1 We all have first impression Of someone we just met. But why? Why do we form an opinion about Someone without really knowing anything about him or her -aside perhaps from a few remarks or readily observable traits.

　　對剛剛遇到的人我們都會留下第一印象，為什么?為什么我們會對一無所知的人形成自己的 印象——除去一些描述或顯而易見的特征?

　　2 The answer is related to how your brain allows you to be aware of the world. Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits，even very minor difference in how a person's eyes，ears，nose，or mouth are placed in relation to each other makes you see him or her as differene1.In fact，your brain continuously process incoming sensory information- the sights and sounds of your world. These incoming "signals" are compared against2 a host of "memories" stored in the brain areas called the cortex system to determine what these new signals " mean" .

　　這與你的大腦如何感知世界是息息相關的。大腦對面部特征十分敏感，即使是每個人在眼睛、 耳朵或嘴部的細小差異也會使大腦察覺到其不同之處。實際上，大腦一直在不斷地對接收到的感 官信息進行處理——包括影像和聲音。大腦將這些“信號”與儲存在腦皮層系統(tǒng)的大量“記憶” 相比較，以便確定這些新收到的信號的“意思”。

　　3 If you see someone you know and like at school3，your brain says "familiar and safe. " If you see someone new，it says，"new-potentially，threatening". Then your brain starts to match features of this stranger with other " known" memories. The height ，weight，dress ，ethnicity ， gestures ，and tone of voice are all matched up. The more unfamiliar the characteristics ，the more your brain may say，This is new. I don't like this person". Or else，"I'm intrigued" . Or your brain may perceive a new face but familiar clothes，ethnicity，gestures-like your other friends;so your brain says: "I like this person" . But these preliminary "impressions" can be dead wrong4

　　如果你在學校看到某個你認識而且喜歡的人，你的大腦會做出“熟悉安全”的判斷;如果你 看見了一個陌生的人，你的大腦會告訴你“陌生，有潛在的威脅”。緊接著你的大腦會幵始將這 個陌生人的特征與“已知”的記憶進行比較。包括身高、體重、穿著、種族、手勢以及音調(diào)等。 特征越不相符，大腦越會告誡你，“這是陌生人，我不喜歡這個人”，或“我很好奇”。大腦也可 能觀察到一張新面孔，但卻有著熟悉的穿著、種族特征和手勢——像你的朋友，這時大腦會告訴 你“我喜歡這個人”。但這些第一印象卻可能是完全錯誤的。

　　4 When we stereotype people，we use a less mature form of thinking (not unlike the immature thinking of a very young child) that makes simplistic and categorical impressions of others. Rather than learn about the depth and breadth of people-their history，interest，values，strengths，and true character - we categorize them as jocks，geeks，or freaks.

　　當區(qū)分人時，我們使用一種欠成熟的思維方式(與小孩子不成熟的想法一樣)去對別人做出 簡單并且范疇化的判斷。(這樣的后果是)我們將人區(qū)分為騙子、反常的人或怪人，而不是對人的 深度和廣度，即歷史、興趣、價值、力量或真正的性格有所了解。

　　5 However，if we resist initial stereotypical impressions，we have a chance to be aware of what a person is truly like. If we spend time with a person，hear about his or her life，hopes，dreams，and become aware of the person's character，we use a different，more mature style of thinking- and the most complex areas of our cortex，which allow us to be humane.

　　但是，如果對模式化的第一印象加以抑制，我們就會有機會對一個人有真正的了解。如果我 們花一些時間與一個人在一起，傾聽他或她的生活、希望和夢想，了解了這個人的性格，我們才 會用一種不同的、更成熟的方式去思考——用腦皮層中最復雜的區(qū)域進行思考，而這會使我們更 富有人情味。