This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Erika Beras.

Got a minute?

Turns out, education pays off. That's true whether you're a doctor or a lawyer—or even a mobster, according to a new study.

Researchers compared the FBI files of more than seven hundred Italian-American mafia men from the '30's to the '40's to other nonmob men from the 1940 census—some were neighbors, others were first and second generation Italian-American immigrants and some were U.S. born white men.

They found that mobsters tended to have a year less schooling than their neighbors—but for those who stayed in school a little longer, they tended to do better economically. More education increased their income—or moolah—by about 8 percent, on average.

The Study is the Economics of Education Review.



Of course, this shouldn't be surprising. The mafia is essentially a corporation, involving complex organizational and numerical expertise. Weighing grams and running numbers takes more than basic math skills. And researchers found the mobsters with the highest return were the ones involved with more complicated schemes—think embezzling, racketeering and loan sharking. Their profit was about three times higher than the mobsters involved with criminal activity like robberies.

So study up! No matter what you plan to do, seems like the more you study, the bigger the payoff. Even ifyou ain't nothing but a wiseguy.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I'm Erika Beras.

参考译文

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是艾丽卡•贝拉斯。

有一分钟时间吗？

事实证明，教育是值得的。一项新研究表明，无论你是医生、律师、甚至是暴徒，这都是事实。

研究人员将美国联邦调查局档案中700余名30到40岁的意大利裔美国黑手党和1940名普查中的非暴徒进行了对比，其中有些人是邻居，其他人是第一代和第二代意大利裔美国移民，还有一些是在美国出生的白人男性。

研究人员发现，暴徒接受教育的年限往往比他们的邻居少一年，而那些在学校学习时间更长的人，在经济方面的表现往往更好。平均来说，接受较多的教育将他们的收入或者说资金提高了约8%。

这项研究结果发表在《教育经济学评论》期刊上。

当然，这种结果不足为奇。从本质上说，黑手党是一个企业，涉及复杂的组织以及数字技能。称重和运算数字需要的不仅仅是基本的数学技巧。研究人员发现，收入最高的暴徒通常会参与最为复杂的方案，比如贪污、敲诈勒索和放高利贷。这些暴徒获得的利润大约是实施抢劫等犯罪活动歹徒的三倍。

所以，好好学习吧！无论你计划做什么事情，你学习的越多，获得的收益也就越多。即使你是聪明人。

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是艾丽卡•贝拉斯。

重点讲解：

1. pay off 成功；赢利；

例句：Sandra was determined to become a doctor and her persistence paid off.

桑德拉决心成为医生，她的坚持取得了成功。

2. on average 平均起来；按平均值；

例句：Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles.

调查人员发现，由于可以随时用手机查收电邮，英国人每年的工作时间平均增加了460个小时。

3. no matter 不管…；无论…；

例句：No matter how hard he tried, I still have no visualization of his design.

无论他怎么努力说明，我还是想像不出他的设计到底是什麽样子。

4. even if 即使；尽管；纵然；

例句：Don't fail to do good even if it is small.

不要因善小而不为。

这种事情还要研究啊？够搞笑了！！！！