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We care about our children and the world they'll inherit. And we care about their children. But when it comes to the generations we won't be around to know, the ties tend to be less strong—at least when it comes to dealing with how our current behavior might impact future generations.
我們關愛孩子，關心這個他們將要繼承的世界。我們也關愛他們的下一代。但是提到未知的后代時，這種祖輩關系就不那么強烈了——至少在提到我們現在的行為會如何影響后代時是這樣。
But researchers have found that reminders of our own mortality may motivate us to make inter-generational trade-offs that benefit future communities.
但是研究人員發現，只要提醒人類自身生命有限，就會激發我們權衡代際關系，做出對后代有益的決定。
Volunteers were asked to read an article about a fatal airline accident. Then they had to play the role of the head of a company that discovered a new source of cheap, efficient energy. They had to decide how much of that energy should be used by the company today versus saving it for use by others in the future. Turns out, those who were primed to think of mortality were much more likely to save the resource for future use by others. The study is in the journal Psychological Science.
在一項實驗里，要求志愿者讀一篇關于致命的航天事故的文章。然后讓他們扮演一家公司的首腦人物，這家公司發現了一種價格低廉，高效的的新能源。他們必須決定現代的公司利用多少能源，節省多少能源留給未來的人們。結果證明，事先想過死亡問題的志愿者更傾向于節省能源，為未來做準備。該研究刊登在《心理科學》雜志上。
The researchers say that by making a difference for future generations we gain a sense of purpose that combats the feeling of finality when we face our inevitable mortality.
研究者說道，通過影響后代，我們有了目標感，這種感覺與我們面臨不可避免的死亡時的終結感相對抗。
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