Although the hornworm is a voracious eater that can strip a tomato plant in a matter of days, it is, in fact, harmless to humans. Entomologists had known the insect to be innocuous for decades when Fuller published his dramatic account, and his claims were widely mocked by experts. So why did the rumors persist even though the truth was readily available? People are social learners. We develop most of our beliefs from the testimony of trusted others such as our teachers, parents and friends. This social transmission of knowledge is at the heart of culture and science. But as the tomato hornworm story shows us, our ability has a gaping vulnerability: sometimes the ideas we spread are wrong.
同学译文：
即便番茄角虫的进食速度极快，数天内就可解决一株番茄（1），然事实上它对人类无害（2）。当年福勒医生刊登他的荒唐言论后（3），还广遭业内专家嘲弄，数十年来昆虫学家都深知该虫无害。为何真相已水落石出，谣言仍经久不衰？（4）人类是社会性的学习者（5），我们脑海中绝大多数想法的获取都源自对他者的信任，如老师、父母和朋友（6）。在文化和科学领域中，知识的社会性传播处于核心地位。然而，番茄角虫的故事揭示了这种能力的巨大弱点（7），即有时我们传递的想法是错误的。
一、以上译文评析&扣分点：
（1）“解决一株番茄” 表意模糊，strip a tomato plant指啃光整株番茄植株的叶片，并非吃掉整颗番茄果实，语义偏差；
（2）文言虚词 “然” 用在此处有些突兀，全文为普通说明文体，无需半文言措辞，用“但”即可；
（3）时态逻辑颠倒：过去完成时had known 表示在富勒发表文章之前；
dramatic account并非 “荒唐言论”，原文想表达的是耸人听闻、夸大其词的叙述；
（4）readily available指真相随手可得、极易获取，并非 “水落石出（真相已经彻底查明落地）”，词义理解存在偏差；
（5）此处直译略显生硬，建议优化；
（6）“他者”可以改为“他人”，再者，中文搭配略奇怪，xxx获取都源自xxx信任？原文We develop most of our beliefs from the testimony of trusted others such as our teachers, parents and friends.意思是我们多数的beliefs来自others , such as our teachers, parents and friends.可以体会一下这细微差别；（7）as...shows us正如…… 揭示的那样/正如…… 向我们表明 / 从…… 这件事就能看出；
（8）gaping vulnerability侧重 “明显、巨大的致命短板、明显漏洞”，“巨大弱点” 翻译不算错误，但意思不够准确；
二、原文重难点拆解：
Although the hornworm is a voracious eater（1） that can strip a tomato plant in a matter of days, it is, in fact, harmless to humans. Entomologists had known the insect to be innocuous for decades when Fuller published his dramatic account, and his claims were widely mocked by experts.（2）So why did the rumors persist even though the truth was readily available?（3）People are social learners.（4） We develop most of our beliefs from the testimony of trusted others such as our teachers, parents and friends.This social transmission of knowledge is at the heart of culture and science.（5）But as the tomato hornworm story shows us, our ability has a gaping vulnerability: sometimes the ideas we spread are wrong.（6）1.首先，我们继续扫一遍生词：
voracious /vəˈreɪʃəs/adj.贪吃的，食量惊人的
strip v.这里不是“脱衣服”，而是啃光、吃光
entomologist n.昆虫学家
innocuous adj.无害的
mock v.嘲笑
persist v. 持续存在
testimony n. 证词 / 他人说法
social learners n. 社会性学习者（重点概念）
（1）a voracious eater不能因为看不懂形容词voracious就漏译，可以查词典的，无非就是讲食量很大很惊人；（2）Entomologists had known the insect to be innocuous for decades when Fuller published his dramatic account, and his claims were widely mocked by experts.注意这里的had know表示早就知道；insect 需要还原，其他如果前后指代清楚的前提下，可以写成这种幼虫等形式；但不能一会儿是番茄幼虫，一会儿是西红柿幼虫；英语表达比较丰富，但实际表达的是同个事物；（3）So why did the rumors persist even though the truth was readily available? readily available 表示真相很容易获得，来个成语？唾手可得；（4）People are social learners.人是群体性学习者？人是社会学习者？也对，但老感觉差点意思，为啥呢？因为很生硬啊！联系后文，说我们形成的观念是从别人口中学到的意思，这里不妨处理为人类本质上依赖社会学习。（5）This social transmission of knowledge is at the heart of culture and science. 这里的 This social transmission of knowledge表示知识的社会性传播，意思就是人类通过别人学习知识，at the heart of 表示……的核心；（6）But as the tomato hornworm story shows us, our ability has a gaping vulnerability: sometimes the ideas we spread are wrong.这里的冒号要不要保留？我们讲中英文标点符号不是亦步亦趋的关系，但是在这里，冒号是表示解释的作用，中英文标点符号冒号的作用基本一致，都是表示解释，所以我们这里不妨沿用原文的标点符号，即冒号；三、参考译文：
尽管天蛾幼虫食量惊人，数天内就能吃光番茄植株上的叶子，但事实上它对人类并无害处。早在医生富勒发表其惊人描述的数十年前，昆虫学家就已经知道这种幼虫无害，因此他的说法广受专家嘲讽。既然真相并不难查明，又为何流言不绝呢？人类本质上依赖社会学习。我们的许多观念，都是从自己信任的老师、父母和朋友等其他人的口中学到的。这种知识的社会性传播，是文化和科学发展的核心。但是，正如番茄天蛾幼虫之事向我们揭示的那样，这种社会学习能力存在巨大的漏洞：有时我们传播的思想是错误的。四、本篇翻译常见错误：
Case：a voracious eater 因不认识 voracious 而漏译。慢就是快，精做一篇，胜于潦草做完10篇，下次我们继续讲解剩余段落：
Over the past five years the ways in which the social transmission of knowledge can fail us have come into sharp focus. Misinformation shared on social media websites has fueled an epidemic of false belief, with widespread misconceptions concerning topics ranging from the prevalence of voter fraud, to whether the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged, to whether vaccines are safe. The same basic mechanisms that spread fear about the tomato hornworm have now intensified—and, in some cases, led to—a profound public mistrust of basic societal institutions. "Misinformation" may seem like a misnomer here. After all, many of today's most damaging false beliefs are initially driven by acts of propaganda and disinformation, which are deliberately deceptive and intended to cause harm. But part of what makes propaganda and disinformation so effective in an age of social media is the fact that people who are exposed to it share it widely among friends and peers who trust them, with no intention of misleading anyone. Social media transforms disinformation into misinformation.Many communication theorists and social scientists have tried to understand how false beliefs persist by modeling the spread of ideas as a contagion. Employing mathematical models involves simulating a simplified representation of human social interactions using a computer algorithm and then studying these simulations to learn something about the real world. In a contagion model, ideas are like viruses that go from mind to mind. You start with a network, which consists of nodes, representing individuals, and edges, which represent social connections. You seed an idea in one "mind" and see how it spreads under various assumptions about when transmission will occur.
