一起翻譯一本書，公眾號“追隨己心”將帶領大家一起翻譯《Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical Thinking》，將學習了多年的英語真正用起來，體會原版書籍和英文的美。

What Is Critical Thinking?

什么是批判性思維

When Arthur was in the first grade, the teacher directed the class to “think.” “Now, class,” she said, “I know this problem is a little harder than the ones we’ve been doing, but I’m going to give you a few extra minutes to think about it. Now start thinking.”

亞瑟讀一年級時，老師指導全班同學進行“思考”，她說：“同學們，現在我知道這個問題比我們一直在學的東西難一些，但是，我將給你們額外的幾分鐘去思考它。現在開始思考吧。”

It was not the first time Arthur had heard th eword used. He’d heard it many times at home, but never quite this way. The teacher seemed to be asking for some special activity, something he should know how to start and stop—like his father’s car. “Vroom-m-m,” he muttered half aloud. Because of his confusion, he was unaware he was making the noise.

“Arthur, please stop making noises and start thinking.”

亞瑟不是第一次聽到這話，他在家里已經聽到好多次了，但他始終弄不清這種方法。老師似乎要求的是某項特殊的活動，是他應該知道如何開始和停止的某件事情——就像他父親的汽車一樣。“嗯，嗯，嗯”，他嘟嚷著發出聲響。因為他的困惑，他沒有意識到自己正發出響聲。

亞瑟，請不要出聲，開始思考。”

mutter：[?m?t?] vt.輕聲低語，咕噥地抱怨;含糊地說;自言自語地說; n.咕噥;小聲低語，小聲抱怨;怨言;

Embarrassed and not knowing quite what to do,he looked down at his desk. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the little girl next to him was staring at the ceiling. “Maybe that’s the way you start thinking,” he guessed. He decided the others had probably learned how to do it last year, that time he was home with the measles. So he stared at the ceiling.

他感到尷尬，不知所措，于是低下頭，看著課桌。然后，他透過眼角的余光，注意到旁邊的小女孩正盯著天花板。“也許這就是你開始思考的方法”，他猜測道。他判定其他同學可能在去年已學會如何思考，那時候他正因為麻疹在家養病。于是，他也盯著天花板。

measles：[?miz?lz]? n. ?<醫>麻疹; [獸]（牛，豬的）囊蟲病; [攝]斑點; <美俚>梅毒，麻疹的紅斑點;

As he progressed through grade school and high school, he heard that same direction hundreds of times. “No, that’s not the answer, you’re not thinking—now think!” And occasionally he would hear from particularly self-pitying teachers given to muttering to themselves aloud:“What did I do to deserve this? Don’t they teach them anything in the grades any more?Don’t you people care about ideas? Think, dammit, THINK.”

亞瑟上小學和中學時，數百次地聽到同樣的要求。“不，這不是答案，你沒有思考——現在思考！偶爾，他會昕到特別直憐的老師大聲地對自己說：“我到底做了什么才得到這種報應？他們在小學不再教孩子們什么東西了嗎？你們這些人不關心思想嗎？思考，該死的思考。”

So Arthur learned to feel somewhat guilty about the whole matter. Obviously, this thinking was an important activity that he’d failed to learn. Maybe he lacked the brain power. But he was resourceful enough. He watched the other students and did what they did. Whenever a teacher started in about thinking, he screwed up his face, furrowed his brow, scratched his head, stroked his chin, stared off into space or up at the ceiling, and repeated silently to himself, “Let’s see now, I’ve got to think about that,think, think—I hope he doesn’t call on me—think.”Though Arthur didn’t know it, that’s just what the other students were saying to themselves.

于是，亞瑟感到對整件事有些內疚。顯然，這種思考是一項他還未學會的重要活動。也許他缺少腦力思考。但他足夠聰明，他曾看著其他同學，仿效他們的做法。只要老師開始要求思考，他就振作精神，皺起眉頭，撓頭托腮，凝視空曠處或是天花板，默默地對自己重復說：“讓我們考慮一下，我已經開始對此思考了，思考，思考（我希望他不要叫到我），思考。”雖然亞瑟并來意識到這一點，但這也正是其他同學對自己所說的。

furrow：[?f?:ro?] n.皺紋;犁溝;車轍; v.犁田，開溝;使起皺紋;

Your experience may have been similar to Arthur’s. In other words, many people may have simply told you to think without ever explaining what thinking is and what qualities a good thinker has that a poor thinker lacks. If that is the case, you have a lot of company. Extensive,effective training in thinking is the exception rather than the rule. This fact and its unfortunate consequences are suggested by the following comments from accomplished observers of the human condition:

你的經歷也許與亞瑟相似。也就是說，許多人可能只是告訴你去思考，卻根本不解釋思考是什么，以及一名好的思考者具備什么樣的品質，而這是弱思考者所缺乏的。如果事實如此，那你就有很多同伴。廣泛、有效的思維訓練是例外而非常規。這個事實及其令人遺憾的結果是由對人的生存條件卓有成果的觀察家們所做的下述評論得出的：

The most interesting and astounding contradiction in life is to me the constant insistence by nearly all people upon “logic,” “logical reasoning,” “sound reasoning,” on the one hand, and on the other their in ability to display it, and their unwillingness to accept it when displayed by others.

Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.

對我來說，生活中最有趣和令人震驚的矛盾是：一方面，幾乎所有人都不斷堅持“邏輯”、“邏輯推理”和“夸理推理”；另一方面，他們卻不能表現出這種能力，當別人表現出來時也不愿接受之。

我們大多數所謂的推理在于為繼續相信我們已經相信的東西找到理由。

astound：[??sta?nd]? vt.使震驚，使大吃一驚;

Clear thinking is a very rare thing, but even just plain thinking is almost as rare. Most of us most of the time do not think at all. We believe and we feel, but we do not think.

Mental indolence is one of the commonest of human traits.

清晰的思考是非常罕見的事，甚至簡單清楚的思考也幾乎是罕見的。我們許多人在大多數時間里根本就不思考，我們信奉并且感覺著，但并不思考。

思想懶惰是人最常見的特質之一。

What is this activity that everyone claims is important but few people have mastered? Thinking is a general term used to cover numerous activities, from day dreaming to reflection and analysis. Here are just some of the synonyms listed in Roget’s Thesaurus for think:

這個每人都聲稱重要卻沒有幾個人能掌握的話動是什么呢？思考是一個普遍術語，它涵蓋了從白日夢到反思和分析等許多活動。下面是羅杰特(Roget)的《分類詞亍[編》(Thesaurus)申所列出的“思考¨(think)的近義詞：

appreciate ??consult?? ????fancy ??????reason

believe ? ? ? contemplate ??imagine? ??reflect

cerebrate???deliberate????meditate ??ruminate

cogitate????digest????????muse ?????speculate

conceive????discuss ??????ponder? ???suppose

consider ????dream????? ??realize????weigh

評價?? ?????商討? ???????幻想? ?????推理

相信? ??????默想? ???????想象? ?????反思

動腦筋 ?????慎思?? ??????沉思? ?????反復思量

思索??? ????領悟 ????????冥想?? ????推鍘

設想?? ?????討論? ???????細想? ?????假設

考慮? ??????空想? ???????認識?? ????衡量

All of those are just the names that thinking goes under. They really don’t explain it. The fact is, after thousands of years of humans’ experiencing thought and talking and writing about thinking, it remains in many respects one of the great mysteries of our existence. Still,though much is yet to be learned, a great deal is already known.

所有這些都是歸入思考一類的名稱。但它們并沒有解釋它。事實是，在人類數千年思想的歷程、談論和寫作有關思考的文字之后，它在許多方面仍是我們現存的一個巨大的謎。雖然許多事情還有待學習，但是，我們已經知道許多了。