我的一个好朋友最近接受了白血病测试。她对我说，最令人痛苦的折磨就是苦苦等待测试结果的那一周时间。我朋友说，她可能会学着直面坏结果。但真正让人煎熬焦虑的是那种茫然的感觉。
孟克(Edvard Munch)的名画《呐喊》哈佛大学心理学家吉尔伯特(Daniel Gilbert)不久前在《纽约时报》(New York Times)的专栏中写道，不知道要发生什么坏事比知道什么坏事要发生的感觉更糟。我们大多数人之所以会夜不能寐、抽烟发泄，并不是因为道琼斯指数要再跌1000点，而是因为我们不知道道指会不会下跌──不确定的感觉比不确定的事情本身更折磨人。【英文】
A close friend of mine recently underwent tests for leukemia. The most agonizing part of the ordeal, she said, was the week-long wait for the test results. A bad outcome she could learn to cope with, my friend said. It was the not knowing, the uncertainty, that was so difficult.
'People feel worse when something bad might occur than when something bad will occur,' wrote Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert in a recent New York Times op-ed. 'Most of us aren't losing sleep and sucking down Marlboros because the Dow is going to fall another thousand points, but because we don't know whether it will fall or not ─ and human beings find uncertainty more painful than the things they're uncertain about.'
一艘货轮卸货后在浩瀚的大海上返航时，突然遭遇了可怕的风暴。水手们惊慌失措，经验丰富的老船长果断地命令水手们立刻打开货舱，往里面灌水。“船长是不是疯了，往船舱里灌水只会增加船的压力，使船下沉，这不是自寻死路吗？”一个年轻的水手嘟哝着。
【英文】
Homeward bound after unloading its cargo, a ship ran into a violent storm in the middle of a vast ocean. The seamen were thrown into a panic. Without hesitation, the old but seasoned captain ordered water be poured into the hold immediately. "A mad man, isn't he? He is going to bring his own destruction by filling water into the hold and making the ship go down", grumbled a young sailor.
看着船长严厉的脸色，水手们还是照做了。随着货船里的水位越升越高，随着船一寸一寸地下沉，猛烈的狂风巨浪对船的威胁却一点一点地减少，货轮渐渐平稳了。
【英文】
Noticing the captain's stern look, the sailors reluctantly carried out his order. With the water coming up in the hold and the ship going down inch by inch, the threatening of the violent storm to the ship gradually subsided and the ship started to stablize.
船长望着松了一口气的水手们说：“百万吨的巨轮很少有被打翻的，被打翻的常常是份量轻的小船。船在负重的时候，是最安全的；空船时，则是最危险的。”
【英文】
The captain said to the relieved sailors: "A million ton" ship seldom turns over; it's often the small ships that sank easily. It's safest when a ship is with load, and the most dangerous when without."
这就是“压力效应”。那些得过且过，没有一点压力，做一天和尚撞一天钟的人，像风暴中没有载货的船，往往一场人生的狂风巨浪便会把他们打翻。
【英文】
This is called the "pressure effect". The man who always muddles through in his work will easily be frustrated in a competitive society just like an unloaded ship that will turned over easily in a storm.
雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）昨日公布，公司第二季度收益大增47%，但其股价却大幅下挫，原因是投资者担心波动较大的市场和不断上升的利率，会中止华尔街投行近来利润大增的趋势。
这家华尔街投行表示，公司第二季度收益为10亿美元，合每股收益1.69美元，而上年同期的收益为6.83亿美元，合每股1.13美元。该公司固定收益产品交易业务业绩强劲，抵消了债券承销收入大幅下降的负面影响。
【英文】
Lehman shares dip in spite of earnings surge
Lehman Brothers yesterday reported a 47 per cent jump in second-quarter earnings but its shares fell sharply amid investor fears that volatile markets and rising interest rates could cut into Wall Street's recent run of blockbuster profits.
The Wall Street bank said it earned $1bn, or $1.69 a share, in the second quarter, up from $683m, or $1.13 a share, a year earlier. Strong fixed-income trading results offset a sharp drop in
debt-underwriting revenue.
