Scientists have long wondered why the U.S. and Europe are so culturally different to China and other countries in Eastern Asia.

让科学家一直以来都疑惑不解的是为什么欧美与中国以及东亚国家在文化上如此不同。

Now one study claims the answer lies in anunexpected area: the different farming methods used by people living in theEast and West.

一项研究所得出的答案令人出乎意料：东西方不同的农耕方式导致了不同的文化。

While Westerners are known for theirindividualism and analytical¹ thinking, eastern culture tends to beinterdependent and holistic², the study claims.

西方人以个人主义和分析思维著名，而东方文化倾向于互相依赖和整体，这是一项研究多得出的结果。

Theories explaining the differences have included wealth and education fuellingindividualism in the West, and high rates of infectious disease in the Eastcausing people to be wary³ of outsiders.

有些理论认为东西方之所以存在差异的原因在于西方的财富和教育助长了个人主义，而东方传染疾病的高发导致人们提防外来者。

But the real reason may simply be the waypeople at both ends of the world cultivate rice and wheat, say the scientists.

但是科学家说真正的原因可能仅在于东西方在种植水稻和小麦上存在的差异。

Paddy rice cannot be grown without ample supplies of water, forcing neighboursto work together to irrigate⁴ their crops.

水稻的生长需要足够的水资源，所以邻里之间需要相互合作来灌溉农作物。

It is also highly labour-intensive,requiring about twice the number of hours from planting to harvest as doeswheat.

而且是劳动密集型的，从种植到收获，水稻所花的时间大约是小麦所需时间的两倍。

Wheat farmers, in contrast, can rely on the rain and operate much moreindependently.

形成鲜明对比的是，种植小麦的农民可以依靠雨水来灌溉，而且在操作上更具独立性。

To test their theory, the scientistsassessed known measures of individualism and collectivism in 1,000 people fromdifferent regions of Chinawhere rice and wheat are grown.

为了验证自己的理论，科学家们评估了中国各个水稻和小麦种植区的1000名中国人的个人主义和集体主义倾向。

The results, published in the journalScience, showed distinct psychological differences that mirrored those betweenthe East and West.

结果发布在了《科学》杂志上，显现出了独特的心理差异，正好反映了东、西方的区别。

‘It’s easy to think of China as a single culture,’ said lead researcherThomas Talhelm, from the University of Virginia.

“我们很容易就认为中国是个单一文化，”来自弗吉尼亚大学的领头研究员Thomas Talhelm说。

‘But we found that China has very distinct northern and southernpsychological cultures and that southern China’shistory of rice farming can explain why people in southern China are moreinterdependent than people in the wheat-growing north.

“但是我们发现中国南北的心理文化是不同的，中国南方的水稻种植历史可以解释为什么中国南方人比种植小麦的北方人更加互相依赖。”

‘The data suggests that legacies⁵ of farmingare continuing to affect people in the modern world.’

“这些数据表明农耕文化依然对现代人产生影响。”