The Psychological Comforts of Storytelling講故事的心理慰藉

文/科迪·C.德萊斯特拉蒂 譯/郭亞文

By Cody C. Delistraty

The Psychological Comforts of Storytelling講故事的心理慰藉

文/科迪·C.德萊斯特拉蒂 譯/郭亞文

ByCody C. Delistraty

Why, throughout human history, have people been so drawn to fiction? 在人類歷史上，人們?yōu)楹螌适氯绱税V迷？

When an English archaeologist named George Smith was 31 years old, he became enchanted with an ancient tablet in the British Museum.Years earlier, in 1845, when Smith was only a five-year-old boy, Austen Henry Layard1奧斯丁·亨利·萊亞德（1817—1894），一譯賴爾德。英國考古學(xué)家、近東考古學(xué)的創(chuàng)建者、楔形文字專家、藝術(shù)史專家、繪圖家、收藏家、旅行家、作家及外交家。他以發(fā)掘尼尼微（Nineveh，今伊拉克北部）以南的亞述文化遺址尼姆魯?shù)拢∟imrud，又譯作寧錄）而聞名于世。對揭示巴比倫和亞述的古代文明有重要貢獻(xiàn)，被稱為“英國西亞考古學(xué)之父”。, Henry Rawlinson2亨利·羅林森（1810—1895）,英國東印度公司軍官、政治家、東方學(xué)專家，被稱為“亞述學(xué)之父”。, and Hormuzd Rassam3霍姆茲德·拉薩姆（1826—1910），出生在現(xiàn)伊拉克北部地區(qū)，后移民至英國，亞述考古專家，曾擔(dān)任奧斯丁·亨利·萊亞德的助手。began excavations across what is now Syria and Iraq. In the subsequent years they discovered thousands of stone fragments, which they later discovered made up 12 ancient tablets. But even after the tablet fragments had been pieced together, little had been translated. The 3,000-year-old tablets remained nearly as mysterious as when they had been buried in the ruins of Mesopotamian palaces.

喬治·史密斯是一名英國考古學(xué)家。31歲時，他迷上了大英博物館里的一塊古代泥板。早在1845年，史密斯當(dāng)時只有5歲，奧斯丁·亨利·萊亞德、亨利·羅林森和霍姆茲德·拉薩姆就在現(xiàn)在的敘利亞和伊拉克境內(nèi)開始了考古挖掘。他們在隨后的幾年里，發(fā)現(xiàn)了數(shù)以千計的泥板殘片，并從中選出碎片拼成12塊泥板。即使在泥板拼接好之后，上面文字的釋義工作也幾乎毫無進(jìn)展，這些3000年前的泥板一如當(dāng)年埋在美索不達(dá)米亞宮殿群廢墟中一樣，神秘莫測。

[2] Cuneiform is incredibly difficult to translate, especially when it is on tablets that have been hidden in Middle Eastern sands for three millennia. The script is shaped triangularly (cuneus means“wedge” in Latin) and the alphabet consists of more than 100 letters. It is used to write in Sumerian, Akkadian,Urartian, or Hittite, depending on where,when, and by whom it was written.It is also an alphabet void of4void of缺乏。vowels,punctuation, and spaces between words.

[3] Even so, Smith decided he would be the man to crack the code. Propelled by his interests in Assyriology and biblical archaeology, Smith, who was employed as a classifier by the British Museum, taught himself Sumerian and literary Akkadian.

[4] In 1872, after the tablets had been sitting in the British Museum’s storage for nearly two decades, Smith had a breakthrough: The complex symbols were describing a story. Upon translating the 11th tablet, now widely regarded as the most important part of the story, Smith told a coworker, “I am the first person to read that after 2000 years of oblivion.” The U.K. Prime Minister at the time, William Gladstone,even showed up to a lecture Smith later gave on the tablets, whereupon an audience member commented, “This must be the only occasion on which the British Prime Minister in office has attended a lecture on Babylonian literature.”

[2]要將楔形文字翻譯過來難度近乎登天，更何況這些泥板已在中東地區(qū)的沙土中深埋了3000年之久。泥板上的字母呈三角形（在拉丁語中cuneus是“楔子”的意思），字母表上有100多個字母，用于蘇美爾語、阿卡德語或者希泰語的書寫，具體取決于何時、何地以及由誰所寫。這也是一種缺少元音、標(biāo)點符號和空格的字母表。

[3]即便如此，史密斯還是下定決心破譯這種文字。他受聘于大英博物館，是一名分類員，出于對亞述研究和圣經(jīng)考古學(xué)的濃厚興趣，他自學(xué)了蘇美爾語和古阿卡德語。

[4] 1872年，泥板在大英博物館儲藏室塵封了20年之后，史密斯取得了突破，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這些復(fù)雜的符號講述了一個故事。在翻譯第11塊泥板，也就是現(xiàn)在普遍認(rèn)為整個故事最重要的內(nèi)容時，史密斯告訴同事：“泥板被遺忘了2000年之久，我是第一個破譯的人?！睍r任英國首相威廉·格萊斯頓甚至出席了史密斯之后主講的關(guān)于這些泥板的講座，其中一個聽眾這樣評論道：“這一定是在任首相參加過的唯一一個有關(guān)巴比倫文學(xué)的講座。”

[5] The story on the 11th tablet that Smith had cracked was in fact the oldest story in the world:The Epic of Gilgamesh.

[6]Gilgameshhas all the trappings of a modern story: a protagonist who goes on an arduous journey, a romance with a seductive woman, a redemptive arc,and a full cast of supporting characters.

[7] Humans have been telling stories for thousands of years, sharing them orally even before the invention of writing. In one way or another, much of people’s lives are spent telling stories—often about other people. In her paperGossip in Evolutionary Perspective,evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar found stories’ direct relevance to humans: Social topics—especially gossip—account for 65 percent of all human conversations in public places.

[5]史密斯破譯的第11塊泥板上，講述的其實是世界上最古老的故事——《吉爾伽美什史詩》。

[6]《吉爾伽美什史詩》具有現(xiàn)代故事的所有特征：一位正在經(jīng)歷旅途坎坷的主人公、與一位充滿誘惑力女子的一段羅曼史、一段救贖的戲份和一套完整的配角陣容。

[7]數(shù)千年來，人們一直在講述故事，早在文字發(fā)明之前就口口相傳。人們生命大部分的時間都在以不同的方式講故事——通常是別人的故事。進(jìn)化心理學(xué)家羅賓·鄧巴在其論文《進(jìn)化視角下的流言蜚語》中發(fā)現(xiàn)了故事與人類的直接關(guān)聯(lián)——社會話題，尤其是流言蜚語，占據(jù)了人們在所有公共場所聊天內(nèi)容的65%。

[8] Stories can be a way for humans to feel that we have control over the world. They allow people to see patterns where there is chaos, meaning where there is randomness. Humans are inclined to see narratives where there are none because it can afford meaning to our lives. In a 1944 study conducted by Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel at Smith College, 34 college students were shown a short film in which two triangles and a circle moved across the screen and a rectangle remained stationary on one side of the screen.When asked what they saw, 33 of the 34 students anthropomorphized the shapes and created a narrative: The circle was“worried,” the “l(fā)ittle triangle” was an“innocent young thing,” the big triangle was “blinded by rage and frustration.”O(jiān)nly one student recorded that all he saw were geometric shapes on a screen.

[9] Stories can also inform people’s emotional lives. Storytelling, especially in novels, allows people to peek into someone’s conscience to see how other people think. This can affirm our own beliefs and perceptions, but more often, it challenges them. Psychology researcher Dan Johnson recently found reading fiction significantly increased empathy towards others, especially people the readers initially perceived as“outsiders” (e.g. foreigners, people of a different race, skin color, or religion).

[10] Interestingly, the more absorbed in the story the readers were, the more empathetic they behaved in real life.Johnson tested this by “accidentally”dropping a handful of pens when participants did not think they were being assessed. Those who had previously reported being “highly absorbed” in the story were about twice as likely to help pick up the pens.

[8]故事也是一種讓我們覺得自己在掌控世界的方式。故事可以讓人們在混亂不堪中看到秩序，在混沌和隨機(jī)中找到意義。人們想看那些無中生有的故事，因為故事能賦予我們生命意義。1944年，史密斯學(xué)院的弗里茨·海德和瑪麗安娜·西梅爾做了一項研究，他們讓34名大學(xué)生觀看一部短片，片中兩個三角形和一個圓形劃過屏幕，屏幕的一邊有一個靜止的矩形。當(dāng)被問及看到什么時，34名學(xué)生中的33人給這些圖案賦予了人物特征，并創(chuàng)造出了故事——圓形“焦慮不安”，“小三角形”是一個“天真無邪的年輕人”，大三角形 “由于憤怒和挫折失去了理智” 。僅有一個學(xué)生說他在屏幕上只看到了幾何圖案。

[9]故事也會影響人們的情感生活。講故事，尤其在小說中，人們可以偷偷潛入某個人的意識來觀察別人如何思考。這樣做會強化我們的信仰和觀念，但是在大多數(shù)情況下，會讓我們對自己的信仰和觀念產(chǎn)生懷疑。心理學(xué)研究者丹·約翰遜近期發(fā)現(xiàn)閱讀小說會極大地提高讀者對他人的共情能力，尤其是對最初被認(rèn)為是“外人”的那些人（例如外國人，即外族人，種族、膚色和宗教信仰迥異的人）。

[11] A recent study inSciencemagazine adds more support to the idea that stories can help people understand others, determining that literary fiction“uniquely engages the psychological processes needed to gain access to characters’ subjective experiences” .

[12] But why start telling stories in the first place? Their usefulness in understanding others is one reason, but another theory is that storytelling could be an evolutionary mechanism that helped keep our ancestors alive.

[13] The theory is that if I tell you a story about how to survive, you’ll be more likely to actually survive than if I just give you facts. For instance, if I were to say, “There’s an animal near that tree, so don’t go over there,” it would not be as effective as if I were to tell you, “My cousin was eaten by a malicious, scary creature that lurks around that tree, so don’t go over there.”A narrative works off of both data and emotions, which is significantly more effective in engaging a listener than data alone. In fact, Jennifer Aaker, a professor of marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, says that people remember information when it is weaved into narratives “up to 22 times more than facts alone.”

[10]有趣的是，讀者越是沉浸在故事中，就越會在真實的生活中善解人意。為了驗證這種說法，約翰遜“無意間”把幾支鋼筆掉在地上，先前那些“高度沉浸”在故事中的人撿起鋼筆的幾率要比其他人高出一倍。

[11]《科學(xué)》近期的一篇文章對故事有助于人們互相理解的觀點提供了更多的佐證，文章認(rèn)定文學(xué)故事“需要獲得人物主觀經(jīng)歷的心理過程”。

[12]但是人們到底為什么講故事呢？理由之一是講故事有助于理解他人，但是另一個理由則是講故事可能是幫助我們祖先生存的一種進(jìn)化機(jī)制。

[13]其原理是如果我告訴你一個關(guān)于生存的故事，要比只給一些事實更能讓你有機(jī)會存活下來。比如，如果我說“那棵樹下有動物，所以別去那兒”，肯定不如 “我的表弟被潛藏在那棵樹下的一頭兇惡動物吃掉了，所以別去那兒”更有效。一個故事的展開既需要事實，也需要情感，而情感要比僅有事實更能讓聽眾有效地接受。事實上，斯坦福工商管理研究生院的市場營銷專業(yè)教授珍妮弗·阿克認(rèn)為，當(dāng)信息被編入故事中時，人們對其記憶的效率“比僅僅記憶事實高出21倍”。

[14] The value humans place on narrative is made clear in the high esteem given to storytellers. Authors,actors, directors—people who spin narratives for a living are some of the most famous people in the world.Stories are a form of escapism, one that can sometimes make us better people while entertaining, but there seems to be something more at play5at play起作用。.

[15] Perhaps the real reason that we tell stories again and again—and endlessly praise our greatest storytellers—is because humans want to be a part of a shared history. What Smith discovered on that 11th tablet is the story of a great flood. On the 11th tablet—or the “deluge tablet”—of Gilgamesh, a character named Utanapishtim is told by the Sumerian god Enki6恩基，蘇美爾神話中的水神、智慧之神，在《大洪水》中出現(xiàn)過。to abandon his worldly possessions and build a boat. He is told to bring his wife, his family, the craftsmen in his village, baby animals, and foodstuffs. It is almost the same story as Noah’s Ark, as told in both the Book of Genesis and in the Quran’s Suran 71.

[14]對故事敘述者的高度尊重清晰地體現(xiàn)了人們賦予故事的價值。作者、演員、導(dǎo)演——這些靠講故事為生的人最負(fù)盛名。故事是逃遁現(xiàn)實的一種形式，有時可以在娛悅我們的同時讓我們變得更好，但其作用不限于此。

[15]也許，我們一遍又一遍地講故事，不斷贊美我們最偉大的故事敘述者，是因為我們?nèi)祟愊氤蔀楣蚕須v史的一部分。史密斯在第11塊泥板上發(fā)現(xiàn)的內(nèi)容講述的是一場大洪水的故事。在《吉爾伽美什史詩》的第11塊泥板（或稱“洪水泥板”）上，蘇美爾的水神恩基讓一個名叫烏塔·納匹西丁姆的人放棄他所有的財產(chǎn)，并且建造一艘船。恩基囑咐他帶上妻子和家人、村里的匠人、小動物和食物。這個故事和《圣經(jīng)·創(chuàng)世記》以及《古蘭經(jīng)》的第71章所講的諾亞方舟如出一轍。

[16] Humans have been telling the same stories for millennia. Author Christopher Booker7克里斯托弗·布克（1937— )，英國記者、作家。claims there are only seven basic plots, which are repeated over and over in film, in television, and in novels with just slight tweaks. There is the “overcoming the monster” plot (Beowulf,War of the Worlds); “rags to riches” (Cinderella,Jane Eyre); “the quest” (Illiad,The Lord of the Rings); “voyage and return”(Odyssey,Alice in Wonderland);“rebirth” (Sleeping Beauty,A Christmas Carol); “comedy” (ends in marriage);and “tragedy” (ends in death).

[17] Helpful as stories can be for understanding the real world, they aren’t themselves real. Is there such a thing as too much fiction? InDon Quixote,Cervantes writes of main character Alonso Quixano, “He read all night from sundown to dawn, and all day from sunup to dusk, until with virtually no sleep and so much reading he dried out his brain and lost his sanity …”

[18] The next morning, however,Alonso Quixano decided to turn himself into a knight. He changed himself into Don Quixote, deciding he would pave his own journey. Then he went off, “seeking adventures and doing everything that, according to his books,earlier knights had done.”

[16] 幾千年來人們一直在講述同樣的故事。作家克里斯托弗·布克認(rèn)為故事情節(jié)有七種基本模式，在電影、電視和小說中重復(fù)出現(xiàn)，只不過情節(jié)稍有微調(diào)而已。七種模式分別是：“戰(zhàn)惡魔”（《貝奧武甫》《宇宙大戰(zhàn)》）、“貧窮到富?！保ā痘夜媚铩贰逗啞邸罚?、“征服”（《伊利亞特》《指環(huán)王》）、“遠(yuǎn)航和返航”（《奧德賽》《愛麗絲漫游奇境記》）、“重生”（《睡美人》《圣誕頌歌》）、“喜劇”（以美滿的婚姻為結(jié)局）和“悲劇”（以死亡為結(jié)局）。

[17]盡管故事有助于我們理解真實的世界，但其本身并不真實。有沒有虛構(gòu)太過一說呢？塞萬提斯在《堂吉訶德》中，這樣描寫主人公阿隆索·吉哈諾：“他從日落讀到破曉，又從日出讀到黃昏，從不睡覺，過多的閱讀最終耗盡了他的腦力，使他失去了理智……”

[18]然而，翌日清晨，阿隆索·吉哈諾決定成為一名騎士。他改名為堂吉訶德，決心開啟自己的旅程，然后就出發(fā)了,“依據(jù)所讀書中過去騎士的樣子，尋求冒險”。