Part B Reading Practice Why Is It So Hard to Be Vulnerable? We all know the experience of vulnerability, even if we don’t call it by that name. It’s that feeling you get when you’re about to tell someone “I love you,” try out a new skill, or ask for forgiveness. When the risk of getting rejected, laughed at, or criticized is real. In her research, University of Houston professor and author Brené Brown has explored some of the reasons why we shy away from vulnerability. While we often celebrate it as strength in other people, she discovered, we tend to see it as a weakness in ourselves. “We love seeing raw truth and openness in other people, but we are afraid to let them see it in us,” she writes. “Vulnerability is courage in you and inadequacy in me.” Researchers at the University of Mannheim wanted to test out Brown’s theory, which was based on qualitative interviews, and to find out what might underlie that discrepancy. They recruited hundreds of German students to share their perceptions of vulnerability. Across several experiments, the students imagined either themselves or someone else in different vulnerable situations: confessing romantic feelings for a best friend, admitting a costly mistake at work, asking for help from a former boss, or baring their imperfect bodies at a swimming pool. Then, they rated how vulnerable the situation was, and how they evaluated that vulnerability — as an act of strength or weakness, something desirable or something to be avoided. These nerve-wracking situations were vulnerable, the students agreed — no matter who had to go through them. But, as Brown had predicted, the students interpreted that vulnerability differently: They saw it in a more positive light when someone else was going out on a limb rather than themselves. This was also the case in a non-imaginary vulnerable situation, when students were told they were going to be improvising a song in front of an audience or watching other students sing. (Luckily for them, after filling out questionnaires, no one actually had to get up on stage.) Why is vulnerability more admirable when someone else is doing it? To find out what was going through students’ heads, the researchers asked some of them about how they pictured the scenarios — concretely or abstractly, very detailed or not. And they observed a telling pattern: When imagining a vulnerable situation with someone else as the protagonist, people thought more abstractly. In psychological terms, this suggests that they were more mentally distanced from the imagined scenario. When we’re more distanced, we tend to be less risk averse and focus more on positives. In the scenario about a work mistake, for example, people might be thinking, “Apologizing for your mistake is the right thing to do” for someone else, but “I might lose my job if I admit what I did.” The authors call vulnerability a “beautiful mess” because it comes with big risks as well as big rewards. By putting ourselves out there, we might make a mess of our reputations or even lose our friends. On the other hand, we might be embraced by others and find a beautiful sense of belonging. Their research suggests that we may be overestimating those risks and underestimating those benefits in our own lives. “Showing vulnerability might sometimes feel more like weakness from the inside... [but] to others, these acts might look more like courage from the outside,” the researchers write. “It might, indeed, be beneficial to try to overcome one’s fears and to choose to see the beauty in the mess of vulnerable situations.” New Words, Phrases and Expressions vulnerability / ˌvʌlnərə’bɪlətɪ/ n. the state of being vulnerable or exposed 易损性;弱点 v. to appoint, assign, or designate for a fixed time 排定,安排 raw / rɔː / adj. honest, direct and sometimes shocking 真实的;反映真实情况的 inadequacy / ɪnˈædɪkwəsi/ n. a state of not being able or confident to deal with a situation 不胜任;缺乏信心 qualitative /ˈkwɒlɪtətɪv/ adj. connected with how good sth is, rather than with how much of it there is 质量的;定性的;性质的 discrepancy /dɪsˈkrepənsi/ n. a difference between two or more things that should be the same 差异;不符合;不一致 confess /kənˈfes/ v. to admit sth that you feel ashamed or embarrassed about 承认(自己感到羞愧或尴尬的事) rate /reɪt/ v. to have or think that sb/sth has a particular level of quality, value, etc. 评估; 评价;估价 n. a measurement of the number of times sth happens or exists during a particular period 比率;率 evaluate /ɪˈvæljueɪt/ v. to form an opinion of the amount, value or quality of sth after thinking about it carefully 估计;评价;评估 desirable /dɪˈzaɪərəbl/ adj. that you would like to have or do; worth having or doing 想望的;可取的;值得拥有的;值得做的 nerve-wracking /’nɜ:vˌrækɪŋ/ adj. extremely irritating to the nerves 极端令人头疼的,非常伤脑筋的 interpret /ɪnˈtɜ:prɪt/ v. to explain the meaning of sth 诠释;说明 improvise /ˈɪmprəvaɪz/ v. to invent music, the words in a play, a statement, etc. while you are playing or speaking, instead of planning it in advance 即兴创作(音乐、台词、演讲词等) scenario /səˈnɑ:riəʊ/ n. a description of how things might happen in the future 设想;方案;预测 telling /ˈtelɪŋ/ adj. having a strong or important effect; effective 生动的;显露真实面目的,说明问题的(通常并非有意) protagonist /prəˈtægənɪst/ n. the main character in a play, film/movie or book (戏剧、电影、书的)主要人物,主人公,主角 mess /mes/ n. a situation that is full of problems, usually because of a lack of organization or because of mistakes that sb has made 麻烦,困境,混乱 overestimate /ˌəʊvərˈestɪmeɪt/ v. to estimate sth to be larger, better, more important, etc. than it really is 高估 underestimate /ˌʌndərˈestɪmeɪt/ v. to think or guess that the amount, cost or size of sth is smaller than it really is 低估;对 ... 估计不足 try out try something new 试验;测验 shy away from avoid having to deal with some unpleasant task (因害怕或信心不足而)回避,躲避,避免做 test out make a test on 彻底检查;考验 go through go or live through 经历,经受(尤指苦难或艰难时期) going out on a limb take the risk of 承担风险 focus on center upon 致力于;使聚焦于;对(某事或做某事)予以注意;把 ...... 作为兴趣中心 be beneficial to be good for 有益于;利于 Notes 1. We all know the experience of vulnerability, even if we don’t call it by that name. even if 引导让步状语从句,表示 “ 虽然;即使,纵然 ” They’ll stand by you even if you don’t succeed. 即使你不成功,他们也会支持你。 2. Researchers at the University of Mannheim wanted to test out Brown’s theory, which was based on qualitative interviews, and to find out what might underlie that discrepancy. which 引导非限制性定语从句,修饰先行词 Brown’s theory be based on 以 ...... 为基础 We find her evidence to be based on a degree of oversensitivity 我们认识到她提供的证据在一定程度上是出于过分敏感。 and to find out 与 to test out 构成并列关系