双语阅读：脏话频出的人词汇量更大英文更牛

[摘要]一直以来人们都认为满嘴脏话的人词汇量较小，现在该重新思量思量这句话了。事实上，一项研究发现，人们口吐脏话的词频或许就与其语言整体的流利度更高相关联。

It might be time to rethink the long-held belief that people with foul mouths have smaller lexicons. In fact, a study found, the number of a person drops might actually be correlated with greater overall language fluency.

一直以来人们都认为满嘴脏话的人词汇量较小，现在该重新思量思量这句话了。事实上，一项研究发现，人们口吐脏话的词频或许就与其语言整体的流利度更高相关联。

Taking an opposite approach to the view that people who use dirty words do so because they're linguistically challenged, psychologists Kristin Jay and Timothy Jay of Marist College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts hypothesized that being fluent in four-letter words might just be a sign of better language skills.

都认为说脏话是因为词穷、语言水平差，来自玛利斯特学院和马萨诸塞文科学院的心理学家克里斯廷·杰和提姆斯·杰却剑走偏锋，他们假设认为口吐脏字儿或许就标志着其语言技能更好。

The researchers recruited study participants between the ages of 18 and 22, and asked them to do a fun little experiment: First, say as many swear words as they could think of in a minute, followed by another 60 seconds of listing animal names.

研究人员召集了18至22岁的参与者来做一项有趣的小实验。先是一分钟内能想到几句骂人的话就说几句，接下来的60秒里列举各种动物名称。

With limited variation between genders, people who cursed more also named more animals, leading them to conclude that these people either A) were more likely to be well-versed in zoology, or B) simply had larger vocabularies.

实验显示男女差异并不大，骂得凶的动物名字报的也多，杰因而得出如下结论：这些人对深谙动物学，或者就是词汇量偏大。

Researchers in the U.K. have already shown that using profanity can help people become more emotionally resilient; now we know that it might even be a sign they'll do better on the SAT.

英国的研究人员早已发现，污言秽语更有助人们恢复情感；现在我们得知语言不逊或许意味着他们参加（美国）学业能力倾向测验能取得更好的成绩。

The study also found that people who curse a lot seemed to understand the difference between what constitutes an "appropriate" curse word and an "inappropriate" one. Racial slurs appeared much less frequently in people's lists of swear words than "general pejoratives" .

研究同样发现，脏字连篇者似乎也明白骂人的话有“合适”与“不当”之别。比之“一般的贬损之辞”，种族污蔑之语鲜有出现在人们的脏话之列。

So the next time you lose your keys or get stuck in traffic, don't be afraid to start letting those f-bombs fly freely.

所以，下次你钥匙掉了，或者碰到交通拥堵，就火力全开，让脏话满天飞吧。