2019年国际左撇子日：关于左撇子最有趣的事实

They’re more than all right.

他们很好。

Since 1976, August 13 has been observed as an annual day dedicated to the minority dexterity — lefties. In honor of the portion of the population which prefers the less popular hand that has to deal with products not suited for them and a Satanic stigma, here are some fun facts on left-handed people.

自1976年以来，8月13日被视为专门为少数灵巧左撇子举办的一年一度的节日。为了纪念那些喜欢用不太受欢迎的手来处理不适合他们的产品的人群，也为了表示对他们的敬意，这里有一些关于左撇子的有趣事实。

Famous lefties

著名的左撇子

Quite a roster of celebrities lean left. Among politicians, Barack Obama, John McCain and Benjamin Franklin are all lefties. Musicians who naturally prefer to play their instruments with their left hand include Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix — who used his right hand to write — and Justin Bieber. Other left-handed celebs include Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates and Sarah Jessica Parker.

相当多的名人是左撇子。在政客中，奥巴马、麦凯恩和富兰克林都是左撇子。天生喜欢用左手演奏乐器的音乐家包括保罗·麦卡特尼、吉米·亨德里克斯(用右手写字)和贾斯汀·比伯。其他左撇子名人包括奥普拉·温弗瑞、比尔·盖茨和莎拉·杰西卡·帕克。

Lefties by the numbers

左撇子的数量

An estimated 10 percent of humanity have a dominant left hand — a breakdown that has stayed the same for the past 5,000 years, according to a Northwestern University study. (One percent of these people are thought to be ambidextrous, meaning they prefer neither hand over the other, according to the American Psychological Association.) Men are more likely to be left-handed than women, and the characteristic is thought to be a boon in sports, where lefties’ strengths are not as common.

据美国西北大学的一项研究显示，约有10%的人类惯用左手——这一比例在过去五千年来一直保持不变。(根据美国心理协会的数据，这些人中有1%的人被认为是双手灵巧的，也就是说，他们不喜欢用任何一种手来代替另一种手。)男性比女性更有可能是左撇子，这一特点被认为是体育运动中的一大优势，因为左撇子的优势在体育运动中并不常见。

Why are lefties such a minority?

为什么左撇子是少数?

The reason so few people are left-handed is because humans have evolved to make it easier to work together as a society, researchers say. “The more social the animal — where cooperation is highly valued — the more the general population will trend toward one side,” says Daniel M. Abrams, lead author of the Northwestern study. “The most important factor for an efficient society is a high degree of cooperation. In humans, this has resulted in a right-handed majority.”

研究人员称，左撇子之所以如此之少，是因为人类的进化使整个社会更容易合作。西北大学这项研究的主要作者丹尼尔·m·艾布拉姆斯说:“这种动物的社会性越强，也就是合作受到高度重视的地方，那么它们的总体倾向就会偏向一边。”“一个高效社会最重要的因素是高度的合作。在人类中，这导致了多数人是右手。”