The Power of Introverts (2) 内向者的力量

Tosee the bias clearly, you need to understand what introversion is. It'sdifferent from being shy. Shyness is about fear of social judgment.Introversion is more about, how do you respondto stimulation, including social stimulation. Soextroverts really crave large amounts of stimulation, whereas introverts feelat their most alive and their most switched-on and their most capable whenthey're in quieter, more low-key environments.Not all the time -- these things aren't absolute-- but a lot of the time. So the key then to maximizing our talents is for usall to put ourselves in the zone of stimulation that is right for us.

They want the funeral to be as low-key as possible. 他们希望葬礼办得尽量低调。

为了清晰地看到这种偏见，我们需要了解“内向”是什么。它和害羞是不同的。害羞是对于社会判断的恐惧，内向更多的是你怎样对于刺激作出回应，包括来自社会的刺激。外向的人渴望大量的刺激和激励，而内向的人在更安静、更低调的环境中会感到最活跃和最有能力。并不是所有时候--这些事情都不是绝对的-- 但是大多如此。所以把我们的天赋发挥到最大化的关键在于，把我们自己放到适合我们的激励区域中去。

respond     /rɪ'spɒnd/    v. 回应，回复

stimulation  /ˌstɪmjʊ'leʃn/   刺激

low-key     /'ləu'ki:/        低调的

Buthere's where the bias comes in. Our most importantinstitutions, our schools and our workplaces, they are designed mostlyfor extroverts and for extroverts' need for lots of stimulation. And also wehave this belief system right now that I call the new groupthink, which holds thatall creativity and all productivity come from a very oddlygregarious place.

但是这正是偏见的来源。我们最重要的那些机构，我们的学校和工作单位，它们都是为性格外向者设计的，并且有适合他们需要的刺激和鼓励。当然我们现在也有这样一种信念体系，我称之为新型的“团队思考”，就是所有创造力和生产力都来自于一个古怪的群居场所。

institution    /‚ɪnstɪ'tjuːʃən/   n. 机构，团体，制度

gregarious    /grɪ'geərɪəs/     adj. 爱交际的，合群的

WhenI was going to school, we sat in rows. We sat in rows of desks like this, andwe did most of our work pretty autonomously. Butnowadays, your typical classroom has pods of desks -- four or five or six orseven kids all facing each other. And kids are working in countless group assignments. Even in subjects like math and creativewriting, which you think would depend on solo flights of thought, kids are nowexpected to act as committee members. And for the kids who prefer to go off bythemselves or just to work alone, those kids are seen as outliers often or,worse, as problem cases. And the vast majority of teachers reports believingthat the ideal student is an extrovert as opposed to an introvert, even thoughintroverts actually get better grades and are more knowledgeable, according toresearch.

我上学时，大家都是坐成一排。我们靠着桌子一排排坐着就像这样，并且我们大多数工作都是自主完成的。但是在现代社会，所谓典型的教室是排成一圈的桌子-- 四个或是五个或是六、七个孩子坐在一起，面对面坐着。孩子们要完成无数个小组任务， 甚至像数学和创意写作这些课程。这些你们认为需要依靠个人闪光想法的课程，孩子们现在却被期待成为小组会的成员。对于那些喜欢独处，或者自己一个人做事的孩子来说，这些孩子常常被视为局外人，或者更糟，被视为问题孩子。并且很大一部分老师的报告中都认为，理想的学生应该是外向的。虽然据研究报道，内向的学生可能成绩更好， 更博学多识。

autonomous   /ɔːˈtɒnəməs/    adj. 自治的；独立自主的

assignment  

 /əˈsaɪnmənt/

n.

任务，作业