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Politics of the Brain 政治立场是天生的？

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Have you ever wondered what’s wrong with people who don’t agree with you politically? Is there anything wrong with their brains? There probably isn’t, but a recent experiment by psychologists at New York University ___1___ point to dissimilarities between the brains of liberals and conservatives.

你是否曾想过，那些政治理念和你不同的人出了什么问题？他们的脑袋有毛病吗？或许没有，但根据最近纽约大学的心理学家所做的实验，自由派和保守派人士的脑部有许多相异之处。

For the study, psychologists asked ___2___ of the participants to sit in front of a computer screen and gave them the same task. If an “M” appeared, they were to press a button. If a “W” appeared, they were not to press the button. The letters flashed on the screen for only a fraction of a second, so the participants ___3___ think fast.

在该研究中，心理学家要每位实验参与者坐在计算机屏幕前，并给予他们相同的任务。如果M出现，他们必须按下按钮，如果出现的是W，他们就不能按。这些字母在屏幕上闪动的时间只有几分之一秒，所以参加者必须迅速思考。

The letter M appeared much more often than W, so pressing the button became ___4___, making it difficult not to press it. In the end, liberals were around ten percent more accurate than conservatives when it ___5___ to pressing the button at the right time. The study is especially intriguing because it demonstrates a difference between liberal and conservative ways of thinking ___6___ using a method unconnected to politics.

M字母比W字母更常出现，所以按按钮会变成一种习惯，使得他们很难不去按按钮。最终，在正确时间按下按钮的表现上，自由派的准确度比保守派多出了百分之十。这项研究的有趣之处，在于用一种和政治无关的方法，来展现自由派与保守派思考模式的差异。

The research strongly suggests that liberals are programmed to try different ways of doing and looking at things ___7___ conservatives prefer to stick to what they are already comfortable with. Unfortunately, what it can’t tell us is whether or not conservatives and liberals will ever agree on anything.

此研究在在显示，自由派人士倾向于尝试用不同方法做事或看待事情，而保守派人士则喜欢固守他们习惯的事物。可惜的是，该实验无法告诉我们，保守派和自由派是否有一天会有相同的看法。

−by Mark Mitchell & Amy Gittelson

Vocabulary

单词发音

dissimilarity [dɪs͵sɪməˋlærətɪ] n. 相异；相异点

liberal [ˋlɪbərəl] n. 自由主义者

conservative [kənˋsɝvətɪv] n. 保守主义者，守旧者

fraction [ˋfrækʃən] n. 小部分

intriguing [ɪn`trigɪŋ] adj.〔由于奇特﹑神秘或出人意料而〕引起好奇心的; 令人感兴趣的

demonstrate [ˋdɛmən͵stret] v. 示范; 展示; 演示

program [ˋprogræm] v.〔由于社会﹑羣体或情况的影响〕使〔某人〕按某种方式行事[思考]

Answer