GRE阅读练习：遗传基因影响政治倾向和看法

>>GRE阅读训练：GRE阅读练习：遗传基因影响政治倾向和看法

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IN 1882 W.S. Gilbert wrote, to a tune by Sir Arthur Sullivan, a ditty that went I often think it's comical how Nature always does contrive/that every boy and every gal that's born into the world alive/is either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative.

在1882年，W.S吉尔伯特写的一首小诗-是为阿瑟-沙利文爵士的一首曲子而作，我一直认为，大自然的精工雕作是那么可笑/每个出生到这个世界上，并存活下来的男孩和女孩们/不是有一点自由倾向，就是有一点保守。

In the 19th century, that view, though humorously intended, would not have been out of place among respectable thinkers.

在十九世纪，这个观点虽然有一点幽默的意味，但是在那些备受尊敬的思想家眼中，也并不是一无是处。

The detail of a man's opinion might be changed by circumstances.

一个人意见的详细观点可能会由于环境而改变。

But the idea that much of his character was ingrained at birth held no terrors.

但是，这种与生俱来的，由他的性格决定的观念也没什么恐怖的。

It is not, however, a view that cut much ice in 20th-century social-scientific thinking, particularly after the second world war.

然而，它在二十世纪的社会科学思想中没有占到一席之地，特别是二战之后。

Those who allowed that it might have some value were generally shouted down and sometimes abused, along with all others vehemently suspected of the heresy of believing that genetic differences between individuals could have a role in shaping their behavioural differences.

那些认为它有一些价值的人们发出的呐喊，通常会被持不同观点人们的声音所掩盖，有时还会遭到辱骂，和那些对当时的异端邪说----即个体之间的遗传差异在塑造他们各自不同的行为上起了一定的作用----有些猜测的人们一样受到不公平对待。

Such thinking, a product compounded of Marxism and a principled rejection of the eugenics that had led, via America's sterilisation programmes for the feeble minded, to the Nazi extermination camps, made life hard for those who wished to ask whether genes really do affect behaviour.

这样的想法，与马克思主义融合后的产物，加上美国借口弱智而产生的绝育计划，这种优生学的原则性排斥反应直接导致了纳粹集中营的大屠杀，让那些想知道基因是不是对行为真的有影响的人们更加难以生存了。

Now, however, the pendulum is swinging back.

然而，现在，这个一直在变化的问题又摆到了人们面前。

In the matter of both political outlook and political participation it is coming to be seen that genes matter quite a lot.

就政治观点和政治参与而言，即将可以看出，基因确实起到了很大的作用。

They are not the be-all and end-all.

他们并不是最重要的。

But, as a review of the field published in September in Trends in Genetics, by Peter Hatemi of Pennsylvania State University and Rose McDermott of Brown University, shows, they affect a person's views of the world almost as much as his circumstances do, and far more than many social scientists have been willing, until recently, to admit.

但是，由美国宾夕法尼亚州立大学的彼德-哈特米和布朗大学的罗斯麦克德莫特合著的遗传学的发展趋势于今年九月出版，书中所持的遗传学观点认为，基因对人们世界观的影响几乎等同于环境的影响，而且，远远超过了许多社会科学家愿意承认的影响，直到最近他们才愿意接受这个结果。

Family values

家庭价值

The evidence for this claim comes from two types of source, one relatively old and one spanking new.

这种说法的证据有两种来源，一种比较古老，一种非常新颖。

The old is studies of twins, comparing identical and non-identical pairs.

古老的来自于对双胞胎的研究，以同卵双胞胎与异卵双胞胎进行对比研究。

The new is a direct examination of people's DNA, searching for genes whose variation correlates with observable behavioural differences.

新颖的是对人类的DNA直接进行检查研究，探求基因变异与观察到的行为变异的关系。

Twins studies, which seek to control for the effects of upbringing by comparing identical twins with fraternal ones, have been going on since the 1950s.

双胞胎研究从二十世纪五十年代就开始了，主要是通过对同卵双胞胎和异卵双胞胎进行比较，寻求控制成长的影响基因。

In that time, quite a number, in many countries, have looked in part at political questions.

那时候，很多国家的大多数人，他们的注意力主要集中在政治问题上。

Dr Hatemi and Dr McDermott pored over 89 peer-reviewed papers on the effects of genes and environment on political matters.

哈特米博士和麦克德莫特博士认真钻研了，89名同行对于基因和环境对政治问题影响的评论文章。

These included twins' political knowledge, their attitudes to racial, sexual and religious questions, their views on defence and foreign policy, and their identification with particular political parties.

这些评论报道包括了双生子的政治知识，他们在种族，性别和宗教问题上的态度，他们对国防和外交政策的看法，还有他们对特别党派的认同感。

On all counts, identical twins were found to be more alike than fraternal twins.

通过这些项目的研究，发现同卵双胞胎比异卵双胞胎更相像。

That knowledge, refracted through the prism of statistical theory, allows calculations of the proportionate influences of genes, family environment and general environment on particular traits to be made.

通过统计理论分析得到的结果，可以推算出基因、家庭环境和外部环境对特别性状的相应比例的影响。

Some show strong genetic influence.

其中，一些结果表明受到了很强的基因影响，

Some show little.

而有一些几乎不受基因影响。

Intriguingly, political knowledge and party identification are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

有趣的是，政治知识和党派认同分别处于研究结果的两端。

As the chart shows knowledge is highly genetically determined. Identification with a particular political party, by contrast, is largely a question of family upbringing—much more so than are opinions about the sorts of policy that it might be thought would determine voting patterns.

就像上表揭示的，政治知识受到基因的影响最 大。相反，对特别政治党派的认同主要是家庭教育的问题，而对于各种政策的意见，家庭教育对这个的影响远远不如对前者的影响。

But even family ties weaken when people leave home—and they do so in a way that helps disentangle genetic influence.

但是当人们离开家，家庭联系甚至日益减弱时，这样在某种程度上就把研究的方向聚集到了基因的影响上。

Dr Hatemi showed this in 2009 when, along with a group of colleagues, he looked at twins aged between 11 and 75.

哈特米博士在2009年-当时他与他的同仁们一起工作，对11岁到75岁的双生子进行了研究-公布了这个研究结果。

His results demonstrated that until their late teens both kinds of twins had equally similar political views.

他的研究结果说明了，直到这些双生子十几岁时，他们的政治看法都很相似。

Soon after they flew the nest, though, as might be expected, their views began to diverge.

但是，可能就像预测的一样，在他们离巢后不久，这些双生子之间的看法就开始有分歧。

And, just as would be expected if genes have political influence, the views of fraternal twins diverged more than did those of identical ones.

而且，就像预计的，如果基因有政治影响力的话，那么异卵双胞胎的意见分歧将会比那些同卵双胞胎更加严重。

Between the ages of 18 and 20 identical and fraternal twins both shared nearly 70% of their political ideology.

18到20岁的同卵和异卵双胞胎的政治思想近70%都相同。

Between the ages of 21 and 25, that had shrunk to 60% for identical twins and 40% for fraternal twins. Clearly, then, genes matter.

21到25岁，同卵双胞胎的这个数值减小到了60%，而异卵双胞胎只有40%。那很明显，基因影响。

Nor do they merely affect a person's opinions.

基因不仅仅影响一个人的意见。

They also affect his level of political engagement.

它们也影响人的政治参与水平。

This was shown in a study published in 2008 by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.

2008年公布的一项研究-研究者是位于圣地亚哥的美国加州大学的詹姆斯福勒揭示了这点。

Dr Fowler and his team analysed the voter-registration records of identical and fraternal twins from Los Angeles, and also from a more nationally representative database.

福勒博士和他的团队分析了洛杉矶市的同卵和异卵双胞胎的选民登记记录，也对更多有代表性的国家数据库的数据进行了分析。

They found that identical twins are 53% more likely either both to register or both not to register than are fraternal twins.

他们发现，在登记或者不登记这点上，53%的同卵双胞胎的选择可能相同，远远高于异卵双胞胎。

Political signals

政治信号

Twins studies like these unequivocally demonstrate the heritability of politically related behaviour.

像这样的双胞胎研究明确地证实了有关政治行为的遗传性。

What they do not do, though, is explain the underlying biology.

虽然他们不这样做解释了基本生物学原理。

That is an area which is only now starting to be explored.

这是一个现在刚刚开始进行探索的领域。

In 2010 a study published by Dr Fowler and his colleagues implicated a gene known asDRD4 in the development of political affiliation.

2010年，福勒博士和他的同事公布的一项研究暗示，被称为多巴胺D4受体基因是政治立场发展过程的关键因素。

DRD4 encodes a receptor molecule for a neurotransmitter called dopamine.

DRD4对一种称为多巴胺的神经传递素的受体分子进行了编码。

Those with a variant of DRD4 called 7R, and also a large network of friends acquired during their adolescence, tended to be liberals—ie, left wing.

那些带有称为7R的DRD4的变异体，在他们青春期也需要一个朋友圈的人，往往会成为自由派，即左翼。

One interesting point about this observation is that it requires both a genetic input and an environmental one to take effect.

这次观察的一个有趣的地方是，政治背景的形成需要一种遗传性输入，也需要环境输入才能产生影响。

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