《中英對照讀新聞》Telephone telepathy - I was just thinking about you 電話心電感應：我才剛想到你

◎陳成良

Many people have experienced the phenomenon of receiving a telephone call from someone shortly after thinking about them -- now a scientist says he has proof of what he calls telephone telepathy.

許多人體驗過這種現象：接到某人電話之前不久，才剛想到他們。如今，一位科學家聲稱，他握有這種所謂「電話心電感應」的證據。

Rupert Sheldrake, whose research is funded by the respected Trinity College, Cambridge, said on Tuesday he had conducted experiments that proved that such precognition existed for telephone calls and even e-mails.

魯珀特．謝德瑞克的研究得到受尊崇的劍橋大學三一學院資助，他週二表示，已進行實驗，證明這種「未卜先知」會出現在接電話，甚至是收電子郵件時。

Each person in the trials was asked to give researchers names and phone numbers of four relatives or friends. These were then called at random and told to ring the subject who had to identify the caller before answering the phone.

研究人員要求每個參與實驗者提供四名親友的姓名與電話，然後以隨機方式打電話給這些人，並要他們打電話給該名實驗對象，此人接電話前，必須辨識來電者身分。

"The hit rate was 45 percent, well above the 25 percent you would have expected," Sheldrake told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. "The odds against this being a chance effect are 1,000 billion to one."

「正確率為45%，比你們預料的25%高出許多」，謝德瑞克在英國科學促進協會年度會議上說：「出現這種可能性的機率為一兆分之一」。

He said he found the same result with people being asked to name one of four people sending them an e-mail before it had landed.

他說，他發現，要求這些人在電子郵件送達之前，從4人當中說出寄件者姓名時，也出現相同結果。

新聞辭典

telepathy：心電感應，指在沒有任何線索的情況下，不通過語言或行為的交流而洞悉他人思想的功能，此能力能將某些訊息透過普通感官之外的途徑，傳到另一人的心中，又稱「心靈感應」或「他心通」。

phenomenon：現象。The employment problem tends to be a city phenomenon. （就業問題常常是一個城市現象。）phenomenon 的複數為phenomena。

odds： 機會；可能性；成功的可能性。 His odds were very poor after he sprained his wrist. （他扭傷了手腕，獲勝的可能性極小。）

at random：隨便地；任意地。Soiled dishes were piled at random.（髒碟子胡亂地堆著。）