Spending five minutes thinking about your ancestors before an exam or job interview can significantly boost your chances of success, according to researchers from University of Graz, together with colleagues from Berlin and Munich universities.
奥地利格拉茨大学以及柏林和慕尼黑几所大学的研究人员称，考试或面试前想想自己的祖先，考试或者面试通过率会提高。

In intelligence tests on 80 students, researchers asked one group to spend five minutes thinking about their 15th century ancestors, their great-grandparents and asked another group to recall a recent trip to the shops.
在对80名学生开展的智力测验中，研究人员首先让一组学生花5分钟时间想想自己远在15世纪的祖先、自己的曾祖父母，但让另一组只是回忆最近的购物经历。

Then the students were asked how confident they felt about upcoming exams. Those who remembered lost generations were more confident. Then they underwent a range of intelligence tests, and those more confident students gained 14 out of a maximum 16, compared with just ten out of 16 in the rival group.
随后询问他们对于即将来临的测试有多大信心。那些刚回忆了先辈的学生自信程度明显更高。而在随后进行的总分为16分的一系列智力测试中，第一组学生得分14，而另一组得分仅为10。

The findings, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, suggest the so-called "ancestor effect" appears to work by acting as a reminder to the brain that seemingly impossible hurdles can be overcome.
研究结果刊登在欧洲期刊《社会心理学》上。研究表明有种所谓的“祖先效应”协助大脑逾越看似不可能的障碍。

The effect may be rooted in the fact that those who familiarize themselves with their family history appear to gain a stronger sense of identity and self-esteem, which somehow boosts intellectual performance, according to psychologists.
心理学家们认为这种效应可能根源于这样一个事实，即那些熟知家族史的人们似乎拥有更为强烈的自我认同感和自尊。