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  3. Our level of happiness throughout life is strongly influenced by the genes with which we were born, say experts. An Edinburgh Un

Our level of happiness throughout life is strongly influenced by the genes with which we were born, say experts. An Edinburgh Un

admin2012-05-28  81
问题     Our level of happiness throughout life is strongly influenced by the genes with which we were born, say experts. An Edinburgh University study of identical and non-identical twins suggests genes may control half the personality traits keeping us happy. The other half is linked to lifestyle, career and relationships. However, another expert said despite the research in the journal Psychological Science, we can still train ourselves to be more content.
    Psychologists have developed several methods to assess a person’s personality type — and even their level of happiness. The Edinburgh study, in conjunction with researchers at the Institute for Medical Research in Queensland, Australia, looked at results from 900 pairs of twins.
    The idea behind twin studies is that, because identical twins are genetically exactly the same, while fraternal (异卵的) twins are not, it is possible, by comparing the results from the two groups, to calculate how strongly influenced a particular trait is by genetics. In this case, the researchers looked for people who tended not to worry, and who were sociable and conscientious. All three of these separate characteristics have been linked by other research to an overall sense of happiness or well-being. The differences between the results from the identical and fraternal twins suggested that these traits were influenced up to 50% by genetic factors.
    Dr. Alexander Weiss, from Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, who led the research, said: "Together with life and liberty, the pursuit of happiness is a core human desire. Although happiness is subject to a wide range of external influences, we have found there is a heritable component of happiness which can be entirely explained by genetic architecture of personality."
    The science of happiness is a growing field, with demand from both the public and industry for insights into emotional well-being. The Centre for Applied Positive Psychology promotes research into techniques for boosting personal contentment. Dr. Alex Linley, from the Centre, said that even though other studies supported the genetic argument, it was wrong for anyone to think that nature had dealt them a fixed hand in happiness terms. He said: "What it means is that, rather than a single point, people have a range of possible levels of happiness — and it is perfectly possible to influence this with techniques that are empirically proven to work. Simple things, like listing your strengths and using them in new ways every day, or keeping a journal where you write down, every night, three things that you are grateful for, have been shown to deliver improvements."
What was the question that the Edinburgh’s twin study aimed to answer?
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答案How strongly influenced a particular trait is by genetics．
解析 原文第三段中讲述了爱丁堡大学的这个双胞胎研究的想法和目的。首句中提到，他们做这个双胞胎研究的想法(The idea behind twin studies is that)是，通过对比两组不同的情况，他们就可能测量出来基因对一种特殊品性的影响有多大(it is possible…to calculate how strongly influenced a particular trait is by genetics)。这正是他们的研究要解决的问题。题干中的answer对应原文中的calculate，故其后的宾语从句即为答案。
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