北师大新教材选择性必修第四册课文和译文.pdfVIP

Lesson1HowCloselyConnectedAreWe？

第一课我们之间的联系有多紧密？

Researchshowstheaveragepersononlyhasregularcommunicationwithbetweenseven

andfifteenpeople,andthatmostofourcommunicationisinfactwithfivetotenpeople

whoareclosesttous.However,perhapsweareclosertotherestoftheworldthanwe

think.“SixDegreesofSeparation”referstothetheorythatanypersononEarthcanbe

connectedtoanyotherpersonthroughachainofnomorethanfiveotherpeople.

研究表明，普通人只与7至15个人经常保持联系，而且其中大部分的交流实际上只

发生在5到10个亲近的人身上。不过，也许我们与世界上其他人的联系比想象中的

更紧密。“六度分隔”理论说的是地球上任何人都可通过不超过另外五个人与一个陌生

人联系起来。

Theconceptwasfirsttalkedaboutaslongagoasinthe1920s.TheHungarianauthor

FrigyesKarinthypublishedabookcalledEverythingIsDifferentin1929,inwhichhe

introducedtheideaoffriendshipnetworksandhisideasinfluencedmanyofourearly

impressionsofsocialnetworks.

这个概念早在20世纪20年代就被提出。匈牙利作家弗里吉斯·考林蒂在1929年出版

了《一切皆不同》一书，书中介绍了朋友关系网的概念，许多早期关于社交网络的构

想都受到他思想的影响。

Inthe1950s,anattemptwasmadebytwoscientiststoprovethetheorymathematically;

butaftertwentyyears,theystillhadnothadanysuccess.In1967,anAmericansociologist

calledStanleyMilgramtriedusinganewmethodtotestthetheory,whichhecalledthe

“small-worldproblem”.HechosearandomsampleofpeopleinthemiddleofAmerica

andaskedthemtosendpackagestoastrangerinthestateofMassachusetts.Thepeople

sendingthepackagesonlyknewthename,jobandgenerallocationofthestranger.

Milgramtoldthemtosendthepackagetoapersontheyknewpersonallywhotheythought

mightknowthetargetstranger.Oncetheparcelhadbeenreceivedbythisperson,he/she

wouldsendtheparcelontoacontactoftheirsuntiltheparcelcouldbepersonally

deliveredtothecorrectperson.Amazingly,itonlytookbetweenfiveandsevenpeopleto

gettheparcelsdelivered,andoncereleas