Canthelegacyoftraumabepasseddownthegenerations?
创伤后遗症会传给后代子孙吗？
In,nearingtheendoftheUSCivilWar,conditionsintheConfederateprisonerofwarcampswereattheirworst.Therewassuchovercrowdinginsomecampsthattheprisoners,UnionArmysoldiersfromthenorth,eachhadthesquarefootageofagrave.Prisonerdeathratessoared.
年，美国内战已近尾声，南方军战俘营的条件极其恶劣，有些地方人满为患，以至于战俘和北方军士兵，每个人都有一块一平方英尺的墓地，战俘死亡率飙升。
Forthosewhosurvived,theharrowingexperiencesmarkedmanyofthemforlife.Theyreturnedtosocietywithimpairedhealth,worsejobprospectsandshorterlifeexpectancy.Buttheimpactofthesehardshipsdidnotstopwiththosewhoexperiencedit.Italsohadaneffectontheprisoners’childrenandgrandchildren,whichappearedtobepasseddownthemalelineoffamilies.
对于幸存者来说，这些惨痛的经历影响了他们当中许多人的一生。当他们重返社会时，身体垮了，工作比别人难找，去世得也早。但这些苦难造成的影响并没有随着亲历者的逝去而停止，那些战俘的子孙也受到影响，而且似乎是传男不传女。
WhiletheirsonsandgrandsonshadnotsufferedthehardshipsofthePoWcamps–andifanythingwerewellprovidedforthroughtheirchildhoods–theysufferedhigherratesofmortalitythanthewiderpopulation.ItappearedthePoWshadpassedonsomeelementoftheirtraumatotheiroffspring.
虽然他们的子孙并没有亲历战俘营的苦难，但即便童年衣食无虞，死亡率还是比其他人高。战俘似乎是把自己的一些创伤因素传给了后代。
Butunlikemostinheritedconditions,thiswasnotcausedbymutationstothegeneticcodeitself.Instead,theresearcherswereinvestigatingamuchmoreobscuretypeofinheritance:howeventsinsomeone’slifetimecanchangethewaytheirDNAisexpressed,andhowthatchangecanbepassedontothenextgeneration.
但与大多数遗传不同的是，这并非是由遗传编码本身的突变所引起。研究人员正在研究一种更隐秘的遗传：人这一生中发生的事情如何改变了DNA的表达方式，以及这种改变是如何传给下一代的。
Thisistheprocessofepigenetics,wherethereadability,orexpression,ofgenesismodifiedwithoutchangingtheDNAcodeitself.TinychemicaltagsareaddedtoorremovedfromourDNAinresponsetochangesintheenvironmentinwhichweareliving.Thesetagsturngenesonoroff,offeringawayofadaptingtochangingconditionswithoutinflictingamorepermanentshiftinourgenomes.
这个过程名为表观遗传，即在DNA编码本身不变的情况下，基因的可读性或表达发生变化。当生活环境发生改变，我们的DNA会做出细微的化学反应。这些反应将基因打开或者关闭，提供了一种方法，能让我们适应不断变化的环境，而不会对基因组造成更为持久的改变。
Butiftheseepigeneticchangesacquiredduringlifecanindeedalsobepassedontolatergenerations,theimplicationswouldbehuge.Yourexperiencesduringyourlifetime–particularlytraumaticones–wouldhaveaveryrealimpactonyourfamilyforgenerationsto