不要忽视身边每一位左撇子！

我们当中中有一小部分是左撇子。研究人员发现10到15%的人天生就有当左撇子的倾向。我们知道左撇子在某种意义上是不同寻常的，也有助于他们变得更有创造力或音乐天赋，但我们仍然不清楚当大多数人都是右撇子时，是什么造就了左撇子。

The science behind why people are left-handed isn’t in agreement just yet. There have been a number of worthy studies and hypotheses put forth that deal with genetic differences and brain structure, and new research has begun to expand on those genetic and brain factors.

在左撇子背后科学上的成因还没有达成一致。关于遗传差异和大脑结构上的因素已经有许多有价值的研究和假设，并且新的研究也在拓展这些遗传和大脑结构上的因素。

While scientists cannot yet confirm the definite point of handedness, they do know that children of left-handed parents are more likely to inherit this trait. There are also a few new scientific clues pointing the way ahead.

虽然科学家们还不能确定影响惯用手的确切因素，但他们知道左撇子父母的孩子确实更容易遗传这种特性。也有一些新的科学线索指明了探索的道路。

Scientific origins of left-handedness

左撇子的科学渊源

A research paper in Nature put forth the idea that determining handedness could be done by analyzing prenatal development in humans. They hypothesized that if humans are congenitally prepared to a certain handedness then this type of wiring should be able to be examined in their motor system before birth.

《自然》杂志的一篇研究论文提出了一种想法，即通过分析人类的产前发育来确定惯用手倾向。他们假设，如果一个人天生就有左撇子，那么这应该能够在出生前在他们的运动系统中检查出来。

The researchers tested this through ultrasonography and the results were promising. They stated that: “We revealed that both right-handed and left-handed fetuses were faster to reach to targets requiring greater precision (i.e., eye and mouth) with their dominant (vs. non-dominant) hand.”

研究人员通过超声检验了这一假设，结果也证实了这一假设。他们说：“我们发现，右撇子和左撇子胎儿的惯用手都能比另外一只手更快地到达需要一定精确度的目标(即眼睛和嘴巴)。

This somewhat confirms the genetic factors—but there’s still more to the scientific story of left-handedness.

这在一定程度上证实了遗传因素存在性，但关于左撇子还有更多科学原理需要探究。

Symmetry and asymmetry throughout the body

全身对称性与不对称性

Neuroscientists know that the reversal control in brain hemispheres tends to make left-handed people more “right-brained” (so to speak) and use this hemisphere of their cerebrum more than right-handed people and vice versa.

神经科学家知道大脑半球的反向控制倾向于让左撇子更加“右脑化”，并且使用大脑的右半球多于惯用右手的人，反之亦然。

A right-brain dominant person does have some advantages in a few areas, but scientists have shown that having an equal symmetry and balance between all four brain hemispheres is of the most benefit. It’s thought that lefties have an overall greater brain symmetry, but the onset of left-handedness might start elsewhere and be actually due to asymmetry in a different part of the body.

惯用右脑的人在一些领域确实有一些优势，但是科学家已经表明，在所有四个大脑半球之间具有同等的对称性和平衡性是最有益的。人们认为左撇子大脑整体上更对称，但实际上左撇子可能是身体不同部位的不对称造成的。

The motor cortex in the brain controls arm and hand movements. It sends signals from this area of the brain into the spinal cord, which then makes the movement function into motion. The spinal cord and this part of the brain aren’t connected right away. It’s been shown that before this connection is made, dominant hand preferences are already becoming apparent.

大脑中的运动皮层控制手臂和手部运动。它将信号从大脑的这一区域发送到脊髓，然后脊髓使身体运动。脊髓和大脑的这部分并不是直接连起来的。已经证明，在这种联系之前，用手的偏好已经变得明显。

Some scientists think that the root of the connection lies in the spinal cord. Researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland tested out asymmetry in the body to better understand left- and right-handedness. They looked at a rare condition called situs inversus, which means all the major organs are reversed on the other side of the body. They figured out that parts of the genetic code for this rare condition could be found affecting left-handedness as well.

一些科学家认为这种联系源于脊髓。苏格兰圣·安德鲁斯大学(the University of St. Andrews in Scotland )的研究人员测试了身体的不对称性，以便更好地理解左右撇子。他们观察了一种被称为”镜像器官“罕见的情况，意思是所有的主要器官都镜像到身体的另一次。他们发现，造成这种罕见情况的基因有一部分也会影响到左撇子。

A lot of this research could be guiding us to an eventual comprehensive overview of why some of us are left-handed, a question that has been with us for some time.

很多研究可以指导我们全面地了解为什么我们中有些人是左撇子，而这个问题已经我们已经困惑了很久了。

Famous left-handed people

一些著名的左撇子

For some reason, there has usually been a connotation of wrongness or strangeness in the etymology of most languages’ definition of lefties. For example, the Latin words sinistral (left) and dexter (right) are the root words for sinister and dexterous.

由于某些原因，大多数语言对于左撇子的定义在词源学上带有“错误”或“奇怪”的含义。例如，拉丁语“ sinistral ”(左撇子)和“dexter ”(右撇子)分别是阴险和灵巧的词根。

Although lefties had to deal with this inherent cultural bias, throughout the years many of them have blazed forth paths that led them to riches and genius-level fame. Science is proving that growing up a lefty makes you creative and more likely to think outside the box. Here’s just a couple of famous figures to prove that fact.

虽然左撇子必须面对这种固有的文化偏见，但多年来他们中的许多人走向了富有或者获得了“天才”的名声。科学证明，锻炼左手会让你更有创造力，更有可能去跳出框框思考问题。下面是几个名人来证明这一事实。

Leonardo da Vinci, the prototypical Renaissance man, took his left-handedness to the extreme. In his immensely creative brain, he created his own idiosyncratic way of writing from right to left. You’d have to look through a mirror to read his script. He might have done this just to avoid messing up the ink on the paper while he wrote.

达·芬奇是典型的文艺复兴时期的人，左撇子的一些特点在他身上得到了极大的呈现。他用他极具创造力的大脑，他创造了他独特的写作方式，从右到左。你必须透过镜子看他的笔记。他这样做可能只是为了避免在写文章时弄乱纸上的墨水。

Napoleon Bonaparte, another lefty, once objected to the military tradition of marching on the left side of the road and holding your weapon in the right hand. Legend says that once Napoleon was in power, he made all his armies switch sides, which then explains where our rules of the road came about.

拿破仑，另一个左撇子，曾经反对右手拿着武器、走在马路左边的军事传统。传说，拿破仑一掌权，他就让所有的军队切换到另一边，这就是我们走在左边的原因。

A great deal of American presidents have also been left handed. Barack Obama was our latest, who was preceded by the likes of Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Harry Truman, Herbert Hoover and James Garfield in the 20th century.

许多美国总统也惯用左手。奥巴马是最近一个左撇子总统，在他之前有二十世纪的克林顿、老布什、里根、福特、杜鲁门、胡佛和加菲尔德。

While the science remains an unfolding mystery, the implications of left-handedness range from intense creative prowess and unexpected sleight of hand in both sport and politics.

虽然科学仍然是一个悬而未决的谜，左撇子的影响范围从强大的创造力和在体育界和政治界当中的出人意料的一些技巧。

There is a definite and unique advantage to being left-handed.

左撇子有明确而独特的优势。