双语阅读：感知多愁善感的深层意图

摘要：女性往往情绪化。通过进化的设计，我们天生对环境敏感、能感同身受地理解孩子的需求、能直观地感知伙伴的意图。这是我们自身和后代生存的基本要素。有些研究显示，与男性相比，女性往往更擅长表达自己的感情。

WOMEN are moody. By evolutionary design, we arehard-wired to be sensitive to our environments,empathic to our children’s needs and intuitive of ourpartners’ intentions. This is basic to our survivaland that of our offspring. Some research suggeststhat women are often better at articulating theirfeelings than men because as the female braindevelops, more capacity is reserved for language,memory, hearing and observing emotions in others.

女性往往情绪化。通过进化的设计，我们天生对环境敏感、能感同身受地理解孩子的需求、能直观地感知伙伴的意图。这是我们自身和后代生存的基本要素。有些研究显示，与男性相比，女性往往更擅长表达自己的感情。因为女性大脑发育的过程中，有更多容量留给了语言、记忆、听觉和观察他人的情绪。

感知多愁善感的深层意图

These are observations rooted in biology, not intended to mesh with any kind of pro- or anti-feminist ideology. But they do have social implications. Women’s emotionality is a sign ofhealth, not disease; it is a source of power. But we are under constant pressure to restrainour emotional lives. We have been taught to apologize for our tears, to suppress our angerand to fear being called hysterical.

这些是植根于生物学的观察结果，并不是为了迎合任何女权主义或反女权主义的思想。但是，它们的确产生了一些社会影响。女性的情绪是健康而非疾病的标志，是力量的来源。但是，我们经常面临需要控制情感的压力。人们叮嘱我们要为自己的眼泪道歉、要克制愤怒，而且要担心被人形容歇斯底里。

The pharmaceutical industry plays on that fear, targeting women in a barrage of advertising ondaytime talk shows and in magazines. More Americans are on psychiatric medications than everbefore, and in my experience they are staying on them far longer than was ever intended.Sales of antidepressants and antianxiety meds have been booming in the past two decades,and they’ve recently been outpaced by an antipsychotic, Abilify, that is the No. 1 seller amongall drugs in the United States, not just psychiatric ones.

制药行业利用了这种恐惧，在日间脱口秀节目和杂志上投放了大量针对女性的广告。目前，服用精神药物的美国人比以往任何时候都多，而且根据我的经验，他们的服药期限也远远超过了预期的时长。过去20年，抗抑郁和抗焦虑药物的销量一直在激增;最近，抗精神分裂药安律凡(Abilify)的销量超过了这两者。它是美国所有药物，而不仅仅是精神药物中销量最高的。

As a psychiatrist practicing for 20 years, I must tell you, this is insane.

作为一个行医20年的精神科医生，我必须告诉你，这简直是疯了。

At least one in four women in America now takes a psychiatric medication, compared with one inseven men. Women are nearly twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of depression or anxietydisorder than men are. For many women, these drugs greatly improve their lives. But forothers they aren’t necessary. The increase in prescriptions for psychiatric medications, often bydoctors in other specialties, is creating a new normal, encouraging more women to seekchemical assistance. Whether a woman needs these drugs should be a medical decision, not aresponse to peer pressure and consumerism.

如今，美国至少有四分之一的女性都在服用精神药物，而男性仅有七分之一。女性被诊断患有抑郁症或焦虑症的可能性几乎是男性的两倍。对于很多女性来说，这些药物极大地提高了她们的生活质量，但对另一些人而言却并无必要。医生开的精神药物越来越多，开药的往往是其他领域的医生，这创造了一种新常态，鼓励更多女性去寻求化学支持。一名女性是否需要这些药物，应该是一个医疗决定，而不是对同辈压力和消费主义的响应。

The new, medicated normal is at odds with women’s dynamic biology; brain and body chemicalsare meant to be in flux. To simplify things, think of serotonin as the “it’s all good” brainchemical. Too high and you don’t care much about anything; too low and everything seems likea problem to be fixed.

这种用药的新常态不符合女性动态的生物学属性;大脑和身体的化学物质原本就应该波动不定。为了简化问题，请想象血清素是产生「一切都很好」这种感觉的大脑化学物质。如果它的水平太高，人们就会什么都不在意;如果太低，那么一切似乎都是需要解决的问题。

In the days leading up to menstruation, when emotional sensitivity is heightened, women mayfeel less insulated, more irritable or dissatisfied. I tell my patients that the thoughts andfeelings that come up during this phase are genuine, and perhaps it’s best to re-evaluatewhat they put up with the rest of the month, when their hormone and neurotransmitter levelsare more likely programmed to prompt them to be accommodating to others’ demands andneeds.

在月经即将到来的日子里，女性的情绪敏感度会提高，女性可能更容易受到外部影响，更焦躁或更容易感到不满。我告诉我的患者，这个阶段产生的想法和感觉是真实的，或许应该重新评估她们在一个月的其他时间里忍受的事情——那个时候，她们的荷尔蒙和神经递质所处的水平，更倾向于促使她们迁就他人的诉求和需要。

The most common antidepressants, which are also used to treat anxiety, are selectiveserotonin reuptake inhibitors (S.S.R.I.s) that enhance serotonin transmission. S.S.R.I.s keepthings “all good.” But too good is no good. More serotonin might lengthen your short fuseand quell your fears, but it also helps to numb you, physically and emotionally. Thesemedicines frequently leave women less interested in sex. S.S.R.I.s tend to blunt negativefeelings more than they boost positive ones. On S.S.R.I.s, you probably won’t be skippingaround with a grin; it’s just that you stay more rational and less emotional. Some people onS.S.R.I.s have also reported less of many other human traits: empathy, irritation, sadness,erotic dreaming, creativity, anger, expression of their feelings, mourning and worry.

最常见的抗抑郁药——这些药也用于治疗焦虑症——是选择性血清素再摄取抑制剂(selective serotoninreuptake inhibitors，简称SSRI)，它能强化血清素的输送。SSRI让你感觉「一切都好」。但太好也不是好事，较多的血清素可能会让你更加冷静、抑制恐惧感，但也可能会让你变得麻木，身体和情感上皆是如此。这些药物经常会压抑女性对性生活的兴趣。SSRI倾向于钝化消极情绪，而非激发积极情绪。在服用SSRI时，你可能不会面带笑容地四处蹦跳，而只是会变得更加理性，不那么情绪化。一些服用SSRI的人也曾透露，其他许多人之常情也减少了，诸如同理心、恼火、悲伤、性梦、创造力、愤怒、哀痛、担忧，以及自身情绪的表达。

Obviously, there are situations where psychiatric medications are called for. The problem is toomany genuinely ill people remain untreated, mostly because of socioeconomic factors. Peoplewho don’t really need these drugs are trying to medicate a normal reaction to an unnaturalset of stressors: lives without nearly enough sleep, sunshine, nutrients, movement and eyecontact, which is crucial to us as social primates.

很明显，有些情况是需要精神药物的。问题是，有太多真正患病的人仍未得到治疗，这多半是因为社会经济因素。那些并非真正需要这些药物的人，则试图通过服药，让自己对一系列反常的压力来源做出正常的反应，诸如严重缺乏睡眠、阳光、营养、运动和眼神接触——这对人类这种社会性灵长目动物至关重要。

If the serotonin levels of women are constantly, artificially high, they are at risk of losing theiremotional sensitivity with its natural fluctuations, and modeling a more masculine, statichormonal balance. This emotional blunting encourages women to take on behaviors that aretypically approved by men: appearing to be invulnerable, for instance, a stance that mighthelp women move up in male-dominated businesses. Primate studies show that giving anS.S.R.I. can augment social dominance behaviors, elevating an animal’s status in thehierarchy.

如果女性的血清素水平一直处在人为提高的状态，她们可能就会丧失情绪的敏感度及其自然波动，进而形成一种更男性化的、平稳的激素平衡。这种情绪上的钝化，会促使女性做出通常被男性认可的行为举止，例如表现得无坚不摧，这种姿态可能有助于女性在男性主导的商业领域向上走。灵长目动物的研究表明，SSRI能增强社会支配行为，提高动物在社会阶层中的地位。

But at what cost? I had a patient who called me from her office in tears, saying she needed toincrease her antidepressant dosage because she couldn’t be seen crying at work. Afterdissecting why she was upset — her boss had betrayed and humiliated her in front of herstaff — we decided that what was needed was calm confrontation, not more medication.

不过，这么做要付出什么代价?有一个患者曾经流着泪从办公室打电话给我，说她需要加大抗抑郁药的剂量，因为她不能在工作场所让人看到自己哭。我们分析了她伤心的原因——她的老板在她的下属面前揭她的丑并羞辱了她——随后得出结论，她需要做的是冷静地对抗，而不是服用更多药物。

Medical chart reviews consistently show that doctors are more likely to give women psychiatricmedications than men, especially women between the ages of 35 and 64. For some women inthat age group the symptoms of perimenopause can sound a lot like depression, and tears arecommon. Crying isn’t just about sadness. When we are scared, or frustrated, when we seeinjustice, when we are deeply touched by the poignancy of humanity, we cry. And somewomen cry more easily than others. It doesn’t mean we’re weak or out of control. At higherdoses, S.S.R.I.s make it difficult to cry. They can also promote apathy and indifference.Change comes from the discomfort and awareness that something is wrong; we know what’sright only when we feel it. If medicated means complacent, it helps no one.

通过病例审阅可以明显看出，相比之下，医生给女性患者开精神治疗药物的可能性更大，尤其是35岁到64岁的女性。对于这个年龄段的一些女性来说，她们的更年期症状听起来可能很像抑郁症，而且爱哭是普遍现象。哭泣不全是因为悲伤。当我们感到恐惧或受挫、目睹不公，或是被人类的苦难深深触动时，我们都会流泪。此外，有些女性格外爱哭。这并不意味着我们感情脆弱或处于失控状态。高剂量的SSRI让哭泣变得困难，它们还会让人更加冷漠和无动于衷。只有我们感到不舒服，或意识到什么地方不对劲，才会做出改变;我们通过感知来判断对错。如果药物让人变得漠然，对任何人都没好处。

When we are overmedicated, our emotions become synthetic. For personal growth, for asatisfying marriage and for a more peaceful world, what we need is more empathy,compassion, receptivity, emotionality and vulnerability, not less.

如果我们服用了过量的药物，我们的情绪就会是人造的。为了个人的成长、美满的婚姻，以及更加和平的世界，我们需要的是更多的同情、悲悯、接纳、情绪和脆弱，而不是更少。

We need to stop labeling our sadness and anxiety as uncomfortable symptoms, and toappreciate them as a healthy, adaptive part of our biology.

我们不能再把我们的悲伤和焦虑归为不适症状，而是应该把它们当做一种健康的适应性生理现象。

林中漫步

I was puzzled! Why was this old woman making such a fuss about an old copse which was of no use to anybody? She had written letters to the local paper, even to a national, protesting about a projected by-pass to her village, and, looking at a map, the route was nowhere near where she lived and it wasn't as if the area was attractive. I was more than puzzled, I was intrigued.

我实在不明白!为什么这个年老女士会对一片毫无用处的老灌木林如此紧张呢?她给当地报纸写了信，甚至给全国性的报纸也写了信，对拟将在她们村子里修建小路的方案表示抗议。但从地图上看，这条拟建的小路离她家并不近，那一带也并非风景优美。这不仅使我感到迷惑，还激起了我的好奇心。

The enquiry into the route of the new by-pass to the village was due to take place shortly, and I wanted to know what it was that motivated her.

很快就要进行对新小路的调查了，我想了解一下她反对的原因。

So it was that I found myself knocking on a cottage door, being received by Mary Smith and then being taken for a walk to the woods.

于是我敲响了小屋的门，一位叫玛丽?史密斯的女士接待了我，然后她带我去树林中走走。

"I've always loved this place," she said, "it has a lot of memories for me, and for others. We all used it. They called it 'Lovers lane'. It's not much of a lane, and it doesn't go anywhere important, but that's why we all came here. To be away from people, to be by ourselves," she added.

“我一直深爱这个地方，”她说，“这里珍藏了我和其他许多人的回忆。我们都曾在这个地方呆过。人们称它为‘情人路’。它其实并不能算是什么路，也不通往什么重要的地方，但这正是我们来这里的原因。远离他人，只有我们自己。”她补充说道。

It was indeed pleasant that day and the songs of many birds could be heard. Squirrels gazed from the branches, quite bold in their movements, obviously few people passed this way and they had nothing to fear.

那天林间实在迷人，小鸟唱着歌，松鼠在树枝间张望，很自在地活动，显然这里人迹罕至，它们一点都不害怕。

I could imagine the noise of vehicles passing through these peaceful woods when the by-pass was built, so I felt that she probably had something there but as I hold strong opinions about the needs of the community over-riding the opinions of private individuals, I said nothing.

我能想象得出，在小路修好后，汽车通过这片宁静的树林将会是怎样的喧闹，因此我猜这对她来说可能意味着些什么。

The village was quite a dangerous place because of the traffic especially for old people and children, their safety was more important to me than an old woman's whims.

但我坚持认为社区的需要重于个人的意见，所以我没说什么。村里目前的交通，特别是对于老人和小孩来说，尤其危险，所以对我来说他们的安全比这个老年女士的怪念头更重要。

"Take this tree," she said pausing after a short while. "To you it is just that, a tree. Not unlike many others here." She gently touched the bark. "Look here, under this branch, what can you see?"

“拿这棵树来说吧，”她停了一会儿说，“对你来说它只是一棵普通的树，与这里其它的树没什么区别。”她轻轻地摸着这棵树的树皮说：“看这，在这个枝条下面，你看见了什么?”

"It looks as if someone has done a bit of carving with a knife," I said after a cursory inspection.

“好像有人用小刀在这里刻过什么东西。”我略略看了一下后说。

"Yes, that's what it is!" she said softly. "There are letters and a lover's heart."

“是的，正是这样!”她轻轻地说，“是一些字母和一颗爱人的心。”

I looked again, this time more carefully. The heart was still there and there was a suggestion of an arrow through it. The letters on one side were indistinct, but on the other an 'R' was clearly visible with what looked like an 'I' after it. "Some budding romance?" I asked, "did you know who they were?"

我又看了一下，这回看得认真了一些。刻的那颗心还在那，此外还依稀可以看见有支箭穿心而过。心一边的字母已无法辨认了，但在另一边，字母“R”清晰可见，后面还有个像是“I”的字母。“初恋罗曼史?”我问道，“你知道他们是谁吗?”

"Oh yes, I knew them", said Mary Smith, "it says RH loves MS."

“唔，我知道。”玛丽?史密斯说，“写的是‘RH爱MS’。”

I realised that I could be getting out of my depth, and longed to be in my office, away from here and this old lady, snug, and with a mug of tea in my hand.

我意识到我可能涉入太深了，真希望自己身在办公室，远离这个地方和这个老年女士，手里还端着杯茶，舒舒服服地。

She went on, "He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse's hoof, and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love, but he was going away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day, back to his Unit."

她继续讲下去：“他拿着一把袖珍折刀，折刀上嵌有长钉，那种长钉可以用来挖出夹在马蹄上的石块，我们一起刻了我名字的第一个字母。我们深深相爱，但他却要离开了，而且不知道他将在军队里干什么。当然我也曾猜想过。那是我们在一起的最后一个夜晚，因为他第二天就回部队去了。

Mary Smith was quiet for a while, then she sobbed. "His mother showed me the telegram. 'Sergeant R Holmes ... Killed in action in the invasion of France.'

玛丽?史密斯停了一会儿，接着抽泣起来。“他母亲给我看了那封电报。‘R?荷尔姆斯军士……在解放法国的战役中牺牲。’“

"'I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married,' she said, 'He was my only child, and I would have loved to be a Granny, they would have been such lovely babies' - she was like that!

我本来希望你和罗宾会结婚的。’她母亲说，‘我只有他一个孩子，我本希望能做祖母，有非常可爱的小宝宝。’——她真是那么说的!

"Two years later she too was dead. 'Pneumonia, following a chill on the chest' was what the doctor said, but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us."

“两年后她也去世了。医生说是‘肺炎，胸部着凉造成的’，但我认为这是典型的伤心过度。如果有个孩子那我们俩就都不会这样了。”

There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him. "And now they want to take our tree away from me."

玛丽?史密斯又停了会儿没说话。她轻柔地抚摸着那棵刻过的树，就像她曾经抚摸他一样。“现在他们想把我们的树夺走。”

Another quiet sob, then she turned to me. "I was young and pretty then, I could have had anybody, I wasn't always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwards to."

她又轻轻地抽噎了一下，然后她转过身来对着我。“当时我年轻漂亮，我爱嫁给谁都可以，我当时可不是现在这么老的。我拥有生命里所要的一切，一个值得爱的男人、健康的身体和充满梦想的未来。”

She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. "There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!" she said strongly. "

她顿了顿，朝四周看了一眼。微风轻轻吹拂着树叶，发出叹息般的沙沙声。“当然， 那时还有其他人，但他们连罗宾的一丝一毫都比不上!”她肯定地说。

And now I have nothing - except the memories this tree holds. If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now, I would tell him.

“现在我一无所有——只剩下残留在这棵树上的记忆。那个可恶的家伙竟建议把路修在我们所站的这个地方，我真希望掐死他

Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not know anything about memories? We were not the only ones, you know, I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes, I would tell him!"

我会对他说：你从没爱过吗，你活过吗，你从不知道什么叫记忆吗?你知道，不仅仅是我们，现在我仍能看见些男男女女像当年的我和罗宾那样到这儿来。是的，我一定要对他说!”

I turned away, sick at heart.

我转过身去，心里感到很难过。