你是天生的大英雄吗?

We all wonder how we would react in an emergency. Would we risk our lives to help someone in danger?
我们都会好奇自己在危机情况下会做何反应。我们会冒着生命危险去帮助身陷险境的人吗？

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.
劳丽•埃德里奇(Laurie Ann Eldridge)找到了答案。去年某一天的傍晚，住在纽约州卡梅伦(Cameron)的埃德里奇从自家花园抬头往外看时，发现一名神情茫然的司机困在附近的一个铁路道口上，对朝着她的车子疾驰而来的火车浑然不觉。

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.
埃德里奇光着脚跑向了那辆车，拼命把那位不知所措的老妇人拉出了车子，然后和她一起滚下铁路路基，并且用自己的身体挡住她。就在几秒钟后，疾驰而来的火车碾毁了那辆车子。埃德里奇的脚流着血，扎满了碎片，而那位家住纽约勒罗伊镇(Le Roy)的81岁的老妇人安吉丽娜•C. 帕斯古奇(Angeline C. Pascucci)却安然无恙。

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.
很难确定谁会在危机中挺身而出、谁又会束手旁观。不过在积极心理学（即对人类的优点和美德的研究）吸引了越来越多的研究兴趣的背景下，近些年的研究阐明了一些将英雄与其他人区分开来的品质和态度。

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.
某些特质会让人更有可能在一瞬间决定冒险做一次英雄之举。相关研究表明，乐于掌控局面、对他人抱有同情心以及具有强烈的道德感和社会责任感的人比不具备这些特质的人更有可能挺身而出。英勇之人往往天生就满怀希望，相信事情会向好的方向发展。他们会有意识地努力避免恐惧心理妨碍他们追求自己的目标，往往会去阻止可能造成身体伤害或物质损失的事情发生。

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，可能依然会在危机中退缩。他们的反应部分取决于他们是否认为情况危急以及他们是否知道如何施救。一个对电气布线一无所知的人，不大可能冲出去救一个被电线缠住的人。你在事发当天的心情也会让你做出不同决定。俄亥俄州立大学纽瓦克分校(Ohio State University in Newark)的心理学助理教授朱莉•赫普(Julie M. Hupp)指出，“心情好的人更有可能会施以援手。”此外，事发当时的环境同样也有关系，一些研究人员称，如果危机现场有一大群人的话，某一个人挺身而出充当英雄的可能性就会降低。

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.
当然，身体强健也会起到促进作用。研究人员曾在1981年对32名出手帮助过袭击、抢劫或其他严重犯罪行为的受害者的人进行了研究。他们发现，与10年来未干预过犯罪行为或危急情况的对照组中的研究对象相比，这些勇士身高更高、身材也更魁梧，而且更有可能接受过救护或应对危急情况方面的训练。

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，英雄行为远远不止这么简单。最近一些研究表明，某些勇士具备的品质可以帮助他们冲破障碍。俄亥俄州立大学纽瓦克分校心理学荣誉退休教授萨拉•斯塔茨(Sara Staats)在2009年主持的一项研究发现，具有英雄主义倾向的人与他人有较高程度的情感共鸣，即对他人的关爱或担心。

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.
按常理来看，埃德里奇是不大可能会成为一位英雄的。她没有接受过救援训练，而且她身高5英尺8英寸，体重115磅，还没有她救下的那位女士重。她是一个单亲妈妈，独自抚养着两个十几岁的儿子。最令埃德里奇感到惊讶的是，自己居然还能跑得动。在救人那一天之前，她因为背部有伤行动不便已经有10年没跑过步了。

'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，埃德里奇获得了卡内基英雄基金委员会(Carnegie Hero Fund Commission)颁发的用以表彰冒着生命危险救助他人的普通民众的奖章。埃德里奇说，“我当时所能想到的就是那位女士的脸。她看起来很茫然，她需要马上获得帮助。”