发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ）杂志上的一项研究表明，青春期酗酒会导致今后一生的决策能力都很糟糕。

Drink Now, Pay Later

We all know that drinking can cloud judgment. That's why you should never e-mail an ex after you've had a few. But for teenagers, doing dumb things now because of alcohol may be just the start. Because research with animals suggests that drinking during adolescence can set you up for a whole lifetime of bad decisions. The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

People who abuse alcohol when they're young don't always make good choices as adults. But it's been unclear whether the drink gives them the stupids, or whether folks prone to poor choices are predisposed to drink.

One way to tackle the question is by studying alcohol intake in animals, like rats. But rats don't like to drink. So to make the alcohol more palatable, scientists infused it into a tasty "gel matrix". Yes, the researchers gave teenage rats Jello shots. And the animals' decision-making ability stayed impaired well into adulthood…as measured by their tendency to chase after rewards with associated high risk rather than taking a sure thing. So, young party animals, remember the words of Faber's Dean Wormer: "Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

今朝寻醉，明日"买单"

我们都知道醉酒能影响我们的判断能力。这就是为什么在你小酌几杯之后，绝不能给你的前任伴侣发电子邮件的原因。但是对青少年来说，由于酗酒而导致当前做傻事仅仅只是个开始。因为对动物的研究表明，在青春期酗酒能导致一辈子糟糕的决策能力。该项研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ）杂志上。

年轻时酗酒的人当他们成年后通常都不能做出很好的决策。不过，是酗酒导致他们愚笨呢？还是易于做出糟糕决策的人更喜欢酗酒呢？这个问题目前还不明白。

解决这个问题的一种方法就是研究动物（比如老鼠）的酒精摄入量。但是老鼠不喜欢喝酒。因此为了让酒更合口味，科学家们把酒融入到一种味道不错的"果冻" 中。是的，研究者们给年轻的老鼠们吃果冻。随后，科学家们让这些老鼠追逐一些"奖品",而追逐这些"奖品"都带有很高的风险，而不是让它们做一些无风险的事，然后科学家们测试它们追逐"奖品"的倾向性。结果发现这些老鼠们的决策能力受到了损害，而且这种损害一直延续到成年期。因此，年轻的"寻欢"动物们，请记住Faber 学院Wormer系主任的话："孩子，酗酒和愚蠢绝不是经历人生的办法。"

Vocabulary:

Abuse:（酒精、药物等）滥用

Adolescence:青春期

Prone:易于…的

Predisposed:有倾向性的

Tackle:处理

Intake:摄入量

Palatable:可口的

Infuse:注入；泡

Tasty:味美的

Impair:损害

注释：

1）Jello:指果冻。Jell-O是美国Kraft Foods公司的一个着名果冻商标品牌。

2）Faber 指"讽刺电影 Animal House （动物屋） 中的 Faber College, Wormer 是该学院的主任。