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It is commonly thought that age brings wisdom.
大眾普遍認為年齡增長會帶來更多智慧。
And this is largely true, it seems – unless you are Japanese. In which case, by the time you are 25, you are likely to be just as wise as your elders, an astonishing new study reveals.
這似乎很大程度上是正確的，除非你是日本人。一項新研究揭示了一個驚人的結果，日本人在達到25歲時，很可能擁有與年長的人一樣多的智慧。
Americans, however, are more conventional and develop deep understanding over time, according to research by the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
不過，加拿大安大略省滑鐵盧大學開展的這一調查顯示，美國人在這方面更合乎常規，隨著年歲的增長而加深認知。
In one of the tests, designed to measure five crucial aspects of reasoning, US citizens’ scores improved by 22 percent over 50 years.
在其中一項對推理能力的測試中，年長五十歲的美國參與者得分要高出22%。該測試的目的是對參與者推理能力的五個重要方面進行考量。
But, in the examination scored out of 100, both 25-year-old and 75-year-old Japanese participants had an average quotient of 51 for intergroup wisdom – the idea of understanding society.
但是，在對25歲及75歲的日本人進行測試時，他們的團體智商——社會認知能力的平均分都是51（滿分為100分）。
With Americans, on the other hand, results from the same tests varied between averages of 45 and 55 between the two age groups.
而當美國人接受同樣的測試時，兩個年齡群的平均分則分別為45和55。
Also, interpersonal wisdom – the understanding of relationships between individuals – the scores of the 225 US participants climbed from 46 to 50.
此外，在人際交往的智慧（即對個體間關系的認知）方面，225名美國參與者的分數隨年齡增長由46分增至50分。
In the case of the 186 Japanese people recruited by lead researcher Igor Grossmann, their scores actually dropped slightly from 53 to 52.
首席研究員伊戈爾•格羅斯曼收集了186名日本人在這方面的數據，他們的分數實際上還略微跌落，從53降至52。
The tests also recorded other unexpected results.
這一系列測試還記錄了其他意想不到的結果。
Given the US reputation of an individualistic society, you might expect its participants’ interpersonal wisdom to be higher than their supposedly more collectivist Japanese counterparts.
鑒于美國人一直被視為個人主義社會，你可能會猜想美國人的人際交往智慧會比更集體化的日本對手要高。
Yet the study showed that by 75, the Japanese scored higher in the interpersonal wisdom and Americans, in fact, achieved higher results in the intergroup variety.
但是，研究顯示，75歲以下的日本人在人際交往智慧上要超越美國人，而事實上，美國人的團體智慧得分要高于日本人。
Dr Grossman suggested that perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when it is individualistic.
格羅斯曼博士建議，或許在集體主義社會里你需要個人能力，而在個人主義社會中你需要社交能力。
His study, published in Psychological Science and reported in The Economist, recruited Japanese and Americans with a range of different occupations.
他的研究刊登在《心理科學》雜志上并被《經濟學人》報道。此次研究廣泛招募了來自不同行業的美國人和日本人。
