他她話題:你是天生的大英雄嗎?

We all wonder how we would react in an emergency. Would we risk our lives to help someone in danger?

我們都會好奇自己在危機情況下會做何反應。我們會冒着生命危險去幫助身陷險境的人嗎？

Laurie Ann Eldridge found out last year. Looking up from her garden one evening at her Cameron, N.Y., home, Ms. Eldridge saw a confused 81-year-old driver stuck at a railroad crossing nearby, oblivious to the train speeding toward her car.

勞麗•埃德里奇(Laurie Ann Eldridge)找到了答案。去年某一天的傍晚，住在紐約州卡梅倫(Cameron)的埃德里奇從自家花園擡頭往外看時，發現一名神情茫然的司機困在附近的一個鐵路道口上，對朝着她的車子疾馳而來的火車渾然不覺。

Ms. Eldridge raced barefoot to the car, wrestled out the disoriented woman, rolled with her down the railway embankment and covered her with her body, just seconds before the train demolished the automobile. Ms. Eldridge's feet were bloody and riddled with splinters. The elderly woman, Angeline C. Pascucci of Le Roy, N.Y., was unhurt.

埃德里奇光着腳跑向了那輛車，拼命把那位不知所措的老婦人拉出了車子，然後和她一起滾下鐵路路基，並且用自己的身體擋住她。就在幾秒鐘後，疾馳而來的火車碾毀了那輛車子。埃德里奇的腳流着血，扎滿了碎片，而那位家住紐約勒羅伊鎮(Le Roy)的81歲的老婦人安吉麗娜•C. 帕斯古奇(Angeline C. Pascucci)卻安然無恙。

It is hard to know for sure who will step up and who will freeze up in a crisis. But, amid growing interest in positive psychology, the study of human strengths and virtues, research in recent years has shed light on the qualities and attitudes that distinguish heroes from the rest of us.

很難確定誰會在危機中挺身而出、誰又會束手旁觀。不過在積極心理學（即對人類的優點和美德的研究）吸引了越來越多的研究興趣的背景下，近些年的研究闡明瞭一些將英雄與其他人區分開來的品質和態度。

Certain traits make it more likely that a person will make a split-second decision to take a heroic risk. People who like to take charge of situations, who respond sympathetically to others, and who have a strong sense of moral and social responsibility are more likely to intervene than people who lack those traits, research shows. Heroes tend by nature to be hopeful, believing events will turn out well. They consciously try to keep fear from hampering their pursuit of goals, and they tend to block out the possibility of injury or material loss.

某些特質會讓人更有可能在一瞬間決定冒險做一次英雄之舉。相關研究表明，樂於掌控局面、對他人抱有同情心以及具有強烈的道德感和社會責任感的人比不具備這些特質的人更有可能挺身而出。英勇之人往往天生就滿懷希望，相信事情會向好的方向發展。他們會有意識地努力避免恐懼心理妨礙他們追求自己的目標，往往會去阻止可能造成身體傷害或物質損失的事情發生。

People who are otherwise good and caring may still shrink back in a crisis. Their responses depend partly on whether they perceive the situation as an emergency and whether they know how to help; someone who doesn't know anything about electrical wiring probably won't rush to save a person tangled in a power line. How you're feeling that day makes a difference, too; 'people who are in a good mood are more likely to help,' says Julie M. Hupp, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University in Newark. Context also matters; some researchers say a large crowd makes it less likely that an individual hero will step up.

即便是善良、有同情心的人，可能依然會在危機中退縮。他們的反應部分取決於他們是否認爲情況危急以及他們是否知道如何施救。一個對電氣佈線一無所知的人，不大可能衝出去救一個被電線纏住的人。你在事發當天的心情也會讓你做出不同決定。俄亥俄州立大學紐瓦克分校(Ohio State University in Newark)的心理學助理教授朱莉•赫普(Julie M. Hupp)指出，“心情好的人更有可能會施以援手。”此外，事發當時的環境同樣也有關係，一些研究人員稱，如果危機現場有一大羣人的話，某一個人挺身而出充當英雄的可能性就會降低。

Of course, it helps to be physically able. In a 1981 study of 32 people who had intervened to help victims of assaults, robberies or other serious crimes, researchers found the heroes were taller, heavier and more likely to have had training in rescuing people or responding to emergencies than a comparison group of people who hadn't intervened in a crime or emergency for 10 years.

當然，身體強健也會起到促進作用。研究人員曾在1981年對32名出手幫助過襲擊、搶劫或其他嚴重犯罪行爲的受害者的人進行了研究。他們發現，與10年來未乾預過犯罪行爲或危急情況的對照組中的研究對象相比，這些勇士身高更高、身材也更魁梧，而且更有可能接受過救護或應對危急情況方面的訓練。

But heroism is far more complex than that. Some heroes have qualities that enable them to blast through obstacles, recent research shows. Empathy, or care or concern for others, runs high in people with heroic tendencies, according to a 2009 study led by Sara Staats, a professor emeritus of psychology at Ohio State University in Newark.

然而，英雄行爲遠遠不止這麼簡單。最近一些研究表明，某些勇士具備的品質可以幫助他們衝破障礙。俄亥俄州立大學紐瓦克分校心理學榮譽退休教授薩拉•斯塔茨(Sara Staats)在2009年主持的一項研究發現，具有英雄主義傾向的人與他人有較高程度的情感共鳴，即對他人的關愛或擔心。

Ms. Eldridge was an unlikely hero. She had no rescue training. At 5-foot-8 and 115 pounds, she was outweighed by the woman she saved. The biggest surprise to Ms. Eldridge, a single mother of two teenage boys, was that she was able to run at all. Until the day of the rescue, she hadn't run for 10 years because of a disabling back injury.

按常理來看，埃德里奇是不大可能會成爲一位英雄的。她沒有接受過救援訓練，而且她身高5英尺8英寸，體重115磅，還沒有她救下的那位女士重。她是一個單親媽媽，獨自撫養着兩個十幾歲的兒子。最令埃德里奇感到驚訝的是，自己居然還能跑得動。在救人那一天之前，她因爲背部有傷行動不便已經有10年沒跑過步了。

'All I could think about was the lady's face. She looked lost. She needed help, and she needed help right then,' says Ms. Eldridge, who received a medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, which honors civilians who risk their lives to save others, last June.

去年6月份，埃德里奇獲得了卡內基英雄基金委員會(Carnegie Hero Fund Commission)頒發的用以表彰冒着生命危險救助他人的普通民衆的獎章。埃德里奇說，“我當時所能想到的就是那位女士的臉。她看起來很茫然，她需要馬上獲得幫助。”

A tendency to frame events positively and expect good outcomes is another hallmark of heroes, says Jeremy Frimer, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg. In a 2010 study, 25 Canadians who had won awards for risking their lives to save others were asked to tell stories about their lives. Heroes were more likely to 'take something that's bad and turn it into something that's good,' says Dr. Frimer, a co-author of the study with Lawrence Walker, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, and others. In an example from another study, Dr. Frimer says, a woman diagnosed with breast cancer described the disease as 're-energizing her creative side,' saying her return to creating art was 'a gift that came from the tragedy.''

加拿大溫尼伯格大學(University of Winnipeg)心理學助理教授傑瑞米•弗利默(Jeremy Frimer)認爲，從積極的方面想事情並期待良好的結果是英雄的另一個特徵。在2010年的一項研究中，研究人員讓25位曾因冒着生命危險救助他人而獲得獎勵的加拿大人講述他們生活中的故事。弗利默博士稱，英雄更有可能會“承擔不好的事情，然後把它轉變爲好事。”她與不列顛哥倫比亞大學(University of British Columbia)的心理學教授勞倫斯•沃克(Lawrence Walker)及其他研究者聯合撰寫了這份研究報告。弗利默博士還提到，在另一項研究中，一位被診斷患有乳腺癌的女士說這個疾病重新“激活了她具有創造力的一面”，並稱她重新開始藝術創作是“這個悲劇送給她的一個禮物”。

When Stephen St. Bernard came home from work last month to his Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment building, neighbors had gathered outside. A 7-year-old child had squeezed out of her family's third-floor apartment window and was dancing on the air-conditioning unit outside, some 25 feet above the pavement.

史蒂芬•聖伯納德(Stephen St. Bernard)今年53歲，是紐約大都會運輸署(Metropolitan Transportation Authority)的一名巴士司機。7月的某一天，家住紐約布魯克林的聖伯納德下班後回到自己所住的公寓樓，發現樓外聚集了一羣鄰居。原來，一個七歲大的孩子從位於三層的家裏的窗戶鑽了出來，站在屋外的空調機上跳舞，距離路面大約有25英尺高。

All Mr. St. Bernard was thinking, he says, was 'maybe I can catch her,' says the 53-year-old bus driver for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 'The weight of the child, how hard she was going to hit me - none of that crossed my mind,' he says. 'I was just hoping, praying, 'God, please don't let me miss.''

聖伯納德說，當時他心裏只想着“也許我能接住她”。他說，“那個孩子有多重，她會對我造成多大力量的撞擊——我腦中完全沒想到這些事情。我只是希望並祈禱‘上帝，千萬別讓我失手了。’”

As he moved beneath the window, the girl slipped and plummeted into his outstretched arms with an estimated 600 pounds of force, nearly ripping his arm off. He has had surgery to repair the torn muscles, tendons and nerves and will need months of painful physical therapy. But in describing the incident, he focuses on the fact that the child escaped injury or death. 'Not a scratch was on that baby,' he says.

就在他衝到窗戶下面的時候，那個女孩腳下一滑，接着就墜入了他張開的雙臂中，當時的衝力估計達到600磅，幾乎使他的胳膊折斷。後來，他做了手術來修復拉傷的肌腱和神經，並且還要接受數個月痛苦的物理治療。但是，在談到這件事情時，他所關注的只是那個女孩並沒有受傷或是喪命。他說，“那個孩子一點傷都沒有。”

Heroic people also tend to have a strong sense of ethics and above-average coping skills - a belief in their ability to tackle challenges and beat the odds, research shows. On the battlefield in Afghanistan last January, Navy nurse James Gennari knew, when he saw an injured Marine arrive on a stretcher at his medical facility, that standard procedures wouldn't work. The Marine had a live rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his body, from his thigh through his buttocks. A surgeon told Lt. Cmdr. Gennari he didn't have to intervene; a bomb squad could remove the grenade.

研究表明，英勇之人常常也具有強烈的道德感和高於常人的應對能力——他們相信自己能夠應對挑戰並取得出乎意料的成功。去年1月，在阿富汗戰場上，一名受傷的海軍陸戰隊隊員躺在擔架上被送到了海軍護理人員詹姆斯•傑納裏(James Gennari)所工作的醫院。傑納裏少校明白常規的治療程序是起不了作用的：這名士兵的體內有一枚未爆炸的火箭推進榴彈，橫穿了他的大腿和臀部。一名外科醫生告訴傑納裏少校他不用管這件事，拆彈小組會取出那枚榴彈。

But Lt. Cmdr. Gennari stepped up to the stretcher, took the Marine's hand and told him, 'I promise you, no matter what, I won't leave you until that thing is out of your leg,' ' Lt. Cmdr. Gennari says. He administered a sedative so an explosives specialist could pull out the bomb. It was later detonated in a huge blast outside the base. Lt. Cmdr. Gennari kept the Marine alive by pumping a manual respirator during a power failure on a helicopter flight to another camp. He was awarded a Bronze Star for valor this month.

但傑納裏少校走向了擔架，握着那名海軍陸戰隊士兵的手對他說道，“我向你保證，無論發生什麼，我都不會扔下你，直到那東西從你腿裏取出來爲止。”他給這名士兵打了鎮靜劑好讓拆彈專家把榴彈取出來。後來，這枚榴彈在基地外被引爆造成了大爆炸。在用直升機把這名士兵送往另外一個營地時，傑納裏少校還在停電期間利用手控呼吸器來維持他的生命。今年8月，傑納裏少校因爲自己的英勇行爲被授予了銅星勳章。

Values that inspire heroism are often taught in childhood; 'children who grew up watching their parents stick their necks out for others, are likely to do the same,' says Dr. Hupp.

英雄們往往在兒童時期就學習到了那些激發英勇行爲的價值觀。赫普博士稱，“那些在成長期間看到父母對他人給予幫助的兒童，長大後可能也會效仿他們。”

Lt. Cmdr. Gennari says his parents taught him 'that every good thing that happens to you is a blessing, and you're supposed to give back.' His father Gilbert, a Staff Sergeant in the Army who won a Bronze Star in the Korean War for meritorious service, taught him that 'a man's word is a measure of his character,' he adds. Thus when he gave the Marine his word that he wouldn't leave him, he says, 'that was the way it was going to be.'

傑納裏少校說，他的父母教導他說“你遇到的每一件好事都是一種恩惠，你應該要予以回報。”他還說，他的父親吉爾伯特(Gilbert)——+曾在朝鮮戰場上擔任陸軍上士，曾立功獲得銅星勳章——教育他“一個人的承諾會反映出他的人品。”因此，他說，當他和那名海軍陸戰隊士兵說不會扔下他時，他就會這麼去做。