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This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔格里塔。

A few years ago scientists determined¹ that our thermostats³ are sexist—namely, that office climates had been optimized⁴ for a hypothetical roomful of 40-year-old, 150-pound men, using standards developed more than 50 years ago. And that ends up leaving a lot of women in the cold.

几年前，科学家认定我们的恒温器存在性别歧视——也就是说，办公室温度采用了50多年前制定的标准，是为假设一屋子里全是40岁、150磅重的男性进行的优化。而这最终会让很多女性感到寒冷。

"It's called the battle of the thermostat², right?" Tom Chang, a behavioral economist⁵ at the USC Marshall School of Business. He says it goes beyond comfort for women: "It seems that it's not just a matter of comfort, but it also affects their productivity."

“这被称为恒温器之战，对吧？”南加州大学马歇尔商学院的行为经济学家汤姆·张说到。他表示，这不仅与女性的舒适度有关：“它似乎不只是舒适度的问题，还会影响她们的工作效率。”

Chang and his colleague tested that link between temperature and performance by quizzing 543 German students on basic addition skills and word scrambles⁶ in rooms that varied⁷ from 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit⁸.

张和同事在60到90华氏度的房间里对543名德国学生进行了基本加法技能和单词组合测验，以此来测试室温与表现之间的关系。

"And if you went from the low 60s to the mid-70s, you saw an increase in female performance of almost 15 percent, one five not five zero, which I found remarkably⁹ large—that's much larger than I had expected." The effects tapered¹⁰ off after the mid-70s. But men, on the other hand, had a small decrease in performance—about 3 percent—as temperatures rose to the mid-70s. The results are in the journal PLoS One.

“如果室温从60度初头上调到75度，你会发现女性的表现提高了近15%，是15而不是50，我认这是巨大的增长——比我预想的大得多。”这种影响在75华氏度往上逐渐减弱。但另一方面，当室温提高到75度时，男性的表现只略有下降——大约3%。研究结果发表在《公共科学图书馆·综合》期刊上。

And there's a chance these findings might explain things like disparities in test scores on the SAT.

这些发现也许可以解释SAT考试分数的差异。

"The longstanding gap in performance between high school boys and high school girls on the Math proportion of SATs is approximately 4 percent. So given the effect size we're finding, you know, that's 3 degrees' difference in indoor temperature." Still, he says, "I wouldn't go running off writing policy off of one study."

“长期以来，高中男生和女生在SAT数学考试中的成绩相差约4%。考虑到我们所发现的效应值，将室内温度调节3度就能完全消除这一差异。”但他仍然表示：“我不会因为一项研究就放弃撰写政策。”

But it seems Cynthia Nixon had the thermostat dialed in just right last year. The actor turned politician was preparing to debate Andrew Cuomo as they vied for the Democratic nomination¹¹ for New York State's governor. Debate venues¹² are usually kept pretty chilly¹³. But she requested a more balmy—and perhaps cognitively¹⁴ friendly—76 degrees.

不过，辛西娅·尼克松似乎就在去年调节了恒温器。这位演员出身的政治家当时正准备与安德鲁·科莫进行辩论，以争夺纽约州州长的民主党提名。辩论场所的温度总是很低。但她要求的是更为温暖——或许也是认知友好的——76华氏度。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。