時差N小時:手相專家

People curious about their fate could consult apalm reader who would tell their fortune by lookingat the lines on their palm. While there's no scientificevidence linking the lines on your palm to your fateor fortune, scientists have learned that your palmand finger prints do have a story to tell.

人們對自己的命運感到好奇時，就會去咨詢手相專家。手相專家通過觀察手掌上的細紋來算命。掌紋與人的命運或運氣有無聯(lián)系，這一點并沒有科學依據(jù)來證明，但科學家認為掌紋和指紋里確實有文章。

The ridges on your hands, fingers, feet, and toesformed while you were still in the womb, five or six months before you were born. They are theresult of stress patterns that formed as your hands and feet developed. Because the growthpattern of every fetus is slightly different, your finger and palm prints are absolutelyunique.

在你出生前五、六個月，還在母親子宮里的時候，你的手腳上就開始起皺。那些細紋就是手腳在發(fā)育時形成不同應力模式的結果。因為每個胎兒的發(fā)育模式略有不同，所以每個人的指紋和掌紋絕對是獨一無二的。

Even identical twins have slightly different patterns. Differences in fingerprints have alwaysbeen useful to police detectives, but what can a doctor tell from looking at your prints?

即使是雙胞胎也有細微的差別。偵探可以通過指紋來判案，那么醫(yī)生能從指紋上看出什么呢?

Actually, quite a bit. Many genetic diseases affect the way that the fetus develops. This resultsin characteristic irregularities in the palm prints. Scientists have statistically linked dozens ofgenetic diseases to unusual palm prints.

實際上，這里面大有文章。許多遺傳疾病影響著胎兒的發(fā)育模式，導致掌紋特征不規(guī)則?？茖W家們建立了數(shù)據(jù)庫，將幾十種遺傳疾病與不規(guī)則的掌紋聯(lián)系起來。

Sometimes even viral diseases can leave telltale traces on an infant's palm. For example,women who caught German measles early in pregnancy during the 1960's sometimes passedbirth defects along to their children.

有時候病毒性疾病也會在胎兒的掌紋上留下痕跡。比如20世紀60年代，在懷孕早期感染上德國麻疹的婦女會生下先天有缺陷的孩子。

A study in 1966 found that such children had characteristic palms and fingerprints as well.Studies have linked irregular palm prints to such diseases as schizophrenia, fetal alcoholsyndrome, and even allergies. While they can't tell you how long you'll live or how manychildren you'll have, the lines on your palm can tell you something.

1966年的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)這類孩子的掌紋和指紋與眾不同。科學家已將不規(guī)則的掌紋與各種疾病聯(lián)系起來，例如：精神分裂癥、胎兒酒精綜合癥，甚至是過敏反應。雖然掌紋并不能告訴你你能活多久，你會生多少個孩子，但它能說明一些問題。