評論
打印
A group of students was told that a small democratic country had been invaded and had asked the U.S. for help.
在一項研究中，一群學生被告知某個民主小國在遭到侵略后向美國尋求援助。
And they had to make a decision. What should they do?
學生們必須決定怎么辦。他們該怎么做呢？
Intervene, appeal to the U.N., or do nothing?
干預，向聯合國申訴，還是袖手旁觀？
They were each then given one of three descriptions of this hypothetical crisis.
這個假想的危機有三種不同的解釋，他們每人聽到其中的一種。
Each of which was designed to trigger a different historical analogy:
每個解釋意在引起對不同歷史事件的類比：
World War II, Vietnam, and the third was historically neutral.
二戰，越戰，或者一個中性的事件。
Those exposed to the World War II scenario made more interventionist recommendations than the others.
聽到二戰類比的學生比其他學生更多地建議美國干預這場危機。
Just as we cannot ignore the literal meaning of words,
正如我們不能忽視詞語的字面意義，
we cannot ignore the analogies that are triggered by metaphor.
我們也無法忽視由暗喻促發的類比。
Metaphor matters because it opens the door to discovery.
暗喻很重要，因為它開啟了發現的大門。
Whenever we solve a problem, or make a discovery, we compare what we know with what we don't know.
每當我們要解決問題，或做新的探索時，我們就把已知和未知進行比較。
And the only way to find out about the latter is to investigate the ways it might be like the former.
而我們發現未知的唯一途徑就是探討未知和已知有何相似性。
Einstein described his scientific method as combinatory play.
愛因斯坦曾把他的科學方法描述為組合的游戲。
He famously used thought experiments, which are essentially elaborate analogies, to come up with some of his greatest discoveries.
他在其有名的思想實驗中，實質上就是復雜的類比中，成就了一些最偉大的科學發現。
By bringing together what we know and what we don't know through analogy,
當我們用類比把已知和未知聯系在一起時，
metaphorical thinking strikes the spark that ignites discovery.
暗喻的思維就會點燃發現的火花。
Now metaphor is ubiquitous, yet it's hidden.
暗喻雖然無處不在，卻是隱藏身形。
But you just have to look at the words around you and you'll find it.
而你只要注意周圍的用詞，就可以找到它。
