Are We Born with Optimism?

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Both biological differences and learned behaviours can help foster optimism.生物學差異和習得行為都會促進樂觀品質的形成。

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.

我自認為是個樂天派。有時也覺得詫異——我的姐姐、父親和祖母都因為精神問題的影響而意外死亡，我很有可能抑郁。可是，雖然至親離世對我沖擊很大，我卻常常覺得很難不懷著生活美好、未來明朗的信念迎接每一天。這種總體樂觀的態度讓我思索，樂觀究竟是與生俱來的天性，還是后天也可養成的習性。

The genetic roots of optimism

樂觀的基因基礎

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 有觀點認為，一些人天生樂觀。有關蘇格蘭退休女士喬·卡梅倫的一篇報道讓這個說法更有力度。卡梅倫由于攜帶了兩個突變基因而感受不到疼痛。奇妙的是，她在幾次焦慮和抑郁水平測試中的得分也都為零，她說自己向來都心滿意足、積極樂觀。這表明對身體痛覺的反應和對精神痛苦的反應之間或許存在關聯。

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，為什么喬·卡梅倫感覺不到疼痛，生活中也一貫樂觀呢？她基因組里發生突變的一個基因叫脂肪酸酰胺水解酶（FAAH）。FAAH 參與分解花生四烯酸乙醇胺，人體中一種對痛覺、情緒、記憶起關鍵作用的化學物質。另一個突變發生在一個能夠增強FAAH 活性的基因上。這兩種突變共同作用，大大提升了卡梅倫體內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，我們是不是都應該盼望著把自己的基因結構變成喬·卡梅倫那樣呢？實際上，疼痛反應對于我們避傷保命至關重要。卡梅倫一生中的確多次受傷，其中包括髖關節退化和拇指因骨關節炎變形。而這些之所以被醫生發現，并不是因為卡梅倫自述疼痛，而只是因為她已經到了腿不能走、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 雖然卡梅倫對疼痛的耐受力不宜效仿，但可否想辦法讓大家都擁有她陽光般的心態呢？其實，這也不全然是好事。促成卡梅倫樂觀心態的因素之一就是不愉快的事她轉瞬即忘。但是對于其他事情她基本上也是高度健忘。這就是卡梅倫的基因不宜推崇的另一個原因——除非我們希望地球上住著的全是感覺不到疼痛、永遠無憂無慮，但卻因為接收不到疼痛警報信號而易受重傷、也記不住你上周說過什么話的人。

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 盡管如此，研究卡梅倫的兩個基因突變何以讓她免受身心之痛也許有助于新型止痛藥和抗抑郁療法的開發。總的來說，卡梅倫的案例無疑非常罕見，但她這樣的情況說明，可能還有很多人對疼痛的耐受度沒有那么極端、對生活也更為樂觀，而他們也具備相應的基因基礎。

How optimism is influenced by behavior

行為如何影響樂觀心態

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，如果只關注形成樂觀生活態度的生物學原因，似乎失之偏頗。還有一點也很重要：有證據表明，生活當中做出一些改變亦可讓我們即使遭逢最大不幸也能繼續前行，并看到絕處逢生的希望。姐姐過世后，一位106 歲黑人老太太的故事啟發了我。她叫艾達·基林，住在紐約市布朗克斯區，是一位創紀錄的短跑選手。而她在花甲之年才決定開始跑步。

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 這并不只是一位將老之人的一時興起，還是一個歷經至深悲劇的人在試圖尋找生活的意義。丈夫年僅42 歲就突發心臟病離世，早年的艾達成了單親媽媽。她積極投身黑人民權運動，帶著孩子們去聽馬爾科姆·艾克斯的演講，參加1963年“向華盛頓進軍”大游行（馬丁·路德·金在這場游行中發表了著名演說《我有一個夢想》）。女兒謝利·基林曾說：“媽媽讓我始終明白，一個人寧可站著死，也不跪著生。”

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，艾達的兩個兒子開始沉迷毒品，后來又死于毒品暴力事件，這讓堅強的艾達瀕于崩潰。艾達逐漸消沉，身為田徑運動員的女兒謝利·基林建議母親跑步來緩解悲傷。在女兒的勸導下，艾達報名了布魯克林五公里路跑賽。那一刻對她意義非凡。“天啊，一開始我覺得這場賽跑看不到頭，但是后來我覺得身心自由了。”她說道，“我把一切不快、煩惱、壓力全都忘了。”

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 跟艾達·基林相比，我自己每天一英里的公園晨跑顯得微不足道。但是，我之所以開始跑步，就是在讀了艾達的故事后受到了鼓舞，意識到我可以每天跑步來積極化解悲傷。

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 艾達·基林的經歷也引人思考：為何跑步對保持樂觀生活態度大有益處？它和基因突變對喬·卡梅倫樂觀心態的影響有何不同？

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 艾達和卡梅倫二人的故事乍看不太相關，實則不然。因為運動可以刺激花生四烯酸乙醇胺的分泌，而該物質在卡梅倫體內的含量因負責降解花生四烯酸乙醇胺的蛋白質有缺陷而居高。這解釋了為何適度鍛煉，比如在公園小跑15 分鐘，就能讓我們感到更加自足、更加心平氣和。 □