A question of judgment

A quality that is hard to define but important to possess

Bartleby專欄

經(jīng)濟學人8月刊

THE PANDEMIC has required many people to make difficult judgments. Politicians have had to decide which restrictions to impose on citizens’ behaviour and individuals were forced to assess how much personal risk to take. Managers, faced with tough calls like which parts of their operations to close, have not been spared.

have not been spared：無一幸免

Good judgment is a quality everyone would like to have. But it is remarkably difficult to define precisely, and many people are not sure whether they personally possess it. Sir Andrew Likierman of the London Business School has spent a long time talking to leaders in a wide range of fields, from business and the army to the law and medicine, in an effort to create a framework for understanding judgment.

First he had to define the word. He suggests that judgment is “the combination of personal qualities with relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and take decisions”. And he argues that, thus defined, judgment involves a process—taking in information, deciding whom and what to trust, summarising one’s personal knowledge, checking any prior beliefs or feelings, summarising the available choices and then making the decision. At each stage, decision-makers must ask themselves questions, such as whether they have the relevant experience and expertise to make their choice, and whether the option they favour is practical.

Expertise can be useful in making judgments. But it is not the same thing. “Academics have expertise,” Sir Andrew observes. “They don’t necessarily have judgment.”?People with judgment know when they are out of their depth in making a decision and typically then seek the advice of someone who has the right background and knowledge.

It is, of course, possible to follow all these steps and still make the wrong choice. But Sir Andrew argues that a sensible process improves the chance of getting it right. The temptation?is to look at people’s?track records when assessing when they have good judgment, but luck may have played a huge part. “While good judgment is important to success,” Sir Andrew cautions, “success is not a signal that there has been good judgment.”

temptation n. /temp?te??n/ ?[ CU ] the desire to do or have sth that you know is bad or wrong 引誘；誘惑??to give way to/yield to temptation?經(jīng)不住誘惑???I couldn't resist the temptation?to open the letter. 我抵制不住好奇心把信打開了。?Don't put temptation in her way?by offering her a cigarette. 別遞煙來引誘她。

track records：記錄

The degree of judgment required tends to increase as people take on more responsibility. Those with routine tasks generally have limited scope for judgment. Line supervisors have some discretion. For a chief executive, the proportion of decisions involving judgment is high. Deciding not to take action is also a judgment with potentially serious consequences (for example, “I won’t get vaccinated” or “I won’t pay my bills”). The world is full of people whose lack of judgment brought their careers or personal life crashing down. Many made the common mistake of assuming everything was fine.

discretion n. /d??skre?n/

1.the freedom or power to decide what should be done in a particular situation 自行決定的自由；自行決定權(quán)

?I'll leave it up to you to use your discretion . 我把這件事留給你自己斟酌決定。

2.care in what you say or do, in order to keep sth secret or to avoid causing embarrassment to or difficulty for sb; the quality of being discreet 謹慎；慎重；審慎

?This is confidential, but I know that I can rely on your discretion. 這是機密，不過我知道你靠得住。

3. AT SB'S DI?SCRETION: according to what sb decides or wishes to do 由某人斟酌決定；按照某人的意見??There is no service charge and tipping is at your discretion. 不收服務費，給不給小費由你自行決定。

4. DI?SCRETION IS THE ?BETTER PART OF ?VALOUR: you should avoid danger and not take unnecessary risks 謹慎即大勇；慎重為勇敢之本

The world is full of people whose lack of judgment brought their careers or personal life crashing down.

這句話的意思是：這個世界充滿了因缺乏判斷導致事業(yè)、生活一團糟的人。

Crash有碰撞、摔碎、崩潰等意思 crash down可以理解為崩潰下降、受撞擊下降

Some people think that good judgment is innate. Sir Andrew accepts that some individuals are born with the ability to listen, be self-aware and BETTER understand other people: all qualities that make good judgment easier. People with good judgment tend to have a breadth of experiences?and relationships that enables them to recognise parallels or analogies?that others miss. The ability to be detached, both intellectually and emotionally, is also a vital component.

innate adj. ??/??ne?t/ ?( of a quality, feeling, etc. 品質(zhì)、感情等 ) that you have when you are born 天生的；先天的；與生俱來的?? the innate ability to learn 天生的學習能力

parallel ?/?p?r?lel/?n. 平行線；平行狀態(tài)；匹敵者（parallel的復數(shù)形式）；v. 使…成平行；與…相應（parallel的第三人稱單數(shù)）

analogy n. /??n?l?d?i/ ?

1.[ C ] ~ (between A and B)~ (with sth) a comparison of one thing with another thing that has similar features; a feature that is similar 類比；比擬；比喻

?There are no analogies with any previous legal cases. 以往的法律案件沒有哪一宗可與此案類比。

2.[ U ] the process of comparing one thing with another thing that has similar features in order to explain it 類推；比擬

?learning by analogy 用類推法學習

detached adj. ??/d??t?t?t/ ?

1.( of a house 房子 ) not joined to another house on either side 單獨的；獨立的；不連接的

2.showing a lack of feeling 不帶感情的；超然的；冷漠的

?She wanted him to stop being so cool, so detached, so cynical. 她希望他不再那么冷酷無情，那么無動于衷，那么憤世嫉俗。

3.( approving ) not influenced by other people or by your own feelings 客觀的；公正的；無偏見的??a detached observer 客觀的觀察者

Others may have the wrong sort of characteristics; a tendency to ignore others, stick to rules?irrespective of context, rush into action without reflection and struggle to make up their minds. Many leaders make bad judgments because they unconsciously filter the information they receive or are not sufficiently critical of what they hear or read. The danger is that people ignore insights that they don’t want to hear, a tendency that can increase with age.

irrespective of ?prep. ??/?r??spekt?v ?v/ ?

without considering sth or being influenced by it 不考慮；不管；不受…影響?? Everyone is treated equally, irrespective of race. 不分種族，每個人都受到公平對待。

As artificial intelligence gets used for more and more routine tasks in the service sector, exercising judgment may be one area where humans retain an edge over?machines. This is far from certain, however. What people perceive as good judgment may stem from the ability to?spot certain cues in the environment. This ability may be unconscious, just as a dog can catch a Frisbee?in mid-air without knowing how to calculate wind speed and air resistance.

an edge over：對···有優(yōu)勢

?What people perceive as good judgment may stem from the ability to spot certain cues in the environment.?這句話的意思是人們認為好的判斷可能是來源于（某些人）能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)在環(huán)境中特定線索的能力

Perceive 在這里是~ sb/sth (as sth) to understand or think of sb/sth in a particular way 將…理解為；將…視為；認為

Stem from 我們遇見過，是起源于的意思

Spot 我們經(jīng)常遇見這個詞 有點、斑點的意思，還有spot news（最新消息）的用法。但這里作動詞表示to see or notice a person or thing, especially suddenly or when it is not easy to do so（尤其是不容易發(fā)現(xiàn)或者突然間看見）?看見；看出；注意到；發(fā)現(xiàn) ?I finally spotted my friend in the crowd.?我終于在人群中看見了我的朋友。

Cue n. 提示，暗示；線索?vt. 給…暗示??

(right) on cue：at exactly the moment you expect or that is appropriate 恰好在這時；就在這時候 ?‘Where is that boy?’ As if on cue, Simon appeared in the doorway. “那男孩在哪里？”西蒙像是接到了信號一樣剛好出現(xiàn)在門口。

take your ?cue from sb/sth：to copy what sb else does as an example of how to behave or what to do 模仿…的樣子做；學…的樣

Fris·bee n. ??/?fr?zbi/ ?弗里斯比飛盤（投擲游戲用的飛碟）

mid-air：空中，懸空???air resistance：空氣阻力

With enough practice, machines may be able to recognise these implicit?cues?and thus display the equivalent of good judgment. But then, perhaps humans can be taught, too. In the long run one of the trickiest aspects of human judgment may be knowing precisely when to let machines take decisions and when to leave it to people.

implicit?cues：隱藏的線索/提示?

Trickiest?狡猾的、復雜的、需要技巧的（ tricky的最高級 ）