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Uh-oh, the new year's just begun and already you're finding it hard to keep those resolutions to junk the junk food, get off the couch or kick smoking. There's a biological reason a lot of our bad habits are so hard to break – they get wired into our brains.
噢喔，新的一年才刚刚开始，你就发现很难坚持“告别垃圾食品、远离沙发、戒烟”这些新年决心了吧？我们很难改掉坏习惯是由于生物学的原因——这些坏习惯根植于我们的大脑中。
That's not an excuse to give up. Understanding how unhealthy behaviors become ingrained has scientists learning some tricks that may help good habits replace the bad.
这并不是让人放弃新年决心的借口。了解不健康的习惯怎样变得根深蒂固可以启发科学家研究出一些让好习惯代替坏习惯的“技巧”。
"Why are bad habits stronger? You're fighting against the power of an immediate reward," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain's pleasure pathway.
诺拉•沃尔科夫博士说：“为什么坏习惯更加顽固？因为它能带来即时的犒赏，而这种即时犒赏的力量很强大。”沃尔科夫博士是美国国家药物滥用研究所主任，同时也是大脑快乐通道方面的权威。
"We all as creatures are hard-wired that way, to give greater value to an immediate reward as opposed to something that's delayed," Volkow says.
沃尔科夫博士说，“我们的这种天性决定了我们会更看重眼前的好处，而不是迟来的好处。”
Just how that bit of happiness turns into a habit involves a pleasure-sensing chemical named dopamine. It conditions the brain to want that reward again and again – reinforcing the connection each time – especially when it gets the right cue from your environment.
那么这一点快乐的感觉是怎样转化为一种习惯的呢？这与一种感知快乐的化学物质多巴胺有关。多巴胺使大脑不断期望得到这种犒赏，从而不断加强快乐感与这种行为之间的联系，特别是当它能从周围环境中得到正确的暗示时。
