拿破崙為何怕貓
It is estimated that up to 19 million Americans have some kind of phobia, from common ones like claustrophobia or acrophobia to rare ones like coulrophobia.
據估計有高達一千九百萬名美國人有某種恐懼症，從常見的幽閉恐懼症或懼高症到罕見的小丑恐懼症都有。
up to 高達claustrophobia (n.)幽閉恐懼症acrophobia(n.)懼高症=fear of heightscoulrophobia (n.)小丑恐懼症=fear of clowns
Rumor has it that George Washington suffered a serious phobia of being buried alive, and the great Napoleon was said to be terrified of cats.
據傳喬治華盛頓患有嚴重的恐懼症，害怕被活埋，而偉大的拿破崙則據說十分害怕貓。
Rumor(Legend, Word) has it that…… 據傳,有謠言說……be terrified of sth. 害怕……
People used to believe that phobias appear because phobic people had a bad experience with the thing they hated.
人們以前相信恐懼症的出現是因為患有恐懼症的人之前跟他們討厭的東西有過不好的經驗。
appear (v.)出現,似乎
It was not until quite recently that phobias received serious scientific attention, and it turns out that these seemingly irrational fears all have good explanations from evolution standpoints.
直到最近恐懼症才得到認真的科學關注，結果其實這些看起來不理性的恐懼，從演化的觀點來看都有很好的解釋。
turn out 結果是……,原來是……rational (adj.)理性的 irrational (adj.)不理性的standpoint (n.)觀點,立場=view,perspective
Take fear of blood, or hemophobia, as an example. People who have hemophobia tend to faint at the sight of blood.
舉血液恐懼症當例子。有血液恐懼症的人看到血容易昏倒。
tend to 傾向,易於sight (n.)視力,所見的景象 at the sight of 一看見…就…
Some research suggests that a decrease in blood pressure, which causes the fainting, is a protective mechanism to get us to survive serious injury.
有些研究認為血壓驟降，同時也是造成昏厥的原因，是一種讓我們可以在受傷嚴重時存活下來的保護機制。
mechanism (n.)機制 defense mechanism防衛機制
Obviously, this kind of survival instinct is no longer useful now that we are not cavemen anymore, and sometimes it is even downright embarrassing.
很顯然地，這種生存本能不再有用，有時還非常丟臉，因為我們不再是山頂洞人了。
instinct (n.)直覺,本能 maternal instinct 母性本能now that 既然downright (adv.)完全地,徹底地
The good news is that phobias are usually treatable via therapy.
好消息是恐懼症通常是可治療的。
treatable=treat(治療)+(able 可…)=可治療的via (prep.)透過
A trained therapist can rewire your brain and, therefore, change your behavior.
一名經過訓練的治療師可以重新調整你的大腦，因而改變你的行為。
wire (n.)金屬線,電線 rewire (v.) 給…重裝電線,給…重新配線