喜爱苦味食物的人性格更阴暗

 　　A particular liking¹ for bitter-tasting foods and drinks such as coffee and tonic² water could mean you have psychopathic tendencies.

　　对苦味的饮食——如咖啡和奎宁水——有特别偏爱的人很有可能具有心理变态的倾向。

　　Psychologists have found that those with a preference for bitter tastes were more likely to exhibit signs of Machiavellianism, sadism, and narcissism³.

　　心理学家发现，那些偏爱苦涩口感的人，更易表现出马基雅维利式的操纵狂、施虐倾向以及自恋倾向。

　　That is, they were more prone⁴ to being duplicitous and self-serving, cold-hearted and lacking in empathy, vain and selfish, and more likely to derive⁵ pleasure from other people's pain.

　　也就是说，他们更加狡黠、以自我为中心、冷酷、缺乏同情心、自负又自私，喜欢将自己的快乐建立在他人的痛苦之上。

　　The findings of the study provide the 'first empirical evidence that bitter taste preferences are linked to malevolent⁶ personality traits,' said the researchers from Innsbruck University in Austria, who studied 1,000 people in two separate experiments.

　　奥地利因斯布鲁克大学的研究者通过两项独立的实验对1000人进行了研究，研究结果表明“通过第一手的经验资料，发现偏爱苦味的人与恶毒人格具有某种关联”。

　　'The results suggest that how much people like bitter-tasting foods and drinks is stably tied to how dark their personality is.'

　　“结果显示，人们对苦味饮食偏爱度越高，基本可以表明他们的性格越灰暗。”

　　喜爱苦味食物的人性格更阴暗

　　Bitter foods include unsweetened cocoa, black coffee, radishes and the quinine in tonic water.

　　苦味食物包括无糖可可饮品、黑咖啡、小萝卜和奎宁水。

　　For the first experiment, 500 men and women were shown a long list of foods with equal numbers of sweet, salty, sour and bitter foods. These included chocolate cake, bacon, vinegar and radishes.

　　在第一次试验中，将列有许多食物的清单展示给500名男女，清单上包括甜的、咸的、酸的和苦味的食品，每类食品数量相同，其中包括有巧克力蛋糕、培根、醋和小萝卜。

　　They were asked to rate how much they liked each of them on a six-point scale ranging from dislike strongly to like strongly.

　　他们需要在一张由最不喜欢到最喜欢的六分量表上，评价自己对每一种食物的喜爱程度。

　　The participants, who had an average age of 35, then completed four separate personality questionnaires.

　　参与者的平均年龄为35岁，接下来他们要完成四种独立人格的问卷。

　　The first measured their levels of aggression⁷ by asking them to rate how much statements such as 'Given enough provocation⁸, I may hit someone' sounded like them.

　　第一个层面是对人格侵略性的测量，通过他们对侵略性陈述和自己的相似程度作出的自我评价来判断，比如“假如有人挑衅，我可能会出手揍他”。

　　For the second, participants were asked to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements designed to assess the personality traits of Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism.

　　在第二个层面，他们被要求针对问卷设计的具有马基雅维利主义、病态人格和自恋症特征的陈述，表明自己的认同程度。

　　Example questions in each of these sections included 'I tend to manipulate others to get my way', 'I tend to be callous⁹ or insensitive' and 'I tend to want others to pay attention to me', respectively.

　　以上每一类的示例问题分别包括“为了达成目的，我可能会利用他人”，“我很容易变得冷酷无情或麻木不仁”以及“我希望他人能关注我”。

　　Next, the participants answered questions relating to the 'Big 5' personality dimensions of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness¹⁰ and emotional stability.

　　接下来，参与者需要回答有关外向型、亲和型、自觉型与情感稳定型的五大性格维度测试问题。

　　And lastly they completed the Comprehensive Assessment¹¹ of Sadistic¹² Tendencies, which assesses a person's tendency towards 'everyday sadism'.

　　最后，他们会完成施虐倾向的综合评价问卷，测试他们是否具有“日常施虐”的人格倾向。

　　This involved rating on a scale how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as 'When making fun of someone, it is especially amusing if they realise what I'm doing', and 'I enjoy tormenting¹³ people'.

　　这一问卷基于他们对一系列陈述的认同程度，如“当恶搞某人时，如果他们意识到我对他们做了什么，我会感到特别好玩”，“我很享受折磨别人”。

　　'General bitter taste preferences emerged as a robust¹⁴ predictor for Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism,' the researchers wrote in the journal Appetite.

　　研究者在Appetite期刊上写道，“一般来说，偏爱苦味是马基雅维利式操纵狂、心理变态、自恋倾向以及施虐倾向强有力的预测信号。”

　　Agreeableness – the extent to which a person is kind, sympathetic and cooperative– was negatively correlated with bitter taste preferences, they added.

　　他们补充道，亲和性（善良、有同情心和合作精神的人格维度）与偏爱苦味呈负相关。

　　Vocabulary

　　tonic water: 开胃水；奎宁水

　　Machiavellianism: 马基雅维里主义；权术主义

　　sadism: 虐待狂

　　duplicitous: 奸诈的

　　malevolent: 恶毒的

　　radish: 小萝卜

　　psychopathy: 精神变态

　　callous: 冷酷无情的

1 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

2 tonic   

n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的

参考例句：

• It will be marketed as a tonic for the elderly.这将作为老年人滋补品在市场上销售。
• Sea air is Nature's best tonic for mind and body.海上的空气是大自然赋予的对人们身心的最佳补品。

3 narcissism   

n.自我陶醉，自恋

参考例句：

• Those who suffer from narcissism become self-absorbed.自恋的人会变得自私。
• The collective narcissism of the Kerouac circle is ultimately boring.凯鲁亚克和他周围人物的集体自我陶醉欲最终使人厌烦不已。

4 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

5 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。

6 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

7 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

8 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

9 callous   

adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的

参考例句：

• He is callous about the safety of his workers.他对他工人的安全毫不关心。
• She was selfish,arrogant and often callous.她自私傲慢，而且往往冷酷无情。

10 conscientiousness   

责任心

参考例句：

• Conscientiousness is expected of a student. 学生要诚实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Only has the conscientiousness, diligently works, can make a more splendid result! 只有脚踏实地，努力工作，才能做出更出色的成绩！ 来自互联网

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 sadistic   

adj.虐待狂的

参考例句：

• There was a sadistic streak in him.他有虐待狂的倾向。
• The prisoners rioted against mistreatment by sadistic guards.囚犯因不堪忍受狱警施虐而发动了暴乱。

13 tormenting   

使痛苦的，使苦恼的

参考例句：

• He took too much pleasure in tormenting an ugly monster called Caliban. 他喜欢一味捉弄一个名叫凯列班的丑妖怪。
• The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂。

14 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。