自信 | 英语六级必听美文

Some people are bom with the belief that they are masters of their own lives. Others feel they are at the mercy of fate. New research shows that part ofthose feelings are in the genes.

有些人天生就相信他们是自我生命的主宰，其他人则觉得他们受到命运的支配。一项新的研究发现这些感觉部分来自基因。

Psychologists have long known that people confident in their ability to control their destinies are more likely to adjust well to growing old than those who feel that they drifi on the currents offate.

心理学家早就知道有信心掌握自己命运的人比那些觉得自己是受命运摆布的人更能适应老化。

Two researchers who questioned hundreds of Swedish twins report that such confidence, or lack ofit, is partly genetic and partly drawn from experience.

两位研究学家在询问了瑞典的好几百对双胞胎后报告说，这种信心，或是信心的缺乏，一部分是与基因有关，另一部分则是来自经验的累积。

They also found that the belief in blind luck-a conviction that coincidence plays a big role ui life-is something leamed in life and has nothing to do with heredity.

他们同时发现，相信盲目运气的人一认为巧合在生命中扮演一个很重要的角色l-一是在生活过程中学习来的，与遗传毫无关系。

The research was conducted at the Karolinska Institute-better known as the body that annually awards the Nobel Prue for medicine-by Nancy Pedersen of the hrstitute and Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology at the University of Southem Califomia in Los Angeles. Their results were recently published in the United States in the Joumal of Gerontology.

这项研究是在卡洛林司卡机构里进行的。这个机构亦是每年颁发诺贝尔医学奖的团体。该研究是由此机构的南西·皮德森与洛杉矶南加大的心理学教授玛格丽特·贾兹负责，他们这项研究结果最近在美国老年学的期刊上登出。

"People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have an intemal locus of control", and have a better chance ofbeing well adjusted their old age, said Pedersen.

皮德森说，对自己掌握生命的能力有信心的人有一种“内在控制的基因位点"，比较能够适应老年期。

An "extemal locus of comrol", believing that outside forces determine the course oflife, has been linked to depression in latter years, she said. "We are trying to understand what makes people different. Whatmakes some people age gracefully and others have a more difficult time?"she said.

她说，相信外在力量决定生命之旅的“外在控制的基因位点”与晚年沮丧的情绪有关。她说：“我们想了解人与人之间相异的原因是什么。是什么原因使有些人安然悠哉地步入晚年，而有些人则比较困难呢？“

The study showed that while people have an irtborn predilection toward independence and self-confidence, about 70 percent of this personality trait is affected by a person's environment and lifetime experiences.

这项研究显示—有人能够拥有天生的自信与独立，而70%查这种仝性的人，会受到环境与一生的经验压影响。

Pedersen's studies, with various collaborators, probe the aging process by comparing sets of twins, both identical and fratemal, many of whom were separated at an early age.

皮德森和许多不同的研究学者通过对双胞胎的比较，探讨了老化的过程。这些同卵及异卵双胞胎有许多都在很小的时候就分开了。

The subjects were drawn from a roster first compiled about 30 years ago registering all twins bom in Sweden since 1886. The complete list, which was extended in 1971, has 95,000 sets of twins.