Are We Born with Optimism?

By

Both biological differences and learned behaviours can help foster optimism.生物学差异和习得行为都会促进乐观品质的形成。

I consider myself an optimist.I sometimes wonder why,since having lost my sister,my father,and my grandmother to unnatural deaths linked to mental distress,I have potentially much to be unhappy about.Yet while these losses have affected me profoundly,in general,I find it hard not to start each day with the feeling that life is good,and the future is bright.And my general feelings of optimism have made me wonder if people are born with an optimistic personality,or whether this is something that can also come through changes in behaviour.

我自认为是个乐天派。有时也觉得诧异——我的姐姐、父亲和祖母都因为精神问题的影响而意外死亡，我很有可能抑郁。可是，虽然至亲离世对我冲击很大，我却常常觉得很难不怀着生活美好、未来明朗的信念迎接每一天。这种总体乐观的态度让我思索，乐观究竟是与生俱来的天性，还是后天也可养成的习性。

The genetic roots of optimism

乐观的基因基础

2 That some individuals may be biologically disposed tooptimism is bolsteredby a report of a retired Scottish woman called Jo Cameron,who has mutationsin two genes that consequently make her impervious topain.Intriguingly,suggesting that responses to physical and emotional pain may be linked,Cameron also scored zero on tests assessing levels of anxiety and depression,and says that she always feels happy and upbeat.

2 有观点认为，一些人天生乐观。有关苏格兰退休女士乔·卡梅伦的一篇报道让这个说法更有力度。卡梅伦由于携带了两个突变基因而感受不到疼痛。奇妙的是，她在几次焦虑和抑郁水平测试中的得分也都为零，她说自己向来都心满意足、积极乐观。这表明对身体痛觉的反应和对精神痛苦的反应之间或许存在关联。

3 So what is the cause of Jo Cameron’s resistance to physical pain and her perpetually sunny outlook on life? One of the genes mutated in her genome,named FAAH,is involved in the breakdown of anandamide,a bodily chemical central to pain sensation,mood,and memory.The other mutation is in a gene that boosts FAAH’s action,and the two mutations combined dramatically boost levels of anandamide in the body.

3 那么，为什么乔·卡梅伦感觉不到疼痛，生活中也一贯乐观呢？她基因组里发生突变的一个基因叫脂肪酸酰胺水解酶（FAAH）。FAAH 参与分解花生四烯酸乙醇胺，人体中一种对痛觉、情绪、记忆起关键作用的化学物质。另一个突变发生在一个能够增强FAAH 活性的基因上。这两种突变共同作用，大大提升了卡梅伦体内花生四烯酸乙醇胺的含量。

4 So should we all aspire to have our genomes engineeredlike Jo Cameron’s? In fact,our pain response plays a vital role in protecting us from injury and death.And indeed during Cameron’s life,she has accumulated injuries that include a degenerated hip and thumbs deformed by osteoarthritis,which only came to the attention of doctors when Cameron became unable to walk and handle items,not because she reported any pain.

4 既然如此，我们是不是都应该盼望着把自己的基因结构变成乔·卡梅伦那样呢？实际上，疼痛反应对于我们避伤保命至关重要。卡梅伦一生中的确多次受伤，其中包括髋关节退化和拇指因骨关节炎变形。而这些之所以被医生发现，并不是因为卡梅伦自述疼痛，而只是因为她已经到了腿不能走、手不能握的程度。

5 While it might be better not to emulate Cameron’s imperviousness to pain,how about finding a way to provide the rest of us with her sunny disposition on life? In fact,here too there are some negative features.One contributing factor to Cameron’s positive outlook is that she quickly forgets negative incidents.However,she is also more generally highly forgetful.This provides another reason why it would not be a good idea to genetically engineer everyone to be more like Cameron,unless we want a planet of people who feel no pain and are perpetually happy,yet who are prone to serious injury because they have no painful warning signals,and cannot remember what you told them last week.

5 虽然卡梅伦对疼痛的耐受力不宜效仿，但可否想办法让大家都拥有她阳光般的心态呢？其实，这也不全然是好事。促成卡梅伦乐观心态的因素之一就是不愉快的事她转瞬即忘。但是对于其他事情她基本上也是高度健忘。这就是卡梅伦的基因不宜推崇的另一个原因——除非我们希望地球上住着的全是感觉不到疼痛、永远无忧无虑，但却因为接收不到疼痛警报信号而易受重伤、也记不住你上周说过什么话的人。

6 Still,studying how Cameron’s two gene mutations result in her resistance to both physical and emotional pain might help the development of new types of painkillers and therapies for the treatment of depression.More generally,while Cameron is clearly a highly unusual person,the existence of such an individual suggests that there may be many other people who have a less extreme tendency to be resistant to pain and have a more positive outlook on life,but who nevertheless have a genetic basis for this tendency.

6 尽管如此，研究卡梅伦的两个基因突变何以让她免受身心之痛也许有助于新型止痛药和抗抑郁疗法的开发。总的来说，卡梅伦的案例无疑非常罕见，但她这样的情况说明，可能还有很多人对疼痛的耐受度没有那么极端、对生活也更为乐观，而他们也具备相应的基因基础。

How optimism is influenced by behavior

行为如何影响乐观心态

7 At the same time,it would seem mistaken to only focus on biological reasons for someone adopting a positive outlook on life.Importantly,there is also evidence that changes that we make in our lives can also help us cope with,and see a way beyond,even the greatest misfortunes that the world throws at us.One story that inspired me following the death of my sister was that of a 106-yearold black woman called Ida Keeling from the Bronx in New York,who is a record-breaking sprinter,having decided to take up running at the age of 60.

7 然而，如果只关注形成乐观生活态度的生物学原因，似乎失之偏颇。还有一点也很重要：有证据表明，生活当中做出一些改变亦可让我们即使遭逢最大不幸也能继续前行，并看到绝处逢生的希望。姐姐过世后，一位106 岁黑人老太太的故事启发了我。她叫艾达·基林，住在纽约市布朗克斯区，是一位创纪录的短跑选手。而她在花甲之年才决定开始跑步。

8 This was not just the whim of someone approaching old age but a person trying to find meaning in life following the deepest personal tragedy.In her earlier years,Ida—a single mother after her husband died of a heart attack aged only 42—was active in the black civil rights movements,shuttling her children to Malcolm Xspeeches and attending the 1963 March on Washington in which Martin Luther King made his famous“I have a dream” speech.Ida’s daughter Shelley Keeling has said,“I always understood from mother that you die on your feet rather than live on your knees.”

8 这并不只是一位将老之人的一时兴起，还是一个历经至深悲剧的人在试图寻找生活的意义。丈夫年仅42 岁就突发心脏病离世，早年的艾达成了单亲妈妈。她积极投身黑人民权运动，带着孩子们去听马尔科姆·艾克斯的演讲，参加1963年“向华盛顿进军”大游行（马丁·路德·金在这场游行中发表了著名演说《我有一个梦想》）。女儿谢利·基林曾说：“妈妈让我始终明白，一个人宁可站着死，也不跪着生。”

9 However,in the late 1970s,Ida’s resilience was tested to the limit by the descent of her two sons into serious drug addiction,and their subsequent deaths from drug-related violence.But as Ida fell into a deep depression,Shelley Keeling—a track-and-field athlete—suggested that her mother take up running to help combat her grief.And after some coaxing,Ida registered for a fivekilometre race through Brooklyn.It was a seminal moment for her.“Good Lord,I thought that race was never going to end,but afterward,I felt free,” she noted.“I just threw off all of the bad memories,the aggravation,the stress.”

9 然而，1970年代后期，艾达的两个儿子开始沉迷毒品，后来又死于毒品暴力事件，这让坚强的艾达濒于崩溃。艾达逐渐消沉，身为田径运动员的女儿谢利·基林建议母亲跑步来缓解悲伤。在女儿的劝导下，艾达报名了布鲁克林五公里路跑赛。那一刻对她意义非凡。“天啊，一开始我觉得这场赛跑看不到头，但是后来我觉得身心自由了。”她说道，“我把一切不快、烦恼、压力全都忘了。”

10 My own running routine—a mere one-mile jog around the park every morning—pales into insignificancebeside Ida Keeling’s efforts,but it was directly inspired by reading her story and realising that daily running could be a way for me to deal positively with my grief.

10 跟艾达·基林相比，我自己每天一英里的公园晨跑显得微不足道。但是，我之所以开始跑步，就是在读了艾达的故事后受到了鼓舞，意识到我可以每天跑步来积极化解悲伤。

11 And Ida Keeling’s story raises the question of why running has proved so beneficial as a way of maintaining a positive outlook on life,and how this differs from the way that genetic mutations have had a similar impact on Jo Cameron.

11 艾达·基林的经历也引人思考：为何跑步对保持乐观生活态度大有益处？它和基因突变对乔·卡梅伦乐观心态的影响有何不同？

12 In fact,these two individuals may have more in common than might first appear,since exercise can stimulate the production of the chemical anandamide—the same substance that exists at such high levels in Cameron’s body because of a defect in the proteins that control its breakdown.This explains why even moderate exercise—like a 15-minute jog in the park—can leave us feeling more satisfied with ourselves and at peace with the world.■

12 艾达和卡梅伦二人的故事乍看不太相关，实则不然。因为运动可以刺激花生四烯酸乙醇胺的分泌，而该物质在卡梅伦体内的含量因负责降解花生四烯酸乙醇胺的蛋白质有缺陷而居高。这解释了为何适度锻炼，比如在公园小跑15 分钟，就能让我们感到更加自足、更加心平气和。 □