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Part of being human is feeling sympathy,
人類的一大特點就是有同情心，
but just howearly on in our lives we learn this is something that scientists would like to know.
可是科學們想知道的是同情心最早是什么時候進入我們的生活的。
Behavioral scientists know that newborns respond to the emotional states of other people, bycrying when other babies cry.
行為科學家確信新生兒會對他人的情緒狀態進行回應，會因為其他寶寶大哭而大哭。
However, babies can't distinguish between themselves and others—shown by recognizing themselves in a mirror-until they're eighteen to twenty months old.
然而，嬰兒無法分辨自己和他人的區別—這是通過觀察他們能否從鏡子中分辨自己得出的結論—直到他們18到20個月大才行。
Toddlers also start to show concern for others around this time.
這些剛開始走路的孩子在這一階段也開始展現出對他人的關注。
Kids also begin to do things like comfort other people at about this age.
同時，兒童大約在這一時間段開始做出類似安慰他人的舉動。
By the time they're three,most children will try to protect a victim from a bully in a fight.
等到他們三歲的時候，大多數孩子會在打斗中嘗試從欺負人者手中保護受害者。
But how do kids go from the infantstage, crying when others cry, to the protecting stage of later childhood?
可是孩子是如何從別人哭自己也哭的小嬰兒階段轉變到之后幼年期的保護階段的呢？
To find out, researchers from Kyoto University, and Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan,designed a program to test for signs of sympathy in ten-month olds.
為了找到原因，日本京都大學和豐喬技術科技大學的研究人員設計了一個計劃來測試10個月大的嬰兒的同情心跡象。
In the video, a blue ballchases a yellow cube around the screen, repeatedly pushing and hitting it.
在錄像周，一個藍色的球在屏幕中到處追逐一個黃色的方塊，并不斷推它，打它。
After the babies watched the video, they tended to reach out and try to touch the yellow cubevictim, a sign of sympathy.
嬰兒們看完錄像后，他們往往會伸出手，試圖觸摸這個黃色的受害方塊，這是有同情心的表現。
When the bully became the victim, babies still reached out for theobject that got hurt.
當欺負人的物體變成受害者后，嬰兒們仍會對被打的物體伸出手。
However, some researchers think that babies might just be attracted to an object that movesdifferently in videos such as these.
然而，部分研究人員認為嬰兒可能只是被這類在錄像中活動方式不同的物體所吸引了而已。
So the matter of exactly when sympathy may develop is still upfor debate.
因此同情心到底是什么時間產生的扔有待商榷。
