Name: 八隻腳又毛茸茸好可怕！為什麼人會對蜘蛛產生恐懼感？（Why I'm Scared of Spiders）
Uploaded: 2022-02-17T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 3 min 32 s

I'm scared of spiders. Not afraid to admit it.

我超怕蜘蛛的。我也不怕坦承這件事。

I like pictures of them, but not at all a fan of the 3D version.

我喜歡牠們的圖片，但是 3D 版本的就算了吧。

情態副詞

That's because when I was 17, I got bitten by one of these, and since then my policy is strictly arachNOPE.

這是因為我在 17 歲的時候被這種蜘蛛咬到過，結果在那之後我對蜘蛛的態度都是敬而遠之。

Keep at least three feet between me and any spider, and if I walk through a web I'm gonna be like...

我和蜘蛛至少得拉開 3 英尺 (約 0.9 公尺) 的距離，而如果我不小心碰到蜘蛛網的話我就會...

Out of 50,000 or so known spider species, there's only a couple dozen on Earth that have venom that could hurt me.

在五萬種左右已知的蜘蛛品種中，地球上只有其中二十幾種帶有能夠傷害到我的毒素。

Now, I'm a rational guy, but I've got a case of irrational fear.

我雖然是個理性的人，但卻有著非理性的恐懼。

And I'm not alone. According to the American Psychiatric Association, 40% of phobias have to do with things like insects, snakes, and mice, and … spiders.

而我不是唯一一個。根據美國精神醫學學會，有 40% 的恐懼症與昆蟲、蛇、老鼠與... 蜘蛛有關。

Now some of us don't care for those eight-legged terrors thanks to a phenomenon called conditioning.

我們有些人之所以會對於這些八隻腳的恐怖東西感到厭惡，都要歸功於一種叫做「制約」的現象。

And I'm not talking about the kind that has to do with soft, silky hair, but because of a past traumatic experience that… ugh.

我不是在說能讓你的頭髮光滑柔順的那種 (conditioning 還有潤絲的意思)，而是因為過去的經驗造成的心理創傷... 唉。

Studies show that many people don't even have to have encountered a spider before to be afraid of them,

研究顯示，許多人甚至沒有親眼見過蜘蛛卻仍會害怕牠們，

and the arachnid aversion is heritable, so there might be genetics at play.

而對蜘蛛的厭惡是會遺傳的，所以這種現象的背後可能有基因上的原因在作祟。

And even if they don't fear them, children are able to pick out images of spiders and snakes faster than images of non-threatening animals, like bunnies.

而就連不害怕這些生物們的孩童，仍能在眾多生物圖片中快速找到蜘蛛或蛇的圖片，速度比找到其他像是兔子等沒有威脅性的動物還快。

We must have evolved some sort of built-in creepy-crawly detection system for strange slithery movements, or a few too many legs. A spidey sense for spideys.

我們或許演化出了某種對於詭異爬行動作的偵測系統，特別是針對會滑溜地移動，或者是有太多隻腳的生物。簡直是專門對付蜘蛛的蜘蛛人直覺。

That's just the kind of thing that might have kept our ancestors safe from possibly deadly encounters. Or just kept them from walking through spider webs and looking like idiots.

而這可能是讓我們的祖先們在碰到這些危險生物時化險為夷，或者是避免自己一臉蠢樣的撞上蜘蛛網的方法。

And then, there's roaches. Those slimy, stinky, speedy little drawer demons.

然後還有對蟑螂的恐懼。那些滑溜溜、惡臭、腳步迅速，躲藏在櫥櫃之中的小惡魔們。

I like to consider myself a pretty tough guy, but some of these things have wings, man! That's not even fair!

我覺自己算是個蠻硬派的男子漢，但牠們有一些還有翅膀欸！這根本不公平啊！

Now the jittery way that they sprint across the wall is the same kind of non-standard movement that triggers our creepiness alarm,

牠們在牆壁上鬼鬼祟祟爬動的樣子，也是種會讓我們感到詭異的不正常移動方式，

and their slimy, stinky nature triggers our disgust response, which is the instinct that drives us away from things like spoiled food, vomit, or feces, and other disease-ridden stuff.

而他們那滑溜溜、髒臭的本質則觸發了我們的噁心反應，也就是那種使我們遠離壞掉的食物、嘔吐物或排泄物等其他可能致病物體的直覺。

But again, some of our roach fear might be due to conditioning,

但同樣的，我們對蟑螂的恐懼某部分可能也來自制約作用，

seeing our parents jump at the sight of them at a young age, when our brains are soaking up cues from other people on how to interpret the world.

來自於我們在小時候看到父母們看到蟑螂後驚嚇不已的場景，而當時我們正在從周圍人們的行為中，學習該怎麼樣去認知這個世界。

Spiders and roaches aren't going anywhere, and we know they are here to stay, so we'd better get used to them.

蜘蛛和蟑螂並不會就此消失，而我們也清楚自己得和牠們共處在這世上，所以最好還是早早適應牠們比較好。

Luckily, scientists say there might be a way to reduce our fear by exposing our brains to it over and over.

幸運的是，科學家表示只要讓我們的頭腦反覆覺察到牠們的存在，或許便能降低這樣的恐懼感。

Ebola is a big deal, and it should be taken very seriously.

伊波拉是個嚴重的問題，而我們應該非常認真面對。

But the most frightening adversary is the one that we don't understand.

但尚未理解的敵人，才是最讓人恐懼的。

As science writer David Kwan wrote: "Ebola is no death angel—it's just a virus."

正如科學作家 David Kwan 寫到的：「伊波拉不是什麼死亡天使－它就是種病毒而已。」