TED Talks Won’t Treat Your Depression

TED演讲治不好你的抑郁症

Depression: [ U] a medical condition in which a person feels very sad and anxious and often has physicalsymptoms such as being unable to sleep, etc. 抑郁症；精神忧郁

形容词形式是depressed: ADJ If you are depressed, you are sad and feel that you cannot enjoy anything, because your situation is so difficult and unpleasant. 沮丧的

That provocative claim was made not by a quack in a late-night infomercial but by John Bargh, a Yale social psychologist.

这个颇具争议的说法，并不出自深夜电视购物广告里的江湖郎中，而出自一位耶鲁大学的社会心理学家约翰·巴奇。

Provocative: intended to make people angry or upset; intended to make people argue about sth 挑衅的；煽动性的；激起争端的

A provocative claim/remark 均指“煽动性的言论”

Quack: ( informal disapproving) a person who dishonestly claims to have medical knowledge or skills 江湖郎中；冒牌医生；庸医

嘿，这个词读起来就不太正经呢

a late-night infomercial深夜电视购物广告

infomercial /ˌɪnfəʊˈmɜːʃl/ : ( especially NAmE ) a long advertisement on television that tries to give a lot of information about a subject, so that it does not appear to be an advertisement （电视上的）商业信息片，资讯广告节目

就是类似前几年比较火的，在电视上直播卖货，吹得人心花怒放，忍不住打电话过去剁手的那种

Dr. Bargh’s idea is one of the purest distillations of what I call “primeworld,” a myopic but seductive worldview. It suggests that human behavior is shaped rather easily by primes and other subtle influences and that these influences can often be easily dispelled with low-cost psychological tweaks that target individuals to help solve societal problems.

巴奇的观点正是一种世界观最极致的精髓，我把这种世界观称为“暗示世界”，它短视但诱人。它认为，人们的行为很容易被各种心理暗示和其他微妙的影响所塑造，而这些影响往往可以通过低成本的个人心理调节轻松化解，从而促进社会问题的解决。

myopic：ADJ If you describe someone as myopic, you are critical of them because they seem unable to realize that their actions might have negative consequences. 目光短浅的; 缺乏远见的

The government still has a myopic attitude to spending.   政府在开支方面仍然缺乏远见。

psychological tweaks 心理调节

tweak: a slight change that you make to a machine, system, etc. to improve it （对机器、系统等的）轻微调整

这里指的是“心理系统”，没毛病~

遇到长句子不怕，我们把它拆一拆就可以：

It （主语）suggests （谓语）that human behavior is shaped rather easily（宾语从句1，充当宾语1） by primes and other subtle influences（方式状语） and（并列连词） that these influences can often be easily dispelled with low-cost psychological tweaks（宾语从句1，充当宾语1） that target individuals to help solve societal problems（定语从句，先行词tweaks）.

因为有2个宾语从句，所以主干也显得长一点，但还是好看多了：

It suggests that human behavior is shaped rather easily and that these influences can often be easily dispelled with low-cost psychological tweaks.

This understanding of society has flourished as a result of a general fascination with easily digestible pop-psychology nuggets — often delivered via TED Talks and best-selling books — that appears to have exploded in recent years.

这种对社会的解读之所以盛行，是因为大众心理学中那些浅显易懂的观点风靡一时，这类内容往往通过TED演讲和畅销书传播开来，近年来尤其火爆。

Flourish: [ V] to develop quickly and be successful or common 繁荣；昌盛；兴旺

Few businesses are flourishing in the present economic climate.

在目前的经济气候下，很少有企业兴旺发达。

Digestible: easy to digest ; pleasant to eat or easy to understand 易消化的；口感好的；易理解的；可领会的

But because it ignores the bigger, more structural forces that do far more to influence human behavior, it is flawed. Worse, it might actually be hindering our ability to solve real-world problems.

但它忽略了更强、更具结构性的力量，而这类力量对人们行为的影响要大得多，所以这种观念是有缺陷的。更糟糕的是，也许它实际上反而限制了我们解决现实世界问题的能力。

Flawed: having a flaw ; damaged or spoiled 有错误的；有缺点的；有瑕疵的

seriously/fundamentally/fatally flawed 有严重╱根本╱致命缺点

Hinder（名词hinderance）: to make it difficult for something to develop or succeed阻碍，妨碍，比如：

His career has been hindered by injury. 由于受伤，他的事业受到了阻碍。

policies that will hinder rather than help families 对家庭有害无益的政策

[小结] 表示“阻碍”的词

Retard: to make the development or progress of sth slower~ sth阻碍；减缓；使放慢速度，比如：

Cold weather retards the growth of many plants. 寒冷的天气使许多植物生长滞缓。

stymie：to prevent sb from doing sth that they have planned or want to do; to prevent sth from happening阻挠；阻碍；阻止；妨碍，比如：

Mr Monti's resignation will stymie further reform until after the election.

然而蒙蒂的辞职会在至下一次大选期间内扼制改革的进一步推行。

Thwart /θwɔːrt/ :[ VN ] ~ sth~ sb (in sth) to prevent sb from doing what they want to do 阻止；阻挠；对…构成阻力，比如：

to thwart sb's plans 阻挠某人的计划

She was thwarted in her attempt to take control of the party. 她控制这个政党的企图受阻了。

Set back：Delay or impede the progress of someone or something. 阻碍;延迟，比如：

This incident undoubtedly set back research.这起事故毫无疑问阻碍了研究的进程。

Hobble：[T usually passive,一般用被动态] to deliberately make sure that a plan, system etc cannot work successfully妨碍〔计划、系统等的运作〕

Many start-ups are hobbled by a lack of sufficient capital.很多新公司由于资金不足而陷入困境。

hamper: to make it difficult for someone to do something阻碍，妨碍；牵制，比如：

She tried to run, but was hampered by her heavy suitcase.她想跑，但沉重的旅行箱拖累了她。

An attempt to rescue the men has been hampered by bad weather.对那几名男子的营救行动受到恶劣天气的阻碍。