【在生活中學習語言】《中英對照讀新聞》 Hot coffee is heartwarming 熱咖啡溫暖人心
◎陳成良

A study has found that merely holding a hot coffee cup leads a person to see others as more generous and caring.

一項研究發現，單單手拿著熱咖啡杯，就能使人認為別人更慷慨、更有愛心。

"Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer -- more generous and trusting -- as well," said John Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale University.

「身體感覺熱的時候會使我們覺得他人也更溫暖，但也會使我們變得更和善、更慷慨與更信賴別人，」耶魯大學心理學教授約翰．巴爾說。

Bargh and Lawrence Williams of University of Colorado ran a series of experiments to test the ties between physical temperature and emotional warmth. They asked people to briefly hold a hot or iced coffee. Then they were given a packet of information about another person and asked to assess his or her personality traits.

巴爾和科羅拉多大學的勞倫斯．威廉斯進行一系列實驗，測試身體溫度和情感暖意之間的關係。他們讓人們暫時手拿一杯熱咖啡或冰咖啡，然後提供有關另一人的資料，接著要受試者評估他（她）這個人的性格特質。

Those who had held the warm cup of coffee were far more likely to assign "warmth" as a personality trait than those who held the icy beverage.

那些拿熱咖啡的人，比起那些拿冰飲料的人，更加可能把他人人格特質歸類為「溫暖」。

In the second study, volunteers held ice packs or therapeutic heating pads as part of a product evaluation study. Then they were told they could receive a gift certificate for a friend or a gift for themselves.

在第2項實驗中，志願者拿著冰袋或醫療熱墊，作為一項產品評估研究的一環，接著他們被告知能夠得到禮品兌換券來送給朋友，或自己得到禮物。

Those who had held the hot pad were more likely to ask for the gift certificate, while those who held the frozen pack tended to keep the gift.

結果手持熱墊者，較可能要求拿禮品兌換券，而手持冰袋者較傾向保留禮物給自己。

新聞辭典

trait︰名詞，特徵、特點、特性。例句：Jim’s two most pleasing traits are generosity and energy. （吉姆最討人喜歡的特徵是慷慨和充滿活力。 ）

assign：動詞，把……歸於。例句：We cannot assign a cause to these events. （我們無法說明發生這些事件的原因。）

therapeutic： 形容詞，治療性的。

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