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  • Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

  • I’m Neil.

  • And I’m Sam.

  • We often hear phrases such as, ‘dream big

  • or, ‘reach for the starswhich reflect

  • an optimistic view of life.

  • Are you an optimist, Sam?

  • I hope so!

  • I try to see the positive side

  • of life, even when something bad happens.

  • It sounds like youre a glass-half-full person

  • someone who always thinks

  • that good things will happen.

  • How about you, Neil?

  • Are you optimistic?

  • Look, things go wrong all the time -

  • that’s a fact of life.

  • Call me a pessimist

  • if you like but I’m just being realistic.

  • Hmm, it sounds like Neil is more

  • of a glass-half-empty person, but the

  • truth is that the age-old debate between

  • optimism and pessimism is

  • more complex than we think.

  • Yes, whether youre a sunny

  • optimist or a gloomy pessimist may

  • be determined more by your birthplace

  • and your age than your attitude, as well

  • be finding out in this programme.

  • Great. I’ve got a good feeling about this, Neil!

  • But first, as usual, I have a question for you, Sam.

  • Psychologists define optimism as an attitude

  • which overestimates the chances of good

  • things happening to you, while underestimating

  • the chances of bad things occurring.

  • So, what proportion of the British population,

  • do you think, describe themselves as optimistic?

  • Is it: a) 20 percent?

  • b) 50 percent?

  • or, c) 80 percent?

  • I’ll choose the largest – 80 percent

  • OK, Sam. Well find out if your optimistic

  • answer is the correct one later in

  • the programme.

  • Someone who probably wouldn’t agree with you,

  • though, is BBC World Service listener, Hannah.

  • Hannah grew up in Germany

  • before moving to the United States.

  • She thinks Americans tend to be more

  • optimistic than people back home

  • in Germany, as she told BBC World Service

  • programme, CrowdScience:

  • Well, I think the stereotypical perceptions

  • of Germans is that were quite pessimistic

  • and that kind of tends to come across

  • as being a bit of a Debbie Downer,

  • when in actuality, Germans just tend

  • to be avid planners for all eventual negative

  • eventualities as wellso that’s kind of

  • us being pessimistic but actually being

  • cautious, as opposed to for example,

  • what I’ve notice in America that a lot

  • of people tend to be hyper-optimistic.

  • I’ve always admired how Americans

  • tend to be able to sugarcoat everything.

  • As a stereotypical pessimist,

  • Hannah sometimes feels like a Debbie Downer.

  • This expression is American slang for someone who

  • makes others feel bad by focussing

  • on the depressing aspects of things.

  • Americans, on the other hand,

  • are typically seen as optimists

  • who tend to sugarcoat things

  • make things seem better than they really are.

  • According to Hannah, many

  • Americans are hyper-optimistic.

  • She uses the prefix hyper to say that

  • there is too much of a certain quality.

  • Hyper-sensitive people are too sensitive;

  • a hyper-optimist is too optimistic.

  • Besides your country of birth, age

  • is another consideration in the optimism debate.

  • When were young we have our whole life ahead of us,

  • and it’s easier to optimistically believe

  • that everything’s going to be alright.

  • The belief that everything’s

  • going to be fine is calledthe optimism bias’.

  • It isn’t fixed but changes as we age -

  • something neuroscientist,

  • Professor Tali Sharot, explained to

  • BBC World Service programme, CrowdScience:

  • So it’s quite high in kids and teenagers

  • they think, ‘Oh, everything’s going to be fine’, you know,

  • and then it goes down, down, down

  • and it hits rock bottom in your midlife

  • at which point the optimism bias is

  • relatively small, and then it starts

  • climbing up again and it’s quite high

  • in the elderly population, and that

  • goes absolutely against our view of

  • the grumpy old man, or woman.

  • After starting out high in children,

  • the optimism bias hits rock bottom

  • the lowest possible levelin middle age,

  • often because of work pressures,

  • family responsibilities or caring for elderly parents.

  • But optimism seems to increase

  • again as we get older.

  • This is surprising

  • as it goes against the image we have

  • of the grumpy old man – a phrase to

  • describe someone who complains a lot,

  • is moody and gets easily annoyed.

  • Optimistic women, meanwhile,

  • can look forward to longer, healthier lives.

  • Good news for you then, Sam!

  • But I’m sticking with my pessimism.

  • If I anticipate things going wrong

  • I don’t get disappointed when they do!

  • That’s actually a fairly positive

  • way of looking at things, Neil, but

  • I’m not sure if most people would

  • agree with youor maybe they would

  • It depends on the answer to your question

  • Right. I asked Sam what proportion

  • of British people describe themselves as optimistic.

  • And optimistically, I said it was c) 80 percent.

  • Which wasthe correct answer!

  • Of course it was.

  • Whether you expect good or bad things to happen

  • to you, youre probably right.

  • So why not focus on the sunny side of life, Neil?

  • That way, youve got nothing to lose!

  • OK, let’s recap the vocabulary

  • from this programme, Sam.

  • Youre certainly a glass-half-full person

  • someone with an optimistic attitude to life.

  • And youre something of a Debbie Downer -

  • American slang for someone who brings

  • everyone down by talking about the

  • negative side of things.

  • If you sugarcoat something, you

  • make it appear more positive than it really is.

  • The prefix hyper is used before

  • an adjective to show having too

  • much of that quality, for example

  • hypercritical means being too critical.

  • If something hits rock bottom it

  • reaches its lowest possible level.

  • And finally, the phrase grumpy old

  • man can be used to describe someone

  • who always complains, is intolerant

  • and gets annoyed easily… a bit like Neil!

  • Unfortunately our six minutes are up,

  • but join us again soon for more

  • trending topics and useful vocabulary

  • here at 6 Minute English.

  • Goodbye for now!

  • Bye!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

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BBC English 悲觀與樂觀 - 6 分鍾英語(Pessimism vs Optimism - 6 Minute English)

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    ty 發佈於 2022 年 04 月 01 日
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