A survey of more than 2,000 people living in the UK has found that those with a higher IQ are more likely to live a longer life. Researchers analysed data from the Scottish Mental Surveys - in which almost every 11-year-old in Scotland was given the same IQ test on the same day in 1932 - and tracked the participants' lives up to when they passed away.

基于對(duì)2000多名英國(guó)居民的調(diào)查，研究結(jié)果顯示：智商越高的人長(zhǎng)壽的幾率越大。研究者分析了來(lái)源于蘇格蘭心智調(diào)查的數(shù)據(jù)：1932年，幾乎每個(gè)11歲的蘇格蘭兒童都在同一天接受了相同的智商測(cè)試，之后測(cè)試者將接受追蹤調(diào)查，直至他們?nèi)ナ馈?/p>

Even when factors such as economic status and employment level were accounted for, the smarter kids ended up living longer than those with lower IQs. These results correlate to several previous studies that have found a link between IQ and mortality when other factors were filtered out.

即使經(jīng)濟(jì)地位和就業(yè)水平等因素都被考慮在內(nèi)，調(diào)查仍舊顯示，智商高的孩子壽命更長(zhǎng)。這些結(jié)果與先前的研究不謀而合，即在排除其它因素的條件下，智商與死亡率有一定的關(guān)聯(lián)。

"Subjects who died before 1 January 1997 had a significantly lower mean IQ at age 11 years than subjects who were alive or untraced," says the report, published in the British Medical Journal. "Our data shows that high mental ability in late childhood reduces the chances of death up to age 76 years."

發(fā)表于《英國(guó)醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》的報(bào)告顯示：1997年1月1日前去世的調(diào)查對(duì)象11歲時(shí)的平均智商遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于當(dāng)時(shí)還健在的和沒(méi)接受追蹤調(diào)查的群體，數(shù)據(jù)表明，如果一個(gè)人在童年后期表現(xiàn)出較高的心智能力，76歲前死亡的幾率會(huì)有所降低。

The numbers crunched by Lawrence Whalley from the University of Aberdeen and Ian Deary from the University of Edinburgh show that someone with an IQ of 115 at age 11 was 21 percent more likely to be alive at the age of 76 than someone with an IQ of 100 (the general average), as David Z. Hambrick at Scientific American reports.

《科學(xué)美國(guó)人》的戴維·漢布里克報(bào)道稱(chēng)，由阿伯丁大學(xué)的勞倫斯·沃利和愛(ài)丁堡大學(xué)的伊恩·蒂爾瑞估算的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，智商值為115的11歲兒童活到76歲的幾率比智商值為100（平均水平）的兒童高21%。

We don't yet understand why this is the case, but more than 20 longitudinal studies (studies with data points covering a long period of time) carried out around the world have found similar links.

這一現(xiàn)象是如何產(chǎn)生的呢？我們也尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)原因所在，但是全世界20多個(gè)縱向追蹤研究都發(fā)現(xiàn)智商與壽命間有類(lèi)似的關(guān)聯(lián), 這些研究數(shù)據(jù)均來(lái)自長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的調(diào)查。

There are some interesting hypotheses: one is that intelligent people are more likely to strap themselves in while driving, choose to eat a healthy diet, avoid smoking, and exercise more often. Whalley and Deary found that those with a higher IQ were more likely to quit smoking after its negative health effects were publicised in the 1950s. In other words, smart people might just be better at avoiding things that are going to kill them.

下面是一些有趣的猜測(cè)：其一，聰明人往往更傾向于約束自己，比如，開(kāi)車(chē)謹(jǐn)慎，飲食健康，拒絕吸煙，鍛煉身體。沃利和蒂爾瑞發(fā)現(xiàn)，20世紀(jì)50年代曝光吸煙有害健康之后，智商較高的群體戒煙的可能性更大。也就是說(shuō)，聰明人更懂得如何避免健康危機(jī)。

Another hypothesis is that a high IQ is a signifier of a sturdy constitution and a body that's going to last - it's essentially a signifier rather than a cause, some scientists believe. One study published in 2005 found that better reaction times specifically helped people live longer - so a high IQ is possibly an indication of an efficient nervous system, rather than being itself a cause of longer life, the researchers proposed.

另一個(gè)猜測(cè)是，有些科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，高智商是強(qiáng)健、耐受體質(zhì)的標(biāo)志，而不是長(zhǎng)壽的原因。2005年發(fā)布的研究表明，反應(yīng)越快的人活得越久，研究者因而指出，高智商很有可能就是神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)高效運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的標(biāo)志，但它本身不是長(zhǎng)壽的原因。

Alternatively, or perhaps in addition to the above suggestions, it could be that genes are contributing to the link between IQ and longevity. Hambrick cites a recent study involving twins that provides the first evidence for this hypothesis:

除了上述的猜測(cè)，另一種可能性就是基因?qū)е铝酥巧毯蛪勖g的關(guān)聯(lián)。漢布里克引用了最近有關(guān)雙胞胎的一項(xiàng)研究，為這一假設(shè)提供首個(gè)依據(jù)：

"Twin studies disentangle the effects of environmental and genetic factors on an outcome such as intelligence or lifespan by comparing identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, and fraternal twins, who on average share only 50 percent of their genes. [The researchers] performed statistical analyses to estimate the contribution of genetic factors to the IQ-lifespan relationship. The results were clear and consistent: genes accounted for most of the relationship."

“通過(guò)比較同卵雙胞胎（百分之百的基因相同）和異卵雙胞胎（平均只有百分之五十的基因相同），研究者理清了環(huán)境和基因因素對(duì)智力和壽命的影響，他們分析了數(shù)據(jù)以推測(cè)基因因素對(duì)智商和壽命的關(guān)系起到的作用。結(jié)果明確而一致：大部分二者的關(guān)系能用基因解釋。”

It's a complicated area of science, particularly as an IQ score doesn't necessarily directly represent intelligence, and can be affected by social class, education standards, and other cultural factors - if you're preconditioned to think you'll do badly in an exam, for example. Nevertheless, the link is there - and researchers are still trying to find out why.

關(guān)于智商與壽命的研究是一個(gè)復(fù)雜的科學(xué)問(wèn)題：智商值不能直接代表智力。因?yàn)橹橇€會(huì)受到社會(huì)階級(jí)、教育標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和其他文化因素的影響。因此，可別認(rèn)為智商值低就考不好試。無(wú)論如何，智商和壽命是一定存在某種關(guān)聯(lián)的，只是研究者還需要試著去發(fā)現(xiàn)個(gè)中原因，揭開(kāi)奧秘。

Vocabulary

crunch: 對(duì)…進(jìn)行數(shù)學(xué)運(yùn)算；（反復(fù)）處理

longitudinal: 縱向的

identical twins: 同卵雙胞胎

fraternal twins: 異卵雙胞胎

A survey of more than 2,000 people living in the UK has found that those with a higher IQ are more likely to live a longer life. Researchers analysed data from the Scottish Mental Surveys - in which almost every 11-year-old in Scotland was given the same IQ test on the same day in 1932 - and tracked the participants' lives up to when they passed away.

基于對(duì)2000多名英國(guó)居民的調(diào)查，研究結(jié)果顯示：智商越高的人長(zhǎng)壽的幾率越大。研究者分析了來(lái)源于蘇格蘭心智調(diào)查的數(shù)據(jù)：1932年，幾乎每個(gè)11歲的蘇格蘭兒童都在同一天接受了相同的智商測(cè)試，之后測(cè)試者將接受追蹤調(diào)查，直至他們?nèi)ナ馈?/p>

Even when factors such as economic status and employment level were accounted for, the smarter kids ended up living longer than those with lower IQs. These results correlate to several previous studies that have found a link between IQ and mortality when other factors were filtered out.

即使經(jīng)濟(jì)地位和就業(yè)水平等因素都被考慮在內(nèi)，調(diào)查仍舊顯示，智商高的孩子壽命更長(zhǎng)。這些結(jié)果與先前的研究不謀而合，即在排除其它因素的條件下，智商與死亡率有一定的關(guān)聯(lián)。

"Subjects who died before 1 January 1997 had a significantly lower mean IQ at age 11 years than subjects who were alive or untraced," says the report, published in the British Medical Journal. "Our data shows that high mental ability in late childhood reduces the chances of death up to age 76 years."

發(fā)表于《英國(guó)醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》的報(bào)告顯示：1997年1月1日前去世的調(diào)查對(duì)象11歲時(shí)的平均智商遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于當(dāng)時(shí)還健在的和沒(méi)接受追蹤調(diào)查的群體，數(shù)據(jù)表明，如果一個(gè)人在童年后期表現(xiàn)出較高的心智能力，76歲前死亡的幾率會(huì)有所降低。

The numbers crunched by Lawrence Whalley from the University of Aberdeen and Ian Deary from the University of Edinburgh show that someone with an IQ of 115 at age 11 was 21 percent more likely to be alive at the age of 76 than someone with an IQ of 100 (the general average), as David Z. Hambrick at Scientific American reports.

《科學(xué)美國(guó)人》的戴維·漢布里克報(bào)道稱(chēng)，由阿伯丁大學(xué)的勞倫斯·沃利和愛(ài)丁堡大學(xué)的伊恩·蒂爾瑞估算的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，智商值為115的11歲兒童活到76歲的幾率比智商值為100（平均水平）的兒童高21%。

We don't yet understand why this is the case, but more than 20 longitudinal studies (studies with data points covering a long period of time) carried out around the world have found similar links.

這一現(xiàn)象是如何產(chǎn)生的呢？我們也尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)原因所在，但是全世界20多個(gè)縱向追蹤研究都發(fā)現(xiàn)智商與壽命間有類(lèi)似的關(guān)聯(lián), 這些研究數(shù)據(jù)均來(lái)自長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的調(diào)查。

There are some interesting hypotheses: one is that intelligent people are more likely to strap themselves in while driving, choose to eat a healthy diet, avoid smoking, and exercise more often. Whalley and Deary found that those with a higher IQ were more likely to quit smoking after its negative health effects were publicised in the 1950s. In other words, smart people might just be better at avoiding things that are going to kill them.

下面是一些有趣的猜測(cè)：其一，聰明人往往更傾向于約束自己，比如，開(kāi)車(chē)謹(jǐn)慎，飲食健康，拒絕吸煙，鍛煉身體。沃利和蒂爾瑞發(fā)現(xiàn)，20世紀(jì)50年代曝光吸煙有害健康之后，智商較高的群體戒煙的可能性更大。也就是說(shuō)，聰明人更懂得如何避免健康危機(jī)。

Another hypothesis is that a high IQ is a signifier of a sturdy constitution and a body that's going to last - it's essentially a signifier rather than a cause, some scientists believe. One study published in 2005 found that better reaction times specifically helped people live longer - so a high IQ is possibly an indication of an efficient nervous system, rather than being itself a cause of longer life, the researchers proposed.

另一個(gè)猜測(cè)是，有些科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，高智商是強(qiáng)健、耐受體質(zhì)的標(biāo)志，而不是長(zhǎng)壽的原因。2005年發(fā)布的研究表明，反應(yīng)越快的人活得越久，研究者因而指出，高智商很有可能就是神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)高效運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的標(biāo)志，但它本身不是長(zhǎng)壽的原因。

Alternatively, or perhaps in addition to the above suggestions, it could be that genes are contributing to the link between IQ and longevity. Hambrick cites a recent study involving twins that provides the first evidence for this hypothesis:

除了上述的猜測(cè)，另一種可能性就是基因?qū)е铝酥巧毯蛪勖g的關(guān)聯(lián)。漢布里克引用了最近有關(guān)雙胞胎的一項(xiàng)研究，為這一假設(shè)提供首個(gè)依據(jù)：

"Twin studies disentangle the effects of environmental and genetic factors on an outcome such as intelligence or lifespan by comparing identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, and fraternal twins, who on average share only 50 percent of their genes. [The researchers] performed statistical analyses to estimate the contribution of genetic factors to the IQ-lifespan relationship. The results were clear and consistent: genes accounted for most of the relationship."

“通過(guò)比較同卵雙胞胎（百分之百的基因相同）和異卵雙胞胎（平均只有百分之五十的基因相同），研究者理清了環(huán)境和基因因素對(duì)智力和壽命的影響，他們分析了數(shù)據(jù)以推測(cè)基因因素對(duì)智商和壽命的關(guān)系起到的作用。結(jié)果明確而一致：大部分二者的關(guān)系能用基因解釋。”

It's a complicated area of science, particularly as an IQ score doesn't necessarily directly represent intelligence, and can be affected by social class, education standards, and other cultural factors - if you're preconditioned to think you'll do badly in an exam, for example. Nevertheless, the link is there - and researchers are still trying to find out why.

關(guān)于智商與壽命的研究是一個(gè)復(fù)雜的科學(xué)問(wèn)題：智商值不能直接代表智力。因?yàn)橹橇€會(huì)受到社會(huì)階級(jí)、教育標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和其他文化因素的影響。因此，可別認(rèn)為智商值低就考不好試。無(wú)論如何，智商和壽命是一定存在某種關(guān)聯(lián)的，只是研究者還需要試著去發(fā)現(xiàn)個(gè)中原因，揭開(kāi)奧秘。

Vocabulary

crunch: 對(duì)…進(jìn)行數(shù)學(xué)運(yùn)算；（反復(fù)）處理

longitudinal: 縱向的

identical twins: 同卵雙胞胎

fraternal twins: 異卵雙胞胎