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  3. Look at the people around you. Some are passive, others more aggressive. Some work best alone, others crave companionship. We ea

Look at the people around you. Some are passive, others more aggressive. Some work best alone, others crave companionship. We ea

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问题     Look at the people around you. Some are passive, others more aggressive. Some work best alone, others crave companionship. We easily recognize that there is great variation among the individuals who live near us. Yet, when we speak of people from elsewhere, we seem to inevitably characterize them based on their country of origin.
    Statistics specialists, when they speak of national averages, often make the same mistake.
    Newly published research shows how erroneous such overviews are. Three researchers analyzed decades of values-based surveys and found that only between 16% and 21% of the variation in cultural values could be explained by differences between countries. In other words, the vast majority of what makes us culturally distinct from one another has nothing to do with our homeland.
    To determine what factors really are associated with culture, the authors combined data from 558 prior surveys that each measured one or more of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. These are traits, such as individualism and masculinity, that describe work-related cultural values. (They are not a measure of visible cultural traits, such as food or dress.) Though the validity of Hofstede’s dimensions has been questioned, they have the singular benefit of having been in use for decades, which allows for historical and international comparisons.
    The researchers found that both demographic factors, such as age, and environmental factors, such as long-term unemployment rates, were more correlated with cultural values than nationality. Occupation and social economic status were the most strongly correlated, suggesting that our values are more economically driven than we usually give them credit for.
    The evidence implies that people with similar jobs and incomes are more culturally alike, regardless of where they live. Vas Taras, the lead author of the study, puts it this way: "Tell me how much you make and I will make a pretty accurate prediction about your cultural values. Tell me what your nationality is and I probably will make a wrong prediction."
    Taras says our erroneous belief that countries are cultures has caused businesses to teach their employees useless or even harmful ways of interacting with their international peers. Chinese and American lawyers might be trained to interact based on the assumption that the Chinese person is less individualistic, even though their similar social economic situations make it probable they are actually quite alike in that regard.
    The country, as the unit of authority, is often a convenient way of generalizing about a population. However, our focus on countries can mask broad variations within them. In the majority of cases we would be better off identifying people by the factors that constrain their lives, like income, rather than by the lines surrounding them on a map.
What error do experts often make when describing people from other places?
选项 A、They tend to overly rely on nationality.
B、They often exaggerate their differences.
C、They often misunderstand their cultures.
D、They tend to dwell on national averages.
答案A
解析 根据题干中的信息词experts和describing people from other places，答案线索可以定位在第一段和第二段。第一段最后一句指出，然而，当我们说起来自其他地方的人时，我们似乎不可避免地根据他们的原籍国来描述他们的特征。第二段指出，统计专家在谈到全国平均值时，也常常犯类似的错误。也就是说，统计专家也经常以原籍国为衡量因素，来谈论全国平均值。选项A是对这两句话的同义转述，故为正确答案，其中原文中的country of origin，选项中的nationality属于同义替换。选项B、C在原文中没有提到，故均排除，选项D是根据第二段中的national averages设置的干扰项，原文是举例说明统计专家在谈论全国平均值时，常常也以原籍国为衡量因素，而不是说专家描述其他地方的人时总是想着全国平均值，故排除选项D。
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