61. 我们是否应该忽视自己的弱点？

是我的观点改变了，还是我的标准降低了？

Has my perspective changed or have my standards lowered?

嗨。

Hey.

我是安吉拉·达克沃斯。

I'm Angela Duckworth.

我是史蒂文·杜布纳。

I'm Steven Dubner.

你正在收听《无厘头问题》。

And you're listening to no stupid questions.

今天在节目中，是应该专注于发挥优势，还是改进缺点？

Today on the show, is it better to invest in your strengths or improve on your weaknesses?

你可能觉得我特别有趣，但其他人可能会说，

You might think I'm really funny, but then other people might say,

此外，为什么我们会喜欢或不喜欢我们所喜欢或不喜欢的东西？

Also, why do we like and dislike the things that we like and dislike?

两年来，我每天都吃同样的午餐。

For two years, I had the exact same lunch.

故意的吗？

On purpose?

Angela，这是听众提出的一个经典问题。

Angela, this is a classic question from a listener.

我认为这是一个关键问题。

It's an essential question, I would argue.

好的。

Okay.

说吧。

Shoot.

是什么问题？

What is it?

我是不是把它夸大了？

Did I build it up too much?

我知道。

I know.

我有点觉得，没有任何问题能配得上这么精彩的开场，但我还是想知道它是什么。

I'm kind of like, no question can live up to this introduction, but I wanna know what it is.

这是来自弗吉尼亚州里士满的艾米莉·沃德的提问。

So this is from Emily Ward, who lives in Richmond, Virginia.

我们应该发挥自己的优势，还是专注于改善自己的弱点？

Should we capitalize on our strengths or work on our weaknesses?

这是个很好的问题。

This is a great question.

这难道不是把整个宇宙浓缩进一个问题里了吗？

Is that not the universe in one question?

这确实是一个囊括了整个宇宙的问题，自从我第一天读研究生起，我就一直在思考这个问题。

It is the universe in one question, and it's a question I've been thinking about since the first day of graduate school.

因为当我决定转型成为心理学家时，我发现我的导师马丁·塞利格曼正是积极心理学的创始人。

Because when I went to repurpose myself as a psychologist, I discovered that my adviser, Marty Seligman, was the founder of Positive Psychology.

我说的是，我在报名成为他的研究生之后才发现，我根本不知道还有这么一套理论。

And I say that I discovered that after signing up to be his graduate student because I literally didn't know that's this whole shtick.

你以为他是个水管工？

You thought he was a plumber?

我知道他是个心理学家，但我不知道他正试图通过让人们关注自己的优势和幸福，而不是专注于弱点，来彻底改变心理学。

Well, I knew he was a psychologist, but I didn't know that he was trying to revolutionize psychology by getting people to think about their strengths and happiness and not focus on weaknesses.

所以马蒂有一个说法，认为我们最突出的优势就是我们的标志性优势。

So Marty had an expression of our highest strengths as being our signature strengths.

比如，我可能在某方面得分很高，实际上，我从实证数据中知道这一点。

So for example, I might be high in actually, I know this empirically.

我刚听到‘你可能在某方面得分很高’，就停止听了。

I just heard I might be high, and I stopped listening.

是的。

Yes.

请不要不当剪辑我。

Please don't edit me inappropriately.

我知道根据马蒂与另一位心理学家克里斯·彼得森共同开发的这份问卷，我的优势是什么。

I know what my strengths are according to this questionnaire that Marty developed with another psychologist named Chris Peterson.

这份问卷被称为‘行动中的价值观’问卷，简称VIA。

It was called the values in action questionnaire shortened to the VIA acronyms.

我知道你很喜欢这些缩写。

I know you love those.

VIA包含24种不同的优势，我们每个人可能都具备其中一些，但它们有排名顺序。

So the VIA has 24 different strengths that we might all have some of, but there's a rank ordering.

而对你来说排名最高的五项，他称之为你的核心优势。

And the five that were highest for you, he called these your signature strengths.

我有一阵子没做VIA测试了，但我很确定我在‘毅力’这项上得分很高，这并不意外。

I haven't taken the VIA in a while, but I'm fairly sure I rank highly in perseverance, not surprisingly.

我觉得我在‘慷慨’这项上得分也很高。

And I think I was high in generosity.

我知道我在‘欣赏美’这项上的得分非常低。

I know it was very low in appreciation for beauty.

总之，这里的观点是，当我生活时，针对艾米莉的问题，我应该专注于发挥自己的优势，而不是盯着那24项中的最末几位，说：天啊，我对美的欣赏能力太差了，得去补足它。

And, anyway, the idea here is when I live my life, to Emily's question, should I be racing my strengths versus looking at the very bottom of the 24 and saying, whoo, appreciation of beauty, I should remediate that.

抱歉。

Sorry.

你的优势是什么？

What are your strengths?

发挥你的优势。

Racing your strengths.

发挥？

Racing?

发挥，r-a-c-i-n-g。

Racing, r a c I n g.

发挥，就像赛车那样，比如

Racing, like race car, like

我不太明白。

I just don't understand.

那是什么意思？

What does that mean?

竞争？

Racing.

哦，我只给了你半句话。

Oh, I guess I'm giving you only half of a phrase.

有一个体育领域的说法，叫‘发挥优势，弥补不足’。

There is this sports phrase, race your strengths and train your weaknesses.

哦。

Oh.

但意思是，如果你有社交智慧、好奇心之类的优点，就应该充分发挥它。

But the idea is if you have a strength like social intelligence or curiosity or whatever, you should race that.

找一份需要你核心优势的工作。

Do a job that requires your signature strengths.

如果用管理术语来说，就要想办法让它成为你的核心能力。

Find ways to make that your core competency if you use management speak.

你知道，经济学家对这个问题有非常独特的看法。

You know, economists have a very particular view of this question.

我已经思考这个问题至少几百年了。

I've been thinking about it for at least a few hundred years.

19世纪的英国经济学家大卫·李嘉图谈到了比较优势和专业化。

David Ricardo, the British economist from the nineteenth century, talked about comparative advantage and specialization.

这也就是说要发挥你的核心优势。

And that would say raise your signature strengths.

对吧？

Right?

比较优势讲的就是把一件事做到极致，然后用它来交换其他所有东西。

Comparative advantage is all about doing one thing really well and then trading for everything else.

是的。

Yeah.

没错。

Exactly.

他的观点是，这就是为什么贸易是有益的。

His argument was that's why trade is good.

所以，如果你来自一个寒冷的北方国家，养了很多羊，拥有大量羊毛，你可以在这方面做得非常好，但你大概不应该去种植橙子或酿酒用的葡萄。

So if you're from a northern country where it's cold and you raise a lot of sheep and you have a lot of wool, you can get really good at that, but you probably shouldn't be growing oranges or grapes for wine.

你应该让这些事情发生在其他地方，然后通过贸易换取它们，这样每个人都会受益。

And you should let that happen somewhere else, and then you trade for it and it makes everybody better.

关于专业化，也有类似的论点。

There's similar arguments for specialization.

假设我想雇个人来修我的车。

Let's say I wanna hire someone to fix my car.

我希望找一个花了很多时间、投入大量知识去专研这项工作的人，而不是一个只是更方便的邻居——他虽然喜欢摆弄汽车，但可能只是一个不错的会计师。

I want someone who spent a lot of time and invested a lot of knowledge in doing that, not someone that's more convenient like my neighbor who likes to tinker a little bit with cars, but maybe my neighbor is a really good accountant.

我宁愿让那位邻居帮我报税，而不是让修车工来做。

And I'd rather have that neighbor do my taxes than the auto mechanic.

所以，作为一位心理学家，我想问你：人们应该如何看待这一点？

So my question to you as a psychologist is, how should one think about that?

鉴于我们所做的每一个决定都有机会成本，人们应该更倾向于投资于自己已经擅长的事情，还是应该大力投入那些自己希望改进的领域？

Given the fact that there is opportunity cost in every decision we make, should one generally invest more in the things that they are already good at, or is it a good idea to really invest in things that you wanna improve in?

我会从正反两方面来论证这个问题。

I'm gonna argue both sides of this issue.

首先，我需要为马蒂的观点辩护。

First, I need to argue Marty's side.

马蒂甚至可能会说，你可以完全忽略自己的弱点。

And Marty might even say that you can forget about your weaknesses.

他认为将这一点强调给人们非常重要，因为弱点会自然而然地吸引我们的注意力。

And the reason why he thought this was so important to bring to people's attention is that he thought weaknesses grab our attention spontaneously.

你知道，在临床环境中，有人会因为对某些事情感到不满而来到他的办公室。

You know, somebody would come in to his office in a clinical setting because they were unhappy about something.

如果他们不想改善自己的弱点，就不会来这里。

They wouldn't be there if they didn't wanna work on their weaknesses.

是的。

Yeah.

没错。

Exactly.

我认为在某些方面，他觉得整个心理健康行业都聚焦于人们生活中出了什么问题。

I think in some ways, he felt like all of mental health as a profession focused on what was going wrong with people's lives.

他说，当你在弥补自己的弱点，或者试图改善自己不擅长的事情时，就像在爬山。

He said when you're remediating your weaknesses or you're trying to get better or the things you're not good at, it's like fighting the mountain.

你可以再往上爬一步，再把另一只脚往前挪，但你实际上是在逆流而上，很难取得多大进展。

You can climb up another step, and then you can put another foot in front of the other, but you are really going uphill in a way that you're never gonna get very far.

而相反的情况是，当你发挥自己的优势时，就像顺着你天生的倾向顺流而下。

And its opposite would be when you're racing your strengths, it really is like going downhill with the way your natural grain is.

作为一名临床心理学家，这种做法有效吗？

And did that work as a clinical psychologist?

他的病人从这些建议中受益了吗？

Did his patients benefit from that advice?

我可以想象，他们可能会说：‘我来这里不是为了把已经擅长的事情做得更好，因为那根本不是问题。’

I could imagine that they could say, well, I'm not here to get even better at something that I'm good at because that's not a problem for me.

我来这里是因为我的问题。

I'm here because of my problems.

马蒂已经很久没有从事临床工作了。

Well, Marty has not been in clinical practice for a while.

当我成为他的研究生时，他就已经不再接诊病人了。

And when I started as his graduate student, he was not seeing patients.

但马蒂和其他人已经就这一理念开展过研究。

But there has been research done by Marty and others on this idea.

比如，你告诉人们：填一份问卷，找出自己的优势，看看能否在日常生活中更进一步、以更有创意的方式运用这些优势。

Like, if you tell people, take this questionnaire, identify your strengths, see if you can work on applying these strengths even more and in creative ways in your everyday life.

这样做有帮助吗？

Does that help?

所以，这是回答这个问题的一种方式。

So that's one way of answering the question.

我们应该说明，这份调查问卷是你在回答关于自己的问题。

This survey, we should say, you're answering these questions about yourself.

所以你可能是错的。

So you might be wrong.

你可能并不像自己说的那样擅长那些事，反而可能比你认为的更擅长那些你觉得自己不擅长的事。

You might not be as good at the things that you say you are, and you might be better at the things that you think you're bad at.

比如幽默感，你可能觉得我特别搞笑，但其他人可能会说，哦。

Like sense of humor, you might think I'm really funny, but then other people might say, oh.

这很好笑。

That was funny.

我投你一票，选你搞笑。

You got my funny vote.

谢谢。

Thank you.

那是我最弱的一项之一。

That's one of my lowest ones.

真的吗？

Really?

是的。

Yeah.

你看，这证明了调查是错的。

See, I think that proves the survey is wrong.

对。

Yes.

说得好。

Touche.

好吧。

Okay.

但不管怎样，数据混杂了。

But anyway, the data mixed.

首先，真正高质量的随机分配对照试验非常少，这些试验会真正尝试让人们更多地使用他们的优势特质。

First of all, there are very few true high quality random assignment controlled trials where you actually try to get people to use their signature strengths more.

但有一些研究表明存在益处。

But there are some studies that suggest there's a benefit.

你更快乐了。

You're happier.

也许你在工作上表现得更好一点。

Maybe you do a little bit better with your work.

我想说一点来自临床文献的内容，这比马丁二十年前宣称我们应该关注自身优势的观点要新得多，这个观点来自蒂姆·贝克，他可以说是认知疗法的奠基人，而认知疗法是现代大多数心理治疗的基础。

I do wanna say something that is from the clinical literature that is much more recent than Marty's declaration twenty years ago that we should work on our strengths, and that comes from Tim Beck, who is really the founder, you could argue, of cognitive therapy, which is the foundation of most modern psychotherapy.

蒂姆·贝克快一百岁了，一生都在与焦虑、抑郁、精神分裂症患者打交道，也就是那些患有严重精神疾病的人。

Tim Beck is nearly a century old and spent his whole life working with people who are anxious or depressed, schizophrenic, you know, really serious mental illness.

他意识到，当一个人深受痛苦时，你应该关注他们的优势。

He realized that when you have somebody who's really suffering, you should look at their strengths.

他举了一个严重精神分裂症患者的例子，这个人承受着巨大的痛苦和功能障碍。

He uses the example of a severe schizophrenic who is in so much suffering and so much dysfunction.

但当这位精神分裂症患者能够去餐厅点餐时，他似乎突然活了过来。

But when this schizophrenic was able to go to a restaurant and order food, he seemed to come alive.

陪同他的一位临床医生在一次带他离开精神病院去快餐店的外出活动中发现了这一点，这引发了一次对话，这位精神分裂症患者透露，他非常喜爱食物，并且很享受幻想自己未来或许能以某种方式参与餐饮行业的可能性。

And the clinician who was with him on one of these field trips out of the mental hospital into a fast food restaurant, when he discovered this, that led to a conversation where the schizophrenic patient revealed that he really liked food, and he really enjoyed the fantasy of maybe even being involved in the restaurant industry in some way.

这个故事的圆满结局是，那位治疗师没有试图去纠正他的妄想和幻觉，而是抓住了那一点积极的功能表现，最终帮助这位精神分裂症患者在食堂找到了一份工作——大概是精神卫生机构的食堂——结果他就像变了一个人。

And the happy ending to that story is that that therapist, instead of trying to work on the delusions and the hallucinate, held on to that little glimmer of positive functioning and eventually got that schizophrenic patient to get a job in a cafeteria, I guess, probably the cafeteria of the mental health institution, and it was like a different person.

这个人的功能水平大大提高。

And this person was much higher functioning.

所以我认为，专注于优势比专注于劣势更合理、更高效。

So I think that the logic that working on strengths is better, more efficient than weaknesses.

这个说法是有一定道理的。

It holds some water.

因此，针对这个问题，我一直觉得学校里有一件事特别荒谬：这是你一生中唯一一个被迫什么都得做、还必须样样都擅长的阶段。

So in light of this question, one thing that always struck me as nuts about school, it is the only time in your life when you are forced to do everything and to try to be good at everything.

平均绩点。

Grade point average.

对吧？

Right?

我的意思是，甚至在你接触到绩点之前，四岁时你就得擅长画画。

I mean, even before you get to GPA, when you're four years old, you have to be good at art.

你还得擅长体育课。

You have to be good at phys ed.

哦，对。

Oh, right.

铃鼓。

The tambourine.

是的。

Yeah.

不过，人人都擅长打铃鼓。

Well, everybody's good at the tambourine.

但你知道吗，我认识很多孩子，他们总是说：我热爱空白。

But, you know, I've known so many kids who are like, I love blank.

这个空白可能是艺术。

The blank could be art.

也可能是科学。

It could be science.

为什么我得花85%的时间做这些其他的方面？

Why do I have to spend 85% of my time doing the other blanks?

对。

Right.

我的意思是，从某种角度来说，它们确实不太注重发挥优势。

I mean, they're not very strengths focused, you could argue about.

而且如果你把这种观点推到极端，比如一个五岁的孩子说：我喜欢玩手指、喜欢吃零食和体育课，但阅读和数学就不怎么喜欢。

And maybe if you take your argument to an extreme, if a five year old says, I like finger baiting, and I like snacks and gym, but reading and math, not so much.

我们之所以强制要求在我们认为的基础学科上保持一定程度的均衡，是有原因的。

There's a reason why we enforce some amount of even distribution across what we consider to be foundational subjects.

就连我都不会主张把课程完全变成零食和体育课。

Even I can't argue for a 100% syllabus of snacks and gym.

但依然存在一种观念，认为当前的教育体系会不断打击年轻人的心理，让他们觉得自己有很多方面都不行。

But still, there is this notion that the education system as it's now configured does a good job of hammering the psyches of young people with the notion that there are a lot of things that they're not good at.

是的。

Yes.

因为如果你仅仅接受一个事实，即你这一生中只会做某些事，而不是所有事，那么就意味着你大部分时间都在做无关紧要的事，强迫人们在大部分时间里做他们不感兴趣的事情。

Because if you are just gonna take the bald fact that in your life, you're gonna do something but not everything, then it must be that most of your day is irrelevant and forcing people to do things that are not things that they're interested in for the majority of their day.

显然，这也有弊端。

Obviously, there's a downside.

我女儿其实告诉我，她本来要当毕业致辞代表的，结果在体育课的排球考试中挂了。

And my daughter actually told me that she was gonna be valedictorian, and then she bombed the volleyball exam in gym class.

不会吧。

No.

还有排球考试？

There's a volleyball exam?

她上的就是那种学校。

She went to that kind of school.

是的。

Yes.

我都不知道排球考试会考些什么。

I don't even know what you would ask about volleyball.

对我来说，这看起来很简单。

It seems pretty straightforward to me.

自由人的作用是什么？

What is the role of the libero?

这是个关于排球的问题吗？

Is that a volleyball question?

我觉得是。

I think so.

你看，从树上摔下来并不远。

See, the fall from the tree is not far.

我的排球考试得了C-。

I got a c minus on my volleyball exam.

她得了B+，但还是因此失去了第一名的头衔。

She got a b plus, but it was enough to lose valedictorian.

我们学校也有农学考试。

We had a farming exam in my school.

你看，我觉得这实际上可能很有用。

See, that I think could actually be useful.

这要看情况。

It depends.

玫瑰是水平生长还是垂直生长？

Did the rose go horizontally or vertically?

嗯，这取决于

Well, it depends on the

太阳。

sun.

站立。

Standing.

哦。

Oh.

哦。

Oh.

哦。

Oh.

还有谁知道呢？

Who knows that too?

所以，不管怎样，我的观点是，作为未来的数学专业学生，她的微积分成绩应该和体育成绩一起计入平均绩点吗？

So anyway, my point is that should her calculus grade as a future math major be averaged together with her gym grade?

显然，对于你的GPA来说，是的。

Apparently, for your GPA, yes.

所以，无论如何，我们在试图将我们想做的事与实际在做的事对齐时，有很多可以抱怨的地方。

So anyway, there's a lot to complain about in terms of the inability to match what we want to do with what we're doing.

好的。

Okay.

所以你已经有力地论证了应该专注于优势。

So you've made a strong argument in favor of working on the strengths.

现在说说反面观点。

Now give us the flip side.

是的。

Yes.

因此，也有理由支持去弥补你的弱点。

So there is an argument to be made for remediating your weaknesses.

首先支持这一观点的是安德斯·埃里克森。

First advocate for this, I would say, would be Anders Ericsson.

埃里克森关于专家能力的研究，斯蒂文，你也很清楚，都是关于人们不断改进，每天进步一点点，无论是游泳运动员、国际象棋选手还是数学家。

Ericsson's work on expertise, as you well know, Steven, was all about people improving and improving to get just a little bit better every day, whether they were swimmers or chess players or mathematicians.

埃里克森会说，很多时候人们所练习的恰恰是相对的弱项。

And Ericsson would say that very often what was being worked on was a relative weakness.

我说的相对，意思是，如果你是尤塞恩·博尔特，你已经很擅长跑步了。

When I say relative, meaning that if you're Usain Bolt, you're already pretty good at running.

但你会否去改进你已经在百米赛跑中表现突出的起跑技术呢？

But do you work on the fact that you're already a strong starter in the 100 meter?

你是只专注于强化这个优势，还是去练习别的方面？

Do you just lean into that and work on that more, or do you work on something else?

实际上，我刚才说错了。

Actually, I got that wrong, by the way.

尤塞恩·博尔特起跑相对较慢，所以我认为他特别需要专注于提升起跑阶段的速度，因为他几乎总是在后程爆发。

Usain Bolt is a relatively slow starter, so I think he disproportionately needed to work on getting faster at the very beginning because he almost finished really strong.

他必须慢慢展开身体，因为

He has to unfold himself because

他体型真的很大。

He's so big, actually.

对。

Right.

但当你描述安德斯·埃里克森的研究时，他主要甚至可能是唯一研究的是顶尖人物——顶尖的音乐家、外科医生、计算机科学家、运动员等等。

But when you're describing Anders Ericsson's research, he was mostly or maybe even exclusively studying elites, elite performers, elite musicians, surgeons, computer scientists, athletes, and so on.

我只是觉得，当我们探讨应该专注于优势还是劣势时，首先要问的是：目标是什么？

I just think when we ask this question about what's better to work on strengths or weaknesses, the first question has to be, well, what's the goal?

换句话说，我们讨论的是哪个领域？

In other words, what's the domain that we're talking about?

因为假设我是个不错的家庭厨师，也许我应该努力成为非常出色的厨师，但我特别不擅长倾听别人。

Because let's say I'm a pretty good home cook and, you know, maybe I should try to become really good, but what I'm really bad at is listening to other people.

但这里的回报是不同的。

Now the rewards are different.

激励方式也不同。

The incentives are different.

在这种情况下，你会建议怎么做？

So what would you advise in that case?

你指出了一点，这更多是关于选择与训练的区别，而不是专家与初学者的区别。

You are pointing out something which is a little bit less about experts versus beginners and more about choosing versus training.

我认为你应该选择容易的事情，然后在你不擅长的部分下苦功。

I think you should choose things that are easy, and then you should work hard on the parts of it that you're not good at.

所以在我本科教学中，我总是告诉学生：选简单的，然后努力干。

So in my undergraduate teaching, I always tell my students choose easy, then work hard.

这有两个阶段。

There are two stages.

对吧？

Right?

所以也许我们应该根据自己的优势来选择爱好、工作以及其他一切。

So maybe we should choose our hobbies and our jobs and everything else based on our strengths.

但你还需要在其中训练自己的弱点。

But then you need to train your weaknesses within it.

所以一旦你决定要成为一名出色的家常厨师，或者要跑100米，你就进入了训练阶段，必须真正弥补自己的短板。

So once you've decided I wanna be a great home cook or I wanna run the 100 meter, then you're in the training phase where you have to actually remediate weaknesses.

所以我认为这是两者兼有，但这是一个两阶段的问题。

So I think it's a both in, but it's a two stage problem.

对。

Right.

我也认为，对于像艾米丽这样的人，或者任何思考‘我对这个爱好或这种关系还算不错，但我另一方面的表现很差’的人来说，

I also think that for someone like Emily or anyone thinking about, like, well, I'm pretty decent at this hobby or this kind of relationship, but I'm really bad at the other.

一个让自己愿意接受自己不擅长之事的方法是：明白你在自己薄弱的方面进步会快得多，因为任何投入都会面临收益递减。

One way to trick yourself into wanting to embrace the thing you're bad at is to know that you're going to improve so much faster in the thing that you're bad at because there's diminishing returns in any investment.

如果我是个非常出色的音乐家、厨师或运动员，想想你要付出多大努力才能进步1%。

And if I'm a really good musician or cook or athlete, think about how hard you have to work to get 1% better.

而如果你在某件事上很糟糕，前十个钟头，你就能轻松进步3%。

Whereas if you're crap at something, the first ten hours, you get 3% better just like that.

这倒是个有趣的说法，因为我完全可以提出相反的观点。

Well, that's an interesting proposition because I could argue the opposite.

所以你的意思是，看吧。

So you're saying that, look.

如果你在某件事上很糟糕，你会从练习中获得巨大回报，因为你正处于学习曲线的起点，还没有遇到边际收益递减的问题。

If you're terrible at something, you're gonna get so much out of practice because you're at the beginning of the learning curve, and you don't have diminishing marginal returns working against you.

但当马蒂说‘你在弥补弱点时，是在对抗一座大山’时，你必须问一个问题：为什么这些会成为你的弱点呢？

But when Marty said that expression, when you are working on your weaknesses, you're fighting the mountain, you have to ask the question why those are your weaknesses in the first place.

但我想说，有很多人对那些他们自认为不擅长的事情，依然抱有极大的兴趣或想要参与的渴望。

But I'd say there are a lot of people who have great interest or desire to be good at things or just to participate in things that they think they're bad at.

好吧。

Okay.

但我不希望艾米莉只是变得工具化或功利化。

But I don't want Emily to go off and just be instrumental or tactical.

那么，如何优化你的表现呢？

There's the question of how do you optimize your performance?

是提升优势更好，还是训练劣势更好？

Is it better to have your strengths raised than your weaknesses trained?

但这里也涉及一个道德问题。

But there's a moral question here too.

对吧？

Right?

如果你在毅力等优势上非常突出，甚至在创造力或领导力方面也很强呢？

What if you are really high in strengths like grit and maybe even things like creativity or leadership?

而如果你在诚实或同情心方面很弱呢？

And what if you're low in honesty or in compassion?

至少在某些弱点上，我们需要达到一个基本门槛并加以改进。

There's a call to remediate certain weaknesses at least above a threshold.

你同意这个观点吗？

Do you agree with that?

我同意。

I do agree.

这是关于人性完整性的一种传统观念，有时也被当今所接受。

That is part of the old fashioned and sometimes currently embraced notion of what is the completeness of a human.

所以我觉得你说得对。

So I think you're right.

我的意思是，我觉得我们这个节目里提出的很多问题的答案都是：情况很复杂。

I mean, I think the answer to a lot of the questions we ask on this show is it's complicated.

这要看情况。

It depends.

这要看情况。

And it depends.

但我认为这是一个很好的回答。

But I think that's a good answer.

我问你一个问题。

Let me ask you this.

在这个人生阶段，你能告诉我你认为自己有什么缺点吗？这个缺点你可能应该去改善，但因为你接受了优势特质的理念，你可能已经把它划掉了。

Name for me what you consider a weakness of yours at this stage of your life that you think you probably should work on, but because you've embraced the notion of the signature strengths idea, you probably crossed it off.

我们能不能重新唤醒某项你希望变得擅长或更擅长的能力？

Could we possibly resuscitate something you'd like to be good at or be better at?

我知道情绪管理是个弱点，但我们已经讨论过了。

Well, I know anger management is a weakness, but we've discussed that.

这显然是我需要改进的地方，我也清楚这一点。

And I think that's obviously something I should remediate, and I know that.

我正在努力改善。

And I'm working on it.

我认为对艺术的热爱和对美的欣赏，在这个问卷里被明确称为‘欣赏美’。

I think love of art and appreciation of beauty in the via questionnaire, it's literally called appreciation of beauty.

这项得分很低。

It's really low down.

我不欣赏音乐，而且我真的觉得自己的审美能力没有像应有的那样发展起来，因为我妈是个艺术家。

I don't appreciate music, but I really don't think I have an aesthetic sense that's evolved in the way that I should have because my mom's an artist.

你这种对所有美学缺乏欣赏的能力，完全可以当个经济学家。

You know, you could be an economist with that lack of appreciation of all aesthetics.

你觉得是这样吗？

Do you think so?

我觉得是的。

I do.

我觉得是的。

I do.

在《别问蠢问题》节目中，斯蒂芬和安吉拉将帮助一位听众剖析他突然对轻爵士乐产生的浓厚兴趣。

Still to come on No Stupid Questions, Stephen and Angela help a listener dissect his mysterious new affinity for smooth jazz.

如果轻爵士乐能让我那么开心，我愿意去听轻爵士乐。

If smooth jazz made me that happy, I would be willing to listen to smooth jazz.

斯蒂芬，我这里有个问题想读给你听，来自伊利诺伊州华盛顿市的威尔写道：亲爱的，《别问蠢问题》。

Steven, we have a question here I'd like to read you from a certain Will from Washington, Illinois, and he writes, dear, no stupid questions.

我以前常嘲笑smooth jazz。

I used to make fun of smooth jazz.

我会为了搞笑或装酷去听它。

I would listen to it as a joke or to be ironic.

现在我真正喜欢上了它。

Now I genuinely enjoy it.

威尔。

Will.

威尔。

Will.

威尔。

Will.

要

To be

公平地说，smooth jazz让我接触了更多音乐类型，比如爵士融合，我更喜欢那种。

fair, smooth jazz has led me to even more musical genres such as jazz fusion, which I enjoy more.

哦。

Oh.

但我对轻爵士乐仍有一份特殊的情感。

But I still have a soft spot for smooth jazz.

它不再只是一个笑话了。

It is not a total joke anymore.

我想问的是，为什么人们最终会真正喜欢那些他们最初嘲笑的事物？

I guess my question is, why do people end up genuinely enjoying the things they would ridicule initially?

是我的观点改变了吗？

Has my perspective changed?

是我的标准降低了？

Have my standards lowered?

感谢你阅读我的留言。

Thank you for reading my message.

真诚地，Will。

Sincerely, Will.

我喜欢这个问题。

I love this question.

我喜欢Will。

I love Will.

是的。

Yeah.

我知道。

I know.

我立刻就喜欢Will了。

I immediately love Will.

我尤其喜欢这两个选择。

I love especially the two choices.

是我的观点改变了，还是我的标准降低了？

Has my perspective changed or have my standards lowered?

要么进化了，要么退化了。

Either evolved or devolved.

我们只是不确定是哪一个。

We're just not sure which.

所以让我们再退一步，我来问你一个更大的问题：为什么我们会喜欢或不喜欢我们所喜欢或不喜欢的东西？

So let's strip it back a bit further, and let me ask you a larger question, which is why do we like and dislike the things that we like and dislike?

关于这一点，我们了解多少？

What do we know about that?

我们对此知之甚少。

We know very little about that.

顺便说一下，史蒂文，我不仅要思考偏好的心理学科学，还得在收到这封信时去搜索一下轻爵士乐。

And by the way, Steven, not only did I have to think about the psychological science of preferences, I had to Google smooth jazz when we got this letter.

你之前就知道什么是轻爵士乐吗？

Did you already know what smooth jazz was?

我有过一些接触轻爵士乐的经历。

I have had my experiences with smooth jazz.

好的。

Okay.

你演奏过吗？

Have you played it?

没有。

Nope.

从来没演奏过。

Never played it.

高二那年，我被安排负责为一场舞会聘请乐队。

Once in the eleventh grade, I was tasked with hiring the band for a dance.

我不知道。

I don't know.

你聘请了一支轻爵士乐队？

You hired a smooth jazz ensemble?

我搞砸了。

I really failed.

我不记得是因为懒惰还是无能，我觉得我当时应该去现场看这些乐队或者听录音。

I don't remember whether it was out of sloth or incompetence, and I think I was supposed to go somewhere to see these bands or hear tapes.

我根本就没做作业。

I plainly didn't do my homework.

没有。

No.

你确实没做。

You didn't.

我雇了这支乐队，但他们根本不是那种轻柔的爵士乐。

Hired this band, and they weren't quite smooth jazz.

他们是粗粝的爵士乐。

They were rough jazz.

他们太差了。

They were bad.

就是糟糕的爵士乐。

Just bad jazz.

我喜欢爵士乐。

I love jazz.

我个人并不喜欢轻柔爵士，但我永远都不会忘记。

I don't love smooth jazz personally, but I'll never forget.

有个孩子，我们并不是特别要好的朋友，但关系还算友好。

There was this one kid who we weren't particularly close friends, but we were friendly.

我当时站在舞池里，场面简直是一团糟。

And I was standing there at the dance, and it was just a total disaster.

这全都是我的错。

And it was all my fault.

他走过来对我说：所以，我想你可以把这称为古典爵士吧。

And he came up to me, and he said, so I guess you'd call this, like, classical jazz.

这孩子真够宽容的。

What a generous kid.

他实在太宽容了，而他平时并不是个特别宽容的孩子。

It was so generous, and he wasn't a particularly generous kid.

那是出于同情。

It was pity.

我觉得这完全是出于同情。

I would think it was total pity.

但你知道吗？

But you know what?

那时，我甚至对同情都心存感激，因为大多数人只是骂我。

At that point, I was so grateful for even pity because most people were just calling me names.

天啊。

Oh god.

我只能想象。

I can only imagine.

他试图给正在播放的这首曲子取一个不同的名字。

And he was trying to give this thing that they were playing a different name.

这就像是你刚经历了一场车祸。

It would be like, you've just been in a car crash.

不。

No.

不。

No.

不。

No.

你的背没有断。

Your back isn't broken.

你只是有脊椎方面的问题。

You've just got a vertebral situation.

问题。

Situation.

对。

Right.

好吧。

Well, okay.

我希望这个话题没有让你太痛苦。

I hope this topic isn't too painful for you.