When a study posted online by the journal Science back in March revealed that male fruit flies resorted to alcohol after being rejected by attractive females, an entire gender nodded in recognition.
「科學」期刊3月份在網路上發表一項研究結果，揭露公果蠅向妖嬈的母果蠅求歡遭拒後會借酒澆愁，所有男性對此結論皆表認同。

Evolutionary scientists say the results suggest that elements of the brain’s reward system have changed very little over eons.
研究生物演化的科學家表示，這項結果顯示萬古以來生物腦部回饋系統組成要件並沒有多大改變。

“Reading this study is like looking back in time, to see the very origins of the reward circuit that drives fundamental behaviors like sex, eating and sleeping,” Dr. Markus Heilig, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told The Times.
國家酒精濫用暨酗酒研究所所長海利對紐約時報記者說：「讀了這項研究彷彿是藉由回顧過去，來了解驅動性、飲食及睡眠等基本行為的腦部回饋迴路的源頭。」

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, had allowed male fruit flies to mate with virgin females. A separate group of males were exposed to females that had already mated, so were uninterested in sex. The fruit flies that were spurned drank heavily, sipping from mixture spiked with alcohol at a rate far higher than their sated peers, The Times reported.
紐時報導，舊金山加州大學研究人員讓一群公果蠅與未曾交配過的母果蠅送做堆。另外讓一群公果蠅與已交配過、變得性冷感的母果蠅接觸。求歡被拒的公果蠅結果喝得爛醉，狂啜含酒精飲料速度比獲得性滿足的果蠅快得多。

Dr. Heilig, who was not involved in the fruit fly study, told The Times the findings supported the effort to develop drugs aimed at reducing the urge to drink among humans by stimulating brain chemicals.
海利博士本人並未參與這項果蠅研究；他對紐時記者表示，這項發現能夠支持業者開發新藥，透過刺激腦部化學成分來降低人類飲酒的慾望。

Scientists have also identified drugs that may be able to treat the buildup of proteins in the brain that cause degenerative diseases in the nerve centers of the frontal and temporal lobes – the home of decision-making, emotion, judgment, behavior and language, The Times reported.
紐時報導，科學家們並找出一些或可用以治療腦部蛋白質堆積現象的藥物，這種堆積現象會導致大腦前葉及顳葉神經中樞退化疾病；前葉及顳葉主宰決策、情緒、判斷、行為及語言。

Frontotemporal dementia, or Pick’s disease, can cause loved ones to act in ways that are unrecognizable and are routinely misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s, stroke, midlife crisis or psychiatric illnesses, The Times reported. Many relatives of patients say doctors attribute the altered behavior to a mere personality change.
大腦前顳葉癡呆症又稱皮克氏症，會使你所親愛的人行為變得無法辨識，而且往往被誤診為阿茲海默症、中風、中年危機或精神性疾病。許多病人的親屬表示，醫生只把病人行為的變化歸因於人格改變。

“The frontal lobes are sort of the last frontier in the brain,” Dr. Edward Huey, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, told The Times. For instance, these patients have compulsions, like hand washing, but not in a worried or anxious way as an obsessive compulsive person would. Some lose their inhibitions and moral judgment.
哥倫比亞醫學中心精神及神經疾病學助理教授惠伊對紐時記者說：「大腦前葉可能是最前端的腦部研究領域。」舉例而言，這類病人會有些自己無法克制的強迫性行為，如不斷洗手，但又不像一些妄想性強迫症患者那樣充滿焦慮。也有些人會喪失自制及道德判斷能力。

“They’re not down, but they just don’t enjoy things as much as they used to,” Dr. Huey told The Times. “There appears to be a dysfunction in the reward circuit.”
惠伊說：「他們並非消沈，只是不再像以往那樣享受事物。顯然是腦部回饋迴路失靈。」

Alcohol addiction and the buildup of brain proteins are physiological problems that may be treated with new compounds. But what about moral behavior? Should we search for drugs to “cure” behavior that violates moral standards?
喝酒上癮與腦部蛋白質堆積屬於生理問題，可以用新的化合藥品來治療。然而與道德有關的行為又將如何以對？我們是否該尋求一些藥物來「治療」各種違反道德標準的行為？

Peter Singer and Agata Sagan, writing in The Times, said the understanding of what governs moral behavior was still murky. They ask: “Why are some people prepared to risk their lives to help a stranger when others won’t even stop to dial an emergency number?”
辛格與沙干在紐時上撰文指出，要了解究竟是那些東西在主控道德性的行為，目前仍處於摸索階段。他們問道：「當其他人連一通急救電話都不願意打時，為何有些人卻願意冒著生命的風險來幫助一個陌生人？」

They suggest that research may show biochemical differences between the two types and that there may one day be a “morality pill” to prevent criminal behavior, or just to make us better citizens.
他們指出，研究可能會顯示這兩種人有生化性的差異，而或許有一天會發展出一種「道德藥丸」來防止犯罪行為，或者讓我們能成為更好的公民。

“The idea is not far-fetched,” the pair wrote. “If so, would people choose to take it?”
兩人在文中寫道：「這個構想並非純屬無稽。若真有這種藥丸，人們會選擇服用它嗎？」

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2012-05-29聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 任中原譯 原文參見紐時週報三版上