In recent years, researchers from diverse fields have agreed that short-termism is now a significant problem in industrialised societies. The inability to engage with longer-term causes and consequences leads to some of the world’s most serious problems: climate change, biodiversity collapse, and more. The historian Francis Cole argues that the West has entered a period where “only the present exists, a present characterised at once by the cruelty of the instant and by the boredom of an unending now”.
近年来，来自不同领域的研究人员一致认为短期主义现在是工业化社会中的一个重要问题。无法参与更长期的原因和后果导致了世界上一些最严重的问题：气候变化，生物多样性崩溃等。历史学家弗朗西斯·科尔认为，西方已经进入一个“只有现在存在”的时期，这个现在一方面充满了瞬间的残酷，另一方面又充满了无尽的无聊。

It has been proved that people have a bias (偏向) towards the present, focusing on loud attractions in the moment at the expense of the health, well-being and financial stability of their future selves or community. In business, this bias surfaces as short-sighted decisions. And on slow-burning problems like climate change, it translates into the unwillingness to make small sacrifices (牺牲) today that could make a major difference tomorrow. Instead, all that matters is next quarter’s profit, or satisfying some other near-term desires.
人们已经证明对现在有偏向，专注于眼前的吸引力，牺牲了未来自己或社区的健康、幸福和财务稳定。在商业领域，这种偏见表现为短视的决策。在气候变化等慢性问题上，它意味着不愿意今天作出一些可以在明天产生重大影响的小牺牲。一切只关乎下个季度的利润，或者满足其他一些近期的欲望。

These biased perspectives cannot be blamed on one single cause. It is fair to say, though, that our psychological biases play a major role. People’s hesitancy to delay satisfaction is the most obvious example, but there are others.One of them is about how the most accessible information in the present affects decisions about the future. For instance, you might hear someone say: “It’s cold this winter, so I needn’t worry about global warming.”Another is that loud and urgent matters are given too much importance, making people ignore longer-term trends that arguably matter more. This is when a pop star draws far more attention than, say, gradual biodiversity decline.
这些偏见的观点不能归咎于单一原因。然而公平地说，我们的心理偏见起着重要作用。人们对延迟满足感到犹豫是最明显的例子，但还有其他原因。

As a psychologist once joked, if aliens (外星人) wanted to weaken humanity, they wouldn’t send ships; they would invent climate change. Indeed, when it comes to environmental transformations, we can develop a form of collective “poor memory”, and each new generation can believe the state of affairs they encounter is nothing out of the ordinary. Older people today, for example, can remember a time with insect-covered car windscreens after long drives. Children, on the other hand, have no idea that insect population has dropped dramatically.
如一位心理学家曾开玩笑说，如果外星人想要削弱人类，他们不会派舰船；他们会发明气候变化。实际上，当谈到环境转变时，我们可能会形成一种集体的“差劲记忆”，每一代人可能会相信他们所遇到的事态并无异常。比如，今天的老年人可能记得长途驾驶后车窗上布满昆虫的时代。而孩子们则不知道昆虫数量已经急剧下降。

1. The author quotes Francis Cole mainly to __.
   A. draw a comparison
   B. introduce a topic
   C. evaluate a statement
   D. highlight a problem
   答案：D

2. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
   A. Climate change has been forgotten.
   B. Lessons of history are highly valued.
   C. The human mind is bad at noting slow change.
   D. Humans are unwilling to admit their shortcomings.
   答案：C

3. What does the author intend to tell us?
   A. Far-sighted thinking matters to humans.
   B. Humans tend to make long-term sacrifices.
   C. Current policies facilitate future decision-making.
   D. Bias towards the present helps reduce near-term desires.
   答案：A