的案子里易受主觀性和偏差的影響。

單詞：

Forensic [f??r?ns?k,-z?k] 法庭的，法院的;公開辯論的，論爭的;適於法庭的

E.g:They were convicted on forensic evidence alone.

他們被僅憑法庭科學證據定了罪.

Infallibility [in,f?l?bil?ti] 無錯誤，無過失

E.g:This word-level palindrome also extols the virtue of the infallible plan, an infallibility that humans do not share.

這句迴文也讚美了沒有錯誤的計劃的優點，但是人們卻不能做到沒有錯誤。

Subjectivity [,s?bd??kt?v?ti] 主觀性，主觀

E.g:In studying a problem, we should shun subjectivity.

研究問題，忌帶主觀性。

片語： the gold standard 黃金標準

the way it is deployed 進行的方式

原文：When Americas National Academy of Sciences produced a report on the state of forensic science in 2009, it criticised many of the methods then in use. Citing earlier research by Dr Dror, the reports authors stated, for example, that fingerprint examiners claims of zero error rates were scientifically implausible. DNA, however, was spared their criticism. Now Dr Dror and Greg Hampikian, a forensic biologist at Boise State University in Idaho, have published a study in Science & Justice that suggests all is not shipshape in the domain of the double helix either.

官方譯文：當美國國家科學院在2009年發表了一片關於司法科學現狀的報告時，它批判了很多當時正在應用的鑒定方式。引用這篇報道的作者Dror博士早前做的研究，例如，指紋鑒定者宣稱的零誤差在科學上是不合理的。然而DNA省去了他們的批判。現在，Dror博士和博伊西的愛達荷州立大學的法醫學生物學家Greg Hampikian在"科學與正義"上發表了一篇研究，表明所有的東西都不是井然有序的，在雙螺旋線的領域裡也不是。

單詞：

claim [klem] n. 要求；聲稱；索賠；斷言；值得

E.g:He repeated his claim that the people of Trinidad and Tobago backed his action.

他再次聲稱，特立尼達和巴多哥的人民支持他的行動。

implausible [?mpl?z?bl] 難以置信的，不像真實的

E.g:I had to admit it sounded like an implausible excuse.

我不得不承認，它聽上去 像是個讓人難以置信的借口。

shipshape [??p?ep] adj. 井然有序的；整整齊齊的；整潔乾淨的

E.g:The house only needs an occasional coat of paint to keep it shipshape.

房子只需要偶爾粉刷一次就可以保持整潔。

片語：forensic science 司法科學

zero error rate 零誤差

in the domain of 在…領域

原文：Dr Drors and Dr Hampikians experiment presented data from a real case to 17 DNA examiners working in an accredited government laboratory in North America. The case involved a gang rape in the state of Georgia, in which one of the rapists testified against three other suspects in exchange for a lighter sentence, as part of a plea bargain. All three denied involvement, but the two DNA examiners in the original case both found that they could not exclude one of the three from having been involved, based on an analysis of swabs taken from the victim.

官方譯文：Dror博士和Dr Hampikian博士的實驗提供一個真實案例的數據給17個在一家受認可的北美政府實驗室里工作的DNA鑒定員。這起案件涉及到一宗喬治亞州的輪姦案，其中一名強姦犯為了讓自己獲得輕判做了不利於其它三名嫌疑者的證言，作為認罪辯訴協議的一部分。其他三名嫌疑人全部否認參與強姦，但是根據從受害者處提取的藥籤分析，原案中有兩位DNA鑒定師都發現他們無法排除三名中的其中一名參與了強姦。

單詞：

accredit [?kr?d?t] vt. 授權；信任；委派；歸因於

E.g:This degree programme is fully accredited by the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

這個學位課程是經英國電機工程師學會完全認可。

plea bargain 辯訴交易，認罪辯訴協議；

E.g:A plea bargain was offered by the state assuring her that she would not go to prison.

該州提出了一份認罪辯訴協議，保證她不會入獄

片語：testified against 做對…不利的證明

plea bargain 辯訴交易，認罪辯訴協議

exclude (sb) from 把…從…中刪除

原文：As is almost always true in forensic-science laboratories, these examiners knew what the case was about. And their findings were crucial to the outcome because in Georgia, as in many other states, a plea bargain cannot be accepted without corroborating evidence. However, of the 17 examiners Dr Dror and Dr Hampikian approached—who, unlike the original two, knew nothing about the context of the crime—only one thought that the same suspect could not be excluded. Twelve others excluded him, and four abstained.

官方譯文：由於在司法科學實驗室里總是什麼都是對的，這些鑒定師們知道這個案子到底是怎麼回事了。而且他們的手指對於出來的結果是至關重要的，因為在喬治亞，同時也在很多其它州，認罪辯訴如果沒有確實的證據是無法被接受的。然而，在Dror博士和Hampikian接觸的17個鑒定師中——他們不像開始兩位鑒定師那樣，對犯罪內容一無所知——只有一位認為一樣的嫌疑不能被排除。另外十二位把他排除了，而四位棄權。

單詞：

corroborate [k?rɑb?ret] vt. 證實；使堅固

E.g:I have access to a wide range of documents which corroborated the story.

我能夠查閱證實這一說法的大量文件。

abstain [?bsten] vi. 自製；放棄；避免

E.g: Three countries abstained in the vote.

三個國家在投票中棄權了.

原文：Though they cannot prove it, Dr Dror and Dr Hampikian suspect the difference in contextual information given to the examiners was the cause of the different results. The original pair may have subliminally interpreted ambiguous information in a way helpful to the prosecution, even though they did not consciously realise what they were doing.

官方譯文：儘管他們無法證明，Dror博士和Hampikian博士懷疑鑒定師得到的上下文信息的區別是引起這些不同結果的原因。開始的兩個人也許已經在下意識里以某種有益於控方的方式破譯了模稜兩可的信息，即使他們沒有清楚地意識到當時他們在做什麼。

單詞：

contextual [k?nt?kst?u?l] adj. 上下文的；前後關係的

E.g:The writer builds up a convincing contextual picture of life during the Civil War.

該作者在文脈上勾勒出內戰期間令人信服的生活畫面.

subliminally [s?blimin?li] adv. 下意識地；潛意識地

E.g:What you dont know is that pictures of black faces or pictures of white faces are being flashed on the screen but theyre being flashed on the screen subliminally so fast you dont even know youre seeing them.

但你不知道有一張黑人的照片,或者白人的照片在電腦上一閃而過,這是一張速閃照片，影響的是你的潛意識,快到你根本看不到它閃過。

原文：And DNA data are ambiguous more often than is generally realised. Dr Dror thinks that in about 25% of cases, tiny samples or the mixing of material from more than one person can lead to such ambiguity. Moreover, such is DNAs reputation that, when faced with claims that the molecule puts a defendant in a place where a crime has been committed, that defendant will often agree to a plea-bargain he might otherwise not have accepted.

官方譯文：而且DNA數據往往比普遍了解的要模稜兩可。Dror博士認為在大約25%的案子里，小樣本或者從不止一人身上取來的混合物質可能導致這樣的二義性。此外，DNA的好名聲就是這樣，當面臨宣稱用DNA分子證明被告所犯的罪的時候，被告通常會同意認罪辯訴，否則他也許不會接受。

單詞：

ambiguous [?mb?ɡju?s] 含糊不清的，不明確的，模稜兩可的

E.g:This agreement is very ambiguous and open to various interpretations.

這份協議非常含糊，有多種解釋。

defendant [d?f?nd?nt] 被告人；

E.g:The defendant pleaded guilty and was fined $500.

被告認罪，並被罰款$500。

片語：lead to 導致，造成

face with 面臨，面對

agree to 同意，接受

原文：This one example does not prove the existence of a systematic problem. But it does point to a sloppy approach to science. According to Norah Rudin, a forensic-DNA consultant in Mountain View, California, forensic scientists are beginning to accept that cognitive bias exists, but there is still a lot of resistance to the idea, because examiners take the criticism personally and feel they are being accused of doing bad science. According to Dr Rudin, the attitude that cognitive bias can somehow be willed away, by education, training or good intentions, is still pervasive.

官方譯文：這個例子沒有證明系統性問題的存在。但是它確實指出了一個科學上草率的方法。根據一位加利福尼亞州芒廷維尤的法庭DNA顧問Norah Rudin，法庭科學家正在開始接受那種認知性偏差的存在，但仍然有很多阻力，因為鑒定師個人會接受批評，覺得自己被譴責說自然科學學得差。根據Rudin博士，認知偏差可以通過某種方式意識性去除的態度是普遍的，比如通過教育、訓練或好意的方式。

單詞：

Sloppy [sl?p?] 馬虎的，敷衍的，草率的；

E.g:He has little patience for sloppy work from his colleagues.

他無法忍耐同事們馬虎的工作。

pervasive [p?ves?v] adj. 普遍的；到處滲透的；流行的

E.g:He lives with a pervasive sense of guilt.

他生活在深深的內疚之中。

辭彙：be accused of 因…而被起訴

will away 以意志力消除(或克制、克服)

Medical researchers, by contrast, take great care to make drug trials "blind", so that neither the patient nor the administering doctor knows who is receiving the drug being tested, and who is getting a control drug or placebo. When someones freedom—and, in an American context, possibly his life, as well—is at stake, it surely behoves forensic-science laboratories to take precautions that are equally strong.

官方譯文：相比之下，醫學研究者非常注意使藥物試驗"不透明"，所以病人和用藥的醫生都不知道接受藥物測試的是誰，和控制藥物和安慰劑的是誰。在美國環境中，當某人的自由和他的生命也危在旦夕的時候，法醫科學實驗室應當採取相當的強預防措施。

單詞：

behove [b?hov] 使（某人）應當或必須（要做某事）；

E.g:It behoves us to think of these dangers.

我們必須考慮到這些危險。

辭彙：

at stake 危險，瀕臨險境；

E.g:At stake is the success or failure of world trade talks.

世界貿易的談判正處在成敗的重要關頭。

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