As the day wears on, we tend to get weary. Now a study finds that as a result we may be more likely to cheat or lie in the afternoon than in the morning. But only if we’re usually ethical to begin with.
随着一天的流逝，我们的精气神也会逐渐流逝。一项研究发现，正因如此，下午的我们比早上更容易说谎或骗人，但前提是，早上的我们通常是“讲武德”的。
Scientists showed volunteers patterns of dots on a computer and asked them to tell which side of the screen contained more dots, the right or left. Here's the kicker: the researchers gave the subjects a higher reward if they selected the right side, even if it was incorrect. And with this incentive, subjects were more likely to cheat in the afternoon than in the morning.
研究人员先让受试者在电脑上看按不同规则排列的圆点图，然后问他们，左右两边哪边的圆点更多。这里有一个猫腻：即使“右”是错误答案，受试者只要选择了右，就会获得更高的奖励。在这个奖励机制的刺激下，受试者在下午更容易作弊，而在早上则相对诚实。
In another experiment the scientists showed the subjects fragments of words, and asked them to complete the word. For example, they might see the last three letters, R, A, L, of a five-letter word. And surprisingly in the morning the participants tended come up with the word "moral" whereas in the afternoon the word of choice was “coral.”
在另一项实验中，研究人员给受试者提供一个单词的其中几个字母，让他们拼出整个单词，例如，他们可能会看到五个字母单词的最后三个字母R、A、L。令人惊讶的是，早上测试时，受试者倾向于拼出“道德”(moral)这个词，而在下午，更多的人选择了“珊瑚”(coral)。
The researchers also found that people who tend to cheat regularly were just as likely to do so in the morning as in the afternoon. It was the more ethical folks who suffered lapses as the day wore on. So the early bird gets the worm…and the truth.
研究人员还发现，经常撒谎的人胡说八道起来不分早晚;只有道德感更强的的人，才会在一天的进程中逐渐丢掉原则。所以，早起的鸟儿不仅有虫吃，还有真话听!
As the day wears on, we tend to get weary. Now a study finds that as a result we may be more likely to cheat or lie in the afternoon than in the morning. But only if we’re usually ethical to begin with.
Scientists showed volunteers patterns of dots on a computer and asked them to tell which side of the screen contained more dots, the right or left. Here's the kicker: the researchers gave the subjects a higher reward if they selected the right side, even if it was incorrect. And with this incentive, subjects were more likely to cheat in the afternoon than in the morning.
In another experiment the scientists showed the subjects fragments of words, and asked them to complete the word. For example, they might see the last three letters, R, A, L, of a five-letter word. And surprisingly in the morning the participants tended come up with the word "moral" whereas in the afternoon the word of choice was “coral.”
The researchers also found that people who tend to cheat regularly were just as likely to do so in the morning as in the afternoon. It was the more ethical folks who suffered lapses as the day wore on. So the early bird gets the worm…and the truth.
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