Some People Are Born With Confidence

Some people are born with the belief that they are masters of their own lives. Others feel they are at the mercy of1 fate.

New research shows that part of those feelings are in the genes. 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 drift on the currents of fate2 .

Two researchers who questioned hundreds of Swedish twins report that such confidence, or lack of it, is partly genetic and partly drawn from experience. They also found that the belief in blind luck — a conviction that coincidence plays a big role in life is something learned in life and has nothing to do with heredity.

The research was conducted at the Karolinska Institute — better known as the body that annually awards the Nobel Prize for medicine — by Nancy Pedersen of the Institute and Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Their results were recently published in the United States in the Journal of Gerontology.四级翻译

People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have an"internal locus of control, "and have a better chance of being well adjusted in their old age, said Pedersen. An" external locus of control", believing that outside forces determine the course of life, has been linked to depression in latter years, she said.

"We are trying to understand what makes people different. What makes some people age gracefully and others have a more difficult time ?"she said. The study showed that while people have an inborn predilection toward independence and self-confidence, about 70 percent of this personality trait3 is affected by a person's environment and lifetime experiences.

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

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

练习题：

Ⅰ. Multiple choice:

1. Researchers questioned of Swedish twins report that such confidence is partly genetic .

A. hundreds B. thousands C. dozens D. 95, 000 sets

2. People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have a better chance of being well adjusted in their .

A. old age B. jobs C. family

3. By comparing sets of twins, Pedersen’s studies focus on .

A. the age process B. the social justice C. the social environment

4. The"internal locus of control"means .

A. self-constructive forces to maintain the balance of the mind

B. self-motivated power to achieve consciousness

C. inside forces determine the course of life

Ⅱ. Explain the following words:

1. blind luck

2. external locus of control

答案：

Ⅰ. 1. A 2 . A 3. A 4 . C

Ⅱ. 1. a conviction that coincidence plays a big role in life is something learned in life and has nothing to do with heredity

2. outside forces determine the course of life

参考译文：

你的自信父母说了算

有些人天生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。

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。

两位研究员在询问了好几百对瑞典的双胞胎后报告说, 信心的有无, 一部分是与基因有关, 另一部分则是来自经验的累积。他们同时发现, 相信盲目运气——— 认为巧合在生命中扮演一个很重要的角色——— 的人是在生活过程中形成这一观点的, 而与遗传无关。

这项研究是在卡罗林斯卡医学院里进行的。这个医学院以每年对外颁赠诺贝尔医学奖而闻名。进行这项研究的是学院里的南希· 皮德森和洛杉矶南加大的心理学教授玛格丽特· 贾兹。研究结果发表在美国《老年学》期刊上。

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。而“ 外在控制的基因位点”相信外在力量决定生命之旅, 从而导致晚年的沮丧情绪。

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地步入晚年, 而有些人则比较困难? ”

这项研究显示, 有人能够拥有天生的自信与独立, 而百分之七十有这种个性的人, 是受环境与一生经验的影响。

皮德森与众多合作者进行的这项研究, 把许多在很小就分开的同卵及异卵双胞胎放在一起比较老化的过程。

研究对象是从一本三十年前编纂的名册中抽出的。这本名册登记有自1886 年以来所有 在瑞典出生的双胞胎。这份完整的名单— 直延续到1971 年, 共计九万五千对双胞胎。