外刊精选精读（外刊精读Day57智力与信仰之间的秘密）

原文刊登于《Scientific American》（2018.06.01）

① Alas, the data showed no correlation between the belief in God and either goosetingles or coldshivers. ② Instead, the researchers found a significant correlation between inspiration and belief: the more participants felt inspired in their daily lives, the more strongly they believed in God. ③ This connection held for those who saw God as loving, and also for those that saw God as controlling—but it was unrelated to people’s general beliefs about positive possibilities (such as life in other planets, or the spread of democracy).

④ In a subsequent manipulation, participants were randomly assigned to write about and relive a memory of: feeling inspired by something or someone, feeling inspired to do something, or feeling emotionallyneutral/mildly bored. ⑤Reliving an inspired-by experience enhanced religious belief in not only believers but also skeptics. ⑥ An additional experimental scenario showed that being awed (by a nature video) did not similarly increase participants’ belief in God.

correlation 联系

positive possibility 正概率事件

subsequent 后续的

relive 重温

neutral 中性的

skeptic 怀疑论者

scenario 场景

hold 本意是“掌握，拥抱，保持”，此处表示“站得住脚”

manipulation 本意是操纵，此处即是实验步骤

randomly 随机地

1.This connection held for those who saw God as loving, and also for those that saw God as controlling—but it was unrelated to people’s general beliefs about positive possibilities.

此句主干是“This connection held for those…, and also for those…”，hold在此处表示的是“站得住脚”；介词短语“for those”做状语，表示对象，每个those后面都跟了个定语从句。后面的but…引出并列句。

2.In a subsequent manipulation, participants were randomly assigned to write about and relive a memory of: feeling inspired by something or someone, feeling inspired to do something, or feeling emotionally neutral/mildly bored.

本句话主干为“participants were randomly assigned to write about and relive a memory”，为主谓状成分。of结构是memory同位语，引出三种记忆。

数据表明，信仰上帝与“鸡冻不已”和“寒战连连”并无联系。相反，研究者发现，灵感与信仰有关系：受试者在日常生活中获得的灵感越多，就越相信上帝，无论把上帝视作仁爱之主，还是认为上帝是控制万物，都是如此——但这与人们对于正概率事件的看法无关（正概率事件包括外星生物，或者民主的传播）。

在后续实验中，随机要求参与者写下并重温此类往事：从某人或某物中获得灵感，受启发做某件事，情绪不好不坏，或者有点无聊。无论此人信仰上帝，还是怀疑上帝，重温有启发性的经历都会加强其宗教信仰。与此不同的是，另一实验场景表明，如果（对自然视频）心生敬畏，是不会增强参与者的宗教信仰的。

1.Unbeknownst to me before reading this paper, there are two different kinds of chills, wonderfully known as goosetingles and coldshivers. Goosetingles, as indicated by their name, are “a combination of goosebumps and a tingling sensation, whereas coldshivers reflects a mix of coldness and a literal physical shake.”

此句主干为“there are two different kinds of chills”；前面的“Unbeknownst to me…”是分词做状语，before reading this letter亦是时间状语。后面的“wonderfully known as…”是后置定语修饰chills；后一句中主干是“Goosetingles are “a combination of…”；后面是一个whereas引出的并列句。