Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people. Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child-or even an animal, such as a pigeon-can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
脸和指纹一样，独一无二。你有没有想过我们是怎么认出人的，即使是一个熟练的作家也可能描述不出一张脸与另一张脸不同的所有特征。然而，一个很小的孩子，甚至一只动物，比如鸽子，都可以学会识别人脸，我们都认为这种能力理所当然。
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone’s personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
我们还可以通过人们的行为来区分他们。当我们谈论一个人的个性时，我们指的是他或她行为、说话、思考和感受的方式和他人不同。
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a “nice face” looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a “nice person”, you might begin to think about someone who was kind considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
就像人脸一样，人的个性非常复杂。但是，用语言描述一个人的个性比描述他的脸要容易一些。如果要你描述一张“漂亮的脸”，你可能会很难做到这一点。但如果要你描述一个“好人”，你可能开始想到一个善良、体贴、友好、热情等等的人。
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people’s behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms.
有很多词可以描述一个人的想法、感受和行为。美国心理学家Gordon Allport发现，近18000个英语单词表征了人们行为的差异。我们中的许多人都将这些信息作为描述或定位个性的基础。书呆子、保守派、军人都用这样的术语来形容。
People have always tried to “type” each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain’s or the hero’s role. In fact, the words “person” and “personality” come from the Latin persona, meaning “mask”. Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the “good guys” from the “bad guys” because the two types differ in appearance as well as in actions.
人们总是试图互相“定位”。早期希腊戏剧中的演员戴着面具向观众展示他们扮演的坏人或者英雄的角色。事实上，单词“person”和“personality”来自拉丁语persona，意思是“面具”。如今，大多数电视和电影演员都不戴面具。但我们可以很容易地区分“好人”和“坏人”，因为这两种人在外表和行为上都不同。
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