考研閱讀精選：暴力影片有“益處”

『放映暴力影片時，暴力犯罪也減少了，由此得到的啟發有助于我們執行更精明的理財決策。』

　　Profitable Nonviolence

　　暴力影片有“益處”

　　June 23th 2011 | from Time

　　With the summer movie season upon us, we thought it timely to comment on an enduring question, one that might not seem to have a direct connection to money decisions but in actuality very much does. In any event , here’s the question we want to address: Does exposure  to film violence make viewers more violent themselves?

　　There are all sorts of reasons — imitation and displaced arousal  chief among them — to suspect that it might, and there are numerous studies using laboratory methods that support the idea. But what happens beyond the lab, when a particularly violent film reaches blockbuster  status? Is there a spike  in violent crime on its opening weekend? Economists Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna looked at the data and came to a startling conclusion: Violent crime goes down when popular, very violent commercial films are released . The authors estimate that the effect boils down to  roughly 1,000 fewer assaults  per weekend, or about 52,000 fewer per year if a violent film were released every week. Given  the public’s appetite for violent films, that’s not so crazy. Their estimate is that this adds up to nearly $700 million less in victimization  (i.e., medical and quality-of-life ) costs.

　　What’s going on? Part of it is simple: incapacity. When violent people are in theaters, they aren’t out making trouble. And violent people really like violent films, which explains the drop in crime during the hours of 6 p.m. to midnight. That’s when movies are showing. But Dahl and DellaVigna observe an even larger drop later on, from midnight to 6 p.m. They present evidence to support the idea that film attendance, largely by keeping people from drinking alcohol for two hours or so, is just enough to send many folks who are inclined to violence down a calmer path. With no film to see, those prone to  violence begin the evening by drinking, which fuels or enables their criminal tendencies and results in assaults and other mayhem . But when the evening starts instead with a “dry” couple of hours, the result is often more peaceful pursuits even after the film is over.

　　We bring all this up  to foreshadow  the fact that we’ll probably talk a lot in future posts about how surprisingly modest changes in policy or in a person’s immediate  environment can “cascade ” like this and add up to  rather dramatic results downstream. This insight  can make everything from dieting to saving to green-living easier, because rather than trying to motivate people to act in a specific way, we recognize that the issue is sometimes not one of motivation ，but rather a phenomenon referred to  as “channel factors .”  The idea, at its core, is that individuals and groups are often kept from reaching goals not because they don’t really want to achieve them but rather because seemingly small or otherwise insignificant obstacles get in the way. Remove those obstacles and a desired result is often easily attained.

　　If you’re having trouble staying out of debt or otherwise cutting spending, the wise choice may simply be to throw away credit cards or, at the very least, leave them at home when you go shopping. (Or even give them to a friend who’s with you and authorized to ask “Are you sure?” before handing them over. You’d be shocked at the power of such delaying tactics.) It’s astounding how little willpower  you need to keep from spending money you can’t get your hands on. (579words)

　in any event：無論如何
  exposure(to sth) ：面臨；遭受（危險或不快）
  arousal /E5raUzl/ n. 激勵；覺醒
  blockbuster /5blCkbQstE(r)/ n. 一鳴驚人的事物；（尤指）非常成功的書（或電影）
  spike /spaIk/ n. 猛增；急升
  release /rI5li:s/ v. 公布；發布
  boil down to sth：歸結為；結果是。如：In the end, what it all boils down to is money, or the lack of it. （問題的癥結是錢，或者說是缺錢。)
  assault /E5sR:lt/ n. 攻擊；襲擊
  given /5gIvn/ prep. 考慮到（某事物）。 如： Given the government’s record on unemployment, their chances of winning the election look poor.（鑒于政府在解決失業問題上成績不佳, 他們在選舉中獲勝機會似乎不大。）
  victimization /9vIktImaI5zeIFn/ n. 犧牲；欺騙
  quality-of-life：生活質量
  prone to sth/to do sth：易于遭受；有做（壞事）的傾向
  mayhem /5meIhem/ n. 傷人致殘罪；嚴重傷害罪
  bring sth up：提出（討論等）。如：Bring it up at the meeting.（請將此事在會議上提出。）
  foreshadow /fR:5FdEU/ v. 預示
  immediate /I5mi:dIEt/ adj. 目前的；當前的
  cascade /kA5skeId/ v. 如瀑布落下
  add up to sth：結果是；表示
  insight /5InsaIt/ n. 洞悉；了解
  refer to sb/sth (as sth)：提到；談及；說起。如：She always referred to Ben as‘that nice man’.（她總是稱本為“那個大好人”。）
  channel factors：渠道因素
  willpower /9wIl5paUE(r)/ n. 毅力；意志力